BlenderAssetExportPanel

An asset export panel for blender.

Created out of necessity, originally made for quickly exporting groups of assets into Unity quickly, although it's not limitted to that application.

How to install

1. Clone the repository or download the export_panel.py file;
2. Go to Add-ons in Blender (Edit > Preferences > Add-ons) and click in the Install... button on the top right corner;
3. Browse to the file you downloaded and click Install Add-on;
4. The newly installed add-on should now appear on the list. Enable it;
5. Don't forget to manually save your preferences if you have Auto-Save disabled.

How to use

The panel is very simple to use:

1. Simply open the sidebar panel by pressing n;
2. Open the Asset Exporter tab;
3. Select the objects you want to export into a file;
4. Write their name in the respective list (this will be used for the name of the file);
5. Click the add button;

When you are ready to export:

1. Just tick the boxes of the groups you want to export;
2. Press the Export As button;
3. Select the location and press Select save location.

This will export the files and save the save location for next time, where you can simply use the small Quick Export button next to the Export As button. This should speed up the process of repeated exporting and updating assets.

Tips:

• If you are using Unity, selecting the folder in the project where you will use the assets (e.g. Assets/Objects), will make it so that a press of the Quick Export button works as way to quickly send your changes to Unity. This can save you a lot of time while iterating through asset changes.

To change the name of a group, simply double-click the name in the list and write the new name.

Each entry on the list shows a number at the end of it. This number represents the number of objects in the group. Pressing a number will select the objects of the corresponding group.

To remove entries, select them and press the - button.

Types of export

The Asset Export panel shows 2 separate export lists, titled Rendered Meshes and Collision Meshes. Each list has different export settings:

Rendered Meshes:

Exports as an FBX as to include materials. File is prefixed with RDR-;

Collision Meshes:

Exports as an OBJ without materials to be as light as possible. File is prefixed with COL-;

Known issues

• Deleting an object belonging to entry will not update it and will throw an error when trying to export it or trying to select its objects.

Future work

These are the some of the things I would like to improve once I have the time:

• Ability to tweak export settings for each list;
• Ability to change the file prefixes for each list;
• Create export profiles for common applications (Unity, Unreal, Godot, ...);
• Ability to update existing entries;
• Check for repeated names;
• Ability to create an arbitrary amount of lists, each with their own export settings.

Contributions

Any form of contribution is welcomed, be it through issue submissions or pull-requests.