# Blenvy: Blender add-on This [Blender addon](https://github.com/kaosat-dev/Blender_bevy_components_workflow/tree/main/tools/blenvy) gives you: - an easy to use UI to add and configure your [Bevy](https://bevyengine.org/) components inside Blender - the UI is **automatically generated** based on a **registry schema** file, an export of all your **registered** Bevy components's information, generated by the registry export part of the [Blenvy](https://crates.io/crates/blenvy) crate - the ability to **toggle components** on/off without having to remove the component from the object - an easy way to create blueprints/prefabs (just collections !) & levels - a way to setup you assets for your levels & blueprints - an automatic export of your level/world from Blender to gltf whenever you save your Blend file. - export of used /marked collections as [Gltf blueprints](../../crates/blenvy/README.md) - change detection, so that only the levels & blueprints you have changed get exported when you save your blend file - export of material librairies If you want to know more about the technical details , see [here]() > IMPORTANT !! if you have previously used the "old" add-ons (*gltf_auto_export* & *bevy_components*), please see the [migration guide](../../Migration_guide.md) If you can I would generally recommend starting fresh, but a lot of effort has been put to make transitioning easier ## Installation: * grab the latest release zip file ![blender addon install](./docs/blender_addon_install_zip.png) * in Blender go to edit => preferences => install ![blender addon install](./docs/blender_addon_install.png) * choose the path where ```blenvy.zip``` is stored ![blender addon install](./docs/blender_addon_install2.png) * up to Blender 4.1 * for Blender 4.2 , just drag & drop the zip file onto Blender to start the installation process ## Quickstart * set your level & library scenes (the only things that are not pre-configured) ![blenvy common settings](./docs/blenvy_configuration_common.png) * create your blueprints & levels * add components (remember to configure the Bevy side first ) * save your blend file at any point , the rest is done automatically (export of levels & blueprints, etc) ## Configuration: ### Bevy side - setup the [Blenvy crate](https://crates.io/crates/blenvy) for your project (see the crate's documentation for that), and compile/run it to get the ```registry.json``` file to enable adding/editing your components in Blender ### Blender side > The add-on comes almost completely pre-configured with sensible defaults, but you can set the following settings to your liking #### Common The first tab (and the one that is open by default in a new project) contains the common settings: ![blenvy common settings](./docs/blenvy_configuration_common.png) you **need** to tell Blenvy - what your level scenes are (what Blender scenes should become levels in Bevy) - what your library scenes are (what Blender scenes will store your library of re-useable blueprints) Blenvy is opinionated ! - keep you art/sources (usually not delivered with your game) seperate from your game assets - keep your blueprints/levels/materials gltf files seperate ##### Root Folder - this is the same folder as your Bevy projects main folder: the path here is relative to the current .blend file ##### Assets Folder - a path, relative to the *root* folder above, where you want to store your assets (delivered with your game) ##### Library Folder - a path, relative to the *assets* folder above, where you want to store your *blueprints* ##### Levels Folder - a path, relative to the *assets* folder above, where you want to store your *levels* ##### Materials Folder - a path, relative to the *assets* folder above, where you want to store your *materials* ##### - level scenes: what are the scenes in your .blend file that are levels/worlds - library scenes: what are the scenes in your .blend file that contain your libraries of blueprints (that you then use in your levels) #### Recomended folder structure ![recomended folder structure](./docs/blenvy_recommended_folder_structure.png) ![recomended folder structure art](./docs/blenvy_recommended_folder_structure_art.png) ![recomended folder structure assets](./docs/blenvy_recommended_folder_structure_assets.png) #### Components The second tab contains the component settings: ![blenvy component settings](./docs/blenvy_configuration_components.png) > you normally do not need to do anything, as the defaults are already pre-set to match those on the Bevy side for the location of the ```registry.json``` file, unless you want to store it somewhere other than ```assets/registry.json``` - Go to the new Components tab in the **configuration** tab ![configuration](./docs/configuration.png) - click on the button to select your registry.json file (in the "configuration" panel) ![configuration 2](./docs/configuration2.png) - the list of available components will appear ![configuration 3](./docs/configuration3.png) ##### registry file polling * by default, the add-on will check for changes in your registry file every second, and refresh the UI accordingly * you can set the polling frequency or turn it off if you do not want auto-refresh ![registry file polling](./docs/registry_polling.png) #### Export Last but not least, the export/ auto-export settings tab ![blenvy export settings](./docs/blenvy_configuration_export.png) ### Materials You can enable this option to automatically generate a **material library** files that combines all the materials in use in your blueprints. ![material_library](./docs/blender_addon_materials2.png) Since each blueprint is normally a completely independant gltf file, without this option, if you have a material with a large texture for example, **ALL** of your blueprints using that material will embed that large texture, leading to **significant bloat & memory use**. - When this option is enabled, you get a single material library per Blender project, and a **MaterialInfo** component is inserted into each object using a material. - The correct material will then be inserted on the Bevy side (that loads any number of material libraries that you need) into the correct mesh (see the configuration options in **bevy_gltf_blueprints** for more information on that) - Only one material per object is supported at this stage, ie the last material slot's material is the one that is going to be used ![material_library](./docs/blender_addon_materials.png) TLDR: Use this option to make sure that each blueprint file does not contain a copy of the same materials ### Multiple blend file workflow If you want to use multiple blend files, use Blender's asset library etc, we got you coverred too ! There are only a few things to keep in mind #### Assets/library/blueprints files - mark your library scenes as specified above, but **do NOT** specify a **level** scene - mark any collection in your scenes as "assets" - choose "split" for the combine mode (as you want your gltf blueprints to be saved for external use) - do your Blender things as normal - anytime you save your file, it will automatically export any relevant collections/blueprints - (optional) activate the **material library** option, so you only have one set of material per asset library (recomended) #### Level/world files - mark your level scenes as specified above ( personally I recommended **NOT** specifying a **library** scene in this case to keep things tidy, but that is up to you) - configure your asset libraries as you would usually do, I recomend using the "link" mode so that any changes to asset files are reflected correctly - drag & drop any assets from the blueprints library (as you would normally do in Blender as well) - choose "split" for the combine mode (as you want your gltf blueprints to be external usually & use the gltf files generated from your assets library) - do your Blender things as normal - anytime you save your file, it will automatically export your level(s) Take a look at the [relevant](../../examples/demo/) example for more [details](../../examples/demo/art/) ## Useage ### Components #### adding components - to add a component, select an object, collection, mesh or material and then select the component from the components list: (the full type information will be displayed as tooltip) ![components list](./docs/components_list.png) - click on the dropdown to get the full list of available components ![components list](./docs/components_list2.png) - you can also filter components by name for convenience ![filter components](./docs/filter_components.png) - add a component by clicking on the "add component" button once you have selected your desired component it will appear in the component list for that object ![add component](./docs/add_component.png) #### editing components - to edit a component's value just use the UI: ![edit component](./docs/edit_component.png) #### copy & pasting - you can also copy & paste components between objects - click on the "copy component button" of the component you want to copy ![copy component](./docs/copy_component.png) - then select the object you want to copy the component (& its value) to, and click on the paste button. It will add the component to the select object ![paste component](./docs/paste_component.png) > if the target object already has the same component, its values will be overwritten #### Additional components UI features ##### Toggling component details - for large/ complex components you can toggle the details of that component: ![toggle details](./docs/toggle_details.png) ##### Supported components - normally (minus any bugs, please report those!) all components using **registered** types should be useable and editable - this includes (non exhaustive list): * enums (even complex ones !) ![enums](./docs/enums.png) ![enums](./docs/enums2.png) * complex structs, with various types of fields (including nested ones) ![complex](./docs/complex_components2.png) * lists/ vecs (here a vec of tuples) ![lists](./docs/vecs_lists.png) * etc ! ##### Unregistered types & error handling - non registered types can be viewed in this panel : (can be practical to see if you have any missing registrations too!) ![unregistered types](./docs/unregistered_types.png) - if you have a component made up of unregistered structs/enums etc, you will get visual feedback & the component will be deactivated ![invalid component](./docs/invalid_components.png) > see [here](#invalidunregistered-type-renaming--conversion) for ways to convert invalid / unregistered components to other types. - if you are encountering this type of view: don't panic your component data is not gone ! It just means you need to reload the registry data by clicking on the relevant button ![missing registry data](./docs/missing_registry_data.png) ## Levels ## Blueprints ## Technical details - adds **metadata** to objects containing information about what components it uses + some extra information - uses Blender's **PropertyGroups** to generate custom UIs & connects those groups with the custom properties so that no matter the complexity of your Bevy components you get a nicely packed custom_property to use with ... - supports any number of main/level scenes - Blender scenes where you define your levels, and all collection instances are replaced with "pointers" to other gltf files (all automatic) - supports any number of library scenes - Blender scenes where you define the assets that you use in your levels, in the form of collections - automatic export of **changed** objects & collections only ! a sort of "incremental export", where only the changed collections (if in use) get exported when you save your blend file ### Components changing the values of a component in the UI will automatically update the value of the underlying entry in the ```bevy_components``` custom property ![edit component](./docs/edit_component2.png) ### Internal process (simplified) This is the internal logic of the export process with blueprints (simplified) ![process](./docs/process.svg) ie this is an example scene... ![](./docs/workflow_original.jpg) and what actually gets exported for the level scene/world/level ![](./docs/workflow_empties.jpg) all collections instances replaced with empties, and all those collections exported to gltf files as seen above ## Known issues & limitations: * **Range** data (ie ```Range``` etc) are not handled at this time (issue seems to be on the Bevy side) * **Entity** structs are always set to 0 (setting entity values on the Blender side at this time does not make much sense anyway) ## Development - I highly recomend (if you are using vscode like me) to use [this](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=JacquesLucke.blender-development) excellent extension , works easilly and fast , even for the latest versions of Blender (v4.0 as of this writing) - this [article](https://polynook.com/learn/set-up-blender-addon-development-environment-in-windows) might also help out (easy enough to get it working on linux too) ## License This tool, all its code, contents & assets is Dual-licensed under either of - Apache License, Version 2.0, ([LICENSE-APACHE](../LICENSE_APACHE.md) or https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0) - MIT license ([LICENSE-MIT](../LICENSE_MIT.md) or https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)