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Asset Policies

Asset Policies

Note: I previously posted this but it was, for reasons I do not know, moved to a comment of another project idea that was not really related. As that idea was implemented, I'm breaking this back out into its own page.

 

One thing about projects that I deal with a lot is that different users/companies can have different path structures. I got used to the standard Max structure many years ago where images go to the sceneassets/images, for example. But my current employer desires all images to be inside the same folder as the Max scene. Keeping this consistent isn't always easy when many users are involved.

 

I think there should be some thoughts into creating project/asset policies. The idea is that common rules for asset locations are enforced via policies so that it's easier for users to place content into consistent locations based on the needs of the current project. This could help solve more complex situations than is possible than by assigning a flat default location. See the following example.

 

Food for thought below. This concept can be extended to all asset types (not just images).

 

Images Policy:

 

scenes/props/signs/

  • stopsign.max
  • pedestriancrossing.max
  • turtlecrossing.max

 

scenes/characters/

 

  • pedestrian1.max
  • pedestrian2.max
  • mrturtle.max

 

When creating assets for each of these files, you can think of several ways to store the assets logically. But different users might default to their own location. The artist making textures for props/signs/* might be saving to the sceneassets/images/ folder where the artist creating textures for the characters might be saving the images into the Max file folder. If there is a policy, then the assets will remain consistent:

 

Policies:

 

  • Default: No Policy. Works as Max has always. Can save anywhere.
  • Force To Resource Default: When on, the asset being saved must go into the project's expected folder (or a subfolder of it). In the case of images, images must go to the project's IMAGES folder (or a subfolder).
  • Force to Max File Folder: Forces the assets to get saved into the same folder as the Max file.
  • Force to Max File Folder or Sub Folder: Forces the asset to get saved to the same folder as the Max file or a sub-folder
  • Force to Resource Sub-Folder: Forces the asset to get saved to a subfolder matching the name of the resource type ( for example: scenes/props/signs/images/stopsign.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/pedestriancrossing.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/turtlecrossing.tga).
  • Force to Named SubFolder: Forces the asset to get saved to a subfolder of Max File's folder with a name matching the max file name: (scenes/props/signs/stopsign/stopsign.tga).
  • Force Named Folder in Resource Sub-Folder: Forces the asset to get saved to a subfolder matching the name of the resource type ( for example: scenes/props/signs/images/stopsign/stopsign.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/stopsign/stopsign2.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/stopsign/stopsign3.tga scenes/props/signs/images/pedestriancrossing/pedestriancrossing.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/turtlecrossing/turtlecrossing.tga, scenes/props/signs/images/turtlecrossing/turtlecrossing_bulletholes.tga).
  • More...

In the case of all policies except default, the reference to any file made in this manner should be automatically assigned a relative path that is consistent with the policy type. For example, if the file is saved to the Max file folder, it should contain no path; if it is a subfolder of the max file path, it should be relative to the Max file; etc.

 

Along with this should be a utility to update assets in a current scene to match the current policy (in the event that a file is received that doesn't abide by the policies).

 

A project should have a Default Policy for new scenes. Otherwise, the policy should be saved into the file so that no matter who is working on the file, the policy will remain.

 

The reason it should be stored per-max-scene is that some kinds of assets make sense to keep the asset local to the scene (for example, baked textures or any asset that only makes sense as a component of a specific model in a scene). Other assets that might be more generic (like tiling textures used generally in multiple ways across multiple scenes) might want to be in the project's generic asset folders.

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