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[ronaldefarmer]

Hello Anim8ors,

I hate to admit this, but I really don't do a very good job of keeping my files in order. I sometimes save an8 files and textures to my desktop, and when it gets cluttered, I will reorganize things. Consequently, I sometimes lose my textures and have to find and replace them. I know it is a bad habit, but it is one that I am not likely to break. It would be very convenient to have textures embedded in the an8 so that I will not lose them. Can this be done?

Also, what about a quick and easy way to remove unused textures from a project?

Ron

[Raxx]

The .an8 file format is text-based, whereas the texture files are binary. Embedding would not be possible. Also, I think it'd get fairly complicated if you want to edit the textures in another program. The simplest solution to your file mismanagement problems is to start practicing better file management. Have you ever considered that you might lose all of your work if stored only on your hard drive? Start saving everything to the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc). If you do this, then keeping things organized will become easier for you.

As far as I know, there's only one way to remove unused textures by manually going in and deleting them out of a material. However, I think a script could be made to automatically clean out unused textures. I'll look into it.

[captaindrewi]

The funniest thread i have seen on the forum....
i can play both parts of the conversation.
i know...i know...
discipline is key.

[ronaldefarmer]

Hi Raxx.

I use Dropbox and Drive for work so that I can access from anywhere, but it hadn't occurred to me that this could help me manage my personal files better. I will give it a try. And yes, I have lost work due to hard drive failure more than once. Thanks for the suggestion.

I see what you mean about editing textures. I was just thinking that it would be good if the program could output something like a zip file that includes all referenced images for archiving finished projects. Of course, I could do this manually, but I wondered if a script could be created that would simplify the process. (I know nothing at all about what is possible with scripts.) As always, I appreciate your response.

Captaindrewi:

Glad I was able to amuse. You know what they say...the first step is to admit that the problem exists.

[ronaldefarmer]

Speaking of editing textures, what do you think about the possibility of some method of automatically refreshing textures after editing in an external program, rather than having to reload them in the materials editor after each edit.

[Claude]

Speaking of editing textures, what do you think about the possibility of some method of automatically refreshing textures after editing in an external program, rather than having to reload them in the materials editor after each edit.

http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php/topic,2715.0.html

[ronaldefarmer]

Thanks Claude.

[ronaldefarmer]

This Reload Textures plugin is really great. It makes working with textures a lot easier and quicker. And to think that it has been there all this time...makes me wonder what else I have been missing.Thanks again Claude, and thank you Kubajzz, wherever you are.

[Raxx]

After looking into it, it appears there's no way to delete textures via script, so clearing up unused textures that way is not (currently) possible.

As for making a script to pack the project together, it's possible to generate a .bat file that you can execute, which will pull together all of the associated textures and pack them nicely together with the .an8 file.

[Claude]

Welcome ronaldefarmer.

[cooldude234]

Welcome ronaldefarmer.

*You're welcome

SORT-OF GRAMMAR NAZI NOT REALLY TO THE RESCUE!!!