Extracting all images from a selection of folders and sub-folders.

[Dave Buckley]

Over the years I've downloaded tonnes of materials/textures from across the web.

 

I'm only just getting organised.

 

I need a way of selecting a series of folders and there sub-folders and being able to extract all images from them so I can place them correctly in my texture library/material libraries.

 

Also, a general interest question. When you purchase a model with textures, do you organise the textures into your texture library first and then repath them in max before you use the models in your commercial scenes?

[Fooch]

Try this dave.. this only works if its all jpgs / pngs / tga / psds etc.. (files you know thats in the subfolders)

 

I do a search for *.jpg at the top layer. I then cut those out and chuck them into a blank folder , then move them to the proper folders. .. then when its all empty, flush the "temp internet folders" out.

 

That said ... i;ve got say 5gbs still not done yet which im putting off for a quiet day

[Dave Buckley]

yeh cheers, I was just hoping it would let me separate the image formats with a comma but it doesn;t

[JonRashid]

You used to be able to do that with a prog called ACDC but I am not sure if it still exists. It used to be fantastic for batch manipulation of images. Nowadays I immediately add images to the appropriate directory and then I do not need to do anything when I open a file my map paths auto pick things up.

[Dave Buckley]

what about purchasing models, when you download the model in .zip format, you extract it and open the file, textures are there, obviously if you move the textures into your directory they will not be recognised.

 

so are you saying you move the textures first, open the file and repath, that way whenever you use/merge the file in the future it will have the textures with it?

 

I have model directories and texture directories you see so clearly when I download a model it won't be in the correct place. textures need putting in texture library and model needs putting in model library.

 

But then when i come to use it, it's not linked to the textures so repathing is needed. just wondering whether to do it as I download or as and when needed, or if you guys have any clever ways of managing.

 

I'm normally untidy and lazy with organisation

[Fooch]

Well its all on the library ussually but we normally copy it over to the project folder so when projects are archived it all exisit at one spot.

To re"link" the textures , i use relink bitmaps script : http://www.colinsenner.com/scripts/relink-bitmaps

 

Makes a hard thing tedious thing super easy. Plus, it links vrmeshes as well..

 

Tricky thing about keeping all textures in a separate library drive during rendering is sometimes servers / network congestion causes certain network drives to go off. (I might be wrong but it happened a few times to me) So i keep everything in 1x project folder. When we archive, or reopen it - its always there. (it also means heaps of hard disks! but thats another issue all together)

Edited October 20, 2010 by fooch

[Dave Buckley]

i generally do double up on textures in project folders, it's purely just that initial organization of purchased models and downloaded textures.

 

cheers for the help and the script

[aaronrumple]

We have eevrything organized by CSI format for textures in a master library. HOwever, when we do a project the textures are copied to one location in our project directory structure. This way we can make adjustmets to the textures ona project-by-project basis. For libary models, we have those referencing the files in the master library. Once those are brought into a project, we use the rescource collector script in Max to copy all the needed files into the project directory. Haveing everything by project makes archiving and restoring projects simpler. Plus I can rename and reorganize the master library as much as I want without affecting past or current projects.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

As for the question about bought models and textures... we typically keep a seperate model and texture directory and subdirectories, but in cases of purchased models I keep those textures in the model library, close to the actual models.

 

It may look something like this...

Assets > Models > + Collections > AXYZ > Models

Assets > Models > + Collections > AXYZ > Vray Proxies

Assets > Models > + Collections > AXYZ > Mental Ray Proxies

Assets > Models > + Collections > AXYZ > Textures

 

Where general textures that are not part of a purchased collection go something like this...

Assets > Textures > Asphalt

 

And likewise, general models might look like this....

Assets > Models > Healthcare > Beds

Assets Models > Transportation > Buses

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

As for the copying of textures tot he project folders... I have a subdirectory set up that is called 'Project Assets.' Inside of that directory is another directory called 'Project Textures.' I place project specific textures here, or one offs from the library here. I typically don't copy every texture over, only the ones special to the project.

 

Project > Project Assets > Project Textures

 

I do this because I find it difficult to go back at the end of a project and file the newly created textures into the library. I would rather just work out of the library to begin with. I do occasionally refine the names and locations of textures. I deal with the consequences of this as they arise, meaning relinking broken paths when they pop up.

[wasteland giant]

I personally hate having multiple folders which means you'll have to dig through lots of folders to find anything

 

a) start by collating all textures into the right folder then...

 

b) make a folder - mine called mappack essential - everything I use a lot of, goes in there and its my starting point on anything.

 

 

I think with arch viz you don't really need a bazillion and one textures.

[BVI]

Not relating to your original question, but here is a neat trick to rename 'enmass';

 

Select all the files that you want to rename, then highlight one of the images and type in a name like follows: image(1).jpg then push enter of confirm the rename, it will rename all the files in series, image(1).jpg, image(2).jpeg... etc.