Asset File Structures

[Paul Jasper]

Hi all,

I work for a small firm and have been working to organize our 2D and 3D assets in a more efficient and user friendly manner. Right now we have a 'Render' folder which is organized by creator and contains model and material packs that we have bought, 3D models that we have made in house, etc., similar to the following: 

     Render Folder:

                            Arroway materials > 1 Sub folder per pack: Concrete, Stonework, Wood, etc.

                            CG Axis Models > 

                            CG Axis PBR materials

                            Evermotion Models

                            In house models

                            HDRI

                            etc. 

Each sub folder contains whatever packs/materials/models we have from each source, which in turn contain the actual assets. I've been thinking about instead organizing by "topic" and having separate folders for vegetation, materials, custom materials, furniture, bathroom, transportation, etc. and then reintegrating the creator folder to separate, for instance, the different tree models that we have from difference sources. I would really love to hear what structures you all utilize in your personal and professional work and/or any suggestions you might have.

Thanks in advance!

[Thomas Edward Allen]

Don't forget that if you move anything around, you have to re-link the assets in all the old projects which may make your head explode.

[Marti Zanden]

I use connecter from Design Connected which is a great and easy tool for organizing my assets. All the purchased assets are still in there own folder organised by source (3dsky models in folder 3dsky, Bentanji models in folder Bentanji, cgmood models in folder cgmood and so on). Than I have the models also saved in my connecter folder structure organized by type of model (plants, towels, accessories, vases, water taps etc). All these models also have a basic rendered thumbnail so with connecter I can easily browse through all my models and drag the one I want right into my 3dsMax scene. It can be a lot of work to set it all up but when working it's fast and easy to use. 

[Iwan Widjaja]

Hi Paul;

 

I separated project server and library server [using 2 separated NAS ]; also have scheduled backup to cloud storage every weekend for ongoing project. 

If some project have custom made texture, i'll place those texture on projects reference folder or sometimes make texture sub folder on the projects folder. For other things such as proxy, maps , HDRI etc; i strictly  use only from library server, to avoid missing link, as we work on team and ocassionally use network render.

the folder structure more or less like this :

 

Regards'

Iwan

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Iwan Widjaja

[Tom Bussey]

It's a controversial subject as most systems will have their pros and cons, but mine is roughly divided in to 3D assets and textures, then by product category - i.e. Asset library>3D>interior>kitchens>appliances; or Asset library>2D>HRDI  etc etc. but there will obviously always be crossovers, and packs of multiple asset types tend to go in a 'collections' folder unless they're all of one type i.e trees/food in which case they go in with those categories. Also textures specific to 3D assets go in with those assets.

 

One thing I've found invaluable is the Pixamoon library track/relink and Bitmap tracking scripts which allow you to relink and process assets, even automatically create proxies copies of entire collections of models or batch convert from Vray to Corona. These alongside Connector with it's auto preview association (once you get the hang of it) take a lot of the leg work out of keeping a library organised.

[Iwan Widjaja]

Maybe its more suitable if we use tag system , as some asset usually can go to several categories [ example : a monitor can go to electronic, living room, and office categories ]

 

have anyone try studio manager as main plugin to arrange their library?

 

On 10/9/2020 at 8:56 PM, Tom Bussey said:

One thing I've found invaluable is the Pixamoon library track/relink and Bitmap tracking scripts

yes, those script from pixamoon is very helpfull! i use it myself on daily basis