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I'm working on a relatively large project and have several blend files with assets in addition to blend files with scenes. My folder structure is set up like below:

- Asset #1
     - Asset1.blend
     - [textures]
- Asset #2
     - Asset2.blend
     - [textures]
- ..Etc

And elsewhere:

- Scene1.blend
- Scene2.blend
- ..Etc

I need to be able to transfer all of these between computers so I'd like to keep using relative paths for textures in each of the asset files if I can.

When I link Asset 1 into Scene1.blend, however, the textures used in Asset 1 are missing. I can only presume this is because Blender is searching for the files using the relative paths listed in Asset1.blend, but using Scene1.blend as the "root" location.

Is there a way to make sure linked assets use the linked file's directory when searching for textures?

If not, should all asset textures be packed? Should there be one master folder with all textures that can be relinked easily with Find Missing Files? Or is there a different/better way to approach this and structure these files?

TheTrueJard
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  • Hello :). That's odd. Works just fine on my end, no need to pack any textures. I use a very similar structure for my files and linking works without issues. – jachym michal Jun 30 '20 at 06:18
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    Thank you. I discovered not long after posting this that the texture filenames had actually been changed, and that’s what led to the textures not showing up. After talking to the team I’m working with, we decided as a group to pack textures when assets are complete so similar problems don’t arise later – TheTrueJard Jun 30 '20 at 06:22

1 Answers1

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Yes you can. You can also pack the textures inside the blend file itself. All of these options are available in File>>ExternalData>>

(note: I'm on 2.9 alpha, can have slightly lesser options in previous versions)

See the following image:enter image description here

Ahmad Bilal
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  • Is it common practice to pack textures for assets? It seems like it could be a slight inconvenience if the asset needs to be edited later – TheTrueJard Jun 30 '20 at 04:52
  • Its pretty common. If at a later stage you want to save the packed texture externally, you can do so by going to image-editor and under 'image' dropdown menu select 'save'. – Ahmad Bilal Jun 30 '20 at 04:55
  • a good reason for saving externally is when you send the fbx+textures combo for non-blender users. – Ahmad Bilal Jun 30 '20 at 04:56