DAM soft for 3d files?

gnoop

IS there one?   like Lightroom  where you could set keywords , tags   and then quickly find /sort things?      With thumbnails  and  savable database  probably to keep keywords.    With automatic tagging maybe   based on objects and materials names used in 3d files?  

I found  this  https://www.designconnected.com/connecter      Is it something of that sort?

 What's a best thing for that currently? Preferably working with .blend  and .max files   

Eric Chadwick

Connecter is pretty good, unless you have serious money for custom tools.

gnoop

Eric Chadwick said:

Connecter is pretty good,

Yeah. looks nice.    At least  it works  but it's nowhere  close  to what image DAMs  do.  No way to sort 3d files automatically . no way to read inside 3d files  to produce a list of keywords automatically  or sort files by some kind of metadata .   Wonder could 3d files have metadata at all?

It basically  adds Mac OS  option for Windows  to set  tags manually for 3d files.     

Is there any AI based  thing that could read files on your disk and produce tag/keyword lists for your 3d files  based on content of files,  object and material names ?

Like those cloud services that could  set keywords on your images  using  AI recognition .  

Eric Chadwick

This is a similar idea. https://www.prometheanai.com/

gnoop

Thanks Eric    looks really interesting.    Wonder is  it working only with Unreal assets  or could read through  .blend files  to tag /recognize assets?       it's only thing  I need really.  

  To be honest I even doesn't need it to be AI , just something  searching through files  and using object/material/collection names  and put those naming as a tag/keyword lists.      Kind of a database buildiing process I could run through a night  and then get a comprehensive search indexing.        

poopipe

blender's file format - according to the internet - is nasty.  with that in mind I'd be inclined to write a script that dumped metadata out to separate file (json/xml/whatever) on save and catalog that. 
There's probably a bunch of open source database tools that handle standard formats like that instead

gnoop

poopipe said:

blender's file format - according to the internet - is nasty.  with that in mind I'd be inclined to write a script that dumped metadata out to separate file (json/xml/whatever) on save and catalog that. 
There's probably a bunch of open source database tools that handle standard formats like that instead

Yeah,  a good idea,  I wonder  if  python scrip in Blender could write  xmp files   for that purpose?   Since  iMAtch DAM I use for images  and like it quite a lot  https://youtu.be/vkdhd1VzbQE       can read xmp side files    and also could include .blend  files in its database .   Even showed thumbnails for them until Blender devs  messed it somehow sometime ago.

myclay

For tagging systems I tend to use XYplorer

https://www.xyplorer.com/

and Eagle.cool which can show Blend files, Affinity photo/designer/Publisher and many others like for example C4D.
https://en.eagle.cool/
Examle of the Eagle.cool UI,



The fix for showing thumbnails for Blend files again is detailed here:
https://polycount.com/post/quote/72805/Comment_2723003
https://blenderartists.org/t/blend-files-not-using-preview-thumbnails-in-windows-explorer/643180/7

pior

Hi all,

I have a content management question hence I thought I might as well ask about it here as it might relate to the kind of software linked above.

Let's say I have a file (it could be of any type, but mostly images really), somewhere on my local machine, at an arbitrary location and on an arbitrary hard drive.

Is there any system out there that would allow me to somehow flag this file (say, mark it as "favorite") so that this file and other similarly marked ones can be fetched later on by doing a search for that flag - and doing so even if the file has been moved around to a different location or drive ? On Windows BTW.

(FWIW I quite like how some image file formats allow to give file a rating stored in metadata, but that solution in particular doesn't work for my case as I need something that can support formats without such internal metadata.)

Noors

XYplorer has a tagging/favorites system. It's been around for years, is pretty solid and there's a free trial, but requires some effort compare to the native explorer. Hence i let it down...
now i'm not sure if tagging still works if you move files around.
Looks like it should
https://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1313
Seems it keeps tracks internally of those files in a database, and doesn't actually add anything to the files.

gnoop

Thanks  myclay     I wonder can XYplorer tag non image files  like blender ones?       That  eagle looks intresting.  Does it read standard image keywords too?

pior said:

Hi all,
(FWIW I quite like how some image file formats allow to give file a rating stored in metadata, but that solution in particular doesn't work for my case as I need something that can support formats without such internal metadata.)

I think it what myclay   meant  about  XYplorer.    I haven't  tried it yet. 

     I use Total Commander  and with Ctr+Z  it allows to write a comments  to any kind of file  and stores them in dsecript.io  hidden  file in same folder.    The issue is  if you copy/move the file  alone  you have to do so  with that decript.io too.

 Also Windows file explorer doesn't see those comments at all.   And native  Total commander search is pretty slow.    So not very convenient really.

I love how you cold set any kind of tag with any kind of file   when save a file in Mac OS.   Never happened to find something similar in Win10 

  

myclay

Hi all,
@pior
XYplorer allows tagging, moving files and keeping the tags as long as you move files within XYplorer.
Ranking and all those tags are saved neatly within for example a tag.dat file without changing system settings.
No changes are done to your system.
@gnoop
sorry, what do you mean with tagging system in Blender? (I might have some knowledge holes there)
Eagle has an intelligent tagging system and even gives suggestions but I don´t know if it can read tags from outside.


As Noors writes, XYPlorer can be difficult to setup.

For the Rating, there is a preset available;
https://www.xyplorer.com/release_14.10.php#CAS3
you just have to rightclick into the colums (where Path,Name Size etc is written) and activate Extra1.
Right click on Extra1 and rename it to Rating and set Type to Rating Stars.



This clip made me initially dive into XYplorer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVMW_cMqsc

gnoop

Thanks myclay       looks like  XYplorer can't read  existing images  keywords  you add in Adobe soft although.    Or I can't find how.      

Tagging  process is not very convenient too.   it still tiresome.    I'd prefer some XMP or any universally readable   side files I could save directly with blender file  with a kind of script/ addon   or something.   

pior

@Noors, @myclay : Well that sounds excellent ! I'll have to give that trial a go. It would be great for the tagging to be possible straight from a special entry in the right click menu. As a matter of fact since the software has been available for a while there's a pretty high chance that it has something like that really. Will look.
Thanks !

gnoop

https://youtu.be/4YUde3eoIAw

Have anyone tried this?   Looks promising  and free https://tagging.connectpaste.com/

ps. Well ,   I tried  and have it working under administrative privileges only    which is not good at all imo .  Maybe it's supposed to work in Win 11?

gnoop

myclay said:

and Eagle.cool which can show Blend files, Affinity photo/designer/Publisher and many others like for example C4D.
https://en.eagle.cool/
Examle of the Eagle.cool UI,



The fix for showing thumbnails for Blend files again is detailed here:
https://polycount.com/post/quote/72805/Comment_2723003
https://blenderartists.org/t/blend-files-not-using-preview-thumbnails-in-windows-explorer/643180/7

Looks like  Eagle just copy Blender files into its library folder  ,  not  creating a link to the file  in its database.    Basically doubling everything?

Also I see no way It could read existing keywords.   In psd files for example?

pior

Heya there @gnoop, @Noors, @myclay -

I am giving Eagle a try and it is giving me some excellent first impressions - it's fluid, very fast, and displays things beautifully. However I feel like I just don't understand the point of it, as it seems (like @gnoop mentionned) to straight up place a duplicate of the added files into its own specific library folder, as opposed to simply linking to the original image - meaning that I have no way to "go back" to the original location of the file, which in my case is the *whole* point of using such a program in the first place....

In other workls, performing "Open in Explorer" doesn't bring me back to the original location of my images, but instead it brings me to a rather useless copy. There's got to be an option to change that behavior, somewhere ? And if not, what would be a good alternative app ?

- - - - -

[edit] I've contacted support and they got back to me very quickly, confirming that duplicating the files is the core way Eagle works. However, one can add a custom link/file path as a property in the side panel, which can be used to link back to the location of the original. It's actually a rather elegant solution once it is filled up - It's just a pity that it isn't automated, quite mind boggling really.

gnoop

pior said:

Heya there @gnoop, @Noors, @myclay -

However, one can add a custom link/file path as a property in the right side panel, which can be used to link back to the location of the original. It's actually a rather elegant solution once it is filled up - It's just a pity that it isn't automated, quite mind boggling really.

I seems can't figure out how to do so.   See nothing in right panel for linking .

To be honest  Eagle looks like  totally useless toy for me so far.

Imo untill Windows come to its senses ( unlikely)  and do an option to tag  any file when you save it like MAcOS   it should be  typical embedded keywords  for image format that support it    or xmp sidecar files  like what Adobe bridge  does for RAW images.      DAM soft typically read  and import XMP automatically  .     

   So ideally imo it should be an addon  to Blender  for example that writes xmp  with keywords  you set somewhere in the file when you work with it.    Not just a single tag  but  many keywords.      Same for  Substance Designer.   It writes its category or label   when you work on a file. It does it as a text in xml   so can be searchable  by some script theoretically and turned into XMP sidecar files.   

  Then a DAM like iMatch could  import them automatically, update,  keep track of versions , make data driven sorting  , events   and so on.    And keep track of moving to another disk  if you do it through iMAtch either.

Unfortunately  I don't think something like those scripts, addons  exists.    So far I found only a cool script for Photoshop  that adds selected layers  names to  file keywords  https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/a-script-or-something-that-would-make-layer-names-a-psd-file-keywords/m-p/12394801#M584714

 I managed to make that "tagging for Windows" free thing somewhat working.   I still can't create tags in windows default file explorer  but perfectly can in Total Commander that  I use since beginning of time.   Once created and assigned in Total commander those tags are seen everywhere , in   file explorer, open/save dialogs  etc.   Still copy file  together with a tag works in Total commander only.

Tried XYplorer and it's too convoluted  and puzzling , a typical programmers toy.  People say I can see and search by image keywords by a script  there but I can't make such script working.

pior

The link feature is driven by the field that initially says "http...", which once filed gets a little Earth Globe icon acting as a button to open said link - and it works for local system links. Of course ideally it should just fill itself up automatically, but doing it manually isn't actually too bad at least for my own specific use (which doesn't rely on indexing the full content of image folders, but rather merely keeping some visual bookmarks to ongoing projects by showing a few WIP pictures).

gnoop

Thanks pior.      it still have t copy the file in Eagle  special resource folder   and the link is not updatable  if you move the file somewhere.    I think  woud be simpler to just make file shortcuts and  keep them in a "project folder"  .    

pior

Yeah, I think it's just one of those case where a software does some very interesting things, just not *quite* the things that the presentation and features list suggest. All that said that's a very good surprise as far as I am concerned as it's already been helpful after just a mere day of use.

myclay

@gnoop @pior  That´s sadly true, Eagle is failing in that mentioned aspect and can only create its own library folder which results in duplicated files and a confusing data structure.
Eagle has an Enable Auto-Import feature available which automatically makes and puts a copy of the files from a folder which is being monitored.

There is an option to import iptc attributes and convert them to Tags which Eagle can understand.
https://en.eagle.cool/article/757-how-to-import-images-with-iptc-attributes


Regarding XYplorer,
According to the Forum, importing exporting tags is possible but straight up scripting territory.
https://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18813