How to Organize Your Asset Files for the Blender Asset Browser!

In this video, we talk about how to organize your assets for use in the Blender Asset browser, specifically about where to save your files, how to organize the assets inside your files, and more!
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Introduction
0:18 - How the Blender Asset manager shows files
2:03 - How to set the asset library location in Blender
3:14 - Creating material asset Blend files for storing materials
4:39 - Using append to add new materials to your material storage files
6:20 - How to create new material storage files for different kinds of materials
8:25 - How to store model asset files for future use
9:02 - Other asset browser tutorials

[@TheCGEssentials]

Hi everyone! Let me know how you're organizing your asset files for the asset browser in the comments below!

[@muajin]

is it possible to delete materials in the asset library if they are in a blend file?

[@uk3dcom]

I think the asset browser is a good start and something we have wanted for a while, however, I hope we move to a more flexible approach in the future. Ideally any asset marked would automtically appear in the centralised "library" which could then be accessed from any file/project. I'm waiting for collections to be integrated so I can build my rigged characters as assets. Manually managing the files, locations and tags takes the shine from what could be a significant time saving facility. Thanks for the clear tutorial much appreciated.

[@powersprouter]

thank you as always, your tutorials are so great. Seems like rethinking this into a more sensible organization wouldn't be too difficult for one of the developers at blender - I hope we see a better way in a future version.

[@ZenoWatson]

Perfect timing with this tutorial, thank you Justine!

[@Andreamacor]

Thank's Justin. I work for a customer who produces garden irrigation items and inserting the various products with the related materials in the library is a very fast way to recreate the outdoor scenes without going to search through the windows folders every time.

[@alisha_D]

This is lifechanging, thank you so much!

[@HeinerS]

A very helpful video. I am still new to Blender, but could already see that all the self created and downloaded stuff will get difficult to manage fast. And I haven't seen a video on a strategy how to organize yet either, just how the Asset Browser works. So thanks a lot for your thoughts on this, they are a welcome input for me.

[@pleochroic]

Since I just started with Blender a few weeks ago I don't have my assets organized yet, because it's mostly been tutorials and "homework", but I am in the process of setting this up, which is why I am here. I am learning Blender in order to make game assets, so the sooner I get organized the better. For materials I've so far used the Material Library VX addon. And this isn't gonna be fun, I can tell. This implementation is super clunky. In another video I saw people confused or discouraged enough to just make their scene directory into their asset directory; that'll be time consuming for Blender to scan for assets, and will quickly become unwieldy. Your way is considerably better, but it's unreasonably much work for someone for whom asset management is an integral part of their workflow. I mean, it's obviously not your fault, and you're making the best of a bad situation in a way that works for you. Me, I don't like having a bunch of assets in a single blend file because it is opaque to the outside, and since I constantly interact with other software, my asset management in Blender can't be opaque. I want to set up my file structure so it organizes the assets, and ideally would want to drop each asset individually into the relevant subdirectory of the assets folder so I can see it from outside of Blender (with a suitably descriptive filename; I already rename all the textures I download from elsewhere). Some of my workflow will be scripted for import into a game engine, so I can't have assets in collection files. I apparently can't save objects with their associated materials either? And collections not at all? Oh I see, I can, if I instance them. *ugh*. I might have to invest into an external asset manager once I really get going. I'm sure Blender will improve things since the feature is brand new, but that'll take some time. Thanks for the tutorial; that was clearly explained and laid out, and will undoubtedly be useful for a lot of people.

[@stevenlitvintchouk3131]

Agree. Until Asset Browser, I've relied on Material Library VX too. Right now, MLVX still appears easier for managing materials than Asset Browser. Which is all I care about at the moment; I have far more materials than objects that I want to reuse.

[@chuctanundaspiderbone5407]

Best tutorial ever on organizing assets for the asset browser. Thanks

[@TheCGEssentials]

:)

[@Puckerization]

Thanks for the tutorial. I like to mirror the Blender category file structure in my Windows file browser. Saving the .blend files in the corresponding file directory category's helps if the "blender_assets.cats.txt" file gets corrupted or screwed with by another version of Blender. This way it helps to re-build the library as you already have it mapped out in a folder structure. I also have my asset library in DropBox so I don't have to worry about hard drive failure.

[@ConnellArt]

This was super helpful. Thanks a lot.

[@BurnEdOutOne]

Yaaaaas! Thank you! I've been looking for some solid advice on exactly this topic, but so far have been kludging my way along with some youtube comments. Great upload.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@andreamacor4135]

Great tutorial!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Thank you!

[@aluckyshot]

Thanks for sharing.

[@lostartifaxmaker]

Justin, good that you figured out how to organize assets across different blender files. I find that their design decisions seem a little bit hurried or compromised in that this is a very obtuse way to manage assets across one's blender environment. Although your process was well demonstrated, it shows that there is a long way to go before a 'centralized asset management facility' is available to blender projects. My problem is that I am designing intricate bas-relief objects that are applied to a tile, then 3d printed, cast in silicone and then in plaster. To maintain what will eventually become a 'vast' library of decorative shapes, I will need to draw upon this centralized asset management facility to create new designs. I am sure this is a common use-case for Blender users. With your clout with Blender dev's, you can make a case for the idea of a centralized facility which will put Blender into the professional category at long last. Ciao, cheers.

[@avinashsurve2898]

Thanks

[@PrinceWesterburg]

Thank you - I've just avoided the Assets Browser as NONE explained how to use it! Edit: Oh yeah, they showed them using it but not how to set it up.

[@Ruddy761]

Thanks for the clear run through of the asset browser. For materials that have bitmaps do you think it's best to pack the textures in the blend file? Otherwise it will reference the textures from wherever they were. You may end up with textures all over the place that are needed by a library. I hope this makes sense

[@gavindownes2213]

thanks

[@sameeruddin]

If only Blender could read nested folders inside the asset browsers it would be great to save one from the colssal bloated mess the assets files end up becoming . Ideally i would love a situation like this Root folder _ Mats sub folder - DUCKY + CHIPP + NMS mats While only adding "mats" folder in the FIle paths in "preferences" , the asset browser should sniff into the sub folders and populate the "mats" folder as the categories and DUCKY, CHIPP and NMS sub folders as sub- categories . That would really be very ergonomic .

[@daniellemillerart]

Really struggling with it because it seems asset manager will periodically not have half my assets (broken image link or just straight up not there) with no changes. This was helpful though in figuring out a better way to set up files in the asset library vs progressively having too many files or ever blender creation ever made as "assets" would love more videos on asset manager and general setup tips

[@stevea1008]

Excellent - thanks! As I was pulling in materials, I could see my stuff getting harder to find. :( This will help!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it helped!

[@Dan-kb2oz]

As someone new to Blender this seems a ridiculously cumbersome way of saving and organising assets, having to go into the .blend file where specific assets are to be able to organise them in the browser. As a music guy the equivalent for an audio sample library collection would be if DAWs searched for audio files in various project files and their associated audio folders. We don't do that, because it's silly, we just have folders on hard drives full of audio files and a sample library browser to search and organise those audio files in. Why on Earth can't we just have folders with material files and other asset files in that Blender then refers to and can organise freely? Madness.

[@vinodbirudula7724]

Useful

[@TheCGEssentials]

Thanks!

[@akongas]

Thanks for that. Can I ask, how do you get two versions of blender open at the same time? I have a Mac, not a PC though

[@luckycatgear6585]

Big fan of you tutorials they've helped me out a lot. I have 2 problems sort of related. First, is there any simple way to delete an asset from the library. Right now I have to open the Blend file containing the asset to delete it, I can't find a way to simply delete it from the Asset Library Window. Second, I also have assets that show up twice, next to each other, and can't find a way to remove the second one, one has a little pencil in the upper right hand corner. It doesn't affect functionality, but it increases clutter. Three, 3 problems sort of related. I have a lot of different blend asset files in my library, is the only way to get them into individual catalogs, to open the original file and move them there? Sometimes I can't remember which file they're in, because a lot of them are closely related for the project I'm working on. I have one blend file that is just my Asset Library in full window to make it easy to review what I've got, it would be awesome if I could just sort it there. Thanks again for all the great tutorials!

[@l33tacad]

Hi I wanted to know if there is a method to save or align all assets with google drive, in order to have them on other PCs.

[@Mocorn]

Helpful video indeed, cheers! One thing I'm curious about is how to make a material have a thumbnail in the asset browser. Currently my materials do not have thumbnails in the browser and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Any tips or input would be appreciated. Edit: Nevermind, now they suddenly have thumbnails. I'm not sure why or how but hey =)

[@hugoantunesartwithblender]

Well, i just use the asset browser to materials and the file browser wo assets, since collections are not yet supported, so for now asset browser is useless to objects, but since file browser is just as fast :) BUt great video!

[@i.wHiteRabbiT]

You actually already can use collections as assets, and link them in other files and even nest them. The trick is to right click "instance to scene" and then mark that new instanciated collection as an asset. Then if you need to (like moving the objects), just remember to right click and "make library override hierarchy" in the new file ;)

[@TheCGEssentials]

Yeah but that's really kind of a workaround - they really need to add collections as assets without having to do the instancing

[@hugoantunesartwithblender]

@@i.wHiteRabbiT thats a really interesting idea, thank you. I even saved it to try it tomorrow haha

[@HerraHazar]

I am trying to organize my asset browser, currently its all in a mess in the user library, so I made some folders in the asset browser and intended to then drag each asst into each respective folder.... but it will not allow me to do that ? What am I doing wrong ? Or is my assumption that I can actually use the asset browser folders to organize into wrong somehow ?

[@lazygardens]

Not for Blender specifically., but I organize assets in folders by the material and have file names descriptive enough that I can find the file easily. Example: Stone 473 is BAD. Pink polished marble is GOOD. Canvas 090 is BAD. Canvas tan tattered stained is GOOD.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Smart - I try to remember to label them with descriptive names as well, otherwise it's just a big mess - though the way Blender shows the assets is at least helpful

[@HubertKnoblauch3DContentOnline]

Very good! One question, does storing a bunch of 4 k textures for those materials affect the loading /startup time in blender?

[@TheCGEssentials]

This I'm not sure about. I'm assuming it must to a certain degree, but I've not tested it

[@alexandermorgan9145]

Hi at 6:43 you clicked a bunch of different types of images and it automatically placed the images in the correct node, how did you do this? i am looking for a similar workflow.

[@boudewyn]

ctrl shift T with node wrangler enabled

[@mLichy911]

For some reason, I cannot get Catalogs to save/work right in Blender 3.6.0. I created a Bolts.blend. Marked a bolt mesh as Asset in that file/create new Catalog/drag it into that and Save the Bolts.blend. If I open a NEW file, and load my Assets Library, I see the bolt asset, but I don't see any catalogs at all/is blank.

[@mLichy911]

Oh... I see.... I had to select the Root Folder for my Path in the Preferences. If I selected my Sub Folder, it wasn't working, which is odd. Like I made a new Asset Library in prefs, and set the path to that folder, but... it was saving the catalogs in a folder above that or something weird.

[@kullenberg]

Can't you save the asset from the current file without having to open other documents? Seems like a huge oversight if you can't just save assets on the go.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Not that I'm aware of

[@eloycuama1537]

Hola, gracias de antemano. Tengo una duda: Como solucionar el problema del asset rotado (girado) como sucede en el minuto 8:46 del video? He tratado de modificar el asset, aplicarle transformaciones para corregirlo, pero no funciona. Por ejemplo, tengo en la librería una silla (asset), al insertarla desde el asset browser en un archivo nuevo, esta se posa de espaldas sobre el suelo y no sobre sus patas como debería ser correctamente. Gracias de antemano por la respuesta.

[@pryada]

apply location / rotation / scale - asset must be centered, on top of the origin

[@BlenderArcturus]

I am losing my mind. Categories are not saved. Blender does not create a category file. I tried to create a new folder to save assets but it didnt change anything.

[@eyeprops5422]

Really don't think about any kind of structure at the directory / folder level. Whatever I do I just save it to a new folder in the Asset Browser folder. I do all the structuring/ naming in the Asset Browser itself. I just make sure to do an incremental backup. When It gets huge I can't imagine a hard drive failure.

[@TheCGEssentials]

You just save every Blender file with any kind of asset you want to use in the browser folder? That sounds like it would get out of control fast

[@eyeprops5422]

@@TheCGEssentials Yeah. Right now I just do all the organizing of categories and sub categories in the Asset Browser itself. The browser also has a right click feature to "open blend file" in case I need it so I don't have to go searching through folders.

[@emilsvfx]

yes this is annoying workflow, but tnx four your tip

[@spiralmoment]

I hope in the future assets will be separated from the blender files, and can just be dragged and dropped into folders in the asset browser. This is just clunky and overly complicated. Its still way better than nothing though.

[@constantineskliris]

Good Tutorial, Blender filing system not so good

[@3dMistri]

start from scratch, how to start using asset browser, not from in between.

[@fall190]

for the last 8 hours ive been trying to organize my library. its a freaking nightmare

[@TheCGEssentials]

Yeah - I kind of wish there was a SOP of some sort for this

[@sonario6489]

It took me about..... a minute. Characters in one category, furniture in another, materials in another.

[@fall190]

@@sonario6489and how did u import hundreds of objs/ fbx/ blend files into a few of library blend files in a couple of minutes ?

[@sonario6489]

@@TheCGEssentials SOP?

[@sonario6489]

@@fall190 I created the catalogs I need before importing. I also abuse the hell out of Quick Favorites when I'm importing and marking things. Though I don't have hundreds of imports yet. setting my workflow up beforehand helps later down the line

[@funw3d538]

Having a bunch of note paper doesn't make you a good note-taker (nor does it make you organized)! It may be a personal problem.

[@Gambsmoore]

Dude this asset browser is kinda a pain in the ass compared to other softwares with similar features. Just let me fucking flag a material in a file as an asset and make it usable from anywhere don't catalogue EVERY SINGLE THING IN THE DAMN BLEND IM TRYING TO SAVE TIME HERE

[@carloscaldeira4448]

Heavy, boring to add images to each preset, the auto render is horrible, it seems unfinished, hostage to blender files, bad asset idea, I use asset browser in Max, C4D, MODO, LW, Maya and none of them have this lack of logic , an asset browser must always be associated with the directory, which means that it can always be edited from the windows explorer and that doesn't happen in this blender asset crap and another important detail is that the files saved in the asset browser should never be the object of the blender, because otherwise the asset is hostage to the blender files, blender is a good program but it has many errors from hand to hand, I believe that blender users are happy with this asset because they probably never had an asset before and they believe that this is a good resource, but no. It's actually a very bad resource, especially for me as an ArchViz user. I'm still only at 500 objects and whenever I try to open my asset it takes forever to open and when it opens it takes another forever to read each of the catalogs. It's super annoying. obviously there are also good things but these criticisms I made are about what I think makes the asset a good asset.

[@othoapproto9603]

ASS browser, designed by engines to confuse artists. What a FUBAR