{"id":4798,"date":"2021-06-30T17:38:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T16:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/?p=4798"},"modified":"2023-09-07T15:50:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T14:50:55","slug":"pack-blend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/pack-blend\/","title":{"rendered":"Pack *.blend File"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e4fb5cb2725\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e4fb5cb2725\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/pack-blend\/#pack-all\" >Pack All<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/pack-blend\/#pack-selected\" >Pack Selected<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Blenders *.blend is basically a file dump, it saves project settings, options and properties, restoring them upon reopening a file. Generally excluded from this are images and other externally referenced data. For these <b>Pack<\/b> can be used, turning the *.blend into a self-contained archive. Here assets can be included by packing the entire contents of a project into a file (&#8216;global&#8217; packing), or doing so selectively (&#8216;local&#8217; packing).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: there is no particular difference between the &#8216;global&#8217; and &#8216;local&#8217; approaches to inclusion except the control each provides over the operation, i.e. including &#8216;all&#8217; versus &#8216;selected&#8217;. Neither is inherently better than the other.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"pack-all\"><\/span>Pack All<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To pack the entirety of a project into the *.blend, from the <b>File<\/b> menu simply select <b>External Data<\/b> [1] then <b>Pack All Into .blend<\/b> [2] &#8211; <b><i>File \u00bb External Data \u00bb Pack All Into .blend<\/i><\/b>. All available assets and data will be saved to the open .blend file (saves over the active file), a confirmation message appearing in the <b>Status Bar<\/b> once the package process is complete.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #fc0; color: #000;\"><p><b>Important<\/b>: before packaging assets and data into the open *.blend file make sure it is &#8216;prepped&#8217; to exclude unused, unwanted or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#delete-material-data-blocks\">orphaned<\/a> assets and data else they will be inadvertently included &#8211; for large projects this can cause significant bloat. Note also large files may not be packable due to their size.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: to unpack assets included in a packaged *.blend file, from the <b>File<\/b> menu select <b>External Data<\/b> then <b>Unpack All Into Files<\/b> &#8211; <b>File \u00bb External Data \u00bb Unpack All Into Files<\/b>. This then unpacks the files and drops them into their respective locations, folders and directories being created as needed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/pack-all-into-blend.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/pack-all-into-blend.jpg\" alt=\"Pack Files globally into Blender file\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Packing assets into a *.blend file globally so all project data is included &#8211; ensure orphaned, unused or unwanted data is removed beforehand, especially on large projects.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"pack-selected\"><\/span>Pack Selected<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To pack specific assets of parts of a project the process differs slightly depending on the data to be included. For images, once external data has been locally mapped and is available [3], as a part of a material for example, in <b>UV Editing<\/b> workspace or <b>Image Editor<\/b>, open the <b>Sidebar<\/b> &#8211; <b>View \u00bb Sidebar<\/b> or press <span class=\"shortcutkey\">N<\/span>. Here, in the <b>Image<\/b> tab [4] click the &#8216;package&#8217; icon [5] to the left of the <b>File Name<\/b> input field (displays the name of the selected asset). The button will change indicating the asset is now packed and ready for saving to the *.blend.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: the option to pack data typically appears in the <b>Sidebar<\/b> wherever external assets can be accessed for editing or assignment, e.g. UV Editing workspace, Image Editor, Shading workspace etc. Similarly make sure the asset to be packed is selected [a] then in the <b>Item<\/b> [b] tab (differs from the Image tab when using UV Editing workspace or Image Editor) click the &#8216;Pack&#8217; icon to the left of the <b>File Name<\/b> [c] input box.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/shading-workspace-pack.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/shading-workspace-pack.jpg\" alt=\"Pack assets using Shading workspace\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Assets, images in particular, can be packed into a .blend from wherever they are managed or edited, and the <b>Sidebar<\/b> accessible, e.g. <b>UV Editing<\/b> or <b>Shading<\/b> workspaces, the <b>Image Editor<\/b> or other area.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>To unpack selected assets, in an editor or area able to access the specific item, click the <b>Unpack<\/b> [d] icon and select an option &#8211; <b>Remove Pack<\/b>, <b>Create [asset path]<\/b> or <b>Use [asset path]<\/b>. Blender will then either save the unpacked asset to disk or use any identical assets where available (assumes same &#8216;path\\to\\asset\\[file.*].<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/unpack-selected-asset.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/unpack-selected-asset.jpg\" alt=\"Unpack asset from *.blend file\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>To unpack selected assets, in an editor with access, click the Unpack icon (previously &#8216;Pack&#8217;) and select an option depending on the availability of an existing asset or not as a replacement.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/pack-image-uv-workspace.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/pack\/pack-image-uv-workspace.jpg\" alt=\"Pack selected assets into a blend\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Packaging individual assets into a *.blend has to be done selectively &#8211; in the workspace, editor or area of choice make sure the item to be packed is selected [3] then in the Image tab of the Sidebar [4] click the &#8216;Pack&#8217; icon to the left of the File Name [5] input box.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,230],"tags":[469,602,807,808,794],"class_list":["post-4798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blender","category-tutorials","tag-blend","tag-orphan-data","tag-pack","tag-package","tag-sidebar"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4798"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5023,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4798\/revisions\/5023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}