Have a dedicated .import folder to enable non-standard asset importing

[LouChiSoft]

Godot's import process is fairly rigid when it comes to importing meshes/animations etc. The process is basically import .fbx/.glb/etc. -> get scene you can instantiate. Which is extremely simple and quick if that serves your purpose, but in the event you want to do something more complex or non-standard it's not simple to import your files in a different manner.

I am making a colony sim and have the most experience with Unity and Unreal prior to trying Godot where when you import a file like an FBX you get a list of resources instead of a scene. And then what you do with those resources is up to you as a developer. What I would like to be able to do is have a single skeleton rig that I can apply different meshes and animation libraries to depending on what I am doing.

Enter my proposal, a dedicated folder for importing standardised assets (glb/fbx/obj/etc.) to be converted to Godot specific resources (AnimationLibrary, Mesh, Skeleton, Textures). The goal with a import folder, which for simplicity I will refer to as .import from now on, is that it is a dedicated location for you to import resources you want to break down. It would have default settings for where to save different types of resources, but all of which are overwritable so the user can decide where they are saved to. For files that are reasonably easy to diff then updating the import should also update the generated resource. For example, if you update your GLB to include a new mesh, then when you save the file in .import Godot could in theory detect and export only the additional mesh.

Since all resources from the .import folder would be converted to Godot specific resources it can simply be discarded on publish as it won't be needed anymore. And also since this would be a dedicated folder for this kind of behaviour is doesn't remove or affect the current standard way of importing files by dragging them into the assets folder and then getting a scene returned to the user. And finally, as a more opinion-based benefit, having everything in a dedicated .import folder creates a separation of concerns that makes project asset management much clearer in my head.

Would love to hear feedback.

[theraot]

Right now we have import scripts that can - taking your example - allow you to import a model as an skeleton. However, you need to set it per imported resource. Of course, it is also possible to make import plugins, but those are more work.

Now, given that you want to place files in a particular folder to have them be handled in an special way, this is what comes to mind: We could have an special name for an import script, so that Godot uses it automatically for any file that is added to the same folder. That way - again taking the example - we could have a folder for models from which we only want the skeleton, there place an import script with an special name, and when we add a model to that folder Godot will automatically import it with that import script.

[theraot]

@LouChiSoft If you want to do something like this right now, this are the broad idea: You would have to make an editor plugin, which subscribes to get notified when the file system changes, attaches the import script on the files it finds in the special folder (this is done by editing their corresponding .import file) and triggering Godot to reimport. Make sure to only trigger the reimport if the import script was actually attached. Note that editor plugins run on the editor, and a bug on then might mean a hang or crash.

[LouChiSoft]

Thanks for the pointers, I'll give it a try. I do still think there is merit in having this be included Editor functionality. Tighter link to Godot's file system, updated alongside the editor etc. But if I can make an editor plugin first that demonstrates the use I would be happy to use it while discussing the potential for an editor improvement

[LouChiSoft]

So I have been trying to implement something akin to you description here. And based on my experience there's probably a few things that would still need to be engine changes that I think would make this solution better/more usable.

• The first thing is that Godot will automatically hide all the folders that start with a . in the editor. While useful for things like the .godot and .git folder for this use case you want to be able to access the .import folder so you can drag things into it. So my suggestion would be to give the user the ability to register custom prefixes in the editor like res://. So in this example I could register the .import folder as a imp:// prefix on plugin start and in the Editor you would have the res:// folder and imp:// folder as distinct separate areas. This isn't the only use case for this change I can think of as well, there have been other plugins that would have been easier to implement if this was a thing.
• The second change, which I think could be done with the first change depending on how it is implemented, is the ability to turn off the default imports. Currently my solution results in you dragging an fbx or glb into the editor, where it is imported by the editor and converted to a scene. Then the import script runs, extracting the individual components and saving those as well. Essentially resulting in 2 imports every time you add or change an externally made file. One could reasonably assume that if they want to do custom importing like this, then they don't need the original Godot import as well. Or making it an option to skip so the user can choose on a per-file basis for the occasions where you do want both imports. (Not that I can think of one off the top of my head at the moment)

[theraot]

@LouChiSoft about your first point, see the proposal:

• Implement custom resource path support #6307

[LouChiSoft]

Ah, interesting. That would certainly solve most of my remaining quirks with such a solution