❔How to use it
A guide explaining how to use BlendShot
Last updated
A guide explaining how to use BlendShot
Last updated
BlendShot is simply an asset browser not an addon, as such it meets the advantages and disadvantages of using the asset browser.
The main advantage is that it does not depend on Python code, which means that it will remain constantly updated and compatible with future versions of Blender, saving artists the need to wait for updates.
The disadvantage is that problems can arise when using the asset browser, since it is currently not possible, for example, to directly reset material properties from the asset browser. Each time it is necessary to purge unused materials. However, do not worry, in this guide we will see how to easily solve such issues.
To assign a material it will be sufficient to do a drag and drop of the material to the object interested and it will take the assigned color.
Customizing a material can be done either directly from the Shader Editor or from the material management panel located on the right.
If you apply the same material to two different meshes, they will be automatically linked, which means that any changes you make to the material will be reflected in both meshes. To avoid this, you need to duplicate and separate the material. This way, you will be able to customize them separately.
Unfortunately, in Blender's asset browser, it is still not easy to reset a material back to its original properties. However, there are two ways to do this:
The first method is to purge materials directly using Blender's "Purge" function (by going in the Orphan Data Tab). The purge function in Blender is a powerful tool that helps you clean up and optimize your project by removing unused and superfluous data.
The second method is to revert the project (after saving). In fact, Blender automatically performs a purge every time it is closed in order to optimize the size of the project.
Remember that the purge function operates only on materials that are not applied to any mesh. Before performing the purge, verify that the materials you wish to reset are not associated with any mesh!
If you are a curious or experienced artist, you may be tempted to explore the knot groups in the materials. However, it is important to keep in mind that this could pose risks, as each node group can be connected to multiple materials. Even a simple change to a parameter within one node could cause problems for all other nodes of the same type.
For example, consider the case of metal: if you make a change to the node (adding, removing or changing parameters) and then load another metal material, the latter will inherit the same settings as the previous group. This happens because the materials in BlendShot are designed specifically to function as they were created, which means that metal cannot magically turn into plastic and vice versa.
If you want to change one group without affecting the others, you need to separate it from the others. To do this, you can select two types of materials that share the same group and click on the number next to the name in the node. In this way, you will be able to freely change the settings within the group without harming the other nodes.
