Out of the box (extensions) experience #122147

New Issue

Dalai Felinto · 2024-05-23T11:52:05+02:00

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-05-23 11:52:05 +02:00

There is an (old) idea of allowing people to easily enhance their Blender experience "off the box". Originally this was thinking about assets, but the same could be said about add-ons and themes.

As a matter of fact, the online functionality brought by the extensions platform (and in the future remote asset repositories) address just that. The downside is, you still need internet connection.

Given some of the feedback on the extensions platform for people who want (or need) to work 100% offline, it is interesting to provide an option for them as well. And even more anyone should be able to create their own bundle and share around.

To better leverage the extensions platform these extensions should be seen as a quick-start, and still be treated as any other extensions downloaded from the same repository. That means they can still be updated afterwards.

Features/tasks:

Create a bundle of the 4.1 extensions (excluding core) to offer as download.
Blender should support either individual or multiple draggable .zip files.
- Installing multiple will not enable the add-ons (the option will be disabled).
Install (to remote repository) from disk #122302

This is done because users will likely want to install a “pack” without enabling them all.
Further, any errors are likely to be difficult to troubleshoot if there are many at once.

To-be decided:

Do we ship some more essential extensions (node wrangler, rigify, ...) as:
- Core Add-ons;
- As pre-installed extension;
- Leave them only in a separate downloadable bundle together with the other 100 4.1 extensions;
Whatever solution we go with, it still be decided on a case-by-case basis.

There is an (old) idea of allowing people to easily enhance their Blender experience "off the box". Originally this was thinking about assets, but the same could be said about add-ons and themes. As a matter of fact, the online functionality brought by the extensions platform (and in the future remote asset repositories) address just that. The downside is, you still need internet connection. Given some of the feedback on the extensions platform for people who want (or need) to work 100% offline, it is interesting to provide an option for them as well. And even more anyone should be able to create their own bundle and share around. To better leverage the extensions platform these extensions should be seen as a quick-start, and still be treated as any other extensions downloaded from the same repository. That means they can still be updated afterwards. Features/tasks: * [ ] Create a bundle of the 4.1 extensions (excluding core) to offer as download. * [ ] Blender should support either individual or multiple draggable .zip files. * Installing multiple will *not* enable the add-ons (the option will be disabled). * [x] Install (to remote repository) from disk #122302 This is done because users will likely want to install a “pack” without enabling them all. Further, any errors are likely to be difficult to troubleshoot if there are many at once. To-be decided: * Do we ship some more essential extensions (node wrangler, rigify, ...) as: * Core Add-ons; * As pre-installed extension; * Leave them only in a separate downloadable bundle together with the other 100 4.1 extensions; * Whatever solution we go with, it still be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Dalai Felinto added the

Type

To Do

label 2024-05-23 11:52:05 +02:00

Dalai Felinto added this to the Python API project 2024-05-23 11:52:05 +02:00

Archie Williams commented

2024-05-23 12:24:27 +02:00

Little thought I had, has there been a custom format considered for extensions? Just zip files in reality but renamed to like "BLA" (blender add-on) or something like that and letting them be double clicked or dragged - it might make it more simple for users to tell what's a blender add-on and what isn't since I've seen some confusion about how to install them from zips before (as they aren't really seen as something you install something with usually)

Dalai Felinto added

and removed

labels 2024-05-23 14:11:08 +02:00

Paul Kotelevets commented

2024-05-24 22:41:56 +02:00

a custom format

Yes, there were a problem with detecting if zip is installable as an addon (or is just, say, a repository zip download).

> a custom format Yes, there were a problem with detecting if zip is installable as an addon (or is just, say, a repository zip download).

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-05-27 11:32:24 +02:00

Updated the task since we are dropping the idea of adding the repository information on the manifest. Instead we will implement support to installing to remote repository from disk.

Dalai Felinto referenced this issue

2024-05-27 11:35:25 +02:00

Extensions Platform: beta launch #119521

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2024-05-27 14:07:52 +02:00

I don't really understand the purpose of the bundle of 4.1 extensions, assuming that's only going to be made available for Blender 4.2 and not updated after. Then users will learn to install this bundle, maybe some studios will automate the installation. And then for Blender 4.3 or 5.0 some of those add-ons break, and users will have to set things up again? It seems confusing to me.

Personally I think something like this could be done:

Bundle more add-ons as core. Including node wrangler, rigify and maybe 10 more popular ones. Most of these are being effectively maintained by Blender developers, and to me it does not make so much difference in which repository that happens. While the functionality can be dubious in cases, looking at the git history there doesn't seem to be that much maintenance overhead besides automated cleanups and API updates, which isn't so bad to validate the impact of API changes.
Try to improve the migration of bundled add-ons to extensions. Maybe rather than just showing as missing in the UI, there could be something like. "This add-on was moved to the online extensions repository. [Install Extension]".

In some ways I think these are just growing pains, and many of the user concerns will go away once it becomes clear that the extensions repository has many more useful add-ons than what we used to bundle with Blender, and the particular set add-ons that used to be bundled will not be so important anymore. But we are not there yet, and I think the transition can be made a bit smoother.

I don't really understand the purpose of the bundle of 4.1 extensions, assuming that's only going to be made available for Blender 4.2 and not updated after. Then users will learn to install this bundle, maybe some studios will automate the installation. And then for Blender 4.3 or 5.0 some of those add-ons break, and users will have to set things up again? It seems confusing to me. Personally I think something like this could be done: * Bundle more add-ons as core. Including node wrangler, rigify and maybe 10 more popular ones. Most of these are being effectively maintained by Blender developers, and to me it does not make so much difference in which repository that happens. While the functionality can be dubious in cases, looking at the git history there doesn't seem to be that much maintenance overhead besides automated cleanups and API updates, which isn't so bad to validate the impact of API changes. * Try to improve the migration of bundled add-ons to extensions. Maybe rather than just showing as missing in the UI, there could be something like. "This add-on was moved to the online extensions repository. [Install Extension]". In some ways I think these are just growing pains, and many of the user concerns will go away once it becomes clear that the extensions repository has many more useful add-ons than what we used to bundle with Blender, and the particular set add-ons that used to be bundled will not be so important anymore. But we are not there yet, and I think the transition can be made a bit smoother.

Sean Kennedy commented

2024-06-04 02:46:55 +02:00

I love this idea overall, but coming from the perspective of someone who has worked at both large and small studios, internet access on studio machines is extremely limited, thus making it more or less impossible to download Blender on our own without going through an IT department (or whoever is in charge of both internet access and approving software that can be installed on studio machines).

Right now, to get the latest version of Blender installed, it's generally pretty easy because I fought that battle years ago and the studio is finally comfortable with the basic download. Having an extra bundle of extensions to download means jumping through all the hoops again. Requesting it, waiting for them to find it and download it, and then run it through whatever virus detection stuff they use. Honestly not that big of a deal, but at small studio, it could take up to a day or so for all that to be cleared, depending on their workload.

I love the idea of a Core add-on bundle which would be included in the main Blender package (if I'm understanding that correctly).

I love this idea overall, but coming from the perspective of someone who has worked at both large and small studios, internet access on studio machines is extremely limited, thus making it more or less impossible to download Blender on our own without going through an IT department (or whoever is in charge of both internet access and approving software that can be installed on studio machines). Right now, to get the latest version of Blender installed, it's generally pretty easy because I fought that battle years ago and the studio is finally comfortable with the basic download. Having an extra bundle of extensions to download means jumping through all the hoops again. Requesting it, waiting for them to find it and download it, and then run it through whatever virus detection stuff they use. Honestly not that big of a deal, but at small studio, it could take up to a day or so for all that to be cleared, depending on their workload. I love the idea of a Core add-on bundle which would be included in the main Blender package (if I'm understanding that correctly).

Dalai Felinto referenced this issue

2024-06-04 13:11:22 +02:00

Extensions: Option to extract extensions #122710

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2024-06-04 15:39:40 +02:00

I love the idea of a Core add-on bundle which would be included in the main Blender package (if I'm understanding that correctly).

This already exists basically, and about 10 (out of previous ~110) add-ons are in this core bundle. Node wrangler was added to this as well now.

My proposal was to add about 10 popular ones to cover the most important cases. Though it currently doesn't look like there will be agreement on that.

The other proposals are about bundles that can be created or downloaded separately.

> I love the idea of a Core add-on bundle which would be included in the main Blender package (if I'm understanding that correctly). This already exists basically, and about 10 (out of previous ~110) add-ons are in this core bundle. Node wrangler was added to this as well now. My proposal was to add about 10 popular ones to cover the most important cases. Though it currently doesn't look like there will be agreement on that. The other proposals are about bundles that can be created or downloaded separately.

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-06-24 13:12:50 +02:00

This is considered done now that Install remote from disk is done.

The System repository is documented here, and allow people to handle a portable Blender:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/4.2/advanced/deploying_blender.html

This is considered done now that [Install remote from disk](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/122302) is done. The System repository is documented here, and allow people to handle a portable Blender: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/4.2/advanced/deploying_blender.html

Dalai Felinto closed this issue

2024-06-24 13:12:53 +02:00

Blender Bot added the

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Archived

label 2024-06-24 13:12:54 +02:00

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Out of the box (extensions) experience #122147