[INDENT=8]TL;DR version
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K.I.S.S. for environments
Use groups and linking (+ proxies) for management.
***Asset Managementaddon is very great. Before it, I always saved my things on my desktop or in a folder and just labelled them by date and maybe[u][b] a name.
***[INDENT=8][B]Asset Management
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***In order to use it, you have to organize the files in a hierachy: {root}assets\Background\Architect\blends\house
for example. Four original folders are made [assets/hdri/materials/scenes], then you create a subfolder like a type, then a sub-sub folder like a category. (after that are folders for .blend files/thumbnails/favorites for the addon).
Iâm still messy with my organization so my root folder has a bunch of junk but in addition to those four, I have a sounds folder, textures, scripts, and downloads folder(s)âŚand some other junk.
[U]Assets >> individual items for use, such as objects/characters or a background/building which I may or may not link with any other background.
Materials >> treat materials like color picker palette, apply them generally to background elements without having to worry about reloading textures, setup, etc.
Scenes >> Link items/groups from other files and put them together into a single file with small file-space. Link some of these scene files into another scene file if you want. For example, you could build an environment with nothing but linked objects, and save it as a single background/scene file. (note: I use symbolic links to duplicate some folders between assets<>scenes)
sounds/textures >> When Iâm ready to add sound to the sequencer, I can just D&D audio from here without having to search for the files around my computer (same for textures)
This presentation from MAD has some nice methods, some of which are (to my knowledge) also what Blender Foundation does.
- Linking characters into a separate animation file. Create a proxy-rig from the grouped-instance to animate them
- Link other scenes for compositing (I.E. scene1 contains character+BG plus animation; scene2 contains scene1+camera animation+sounds+compositing)
- Create groups for low poly version of characters during animation. This keeps the animation playback fast, then you can switch the group with the hi poly version whenever you want to see or render it in higher quality
***Building your scene
***After you get your idea/planning or however you want to prepare, if the environment isnât the âhighlightâ, then you can put it on the backburner by creating super simple meshes approximately located to represent the scene.
A brick road can be as simple as a plane, you donât need a bunch of bricks or even a texture to show it; itâs just a flat surface for something to go on.
You donât need a bunch of models of people to represent a crowd, just make a stick figure with skin modifier and use Suzanne for a head if you want. Hell, you could skip all that and just use a bunch of cubes.
Buildings? cubes. Planet? Sphere.
Tree? Cylinder with more cylinders/boxes/sphere.
Grass? A plane.
If you argue: what about the details then? A single plane canât represent a field of grass.
My rebuttal is: does the detail of the grass affect the animation?
Point is, you prepare the scene the same way you prepare an animation: K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid.