Failing a final decision regarding Blenders future it would help me (and many others I think) if the format for blender files could be made public. I know that this has been asked before and the answer claimed Blender files are just a memory dump but even so it must still have an identifiable structure. I sincerely hope you will give this suggestion some serious thought (and quickly). Much to my dismay (especially after buying Publisher) I find myself having to look at many other alternatives since the Python API is incomplete, import/ exports are a pain and Blender still remains in limbo. If the development plan had gone to schedule I believe I wouldn’t have this problem by now and while I sympathise with NAN I am beginning to feel that we have been left stranded by events outside our control. So I urge you to release the details of the file format.
i know it’s a banal comment, but
if you have a message for ton…
how about you email it to him?
It may not be just the file format or the unfinished python api, but I believe it all plays into it. All of these little unfinished things are what keeps blender locked in the closet, unable to communicate fully with the outside world, it however is able to slip some things under the door. Basically what it comes down to now is, if you can’t do it in blender, you have to rig up something. In the business world, not many business like to be ‘rigging’ things to work.
@SkyWriter - This forum seems to be the main point of communication these days. Also, I would of thought that the people here would appreciate the suggestion and add their support. It seems to me a very reasonable request given the current circumstances.
if .blend files are a memory dump how come blender can read them and accses indevidual meshes and materials seings the small size of blender it could be used to translate the files into something orderly? or am i wrong
I imagine you’de get a more direct answer emailing him, rather than ‘post and hope’.
I suppose, but you directed the entire message AT ton. so…
@SkyWriter - anything ANYTHING constructive to add!! Maybe you would actually like to give the idea some thought?
I do think skywriter has a point here. Ton is obviously very busy atm and I really don’t think he has time to check these forums.
e-mailing him would therefor be the best means to contact him.
asfar as the .blend file type goes I doubt at the moment it is possible for NaN write the documentation and publish it. However someone has written a perl script before which would convert .blend files to a different file type. Perhaps someone knows the url to this script?
If you have a decent understanding of Perl you may be able to figure out what you want to know from this script.
Greets,
Timothy
if .blend files are a memory dump how come blender can read them and accses indevidual meshes and materials seings the small size of blender it could be used to translate the files into something orderly? or am i wrong
Think about what your saying…
Why would blenders small size hinder its ability to read a file format that’s supposedly essentially a memory dump of it’s OWN internal data structures.
You just need a way to know where everything is within the block of memory (an offset and length index possibly) which I assume the application would have resident in memory during execution anyway.
Might be special issues with diff hw arch’s though, I am only farmiliar with x86 mem architecture (ugh)
asfar as the .blend file type goes I doubt at the moment it is possible for NaN write the documentation and publish it. However someone has written a perl script before which would convert .blend files to a different file type. Perhaps someone knows the url to this script?
If you have a decent understanding of Perl you may be able to figure out what you want to know from this script.
Greets,
Timothy
I think I remember this, and Ton’s amazment? I think he even suggested that someone should give the author a prize 
Of course my memory is too flawed to be reliable.
I think it was Nirved who reverse-engineered the
blend format. (He’s also the guy who fixed some
of the linux/Nvidia bugs and who was the author
of a python launcher GUI thingy).
I believe that officially releasing the blender file
specs would have been a good thing for NaN as
the python import/export always seemed to be
kinda half finished/broken.
Chris
Thanks for the comments so far. Like I said I hoped that people would see how useful it would be if we had an open format. I can appreciate Ton is busy but not too busy to pull some files together since, hey, if the file format isn’t already well documented we’re in deep shit!?
PS: Much obliged if anyone has the URL of that PERL script. I admit to groaning loudly when I read the post though and thinking “grrr not another language to learn!!”. I respect that a lot of people are plainly fanatical about PERL but it makes me sooooooo :x :x :x when I see “encrypted” code. I am gnashing my teeth just thing about it.
If anyone else is interest I found this in Googles cache. The original site isn’t responding at this time…
Cheers ilac! I’ll give it a go tomorrow.
Hmm, i downloaded it, but how do I run it? It looks like just a bunch of c or c++ files.
Hmm, i downloaded it, but how do I run it? It looks like just a bunch of c or c++ files
Compile and link it, then run it.