Ok, so I am getting ready to start selling some content. I have purchased many add-ons here however have never purchased any actual content such as props or scenes. That being said, I am not sure how they are delivered.
I have seen a few different ways that these add-ons are delivered… most are .zip downloads that install with a click. Some are blend files and most recently I purchased a .json file. So do I export a .fbx file or make the .blend file available?
If I can just use the .blend file, my next question would be textures…
I have purchased several texture add-ons… They all say I can use commercially. Can I just leave what I use in blender connected to the file that I sell? Or do I have to bake these textures then attach to the item before I put the .blend file up for sale?
Thanks in advance for any help on this. I am getting ready to open my space on the Reallusion Marketplace which I hope will serve as a portfolio for the Blender Market. Once I get that up I plan on taking the next step to opening a shop on Blender Market
I have a few things on BM, had a few sales. I suspect other more experienced sellers can chime in, but or what it’s worth here’s my 2 cents.
I just provide the .blend. It takes like 2 seconds to export other formats, so it seems like download bloat to provide FBX etc.
I would be inclined to bake just because it’s better for performance and file size. The exception would be if proceduralism is part of the appeal of the asset. Nothing worse than downloading an asset and discovering it has the world’s most node heavy materials when a simple texture would suffice.
Thank you Grant. The baked images look good but not as good as the originals. I have also noticed that if baking from a UV Map that editing the texture may cause it to distort on the mesh. But if using in another project that will get exported, not having to bake the textures would be a time saver. Hmmmm.
Sending a .blend file I think is great. I have tried to import a .fbx export and I noticed that editing it was not as compatible as the original. I know I am not explaining that correctly… It seemed to have more limitations than from the original blender mesh. Maybe that was imported after exporting from another program. UG! I do remember wanting to see what editing would be like from another program that I use.
Just my two cents (not selling myself):
People looking on blendermarket… use blender… so the blend file would be the easiest way… (also try if this works in older version or provide them all…). Also using addons is fine… if the user don’t need them to use your content (and you don’t want to re-sell it)…
If you wanna sell content elsewhere then another format (FBX, alemembic, OBJ, …) would be a must be i think… but i would check the usability with other apps… it would backfire if someone is know to sell bad working FBX…
Personally I just texture everything in substance painter when I can, and make bespoke textures for each asset. Usually this is more efficient than having multiple materials - on a per item basis. Also tends to look better. Unless it’s glass or something.
I also do this as I hate downloading things from say, blenderkit, and finding that something simple like a castor wheel is actually a collection of 15 separate objects and 10 materials. It’s so annoying using a few assets and finding out later that your blend file is suddenly 10GB because half a dozen assets came with like 80 different 4-8K textures, and half of those contain flat black emission or metallic textures too.
Substance painter is rentware. I do not rent software. Everything I use I either purchased outright or it is OpenSource. I do not want to be a slave to another monthly payment. I can achieve the same professional results without that monthly ball and chain around my ankle.
I purchased this add-on called VMats. almost 3k textures. Just about anything you would need. Both Cycles and Evee… Really good textures… a bitch to bake but really good textures. I use the 2k images for mid level quality as that is what I am using in my projects.
IMO, good textures make or break a project. I have noticed that my projects have gotten 1000 times better using good quality textures. I have gotten a couple real DUD texture packs in the blender market. LOL.
I do strip and clean my files (to the best of my ability) of all unused textures, meshes, etc… I do try to keep them as small as possible.
Everything I use I either purchased outright or it is OpenSource. I do not want to be a slave to another monthly payment. I can achieve the same professional results without that monthly ball and chain around my ankle. 
