a question for game TAs
For every game project I’ve been on , I have seen a similar pattern of asset directories:
mirrored directory trees between DCC source files (Maya, 3DS Max) and exported game assets (materials, skinmeshes and animations)
The tool chains usually do something like
def convert_to_export_path(source_path):
export_path= source_path.replace(SOURCE_ROOT_DIR, EXPORT_ROOT_DIR)
return export_path
so C:/project/source_assets/path/to/file
becomes C:/project/game_assets/path/to/file
It’s nice because the export path is easy to determine from the source path. (of course it’s oversimplified here, but that’s the basic approach )
It’s been sufficient for the smaller teams and projects I have been on. However, as I have moved to larger teams and projects I have seen this tight coupling between directory structures introduce some friction and cost. Differences in what departments want create confusing structures for the other teams, and moving assets breaks things.
Have you achieved a decoupling of the source and exported asset directories?
If so, how to you make the export paths deterministic and tool friendly?
How do you trace exports back to source files for iteration & debugging?