Multi-mesh importing, being able to upload multiple meshes at once

Feature Requests Studio Features
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#1

Uploading multiple meshes at once rather than importing them individually

I wasn’t sure if this topic had been addressed yet or not; I spoke with some fellow devforum members and they had not seen a feature request like this, so I decided to create one.

It’s hard to create a place filled with many different mesh pieces without going through the tedious process of uploading each asset individually. For example, if we look at the vast number of mesh pieces that could be in a playable game, we can do some simple math to estimate the time spent uploading each asset and how much time we could save by doing this all at once.

Let’s assume we’re creating a hangout place which includes the following;

  • Lobby
  • Outdoor area
  • Coffee Shop

In each of these categories, the following mesh pieces may need to be created;

  • Chairs (1)
  • Tables (2)
  • Lobby structures (10)
  • Lobby decorations (15)
  • Bushes (3)
  • Trees (3)
  • Rocks/Boulders (3)
  • Coffee shop structures (10)
  • Vanity items (5)
  • Benches (2)
  • Coffee machines (2)
  • Coffee shop decorations (15)

Assuming each of these categories may have multiple pieces, the estimation adds up to a base number of 71 different assets. With it taking around 2 minutes to export the mesh object as a .obj or .fbx, then created a meshpart, and finally uploading the mesh into studio, we can assume we would spend around a minimum of 2.4 hours in this tedious cycle. Imagine a larger, content heavy game, with over 500 various mesh pieces. I’d hate to spend 16.7 hours alone in the importing process, especially when game content can be very time sensitive; this problem is exponential as the content increases.

If I was baking a batch of cookies, which would waste the most time:

  • Baking each cookie individually

OR

  • Baking a batch of cookies at once

I think the concept is fairly simple, and would benefit all Blender users and mesh creators alike. It would save a great deal of time to select a group of mesh files and simply drag and drop them into studio. The mesh parts would automatically be created, and the locations for each mesh would be automatically assigned from their object data.

63 Likes
Import Multiple Meshes
#2

support! :yellow_heart:

3 Likes
#3

This has my full support! Considering just one track of a racing game I’m working on had me upload ~50 meshes, it wasn’t exactly fun to upload.

When going through with getting those race track meshes ready, I did decide to do some digging, and found out that you could actually run some code to allow you to batch export every object in the instance of Blender.

Export Code 
import bpy

def export_all_fbx(exportFolder):
    objects = bpy.data.objects
    for object in objects:
        bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
        object.select = True
        exportName = exportFolder + object.name + '.fbx'
        bpy.ops.export_scene.fbx(filepath=exportName, use_selection=True)
        
export_all_fbx(bpy.path.abspath('//'))

This will take every object, and export it as a .fbx file into the same folder as your .blend file is saved, using the same name it has inside Blender.

For those who haven’t run a script in Blender before, it’s simple. Open up the text editor, create a new set of text, paste in the code and click Run Script.

Very handy to help cut down a lot of the tediousness in uploading a large amount of meshes.

5 Likes
#4

Support!!

2 Likes
#5

I support just because I’ve modeled entire maps in blender to export to roblox and it is not fun spending about 4 hours alone in just clicking around to import assets.

4 Likes
#6

I support this, but I dont know if roblox moderators would support this.

Someone could have a file filed with lets 100 meshes. They upload all the meshes at once. Now if this person had malevolent intent they would upload all the meshes again, and again, and again, just to screw with the mods and make them work harder. It has happened before.

1 Like
#7

Oh my god please! Yes I support this, this is the only thing I hate about modeling and it’s just a ROBLOX fault.

4 Likes
#8

um… I’m rusty on my python so I can’t remember where the indents need to go… but um mind reformatting your post with indents for the code so it’ll work? thx.

#9

The code comes from here, where it was already formatted properly.

#10

@GuestCapone Sorry, as I’ve said I simply found it. Saved the original formatting though, so I’ll edit that in now.

@Corecii Almost. With that one, you specify which place is the output folder, while with what I have was just ever so slightly edited from a script to export everything to .obj.

1 Like
#11

Support!

1 Like
#12

Support for this!

1 Like
#13

Not being able to upload multiple meshes at once is an embarrassment. Please fix this!

3 Likes
#14

I defintley support this. I often make tons of meshes too, in fact, I sometimes go up to making about 80 separate meshes just for one model! Imagine the time I spend making multiple models, and not just a few once in a while…

But as much as a feature like this could be extremely helpful and time saving, I would like to also suggest something here.

Meshes that are uploaded should take the name of the fbx file you’re uploading from. If you already noticed, if you use a name or term that is inappropriate in ROBLOX’s standards, you are already prompted that you can’t use that name when uploading a mesh. This means they can already prevent certain meshes from uploading, or at least prompting you change it or terminate the upload process entirely.

Why do I think this will also be helpful? It’s simple.

  1. It keeps your meshes organized by name, it’s generally hard to find a specific mesh using workspace (obviously you can do this visually, unless the meshes are bunched up in a small area and the collision box is overlapping other meshes making it impossible to select specific meshes).

  2. You’re going to name your meshes anyway. Uploading meshes seperatley is tedious enough. Naming them is not any less tedious.

  3. This will be extremely useful for animators. When rigging a model, you are required to make every movable part named differently, otherwise the animation plugin (even blender) Will be confused and disable one joint while the other is active, and me personally, I’m talking about a scale between 30 to 80 meshes to upload. I name them already when exporting, but again while uploading? C’mon!

3 Likes
#15

I’ve wanted this for a very long time. This would assist in so many ways it would be completely revolutionary - I’d be able to make an extremely detailed, realistic building in less than 15 minutes. To save the moderators a large hassle, perhaps batched meshes could only be uploaded to roblox in a max. part count of 50 per batch, then the rest of the meshes are queued to be uploaded in 20 minutes. The developer would see them, so they could keep working on their game regardless, but it won’t be submitted for moderation until 20 minutes later when he has another batch import available. This way, workflow isn’t interrupted, but roblox admins don’t have dry eyes spamming the “Accept” button to millions of shapes. Not only would everyone be happy, but since the meshes don’t submit until 20 minutes has passed, other assets, such as decals, would have a fair chance of the developer seeing them quickly.

#16

What about the 50/20 meter I was talking about? Then all spamming would hurt is the developer.

#17

This reminds me of my post about collision meshes… :thinking:

#18

Well the spamming would be done by bots, so any spamming would hurt the moderators. And maybe a limit of like 5-10, 50 and 20 is still a lot.

Idk they never allowed us to upload multiple of anything so I dont have high hopes for this as well.

#19

There is a plugin on chrome that lets you upload multiple decals, though this may just be a for loop that clicks the button for you. Oh well. Maybe since meshes are generally separated by nature, one would have a better case with meshes than anything else. Another thing is that the moderators could view each group of ~20 meshes at once, so they could see what it’s supposed to make instead of each piece individually. Of course the problem with this is that someone will obviously just put their nasty content into a box that surrounds it, so perhaps on the piece of software they use for moderation, a viewport up top would show the meshes put together, and on the bottom row a line of each mesh individually to see if anything stands out. Also, the idea of putting something in a box would be about the same risk they’re taking right now, so I’m sure they’ve found a way around it by now. Polygon count is also a large tell tale there is something hiding in the box…

#20

Any status on this staff?

3 Likes