Package Scene

Package Scene

Package Scene, found in the Save menu, gathers information from your scene and locates the items into the specified directory. You can choose to Package Files for transporting it to a different hard drive location, either locally or on another machine; Consolidate Files, which will bring any files that are currently not in your content directory into it; or Create a Zip Archive of your scene. This last is like Package Files but with the addition of archiving the content directory.

Typing a path name works, just remember to hit Tab once you are finished typing

Package Scene is a Python script that will organize your scene content. It will also deal with .MDD, .BDD, and .PFX files, and works whether or not your content is actually in the current content structure. If a content element is currently loaded into your LightWave scene, Package Scene will find it.

VDB files and sequences are not copied with content directories

Select the destination folder and if you want a new level under that for each subdirectory, type the name in the Subdirectory box. The paths will be updated after tabbing or pressing the Enter key.

  • Preserve Existing Structure - When checked, Package Scene will keep any specific content directory structure you are using, preserving subfolders and naming conventions
  • Copy Image Sequences - Image sequences can often get very big so are often defined outside the normal content directory structure. If you'd like to keep the scene package integral, you can check this option to bring a scene's image sequences into the content directory structure. The choice of using a named subfolder for sequences is yours
  • Copy UDIM Sequences - As above, but for UDIM image sequences.
  • Copy Radiosity Cache File - If a cache has been generated it makes sense to include it with the package so it doesn't need to be regenerated.
  • Reload Original Scene After Export - if you are using Package Scene to prepare files for sharing, it may be that you want to reload the original scene, if so check this option. If you want to make sure the Package has worked, you will probably want to use the packaged scene so leave this option unchecked.
  • Export for 2015 - Saves a version of the scene that can be loaded in LightWave 2015. The scene file version is converted to one 2015 can load and objects are saved in LWO2 format. Be aware that 2018 has many features that don't exist in 2015, from lighting to surfacing so further editing of the 2015 version of the scene will no doubt be needed.

After the interface in which you select the target directory for the export, the script:

  1. Gets a list of all images and their paths.
  2. Copies these images to the target directory.
  3. Replaces all the images with their new location.
  4. Changes the content directory to the target content directory.
  5. Saves each object to the target location.
  6. Saves the scene to a temp location.
  7. Parses the scene file to find .MDD, .BDD, and .PFX references.
  8. Finds and copies the dynamics files to their target location.
  9. Rewrites the scene file, changing the respective dynamics paths, to the target location.
  10. Loads the new scene file. This means at the end of operations, the user is now active in the newly exported and saved version of the scene, not the original scene from the original location.
  11. If Reload Original Scene is checked, it will instead load the original scene.