Blender Publisher supports a new file format, ready for future expansion to streaming and optimising. Currently, the following new options are available:
Compression
The entire file is compressed. This will compress regular Blender files down to as low as 25% of its original size.
Please note that files which include packed jpeg images will compress less efficient.
Compressed files are readable by all Blender Creators and players. So you can send a compressed file to someone who does not own a Publisher (Blender V2.22 or later)
Compressed files are especially useful for playback in the 3D Plug-in or with the stand-alone Player.
Locking
Locked files can be read by any Blender 3D plug-in or stand-alone player
As additional feature, locked files can still be read back by the original owner only
Technical details about locking can be found in the chapter called About locking and security
Signature
adding a signature to a file will prove ownership of a file. It then includes the owner information as stored in the Key.
Signed files can be read by all Blender versions V2.22 or later. Reading a signed file will pop up a splash screen displaying owner information
on save-over the signature disappears (or is replaced with another signature).
3D Plug-in support
Publisher files will be displayed without the default overlay logos in the plug-in
A Publisher file can be used to create a custom 'loading' animation.
This implies that you use (one of) the new options compression/locking/signing, otherwise Blender Publisher will write a regular Blender Creator file.
Stand-alone player support
The publisher installation contains a stand-alone player. This player only accepts files written with Publisher using one of the new file features
For one of the next releases, a new file type will be supported that will gain an even further compression and is optimised for fast loading in a Blender player. This format is nicked the '.blip' format. It will not contain any information that is required for editing a file, so it cannot be read back by any Creator or Publisher.
Table 1. Overview of file formats: (R=read, W=write, X=not supported)
Blender | Creator | Player | Plug-in | Publisher | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
xxx.blend | Compressed | R | R | R | R/W |
Signed | R | R | R | R/W | |
Locked | X | R | R | R*/W | |
Regular file | R/W | X | R**/W | R/W | |
xxx.blip | Optimized, lossy compression | X | R | R | W |
*Read only for the owner who wrote it.
**The Plug-in reads regular Blender files with a default loading animation and overlay logos.