Installation Guide

Method 1: Install from Blender Market

1. Download the addon ZIP file (do not extract)

1. Open Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons

1. Click Install... and select the downloaded ZIP file

1. Search for "TextureLinker" in the addon list

1. Check the checkbox next to the addon to enable it

Method 2: Manual Installation

1. Extract the addon files to Blender's addon directory:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Blender Foundation\Blender\[version]\scripts\addons\

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blender/[version]/scripts/addons/

• Linux: ~/.config/blender/[version]/scripts/addons/

1. Restart Blender

1. Enable the addon in Preferences > Add-ons

Interface Overview

Main Panel

• Search Path Settings

• Add/remove search directories

• Enable/disable paths

• Texture Scan

• Scan button

• Statistics (total, invalid count, affected materials)

• Fix Operations

• Preview fixes

• Apply fixes

Preview Panel

• Original path

• Suggested path

• Match confidence (High/Medium/Low)

• Match type (Exact/Fuzzy)

Advanced Settings Panel

• Fix Options

• Auto match (fuzzy matching)

• Recursive search

• Advanced Scan Options

• Scan hidden objects

• Scan linked libraries

• Case sensitive

• Matching Algorithm Settings

• Fuzzy match threshold (0.0-1.0)

• Max search depth (1-50)

Quick Start

Step 1: Scan Textures

1. Open a project with missing textures

1. Open the TextureLinker panel in the sidebar

1. Click "Scan Textures"

1. Review the statistics

Step 2: Add Search Paths

• Click "Add Path" to select folders containing textures

• Or click "Add Current Path" to use the project directory

Step 3: Preview Fixes

1. Click "Preview Fixes"

1. Check suggested paths and confidence levels in the preview panel

1. Verify before proceeding

Step 4: Apply Fixes

1. Click "Apply Fixes"

1. Wait for processing to complete

1. Check results and rescan if needed

Feature Details

1. Texture Scanning

• Image Texture (TEX_IMAGE)

• Environment Texture (TEX_ENV)

• Point Density (TEX_POINTDENSITY)

• PNG, JPG/JPEG, BMP, TIFF, TGA, EXR, HDR

• Scan Hidden Objects: Include materials from hidden objects

• Scan Linked Libraries: Include materials from linked libraries (enabled by default)

• Scan results cached for 30 seconds

• Auto-refreshes when materials change

• Manual force refresh available

2. Search Path Management

• Manual selection: Click "Add Path" and select a folder

• Auto-add: Click "Add Current Path" (requires saved file)

• Enable/Disable: Checkbox controls whether path participates in search

• Remove path: Click X button next to path

• Path validation: Only existing valid directories are used

• Prioritize adding project root directory

• Add commonly used asset library paths

• Avoid adding overly large system directories (e.g., C:\)

3. Path Matching Algorithm

1. Exact Match (EXACT)

• Filenames match exactly

• Confidence: 100%

1. Case-Insensitive Match

• Same filename, different case

• Confidence: 90%

1. Fuzzy Match (FUZZY)

• Uses similarity algorithm (requires enabling)

• Confidence: Calculated based on similarity (0.0-1.0)

• Uses SequenceMatcher to calculate filename similarity

• Only matches files with the same extension

• Threshold can be set (default: 0.5)

• Target: texture_diffuse.png

• Found: texture_diffuse_v2.png → High confidence

• Found: diffuse_texture.png → Medium confidence

• Found: tex_diff.png → Low confidence (may be filtered)

4. Preview System

• Original path: Current (invalid) path

• Suggested path: Found new path

• Confidence: Match quality (percentage)

• Match type: EXACT/FUZZY

• High (≥90%): Green ✓, safe to apply directly

• Medium (70-89%): Yellow ?, review recommended

• Low (<70%): Red ✗, manual verification needed

• High confidence can be applied directly

• Medium/Low confidence requires checking filename and path

• If preview is unsatisfactory, adjust search paths or threshold

5. Applying Fixes

1. Scan all invalid textures

1. Find matches in search paths

1. Update image node's filepath property

1. Update statistics

• Shows currently processed material name

• Shows completion progress

• Operation can be cancelled

• Number of successful fixes

• Number of failures (if any)

• Updated statistics

• Rescan recommended after fixing

• Save project before fixing

• Some cases may require manually reloading images

6. Highlight Invalid Textures

• Automatically selects objects containing missing textures

• Visually displays problematic objects in viewport

1. After scanning textures, click "Highlight Invalid"

1. Related objects will be selected

1. View selected objects in Outliner

Advanced Settings

Fix Options

• Enable fuzzy matching

• Default: Enabled

• Recommendation: Enable when dealing with inconsistent filenames

• Search subfolders

• Default: Enabled

• Recommendation: Enable when textures are scattered in subfolders

Advanced Scan Options

• Include materials from hidden objects

• Default: Disabled

• Recommendation: Enable for comprehensive scanning

• Include materials from linked libraries

• Default: Enabled

• Note: Linked library materials may not be directly fixable (depends on permissions)

• Whether exact matches are case-sensitive

• Default: Disabled

• Recommendation: Keep disabled for Windows users

Matching Algorithm Settings

• Range: 0.0 - 1.0

• Default: 0.5

• Explanation:

• 0.5: More lenient, may match more files

• 0.8: More strict, only matches highly similar files

• Recommendation: Start at 0.5, adjust based on results

• Range: 1 - 50

• Default: 10

• Explanation: Limits folder depth for recursive search

FAQ

Q1: Scan shows 0 textures?

• Materials not using nodes (check material settings)

• Texture nodes not connected to images (check node editor)

• Image format not supported (check file extension)

Q2: Preview found file, but texture still missing after applying fix?

• File permission issues

• Path format issues (relative vs absolute paths)

• Manual reload needed: Press R in image editor to reload

Q3: Fuzzy matching can't find file?

• Lower fuzzy match threshold (e.g., 0.3)

• Check if file extensions match

• Verify search paths are correct

• Enable recursive search

Q4: Can't fix materials from linked libraries?

• Fix in original file

• Or make linked library local (Make Local)

Q5: Addon interface shows in English?

• Blender language settings (Edit > Preferences > Interface > Language)

• Addon auto-detects system language

• Can manually set language in scene properties (if supported)

Q6: Scanning is slow?

• Reduce number of search paths

• Avoid adding overly large system directories

• Disable recursive search (if textures are in same directory)

• Use caching mechanism (wait 30 seconds before rescanning)

Troubleshooting

Issue: Addon won't load

1. Check Blender version (requires 3.6+)

1. Check console for errors (Window > Toggle System Console)

1. Verify addon files are complete

1. Try reinstalling

Issue: Textures still not displaying after fix

1. Open image in image editor, press R to reload

1. Check if image node is connected to material output

1. Verify file path is correct (check in image properties)

1. Try using absolute paths instead of relative paths

Issue: High memory usage

1. Reduce number of search paths

1. Lower max search depth

1. Disable auto cleanup cache (if enabled)

1. Regularly clear operation history (if supported)

Issue: Some texture formats not recognized

• Supported formats: PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, TGA, EXR, HDR

• Other formats need to be converted to supported formats

• Or manually load images in Blender