Textures

Packed vs Unpacked

Importing provides the option to either use packed images in the Blender file or export the images to an external folder. Use the packed option to make the Blender file easier to share with others. Packed textures use more memory and will import slower.

For stages, it's strongly recommended to leave image packing unchecked and specify a folder to generate PNG image files. Saving images to a folder will use less memory and import much faster due to Blender needing to create fewer copies of the image data.

Editing Textures

xenoblade_blender supports exporting textures from the current scene or any supported image format from a specified folder. Image textures must use the expected naming conventions to correctly determine the texture to add or replace.

Textures can also be extracted and edited using xc3_tex. The textures exported by xc3_tex can also be used as the textures in an external folder. See the README for usage information.

These options enable a number of texture editing workflows with a variety of image editing programs. One such workflow tested on Blender 4.3 is described below.

• Import the model with images unpacked and specify an image folder.
• Make sure images are unpacked in the Blender file with File > External Resources > Unpack Resources > Use Files in Original Location and save.
• Edit the PNG images an image editor and reload in Blender as necessary by reloading the image or opening the Blend again.
• Enable image export when exporting. Specifying an image folder is not necessary since Blender is referencing the external texture files.