Thumbnails are in %appdata%\Blender Foundation\Blender\data\gaffer\thumbs
Tags are in %appdata%\Blender Foundation\Blender\data\gaffer\tags.json
Not at the moment, sorry, though this is a good idea.
Unfortunately I have no control over the thumbnail list, it uses blender’s UI template system. Short of rewriting this system from scratch, I can’t make any changes to it sadly. I know it’s not ideal, but using tags and searching for what you want to narrow down the list helps a lot.
Re: categories button: I feel this would clutter the UI unecessarily, as you can already use the tags as a kind of category system and just type what you want in the search bar. HDRIs that are download from hdrihaven.com automatically combine the categories and tags from the website to use as tags in Gaffer.
Maybe as a checkbox option (disabled by default) in the preferences?
Sorry for being a little pushy here but I really like your addon and I will be using it a lot. That’s because I almost never use the search feature to find stuff (not even the spacebar / F3 one).
Also, if I add another hdri in my folder, I don’t automatically get the button to synchronize/update the list. Is there a trick to force it to appear?
Hi, Does Gaffer see HDRI Files that are saved as .EXR extensions? I’m using Some HDRIS provided by Chafouin with his Lightpack_01 Kit and they are saved as .exr files. For some reason Gaffer will see two of the HDRI’s but not the others.
Also is there anyway to delete a HDRI folder path once it has been added?
Thanks,
Update: Ignore the above. Chafouin updated the names of the HDRIs. The all had the same prefix name which was causing some problems. He renamed and reupload the HDRI and they all work with Gaffer now.
I also solved the delete path problem, sort of, in 2.81 the x to delete the path only shows up if there are two folder paths listed.
Glad you figured it out HDR, EXR and TIFF are supported by default, though you can also tell it to detect 8-bit images if you like. If you have any more issues detecting specific files, you can click the Show button in the preferences to see a list of how it’s grouping files together based on the file name, or read more about it here.
The new mapping node in 2.81 seems to break the HDRI rotation slider. I just noticed this problem last night and I have to manually rotate in the world shader.
Currently using gaffer 3.1.4 from github on blender 2.83 alpha, I tried using it with 2.80 but I got this error
where it would say the module installed but nothing would show up
EDIT: apparently there was an error with blender not listing it because the folder in the zip uses dots.
still this error shows up however (in both 2.80 and 2.83)
I have downloaded the version 3.1.4 from the Github repository and when I tried to activate the addon on Blender 2.82a, I got this error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\blender\blender_official\2.82\scripts\modules\addon_utils.py", line 351, in enable
mod = __import__(module_name)
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'Gaffer-3'
I usually get this error if I’ve installed the add-on and changed the name of the .py file in the Addons folder after installation. So if it installed as “Gaffer-3” but you went and changed the .py file to read just “Gaffer”. Any chance that happened?
The file that I downloaded from the Github repository is “Gaffer-3.1.4.zip” and it contains a folder named “Gaffer-3.1.4”.
I haven’t renamed the folder (nor any .py file). I just selected the .zip file in the Addons > Preferences > Install button (as I usually do to install addons).
Then I believe the problem is the period in the zip file, or the folder. I forget which it is but I remember Blender has issues with a period in the name of add-ons. Maybe rename the folder to just “Gaffer-3-1-4” and the same for the zip file and try again.
Blender 2.81a / Gaffer 3.1.4. My issue is I cannot Apply Exposures.
(I have posted this also as a support message on BlenderMarket, where I purchased the add-on.)
I set the global exposure so that the scene has ideal exposure, the value is not zero. When I try to “Apply Exposures” (adjust the lights so the scene has the same lighting with exposure=0) I get an error message:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\Users\XS\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.81\scripts\addons\Gaffer\operators.py”, line 430, in execute
if light.data.use_nodes:
AttributeError: ‘Mesh’ object has no attribute ‘use_nodes’
location: :-1
However there are only two mesh lights and both use nodes in the material settings.
I’m testing the trial and I have a question about the HDRI thumbnails.
They have been created in the Blender/data folder but every time I open Blender, Gaffer pauses for a few seconds to regenerate the thumbnails (though I don’t see anything new being written in the data folder).
Is that an expected behavior or perhaps just because I’m using the trial?
Gaffer uses blender’s built-in thumbnail selector UI, we don’t have any control over how this works, and I agree the thumbnails are drawn painfully slowly. But once they are drawn once, they stay in memory and appear instantly until you close blender. Short of rewriting that entire UI, the only thing we can do is wait for the blender devs to improve it for all add-ons.
The trial doesn’t limit features or speed in any way (except for disabling auto-updates iirc).
For all the issues about the ModuleNotFound error, this is caused by github naming the zip file you downloaded to include the version number, which blender does not support. There’s nothing I can do to change this as it’s simply how downloads on github work. For blender to recognize an add-on, the folder name must be exactly the same as the add-on name. Obviously the released version on the blender market does not have this issue.
I’ve enjoyed Gaffer for a while now, but I’m wondering why the N Panel always displays the message, “No lights to show :)”. Even if I have multiple lights in the scene.
HDR, EXR and TIFF are supported by default, though you can also tell it to detect 8-bit images if you like. If you have any more issues detecting specific files, you can click the Show button in the preferences to see a list of how it’s grouping files together based on the file name, or 
