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Getting Started

Keyboard Shortcuts

Object Mode

  • CTRL + X - Quick Transforms pie menu
  • CTRL + SHIFT + X - Flow Main Menu
  • CTRL + SHIFT + D - Quick Duplicate selection to 3d Cursor
  • CTRL + SHIFT + V - Paste objects from buffer in 3d cursor
  • SHIFT + A - Add Object from Library / Add Asset (in the bottom of Blender Add object menu)

Shader Editor

  • CTRL + X - Add Texture from Library
  • CTRL + SHIFT + X - Add Node Group from Library

Sculpt Mode & Texture Paint Mode

  • CTRL + X - Pie Menu of Brush Manager

Plugin installation & Configuration

IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TO INSTALL THE PLUGIN AND SET LIBRARY PATH IN THE NEW, NOT-SAVED BLENDER FILE!

  1. The Addon consists of two .zip files (three files in case of multi-zip archive - check below) - the plugin, and the exemplary library (or the asset library if you purchased Flow with Interior Essentials). You must first unpack the marked asset .zip file to any location, just remember it's filepath. Then you need to install the other .zip file via Blender. You can also skip unpacking the exemplary assets. If you want to start your library from scratch, you can create the folder later, during the plugin configuration. Install_01
  2. Open Blender, go to Edit > Preferences, switch to the Add-ons tab, and click "Install..." button. Install_02
  3. Find the INSTALL_FLOW_Pro_X-X.zip file, select this file, and click "Install Add-on" Install_03
  4. Enable the plugin.
  5. If this is your first plugin installation, press Install Pillow button - this will install the Python library, that manages Blender Image Preview (BIP) Library, developed by 3D Ninjas. If you've already installed Pillow, you should not see this button.

Libraries Installation & Configuration

When the addon is installed, you need to configure your library / libraries path - installing the exemplary library or creating library from the scratch.

You can add multiple library paths into the plugin and switch between them in the plugins UI

Unpacking Libraries

  • Single .zip libraries: If the library consist only of single .zip file, simply unpack it in any directory you want with any unzipping software.

  • Multi-file .zip libraries: Some of our larger packs consist of divided .zip files - their names end with .zip.001, .zip.002 etc. In this case, standard OS unzippers may not be functional. It is recommended to use free 7-Zip (or some other unzipping software). When 7-Zip is installed on your computer, go to the location with your .zip parts and right click on the .zip.001 file, then from the context menu select 7-zip -> Unpack... to unpack it in the selected directory. Both files will unpack automatically into single Flow Library folder.

Important!

The addon raises errors, when the library is located in the path, containing some non-unicode characters (e.g. accent letters of some languages), so it is highly recommended to use the path with only standard english characters.

Example of the WRONG path: D:\Usuรกrios\Username\Flow Library

Library path configuration

  1. Go to Preferences -> Addons and find Flow addon on the list. Click Add Library Path button to add your first library path. Then click on the folder icon in the end of 'Library Path' column. In the Blender file browser find the path, where you've unzipped your library (Interior Essentials / Flow Startup Library etc.) Select the MASTER folder - the one containing 'models', 'textures', 'materials', 'node_groups', 'file_templates', 'hdri', 'brushes' folders. The plugin will notify you whether the library is installed correctly or not. If the library path is correct, you will see the checkmark right after the library path.
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  2. If you don't need to use the exemplary assets, you may create your own library from scratch anywhere. Open the library path browser and go to the folder, where you want your library to be located. Then click 'Accept'. Below the directory path, you'll see the button to create the library. Simply click on it, and the Flow Library folder will be generated in the selected location.

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The correct path should look like this:
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3. When the path is set correctly, name your library in the Library Name column. This name will be shown in the plugin to represent the library.
4. Click 'Save Changes' to save your library path!
5. You may add as many libraries as you want, to keep your files organized. Simply repeat the steps described above.
6.

Loading libraries list

When you update Flow or Blender to another version, you can load your Flow libraries list without losing anything and without the need of entering each path again. Simply press Load Libraries List button right after activating the addon, to load all your libraries paths. The list is created and updated automatically when you save the addon preferences. When you update Blender and load preferences from previous version, you will also be able to load libraries list, as it's copied along the preferences. It's only important to load the Blender preferences from previuos version on the first run

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Connecting Library to Blender Asset Browser

To add the Flow Library to the asset browser, simply press Add Path to Asset Browser in the addon preferences, just next to the desired library on your list. The path will be added to the Blender asset browser settings, and if you already have any assets in this library, they will appear in the asset browser. Remember, that any asset you add with Flow will be marked as the asset for the AB, and will automatically appear among your assets in the browser.

Important! You will not see your older assets here, unless they were marked as Blender asset before. You will only see the assets added with Flow 3.2 or newer. For that moment we've found no good way to batch-remark your existing Flow assets automatically, instead of adding them to the library once more with the Flow addon.

Panels Configuration

Flow Plugin consists of 2 panels - 'Flow' and 'Flow Creator'. Each of them provides the different set of tools. You can rename, merge or toggle Flow Panels. You can find the configuration boxes right under the libraries paths.
You can merge panels by typing exactly the same name for each of them
Even if you deactivate all of the panels, you will still be able to open Flow menus with 'CTRL + X', but some tools may not be available.

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Previews Render configuration

  1. In this place, you can configure the simple render settings, that will be used for creating the previews for your assets, while adding them to the library with the plugin.

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First Steps

  • The plugin's main functionality is contained in the Interior Essentials panel in the Preferences tab in Object Mode and Edit Mode. You should see this tab, when you click 'N'. To start using the plugin, open the Interior Essentials panel.
  • Most functions will be available only in the Object Mode. In the Edit Mode only material functions are available.
  • If at least one library path is set, you can already start using the plugin in the 3d Viewport. You will find the 'Flow' and 'Flow Creator' Panels on the right side of the 3d viewport. If you don't see any panels, press 'N'. Place the 3d Cursor on the selected spot (SHIFT+RMB), select the asset from the panel and press Place on 3d Cursor

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  • By default, the asset instance will be appended to your local file library, so you could adjust the properties. If you don't need the properties and you want to keep file smaller, check 'Link the instance'. Several assets are also more usable, when are not placed as instances (for example windows). Then select Editable to place them as directly editable objects.
  • To learn more about adding and adjusting the assets, check the Adding & Customizing Assets

Updating the addon & libraries

Plugin updating & Restoring the libraries list

To update Flow addon, the best is to remove the current version from Blender first in the preferences window. Then install the new .zip file, following the instructions above. This will not affect your library and your projects

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Don't worry about your libraries list, when you clicked Save Changes, the text file containing your libraries paths was created and will be readable by the newer addon version. When you install the new version of the addon, you should see the button Load Libraries List. Press it to restore all your libraries list from the previous versions.

Assets Updating

  1. To update the assets, simply unpack the new .zip file containing the master folder anywhere, copy all it's content, and paste it to the place, where you've already have your asset files. You should merge the folders and replace all the existing file, to use the latest versions of the assets
  2. You may need to use File -> External Data -> Find Missing Files Operator in Blender to find the missing files if you've moved your installation folder OR you can use 'Find Missing Files' button in the Flow panel to look for your missing files just in the selected Flow directory.