Blender files advanced keywording based on objects/collections.

[kirk]

I dream about a soft that would sort my  Blender files https://www.blender.org/
by objects/collections/ materials names .

So I can search for  "rock"  and get a long list of blender files having a rock model inside.
 
I suspect it would be impossible for  Autodesk files  but since Blender is open source  I hope, just hope it might be somehow possible.

So after  cataloging Blender files we would get a keyword list based  on content of the files  and all the naming  used inside.
  Just a dream .   I couldn't even force Blender now to show thumbnails in Windows since 2.9 version  so maybe it's a totally unrealistic expectation. 

[Mario]

IMatch reads and writes metadata via the fabulous ExifTool software.
ExifTool does not support the proprietary metadata (if it has any) of Blender files. Neither does IMatch natively support the Blender file format (.BLEND).

I can add this format as a native format, but IMatch cannot render previews for Blender files (because Blender does not install a shell thumbnail handler), IMatch would store metadata for Blender files in a separate XMP file and no metadata can be extracted by ExifTool unless Phil adds support for whatever Blender files may contain in the area of metadata.

Like so many proprietary application formats, Blender files are best processed in the original application. I have not worked with Blender much, but maybe it has a search function or a plug-in you can use?

I doubt many users will have a need for this rather particular feature (searching for materials or textures etc.).
This also does not really fall under metadata, and I doubt Phil has any reason to add this to ExifTool. Maybe you can ask in the ExifTool Forum. Searching for Blender there draws a blank, which means that this was not asked, ever.

[kirk]

  I am thinking about a script for Blender that could create paired text files  and  list  selected thing  names( like objects,materials, collections) .   What should it be looking like  so IMAtch could  recognize and add those listed things as keywords ?   A csv file?  XMP ?       I am thinking of something super simple like just  tree; house; leaves  etc   

It would be much easier to make such side files during actual work than afterwards  .   I love a Photoshop script   that  puts  selected layers names in keywords  and think about something similar for Blender.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/a-script-or-something-that-would-make-layer-names-a-psd-file-keywords/td-p/12394741 

[Mario]

An XMP file would be the way to go. IMatch does not look for keywords in text files or any other file format.

If you don't want to create an XMP file, create a CSV and import it into IMatch via the CSV importer.

If you plan to write a script, note that IMatch is fully programmable and exposes a powerful web API via IMWS.
A script that looks up the Blender file in the database (I have enabled .BLEND as a standard format for the next release, so .BLEND will be added automatically) and sets keywords is very easy. Any programming language that can call web service endpoints can access the IMatch database.

See https://www.photools.com/dev-center/doc/imatch/ and https://www.photools.com/dev-center/doc/imatch/tutorial-recipes.html
Many example scripts (JavaScript and Python) are included in IMatch. But you can also use Basic, C#, PowerShell, Luna or whatever Blender integrates.

[kirk]

Thanks Mario