Navigating to Root or VaM folder when selecting presets, plugins, etc

[btacoses]

Often when I'm attempting to load a preset or add something to a plug in, it opens a browser with limited options to which folders I can access. A recent example:

I loaded the BVH player plugin to a person atom. When I clicked to load the BVH file, it took me to Saves\ Animation\. I have no option to move up or into any other directories. For instance, I am unable to navigate to the AddonPackages folder to load No Head No Leg's dance pack animations.

In these situations, the only thing I can think to do is to unpack the VAR and move the relevant files into the folder it will allow me to access. But that completely defeats the purpose of VAR files. There has to be something I'm doing wrong and there must be a way to access any folder on my computer from any "open" or "add" situation.

 

[DJ]

Any var files containing animations should be listed in the "shortcuts" column on the left. Select "flattened" to view a list of var files, or "foltered" to view a list of all animation files saved in vars.

 

[btacoses]

Let me show you what I see.

When clicking on Select BVH File, it opens the browser. Below is what I see. The only folder appearing there is the one VAR that I unpacked and pasted there.

I have very many VAR files in AddonPackages that have animations in them.

 

[DJ]

Yeah, looks like you're going to have to unpack them, then. ;-(

 

[MacGruber]

Have you tried clicking on the top folder, "Saves"? You might get a "Root" button then, and from there you can go the the AddonPackages folder. But it depends on how the file dialog was configured by the BHV plugin you are using. My plugins that do something like this, e.g. Life and IdlePoser, have similar issues and its a bit awkward to use, but you CAN open files in VAR with them. I suggest contacting the plugin author, maybe there is something that can be done.

(Usually 50% of development time for VaM plugins goes to figuring out how to workaround issues like this )