If you want to reuse components such as plugins across projects, use shared libraries or work with external contractors and need better access control, submodules will make this possible. Anchorpoint fully supports Git submodules, by allowing you to switch between them and commit their changes. Proper guiadance and security mechanisms avoid the common pitfalls when working with Git submodules.

Submodule features

• Switch between modules and commit on a per module basis
• Protections from committing on a detached HEAD
• Protections from pushing updates in the root repository without pushing the submodule first. This can lead to pull errors for other team members.
• Reminding the team member to also update the root repository when submodule changes have been pushed.
• Reattaching the branch after checkout
• File locking across submodules

Improvements

• Added an option to set a custom email and Git author for commits
• Added an option to force delete the branch when you are not on it
• Added a tooltip on actor files to see the original file name
• Added a shortcut for the preview window using CTRL-space
• Support for Unreal Engine 5.7 actor files
• Polished branch manger UI to better see the available options
• Decoupled locking of text files from locking of binary files
• Support for Blender 5 file formats
• Merge the Python shared settings via the API on the server

Fixes

• Improved browser performance on network drives
• Fixed an issue with Attributes are not stored on network drives
• Fixed an issue of the detection of .gitattributes files in the changes files section
• Fixed the generation of .gitkeep files when creating a new folder
• Fix selective checkout issues where context menu entries have not been refreshed properly
• Fix restore files did not work when files have been rename in the history
• Fixed an issue with replacing thumbnails and reloading Anchorpoint
• Fixed an issue where the timeline does not show up after joining the Git repository
• Extend the error message for Azure DevOps when users don’t have permissions to push files
• Fixed an issue where 0KB files are shown as virtual files falsely
• Fixed an issue of reverting wrong selected files
• Fixed an issue of local commits that are not refreshing
• Fixed an issue of marking files for commits
• Fixed an issue of Anchorpoint showing false push notifications of already seen objects
• Fixed an issue of file previews in the Git history are not loading properly from the cache

Meet the new sidebar, which will help you to quicker inspect your files, see diffs and view their Attribute changes. The sidebar is available on files, folders and tasks and the whole metadata changelog has been moved from the timeline to it.

Furthermore, this update contains several Git performance improvements such as a faster loading of changes, quicker timeline loading and no more UI flickering when e.g. syncing files. Another highlight is the updated binary syncing module that allows you to replicate the functionality of Unreal Game Sync by distributing game and editor binaries.

Finally, a Blender plugin has been added as well. You can now publish new file versions directly from Blender.

Improvements

• Added new sidebar with metadata changelog
• Added metadata changelog to preview page
• Speed up timeline loading on initial application startup and project change
• Speed up listing changed files when picking a commit
• Removed Timeline entry reloading when pushing or pulling files
• Speed up Git revert
• Speed up general project search when looking for metadata
• The CLI is now able to create Anchorpoint projects

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with initial metadata sync on startup
• Fixed an issue with conflicting files during rebase

Deprecation of Task Activity

We have removed the old Task Activity Sidebar, as it was a feature of little usage and due to our focus on asset and not task management. For tracking ToDos we recommend using proper project management application such as Jira, Codecks or Kitsu.

In case you need access to the Task Activity again, reach out to us and we will provide you an older version of Anchorpoint that has the proper access to it.

With this release we are adding an a Git-like workflow when your files are on a NAS, Dropbox or Google Drive. Similar to committing files, you can “publish” a file directly from Cinema 4D and Maya, and it will create a new version entry that can be reviewed by somebody else.

This will give you a version control based workflow without changing your existing infrastructure.

Improvements

• Added a batch rename tool
• Show the thumbnail on online-only files when using a file sharing solution like Dropbox or Google Drive

Fixes

• Fixed issues on long checkout times for assets when working with the Unreal Engine integration
• Fixed issues of calculating changed files too often
• Removed overhead when loading timeline entries
• Fixed an issue with self-signed certificates when authorizing the GitHub integration

View thumbnails of Spine files and review skeletons, animations and skins including animation. Furthermore, we improved Anchorpoint's startup time, so you should not wait longer than 3 seconds until it's ready to use.

Improvements

• Spine file format support
• Optimized startup time (3 seconds max on average)
• Added an option to revert submodules when they appear via accident
• Performance enhancements for selecting commits
• Provide better messaging when Git servers return errors

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with 2FA authentication
• Fix an issue with whitespaces in the Git URL
• Fixed an issue when being in an unsolvable rebase state
• Fixed line break issues
• Fixed the infinite loading time issue when pulling
• Resync database does not freeze the application anymore
• Fixed authentication issues on GitHub
• Catch the detached head state better
• Fixed text viewer issues on macOS
• Handle the permission denied error in Git
• Handle the offline mode better

Compatibility with Git Rebase has been added to avoid the creation of merge commits. In addition to fast-forward pulling, Anchorpoint also enables you to rewrite the history using Git Rebase when pulling. This process also involves conflict resolution.

Improvements

• Split commit message in header and description for better clarity on the timeline
• Added an input field for SSH authentication to facilitate access to self-hosted repositories created via HTTPS
• Introduced a "Remember Window Position" option to maintain the application window's position across restarts or to disable it in case of issues.
• Limit the number of remote commits loaded to a maximum of 100 to optimize performance
• Added display of conflicted files in merge commits with appropriate indicators

Fixes

• Addressed the problem of undo commits getting stuck when Unreal Engine is running
• Fixed bloated timeline issues after migration from P4 to Git by improving parsing of commit messages
• Removed unnecessary overhead when pushing files, to speed up the operation