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Dry Run & Reports

Asset Forge's material builds, object asset creation, preview renders, and preview clearing support dry run. Inspect the planned work without applying asset changes, then review detailed results in the report panel.

Enabling Dry Run

The Dry Run checkbox is immediately above the main action in each workflow. It is shared across workflows. When enabled, action buttons use Plan labels; no asset changes are applied.

When dry run is enabled:

  • Material builds show what materials would be created, skipped, or overwritten — without actually creating or modifying anything.
  • Object asset creation shows which generated copies and assemblies would be created or updated, where they'd be placed, and which transforms would be baked — without writing any asset data.
  • Preview renders show which assets would be rendered — without producing any images.
  • Preview clearing lists selected local Asset Browser previews as CLEAR, without removing them. Live Preview still updates automatically as settings change; Dry Run protects asset actions, not the sample preview.

The Report Panel

After every action (dry run or real), results appear in the report section below the workflow actions. The newest action replaces the previous report, so running the real operation after a dry run updates the list with the actual per-item results.

The report shows:

  • Summary line — Total counts: how many created, skipped, overwritten, or failed.
  • Selected Report — Expandable section with per-item details. Shows each material, object, or preview that was processed and what happened to it.
  • Issues — Expandable section listing problems encountered during the action, including missing inputs and the detailed reason an object asset or preview failed during a real run.

Tip

The report title identifies whether you are viewing the Last Dry Run or the latest real material, object-asset, or preview run. A dry run is a preflight check; errors that only occur while applying or rendering appear after the real action runs.

When to Use Dry Run

  • First time with a new texture set — See what the scanner finds before building materials.
  • Before overwriting — Check exactly which existing materials would be replaced.
  • Testing hierarchy controls — Preview the catalog structure before committing object assets.
  • Large batch renders — Verify the correct assets are selected before starting a long render.
  • After changing keywords or overrides — Confirm the new settings detect what you expect.