Naming with Tokens

Every export node writes a file whose name you type as a template. Type plain text and every export overwrites the same file; put a token in braces, such as {name}, and the name comes from the graph: the image, the node, the file the pixels came from. This page builds a template up one step at a time and shows the exact file each step writes. The full list of tokens is in the Token Reference.

You never need to remember a token. Click </> at the end of any token field, or type {, and pick from a list that shows each token’s live value. The Writes line under the fields shows the path the export will write before you export anything.

The examples use one document, dungeon.arcb, saved in D:/Projects/Dungeon. A relative path such as export/hero.png lands next to it.

From a fixed name to the image’s name

An Image In loads knight.png, and an Export Image writes it. With plain text in the Output Path, the file is called whatever you typed:

Export Image 1

Output Path

export/hero.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/hero.png

A knight saved as hero.png, over whatever was there. Replace the name with {name}, the name of the image arriving at the export:

Export Image 1

Output Path

export/{name}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/knight.png

Now the file follows the picture: point Image In at hero.png and the same template writes export/hero.png. Hover the field to see where each value came from: {name}: knight, from the image.

Name the file after the export

Sometimes the name belongs to the export, not the picture: a full-size copy and a thumbnail of the same image, say. Give each Export Image a custom label, the name you type in the node’s title, and use {this.label}. this is the node that owns the field.

Export Image 1 · Hero full

Output Path

export/{this.label}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/Hero full.png

Export Image 2 · Hero thumb

Output Path

export/{this.label}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/Hero thumb.png

Both exports have the same template; only their labels differ. Copy an export node, rename it, and it writes a file of its own.

When the label is empty

A new node has no custom label, so {this.label} has nothing to write, and the field says so:

Export Image 3

Output Path

export/{this.label}.png </>

{this.label} is empty: Export Image 3 has no custom label. Use the Node ID when empty

Click Use the Node ID when empty and the token becomes {this.label|or:this.id}: the custom label, or else the node’s Node ID, its type and number without the space, which every node has and which never changes.

Export Image 3

Output Path

export/{this.label|or:this.id}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/ExportImage3.png

Label the node later and the same template writes the label. The picker’s first row, Label or ID, inserts this token in one click; it is also what a new Export Data names its file with.

Name the file after the step before it

Here one picture goes down two branches, a Levels labeled “Night” and a Levels labeled “Day”, each into its own Export Image. {input.label} is the custom label of the node wired into the export.

Export Image 1

Output Path

export/{source}_{input.label}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/hero_Night.png

Export Image 2 has the same template and writes export/hero_Day.png. The rings show the three places the template reads, from the point of view of Export Image 1:

• This node ({this.label}, {this.id}): the export that owns the field.
• Wired in ({input.label}, {input.id}): the node plugged into its input, Levels 1. input follows the wire, and skips any Reroutes on it; it never looks further back.
• Source ({source}, {label}): where the pixels came from, hero.png in Image In 1.

The picker names the real node in each group’s header, such as WIRED IN · Levels 1 "Night", so you can check which node a token reads before you export.

The older {label} token reads the source

{label}, with no this. or input., is the custom label of the node that loaded the pixels, else the file’s name. Above, it is hero, not Night. Older templates often use it; for the node wired in, use {input.label}.

A batch: one file per frame

Export Batch writes one file per frame, so its Filename Template is filled in once for each. Here a Palette Remap makes three color variants, named after the palette’s slots: red, teal, and gold. The Format adds the extension, so the template has none.

Export Batch 1

Output Directory

export </>

Filename Template

{source}_{name} </>

Writes

export/hero_red.png

export/hero_teal.png

export/hero_gold.png

To number the frames instead, use {index}, each frame’s position from 1. {index:3} pads it to three digits:

Export Batch 1

Filename Template

{source}_{index:3} </>

Writes

export/hero_001.png

export/hero_002.png

export/hero_003.png

Folders

A / in the template makes a folder. The Output Directory takes tokens too, but only ones that are the same for every file, such as {graph}, the document’s name:

Export Batch 1

Output Directory

export/{graph} </>

Filename Template

{name}/{source} </>

Writes

export/dungeon/red/hero.png

export/dungeon/teal/hero.png

export/dungeon/gold/hero.png

A per-frame token such as {name} is grayed in the Output Directory’s picker with “the folder is chosen before any file”.

A sprite sheet’s name

With Generate Sprite Sheet on, the frames go into one sheet, and Sheet Filename names the sheet and its JSON. A new Export Batch starts with {this.label|or:this.id}_sheet, so one labeled “hero” writes hero_sheet.png and hero_sheet.json, and an unlabeled one ExportBatch1_sheet.png.

Reshape a value: transforms

Labels are written for people: Hero full, with a space and a capital. Game engines and web servers want hero_full. Add | and a transform after the token’s name:

Export Image 1 · Hero full

Output Path

export/{this.label|snake}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/hero_full.png

The same label through other transforms:

• {this.label|kebab} writes hero-full, the usual web style.
• {this.label|pascal} writes HeroFull, the Unreal and C# style.
• {this.label|snake|upper} writes HERO_FULL: transforms run left to right.

In the picker, choose a transform under Insert as, then click the token. All seven are in the Token Reference.

When a value is missing: fallbacks

You have already used one fallback: {this.label|or:this.id} writes the label, or the Node ID when there is none. |or: works after any token, and you can chain several; the first with a value wins.

• {tag:title|or:name} writes a frame’s title tag where one was set, else its name.
• {tag:time|or:day}: a fallback that is not a token is written as plain text, so a frame with no time tag writes day.
• {this.label|snake|or:this.id}: the transform belongs to the label, so this writes hero_full, or ExportImage3 untouched.

After |or:, typing { lists the tokens again.

Recipes

Sprites for a game engine

A folder of characters, each in two team colors, written lowercase with no spaces and one folder per character, the way Godot and Unity projects usually keep sprites.

Export Batch 1

Output Directory

export/sprites </>

Filename Template

{source}/{name|snake} </>

Writes

export/sprites/knight/red_team.png

export/sprites/knight/blue_team.png

export/sprites/mage/red_team.png

export/sprites/mage/blue_team.png

Palette Remap pairs every character with every slot. {source} still names the character’s file after the recolor, and {name} is the slot’s name, so every pair gets a file of its own. Drop a third character into the folder and its files appear on the next export, with no change to the template.

A texture set for Unreal

Under the Unreal destination, Export Texture names files T_{name}_{channel}: {name} is the set’s asset name and {channel} is each map’s suffix in Unreal’s spelling (BC, N, ORM, and so on). A Texture Folder with assets named oak_bark and mossy_rock would write T_oak_bark_BC.png. Unreal assets are usually named in PascalCase, so add a transform, and put {name} in the Folder to give each asset a folder of its own:

Export Texture 1

Destination

Unreal

Folder

export/{name|pascal} </>

Filename Template

T_{name|pascal}_{channel} </>

Writes

export/OakBark/T_OakBark_BC.png

export/OakBark/T_OakBark_N.png

export/OakBark/T_OakBark_ORM.png

export/MossyRock/T_MossyRock_BC.png

... one file per map, for each asset

The Folder is resolved once per asset, so only the set’s tokens such as {name} work there; {channel} is empty in a Folder. Under any other destination the same template works, with {channel} spelled the way that destination spells its maps.

Captions with the Text node

The Text node reads tokens too, and draws the value into the picture. Put a batch on its Background and every frame gets its own caption.

Text 1

Text

{name|upper} </>

Preview

REDTEALGOLD

{color} draws each variant’s color as a hex code instead, and {this.label} draws the Text node’s own label, redrawn as soon as you rename the node. Tokens that only exist when a file is written, such as {index} or {date}, are drawn as typed: the Text node sees one frame at a time, not its place in the batch. Number the frames in the Export Batch file name instead.

Mark frames with a tag

When frames from different branches meet in one batch, a Tag tells them apart. Here a day and a night grade of the same sprite are collected into one Export Batch. After Collect, {source} is hero for both and {input.label} reads Collect 1, so neither can tell them apart. A Tag on each branch sets a time tag, and the tag travels with the frame:

Tag 1

Tags

time = day

Export Batch 1 (wired to Collect 1)

Filename Template

{tag:time}/{source} </>

Writes

export/day/hero.png

export/night/hero.png

A Tag can also rename the frames for everything after it. In Build from Template, a rule such as {source}_{tag:time} names the frames hero_day and hero_night, and then {name} in an Export Batch, a Text caption, or an Export Data column all read that name:

Tag 1

Method

Build from Template

Rule

{source}_{tag:time} </>

Sets

hero_day

A Tag rule cannot use {this.label} or {input.label}: a tag goes wherever the image goes, far from the node that set it, so the picker grays those groups there.

An atlas JSON with Export Data

A Sprite Sheet packs icons into one atlas; an Export Image writes the picture, and an Export Data writes the JSON a game engine reads. Label the Sprite Sheet “Icons Atlas” and let the Export Image name the picture after it:

Export Image 1

Output Path

export/atlas/{input.label|snake}.png </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/atlas/icons_atlas.png

Export Data 1 · icons_atlas

Preset

Atlas JSON (Hash)

Folder

export/atlas </>

File Name

{this.label|or:this.id} </>

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/atlas/icons_atlas.json

Export Data’s File Name starts as {this.label|or:this.id}, so labeling the node names the file. {input.label} would not work there: Export Data can read several inputs, so its Wired in group is grayed. Export Data finds the Export Image that writes the atlas by itself, so the JSON’s "image" reads icons_atlas.png, and Export All writes the picture first and the JSON last. Every preset is in Exporting Data.

Why did I get this name?

The label is missing from my file name

The node has no custom label, so {this.label} or {input.label} wrote nothing. The amber note under the field names the node; click Use the Node ID when empty, or give the node a label.

My file is literally named {nmae}.png

A token that matches nothing (a typo, or a variable that is not defined on this computer) is written exactly as typed, with a note:

Output Path

export/{nmae}.png </>

{nmae} is not a known value; it is written as typed.

Writes

D:/Projects/Dungeon/export/{nmae}.png

Fix the spelling, or pick the token from the list.

{label} gave hero, not the label I typed

{label} reads the source, the node that loaded the pixels. The label you typed is on the node wired in ({input.label}) or on the export itself ({this.label}). {node}, also from older templates, is the Node ID, the same as {this.id}.

A whole group is grayed in the picker

Its header says why. On Export Data, Wired in reads “Export Data reads several inputs”; use {this.label}, or {data:input} to name each row’s input. With nothing plugged in, it reads “nothing is wired into this node”. You can still insert a grayed token; it behaves as the reason says.

My caption shows {date} as typed

{date}, {time}, {index}, {count}, {channel}, and the exact source tokens such as {source_path} exist only when a file is written, so a Text node draws them as typed. Use them in an export path.

A teammate’s export wrote {this.label}.png

They opened the document in ArcBrush 1.6. Node tokens and | transforms and fallbacks need ArcBrush 1.7.0 or later; older builds write them as text. Templates written in 1.6 keep writing the same names in 1.7. Details are in the Token Reference.

Related

• Token Reference: every token, where each one works, every transform, note, and grayed reason.
• Variables: your own values, such as {CLIENT} or {TEXTURES}, used in the same fields.
• Batch Processing: getting many images through one graph.
• Exporting Data: Export Data’s presets and Custom Text.