Asset validation

Updated June 2026

Validators are automatic checks that run inside the DCC before an asset is exported. They catch problems — bad names, non-watertight meshes, oversized textures — at the point where they are cheapest to fix. The Unreal Engine plugin additionally validates names on its side.

As an admin you decide which rules run; artists run the checks and see the results. Editing the rule set is admin-gated.

What a validator is

Each rule has:

• an id — for example mesh.watertight, naming.pattern, texture.max_resolution;
• a severity — an error blocks the export, a warning is advisory and the artist can continue;
• the asset types it applies to;
• optional parameters.

Where rules come from and how they are scoped

Validators live in the project's naming-conventions document. You can attach a rule at three places, and they cascade downward:

1. Global — every asset in the project.
2. Asset type — every asset of one type.
3. Taxonomy node — any node in the arbitrary-depth tree, applying to that node and everything beneath it.

Deeper levels override matching parameters from shallower ones, so a node can tighten a global rule (for example, a stricter texture limit for hero props). DousenCore resolves the effective rule set for every node ahead of time and bakes it into the compiled conventions; clients simply use the deepest matching set.

The validator catalog

Dousen ships a baseline catalog of built-in rules. On startup, each DCC reports the validators it actually has, and the server merges those over the baseline. Any new or custom rule a DCC reports becomes a first-class catalog entry, complete with typed parameter inputs in the portal's rule picker.

Custom validators

Admins can add their own checks by writing a Python validator plugin and pointing the project at the folder that contains it. Set the validators.extra_paths pipeline setting; each entry may be:

• a Perforce depot path such as //depot/tools/validators,
• a path relative to the source root, or
• an absolute path.

Dousen discovers these plugins automatically and they then appear in the portal picker just like built-ins.

PYTHONclass NoNgonsValidator:
    rule_id = "mesh.no_ngons"
    severity = "warning"

    def validate(self, asset, params):
        ngons = [f for f in asset.faces if len(f.vertices) > 4]
        if ngons:
            return [f"Face {f.index} has {len(f.vertices)} sides"
                    for f in ngons]
        return []

Validation history and project health

Every check an artist runs is logged. Admins review the results in the web portal:

• a validation history of individual runs, and
• a per-project health summary of pass/warn/error trends and top offenders (default 7-day window).

Admin vs. artist

• Admins choose which rules run, set severities and parameters, and add custom validators. All editing is admin-gated.
• Artists run the checks at export time and act on the results — fixing errors, reviewing warnings.