# Live Link

:::hint{type="info" title="Premium"}
Live Link needs Premium: **Edit in**, live updates from Photoshop, GIMP, Substance 3D Painter and Blender, and the Blender add-on's commits to the project. Installing the plugins from the plugin manager is available to everyone.
:::

Live Link connects the Cloth Tool to the apps you already paint and model in: **Photoshop**, **GIMP**, **Substance 3D Painter** and **Blender**. Open a texture or an item in one of them, and every change you make shows on the ped in the tool's 3D preview while you work. Nothing reaches the project until you apply it.

:::hint{type="info" title="New in 2.0.8"}
Live Link and the plugin manager are new in 2.0.8.
:::

## When to use it

- Retouch a texture in Photoshop or GIMP and check it on the ped without exporting and re-importing.
- Texture a garment in Substance 3D Painter and judge it in the tool's lighting.
- Edit a garment's mesh or weights in Blender and watch the result on the ped as you go.
- Use any other image editor (Krita, Affinity, Paint.NET and so on) and see each save on the ped.

## Supported apps

| App | Minimum version | What you edit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Photoshop | 2020 (21.0). 23.3 and newer get the modern panel. | Textures, including every texture variant |
| GIMP | 2.10. Live previews need GIMP 3.0. | Textures |
| Substance 3D Painter | 10.1 | Textures, on the item's own model |
| Blender | 4.2 | The mesh, and textures from the add-on's Textures panel |

On GIMP 2.10 the plugin works from a **Koja** menu (open, link, push and apply) without live previews.

## Set it up

:::steps
### Open the plugin manager
Go to **Settings → Integrations → Plugins & Live Link**. The tool finds every installed version of each app by itself and lists it under the app's card.

### Install the plugin
Click **Install** on the version you use. If an app is not found, use **Add install manually…** and point at its program file.

### Restart the app
Restart the app if it was open. The plugin finds the tool by itself; there is nothing to type.
:::

Live Link switches itself on the first time you install a plugin or use "Edit in", unless you have turned it off yourself. The **Live Link** switch at the top of the page turns it on and off. When it is running, the card says **Running on port …** and lists the **Connected plugins**.

### The plugin manager

Each install has its own row and buttons:

- **Install** when the plugin is not there yet.
- **Update** when the plugin is older than the tool. Plugins match the tool's version, so after a tool update they show **Update available** until you update them here.
- **Repair** reinstalls the current plugin over a damaged one.
- **Uninstall** removes it.
- **Open plugin folder**, **Export package…** (to install by hand, for example the `.ccx` for Photoshop) and **Docs**.

**Look again** re-scans the computer after you install a new app.

:::hint{type="info" title="Your Blender settings are left alone"}
Installing the Blender add-on does not touch Blender's preferences, other add-ons, theme or keymap.
:::

## Edit in your app

| Where | What to click | Opens |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A texture in the item editor | Right-click → **Edit in** → **Photoshop**, **GIMP**, **Substance 3D Painter** or **Other app…** | That texture |
| An embedded texture (in the model) | Right-click → **Edit in** | That embedded texture |
| An item in the item list | Right-click → **Open in** → **Blender — the mesh** or **Substance Painter — the textures** | The whole item |
| The Model Studio | The **Blender** button in the top bar | The item's mesh |

If the app already has a connected plugin, the file is sent to it. If not, the tool starts the newest supported install of the app and the file opens when it is ready. The status bar says which happened.

Opening an item in **Blender** or **Substance 3D Painter** installs the plugin first if it is missing, so the app never opens empty.

### Other app…

**Other app…** opens the texture as a PNG in any image editor and watches the file. Every save shows on the ped. Choose the program under **External editor** on the same Settings page; left empty, the tool uses the program Windows opens PNG files with.

## Previews, Apply and Discard

A change from another app arrives as a **preview**. It shows on the ped, but the project, its undo history and your team do not see it yet.

- The texture (or the item) shows a badge such as **LIVE · Photoshop**, with **Apply** and **Discard**.
- **Apply** writes the preview into the project. **Ctrl+Z** takes it back like any other change.
- **Discard** drops the preview and shows the project's file again.
- Closing a project with previews not applied asks **Apply the live previews?**: **Apply all**, **Discard all** or **Cancel**.

Under **Previews and applying** in Settings you choose how new links behave:

| Option | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **New links start in** → **Live** | Every change previews as you work. Saving in the app applies it. |
| **New links start in** → **On save** | Nothing previews until you save in the app, which also applies it. |
| **New links start in** → **Manual** | Saving previews. You apply with the **Apply** button in the tool. |
| **Preview resolution** | 1024, 2048 or 4096 px. |
| **Apply when the document is saved in the app** | Saving in the other app applies the preview. |
| **Ask before closing a project with previews not applied** | Shows the question above when you close a project. |

## The Blender add-on

The add-on adds a **Koja** tab to the sidebar of Blender's 3D view:

| Panel | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Koja Live Link | Connection status and **Reconnect** |
| Project Browser | Search the project's items by slot and gender, import one (**Import** for all LODs, **High only**, or **Import with Body**), **Show in Tool** |
| Linked Item | The linked item's state, LOD and texture variant, **Show in Tool** and unlink |
| Live Sync | What is pushed to the tool, and how far vertices will move in game |
| Validation | The game's mesh checks, each with **Select** and, where possible, **Fix**. **Check in Tool** runs the tool's own checks. |
| Rigging & Fit | Transfer weights from the body (**Transfer from Body** or **Selected**), **Symmetrise** and **Mirror**, fit to the body, clipping check |
| Pose Test | Poses the armature with the tool's animations. Live sync keeps sending the bind pose. |
| LODs | Makes LODs by decimating the model |
| Textures | Live texture painting: changes are pushed while you paint, and saving the `.blend` applies them |
| Create | Sends the selected meshes to the tool as a new item |
| Sollumz | Shown only when Sollumz is enabled: converts between a Sollumz drawable and a Koja item |

:::hint{type="info" title="The target ped's body"}
Blender gets the body of the ped the item is made for (see [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library)), with that ped's skeleton, so a fit made in Blender is a fit for that ped. When the item has no target ped, or when the ped cannot be used on this PC, Blender gets the freemode body.
:::

A mesh pushed from Blender is checked before it is previewed. Problems the game cannot load, such as more than 65,535 vertices in one geometry, are reported in the add-on's **Validation** panel.

## Connecting by hand

Plugins normally find the tool on their own. If one cannot, click **Show pairing code** in Settings and type the code into the plugin. It is valid for a few minutes. **Regenerate token** issues a new connection token; connected plugins reconnect by themselves.

The status bar shows a **Live Link** dot: green with a plugin connected, amber when a connected plugin is out of date, grey when Live Link is on with nobody connected, red when it could not start, and an empty outline when it is off.

## Troubleshooting

### Blender opens empty
The add-on was missing. Opening an item in Blender from the tool now installs it before starting Blender. If you started Blender yourself, install the add-on from **Settings → Integrations → Plugins & Live Link** and restart Blender.

### "Live Link is off"
You turned Live Link off at some point. Turn the switch on in **Settings → Integrations → Plugins & Live Link**.

### "… was not found on this computer"
The tool did not find the app. Use **Add install manually…** on its card.

### "This plugin does not match the tool version"
The tool was updated and the plugin was not. Click **Update** on that install in the plugin manager, then restart the app.

### "Plugin packages not built"
This copy of the tool carries no plugins to install, which happens in development builds. The release download carries them. Installs found on the PC are still listed.

### Photoshop refuses the install
The tool uses Adobe's own plugin installer. If it refuses or is missing, update Creative Cloud, or use **Export package…** and double-click the `.ccx` file.

## Related pages

- [Items and Textures](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/items-and-textures)
- [Texture Creator](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/texture-creator)
- [Model Studio](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/model-studio)
- [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library)
- [Settings](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/settings)