Pallets & Assets

DigitalHeaven organizes everything into pallets: packages of related assets like avatars, materials, textures, and models.

Pallets

A pallet is a folder with a pallet.dh manifest and whatever assets it needs.

Pallet IDs

Pallets use reverse-DNS identifiers:

io.mltn.avatars.mltn-mayu
tech.azuki.avatars.mayu
com.example.my-avatar

This prevents naming conflicts and shows ownership. The ID also determines the folder path: io.mltn.avatars.mltn-mayu lives at Source/io.mltn/avatars/mltn-mayu/.

Manifest: `pallet.dh`

Every pallet needs a manifest:

{
  "id": "io.mltn.avatars.mltn-mayu",
  "name": "mltn Mayu",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "author": "mltn",
  "dependencies": {
    "tech.azuki.avatars.mayu": "^3.0.0"
  }
}

Assets

An asset is any file inside a pallet: definition files (.dh-avatar, .dh-mat, etc.) or binary resources (.png, .glb, .wav). The exception is sidecar files (e.g. sprite.png.dh-tex-settings), which carry import settings for a neighboring file and are consumed during compilation rather than included as assets. See dh.texture — Sidecar Files for details.

Referencing Assets

Within the same pallet, just use the relative path:

{
  "texture": "textures/body-diffuse.png"
}

Across pallets, prefix with the pallet ID and a : separator:

{
  "baseMesh": "tech.azuki.avatars.mayu:models/body.glb"
}

This is called a barcode: pallet.id:path/to/asset.

Resolution Rules

No : in the path → local reference within the current pallet
Has : → everything before it is the pallet ID, everything after is the path
Paths are relative to the pallet root

Inheritance

Assets can inherit from other assets, even across pallets, and override specific properties.

{
  "inherits": "io.mltn.avatars.mltn-mayu:avatar.dh-avatar",
  "patches": [
    // Only the patches that differ
    {
      "$type": "dh.set-material",
      "target": "Body",
      "slot": 0,
      "path": "materials/custom-skin.dh-mat"
    }
  ]
}

Inheritance works at every level: avatars, objects, materials, rigs. You only define what’s different.

The compiler resolves all inheritance chains at build time. The compiled output has everything flattened, no unresolved references.

Platform Overrides

Platform-specific data lives in a platforms/ subdirectory alongside your universal definitions:

Directorymy-avatar/
- avatar.dh-avatar Universal
- Directorymaterials/
  - skin.dh-mat Universal material
- Directoryplatforms/
  - Directoryvrchat/
    avatar-descriptor.jsonc
  - Directoryunity/
    Directorymaterials/
    skin.dh-mat Unity-specific shader overrides
  - Directoryresonite/
    avatar-metadata.jsonc

When building for a platform, the compiler loads the universal definition first, then applies any matching overrides from platforms/{platform}/.

Organizing Your Pallet

Shared assets go in type-based folders at the pallet root. Self-contained features (accessories, outfits) get their own subdirectory with everything co-located:

Directorymy-pallet/
- pallet.dh
- avatar.dh-avatar
- Directorytextures/ Shared textures
  - body-diffuse.png
  - body-normal.png
  - body-orm.dh-tex
- Directorymodels/ Shared models
  - body.glb
- Directoryrigs/ Shared rigs
  - humanoid.dh-rig
- Directorymaterials/ Shared materials
  - skin.dh-mat
  - eyes.dh-mat
- Directoryaccessories/ Self-contained features
  - Directoryglasses/
    glasses.dh-obj
    model.glb
    material.dh-mat
    lens.png
  - Directorypiercing/
    piercing.dh-obj
    model.glb
    material.dh-mat

The rule: shared/base assets in type folders at root; self-contained features get their own directory with everything they need inside.

Version Control

Designed for Git:

Commit: Source/ (your source files), Scripts/ (your custom scripts)
Ignore: Pallets/ (compiled output), .dh/ (cache)

The workspace init generates .gitignore and .gitattributes automatically. The .gitattributes file sets up Git LFS for binary assets (.glb, .fbx, .png, .jpg, etc.), so make sure you have Git LFS installed if you’re using those.