Book Image

Python Scripting in Blender

By : Paolo Acampora
5 (1)
Book Image

Python Scripting in Blender

5 (1)
By: Paolo Acampora

Overview of this book

Blender, a powerful open source 3D software, can be extended and powered up using the Python programming language. This book teaches you how to automate laborious operations using scripts, and expand the set of available commands, graphic interfaces, tools, and event responses, which will enable you to add custom features to meet your needs and bring your creative ideas to life. The book begins by covering essential Python concepts and showing you how to create a basic add-on. You’ll then gain a solid understanding of the entities that affect the look of Blender’s objects such as modifiers, constraints, and materials. As you advance, you’ll get to grips with the animation system in Blender and learn how to set up its behavior using Python. The examples, tools, patterns, and best practices present throughout the book will familiarize you with the Python API and build your knowledge base, along with enabling you to produce valuable code that empowers the users and is ready for publishing or production. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to successfully design add-ons that integrate seamlessly with the software and its ecosystem.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Part 1: Introduction to Python
7
Part 2: Interactive Tools and Animation
13
Part 3: Delivering Output

Useful features of Python

We already met the Python elements of the Scripting workspace in Chapter 1. Now we are going to look at some useful features that can help us get the most out of them. When it comes to programming, automation can speed up the search for attributes and terms. That can happen both in the console, through conventional methods such as autocompletion, or in the interface, via shortcuts that display the Python address of a graphic element. Some of these features are already available when Blender starts, while others are left for the users to enable.

Options for developers

Developer features are disabled by default. They can be enabled in the Preferences dialog from the Edit menu in the top bar of Blender. We need to select the Interface tab on the left and look at the first panel: Display. Programmers usually enable the Developer Extras and Python Tooltips options.

Developer Extras

Developer Extras adds a right-click menu entry that can display the...