Blender 3D: tutorials, articles, tips, notes
Working with mesh geometry, it may be necessary to assign each vertex some custom properties or data that must be written to the blend-file when saved, and which must be accessed later.
However, an attempt to assign the necessary data to the vertexes through the creation of custom properties fails. Instead of the custom vertex property, only a tuple with reference to the type of the property is created.
A set of operators is provided in Blender for manipulating with the location of its interface windows.
To split the current window (using the current context) into two in a specified ratio, we need to execute the following operator:
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bpy.ops.screen.area_split(direction='VERTICAL', factor=0.5) |
With:
Continue reading “How to split and join Blender interface windows thruough the python API”
Sometimes it is necessary to save data for creating a mesh (its vertices and polygon indices arrays) to text, for example, for further use in a script or addon.
We can export the mesh to one of the open formats, for example, to *.obj, but if we need only its vertexes and polygons data, we can use the following simple script:
The Blender API provides a set of simple property types described in bpy.props (IntProperty, BoolProperty, etc.). But the basic types are not always enough, sometimes we need more complex ones. The Blender API allows to group simple properties to make complex properties.
Let’s consider such complex property creation and make the 3×3 matrix property as an example.
To get current Blender version number through the Python API we need to execute the following command:
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bpy.app.version # (2, 81, 16) |
or
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bpy.app.version_string # '2.81 (sub 16)' |
Continue reading “How to get current Blender version number through the Python API”
The Blender 2.80 API provides an ability to draw in a viewport (3D Viewport) using the “gpu” module.
As an example let’s draw a simple coordinate system widget in the center of the scene, consisting of three lines with different colors.
Button click in basically connected with the operator calling in Blender user interface. However, some times actions, that need to be performed when a button is pressed, are quite simple and do not require a separate operator for them. And it makes no sense to fill a registered operators stack with a multitude of specific operators designed to perform one highly specialized function. It would be much more convenient to associate a button press with a separate function call but the Blender API allows to associate buttons only with an operator call.
To solve the problem of creating a separate operator for each button we can use the fact that the operator can be called with the input parameters.
Continue reading “Calling functions by pressing buttons in Blender custom UI”
To correctly set values to an EnumProperty type we need to know all its possible entries.
If we try to set a value to an EnumProperty that is out of its available variants, Blender will throw an error:
TypeError: bpy_struct: item.attr = val: enum “xxx” not found in (‘value_001′, value_002’, …)
where:
xxx – the value we tried to set to an EnumProperty
value_001, value_002, … – possible EnumProperty values
Continue reading “How to get a list with all possible values of an EnumProperty”
To translate cursor to the desired mesh vertex execute the following code:
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bpy.context.scene.cursor.location = bpy.context.object.matrix_world @ bpy.context.object.data.vertices[_VERTEX_NUMBER_].co |
Attention to the multiplication order – world matrix should be left.
In Blender 2.79 Python API we can add a new object to a scene with:
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bpy.context.scene.objects.link(new_object) |
If we try to do this in Blender 2.80, it throws an error:
‘bpy_prop_collection’ object has no attribute ‘link’
In Blender 2.80 API new objects mast be linked not to the scene, but to the scene collections:
To link a new object to the active scene collection:
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bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(new_object) |
To link a new object to the collection by its name:
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bpy.data.collections['collection_name'].objects.link(new_object) |
To move the cursor to the start position of the active strip in Blender VSE:
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bpy.context.scene.frame_current = bpy.context.scene.sequence_editor.active_strip.frame_start |
To move the cursor to the end position of the active strip:
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bpy.context.scene.frame_current = bpy.context.scene.sequence_editor.active_strip.frame_final_end |
When making your own custom operators, sometimes it is necessary to pass them certain values – execute operator with parameters.
The passed parameter must be defined as an operator property.
The UV-map is directly linked to the mesh through meshloops. We can use that to transfer the selection from the UV-map to the mesh.
To transfer the selection from the UV-map to the mesh, we need to cycle through the mesh polygons, check which meshloops are selected and select the corresponding vertices on the mesh itself.
Continue reading “Transfer selection from the UV-map to mesh”
To get a list of vertices from the vertex group by its name we can use the following code:
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[vert for vert in bpy.context.object.data.vertices if bpy.context.object.vertex_groups['vertex_group_name'].index in [i.group for i in vert.groups]] # [bpy.data.meshes['Cube'].vertices[0], bpy.data.meshes['Cube'].vertices[1], ... |
Bezier curves are drawing by four points: two main points (p0, p1) and two handle points (p0_hr, p1_hl).
To add an additional point p2 to a curve at a moment t, with t changes from 0 to 1 and represents the ratio of the p2 point location to the total length of the curve, we need to do the following:
Code autocomplete greatly simplifies writing scripts or developing add-ons for Blender. One of the best autocomplete modules for today is developed by Nutti. Last updated 20190718.
The project is hosted on the author’s GitHub: https://github.com/nutti/fake-bpy-module
The modules are distributed via pip or as a pre-generated-modules. Author also provides a module generator with which you can assemble autocomplete modules yourself.
When we create a field on the add-on interface panel, the value of which changes something in the node tree, each time the user changes the field value the node tree recompiles. If the user changes the value in that field by holding and moving the mouse, too frequent node tree recompilation will cause Blender to hangs.
This problem can be solved using decorators for deferred updating of the node tree.
Code by Skarn.
Class for quick node creation by their type.
Code by Skarn.
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class NodeTreeBuilder: def __init__( self , node_tree : bpy.types.NodeTree , x : float = -200 , y : float = -200 , delimeter : float = 300 ): self._x = x self._y = y self.tree = node_tree self.delimeter = delimeter self.purge_tree() def purge_tree(self): for node in self.tree.nodes: self.tree.nodes.remove(node) def add_node( self , node_type : str , node_name : str , column : int , row : int , node_descr : str = "" ): node = self.tree.nodes.new(node_type) node.name = node_name node.label = node_descr if node_descr else node_name node.location = (self.delimeter * column + self._x, -self.delimeter * row + self._y) return node |
With the Blender popularity growing, the number of add-ons created for it by third-party developers is growing too. A lot of high-quality professional add-ons are written for Blender now. Over time, the number of add-ons is becoming more and more. And on this wave aggregators appeared – programs and services independently searching for add-ons and allowing Blender users to install add-ons quickly, many at once, and bypassing add-on distribution channels selected by their authors. What caused a negative reaction of add-on developers.
Continue reading “How to protect your add-on from downloading through aggregators”
The following command returns the 3D View areas list with enabled Local View mode:
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[area for area in bpy.context.screen.areas if area.type =='VIEW_3D' and area.spaces[0].local_view] # [bpy.data.screens['Layout']...Area] |
The easiest way to hide and show rendering objects is to assign animation keys to them. To do this, move the cursor over the eye icon (visibility in the viewport) or camera (visibility when rendering) in the Outliner window, press the “i” key and then manage the created condition in the Graph Editor like the ordinary animation keys.
But this method is not always available. For example, we cannot assign visibility animation keys for collections, Blender will generate errors like:
“hide_viewport” property cannot be animated
or
“hide_render” property can not be animated
However, using the Blender Python API, we can control the visibility of such objects.
Continue reading “Changing objects visibility in the viewport and while rendering”
Nutti, the author of the “fake-bpy-modules” project, has made the installation of the Blender Python API autocomplete modules through the pip platform. Pip installation is faster and easier, but sometimes we just need to copy the autocomplete modules to our project but now they are not included in the Nutti’s GitHub.
Copies of the autocomplete modules for Blender versions 2.79 and 2.80 can be downloaded directly from here: https://github.com/Korchy/blender_autocomplete
To get the vertex coordinates in the scene global coordinate system when the object’s scale was not applied, we need to multiply the local vertex coordinates by the object world transformation matrix:
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object = bpy.data.objects['_MY_OBJECT_'] v_local = object.data.vertices[_VERT_NUMBER_].co # local vertex coordinate v_global = object.matrix_world @ v_local # global vertex coordinates |
In Blender 2.8 API the requirements for the class and their identifiers naming are becoming tougher. The class name must match the following convention:
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UPPER_CASE_{SEPARATOR}_mixed_case |
Where the {SEPARATOR} is two letters denoting the class belonging to a certain type (from which type the class is inherited):
The class identifier “bl_idname” mast match the class name.
Continue reading “Class naming conventions in Blender 2.8 Python API”
Add-on registration and removing were made with the “Window manager” (wm) in Blender 2.7 Python API:
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bpy.ops.wm.addon_install(filepath='_path_to_addon', overwrite=True) bpy.ops.wm.addon_enable(module='addon_name') bpy.ops.wm.addon_remove(module='addon_name') |
In Blender 2.8 API add-on operators moved to the “preferences”:
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bpy.ops.preferences.addon_install(filepath='_path_to_addon', overwrite=True) bpy.ops.preferences.addon_enable(module='addon_name') bpy.ops.preferences.addon_remove(module='addon_name') |