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Aidan Murphy edited this page Apr 8, 2019 · 11 revisions

Install Blender and Python modules

Windows

First, install Blender for your operating system by downloading the appropriate binary from the website: https://www.blender.org/download/

OS X

First, install Blender using HomeBrew:

brew tap homebrew/science && brew install python numpy scipy

Linux

  • First install Blender:
sudo apt-get install blender

Blender ships with its own Python version (3.6 for Blender v2.79). We therefore need to add any Python modules we want to use to Blender's Python directory. First, we will install pip (the alternative Python package installer) and then use it to install Numpy and Scipy modules to the system's Python 3.6 directory:

sudo apt-get install python3.6
wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
sudo python3.6 get-pip.py
sudo -H python3.6 -m pip install numpy scipy

Now we'll copy the installed Numpy and Scipy modules from the system's Python directory to Blender's Python directory:

sudo cp -r /usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/numpy /usr/share/blender/2.79/scripts/modules
sudo cp -r /usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/scipy /usr/share/blender/2.79/scripts/modules

Blender User Preferences

The first time we run Blender we'll want to initialize some basic settings. Click on 'File' > 'User Preferences' to open the user preferences panel. Click on the tabs at the top to navigate different settings as follows:

  • 'Interface' tab: here you can adjust the scaling of the display to suit your monitor resolution
  • 'Input' tab: if you're using an Apple Magic Mouse then it's useful to check the 'Emulate 3 Button Mouse' option
  • 'System' tab: here we select the 'Cycles Compute Device' i.e. which processor(s) will perform raytracing calculations for rendering using the Cycles engine. If your graphics cards support CUDA then this option should appear here and you should be able to select one or more of your GPUs. Otherwise, you may need to update your graphics drivers.
  • If your NVidia drivers are up to date but you still don't see your GPU listed under 'Cycles Compute Device', then try installing the CUDA toolkit via the terminal as follows: sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-toolkit

Useful Blender Add-ons

There are several add-ons for Blender that can make your work flow much easier.

  • ScriptRunner from Good Spirit Graphics allows Blender to run Python scripts without opening them in Blender's text editor window. This means that you can edit scripts in your preferred external Python IDE instead.
  • Remote debugger from Github user Sybren Stüvel allows PyCharm IDE (pro version) to communicate directly with Blender for debugging. Installation instructions are provided here.
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