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Thank you so much both for the helpful tips and hints!
<div>I'm not a blender expert, in fact I'm a novice. I'm just trying to ramp up to see if blender is a good fit for my visualization toolchain, and if it is reliably scriptable then I believe it will become a powerful tool indeed. </div>
<div>Thanks</div>
<div>-- Rich </div>
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<span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>From:
</b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Bassam Kurdali <<a href="mailto:bassam@urchn.org">bassam@urchn.org</a>><br>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(127, 127, 127); "><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; ">November 7, 2013 10:46:09 AM PST</span></div>
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<span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>To:
</b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Blender Foundation Python list <<a href="mailto:bf-python@blender.org">bf-python@blender.org</a>><br>
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<span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Reply-To:
</b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><<a href="mailto:bassam@urchn.org">bassam@urchn.org</a>>, Blender Foundation Python list <<a href="mailto:bf-python@blender.org">bf-python@blender.org</a>><br>
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<br>
Some helpful hints that I found useful when learning the api, first few<br>
are from context menu on buttons:<br>
1- right click on a button -> copy data path; gives you the path of the<br>
property based from the datablock it is on, in the copy/paste buffer.<br>
2- right click on a button -> edit source! crib code from blender's UI<br>
itself. (opens in a text editor, you have to browse it to find the file)<br>
3- autocompletion in the py console in blender FTW; lets you explore<br>
almost anything.<br>
4- help - > py api reference; while everything is not perfectly<br>
documented, it is mostly the case, and searchable.<br>
5- outliner-> Datablocks: allows you to brows the data structure in<br>
blender almost exactly as it is in the api.<br>
6- knowing blender helps as you are already familiar with the concepts,<br>
the py api mostly exposes the same stuff you are used to dealing with.<br>
<br>
Finally context is a bit of a tricky thing, it passes the same types of<br>
data you get from bpy.data, but this is telling you 'what is my current<br>
state' rather than everything in the file; it is used by operators,<br>
panels, and maybe your own functions. Most easily understood in terms of<br>
tools i.e. : User makes a selection in a viewport(changes context),<br>
Operator runs(for instance, deletes the selection) using that<br>
context,User gets desired result(those vertices are deleted)<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">From Python they are cumbersome, I tend to avoid them if I can, or use<br>
</blockquote>
them sparingly.<br>
Hope that helped!<br>
<br>
On Thu, 2013-11-07 at 19:31 +0100, Brecht Van Lommel wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">For the specific question you are asking, this is probably the page to read:<br>
<a href="http://www.blender.org/documentation/blender_python_api_2_69_1/info_quickstart.html">http://www.blender.org/documentation/blender_python_api_2_69_1/info_quickstart.html</a><br>
<br>
bpy.context.scene is the active scene, while bpy.data.scenes['Scene']<br>
is the scene named 'Scene'. They can be the same, it depends which<br>
scene the user has selected.<br>
<br>
On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Cook, Rich <cook47@llnl.gov> wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Thanks, that's helpful.<br>
I have been having an issue with the documentation. It's very hard to<br>
explore. There doesn't appear to be an API reference that actually<br>
enumerates and describes all the various functions. </blockquote>
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<div>-- </div>
<div>✐Richard Cook </div>
<div>✇ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory</div>
<div>Bldg-453 Rm-4024, Mail Stop L-557 </div>
<div>7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA</div>
<div>☎ (office) (925) 423-9605 </div>
<div>☎ (fax) (925) 423-6961</div>
<div>---</div>
<div>Information Management & Graphics Grp., Services & Development Div., Integrated Computing & Communications Dept.</div>
<div>(opinions expressed herein are mine and not those of LLNL)</div>
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