Script to find the type of each object in a Blender scene

This examples applies to Blender 2.49 and some earlier versions.

import Blender
from Blender import *
scn = Scene.GetCurrent()
obs = scn.objects
for ob in obs:
    print 'Object named %s has type %s' % (ob.name,ob.type)

Portable Blender and Notepad++

One of the problems I have in my system is that I use PythonXY. PythonXY works best when it is the only registered Python on a system. The problem arises when installing Blender and PythonXY and both require different versions of Python. Blender Portable offers a way to solve this problem. Blender Portable installs a local copy of Python which can be different from any other Python installations on a machine. This portable version of Blender can still be used with Notepad++. To setup Notepad++, follow the instructions here, but use the following string to call Blender. "C:\PortableApps\BlenderPortable\blenderportable.exe" -P "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)"

Release of Data Origami Library 0.002

The Data Origami Library has been updated. The image class now supports the following objects: Orienting the camera by using a lookAt and lookFrom location Blocks defined by opposing corners Cylinders defined by end locations Spheres Text boxes

An issue with shading was corrected. The library now generates shadows correctly.

The library can be downloaded here.

The image above was generated by the test script here.

Interesting Dataset: BLS Time Use Survey

This is an interesting dataset which explains how people use their time in the US: BLS Time Use Survey.

The 0.001 Release of the Data Origami Library for Blender

This is a shell that will be expended in the future. It simplifies the problem of setting up an image in Blender. Other postings will build examples on top of this module.
For now, it is recommended to place this file in C:\tmp. I'll use that location in example scripts. A future release will have a more permanent recommended home. Code: Download Code for the Origami Library 0.001. This file can be placed arbitrarily. Any script which imports this module must reference it by the full path because of how Blender handles files.

#!BPY
__doc__ = """
OLib_xxxx.py
Rev 0.001
This module setups up a scene for...


						
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							Posted at 2009-08-03 05:50:00 | Art_and_design | read on
						
					

Using Blender Subsurfaces from Python

In Blender, one of the ways to improve the smoothness of an object is to use subsurfaces. Programatically, this is done by changing the modifiers attached to an object. In this example, a UVsphere is modified by changing the number of rings and segments. The same basic UVsphere is also modified by adding subsurface levels. From looking at the table, it is possible to see how increasing subsurface level and rings/segments both get a smooth looking sphere.
To get this example to run, you will need to copy the Data Origami Library rev 0.001 to C:\tmp (or modify the path to...

Interesting Travel Dataset

I was looking at NavIt, an open source mapping and routing package. They use the Open Street Map for one source database. The interesting thing buried in the Open Street Map project is over a quarter of a million XML source data traces which includes location and time stamps uploaded by users.

Interesting Dataset: Residential Energy Consumption Survey

This is an interesting dataset which illustrates the energy usage in US households annually. 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Suvey

How to draw a curve in Blender using Python - A Quick-N-Dirty Example

In a previous example, curves were generated using cylinder and spheres. This is computationally expensive and does not fully leverage Blender's capabilities. Rather than building curves using primitive meshes, the Blender.Curve objects can be used. This example demonstrates a simple script which creates a curve in 3D using Blender curves.
Code:
Download Code

#!BPY
__doc__ = """
curveTest_xxxx.py
Rev 1.0

The purpose of this script is to demonstrate the use of blender curves.

This script is executed at the command line by:
>blender -P curveTest_xxxx.py
"""
__author__ = "edt"
__version__ = "1.0 2009/07/19"
__url__="Website, dataOrigami.blogspot.com"


##############################################################
# load the modules used in the script
from Blender import Curve, Object, Scene
from Blender.Scene import Render 
from...


						
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							Posted at 2009-07-19 14:47:00 | Art_and_design | read on
						
					

Quick-N-Dirty: A rough example of an interactive data visualization in the Blender Game Engine

This example combines the Blender Game Engine example with the graphing example to allow simple navigation of the camera while looking at a graph. This example needs some fine tuning to improve the performance. The graph has too many elements to render quickly. However, it does demonstrate how to get all of the elements to work together in a data visualization. To run this example, construct the blender file described in this link. Save this file to the '\tmp' directory. Copy the code below to a python file and execute from the command line. For detailed instructions for each of these steps,...