Project Blender ​

Project Tools will store a version of Blender within the shared directory. This version of Blender is internal to that project. This allows for multiple Blenders to be installed on your system, each with their own preferences tailored specifically to that project. The main advantage to running/managing Blender using the Project Tools scripts is that it will synchronize the Blender version and Shared Add-Ons across for all users contributing the the project. Project Tools also allows you to run a custom build of Blender with the Add-Ons and preferences set for your project.

Blender Setup ​

The next step is to deploy the required software onto each of the studio's workstations.

1. Download the latest Blender

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_blender.py

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_blender.py

This will download the latest blender to data/your_project_name/local/blender

Create Shortcut ​

Once your project has been setup using the "Project Tools" scripts Blender should be available inside your application's native application launcher. The run Blender script will take the correct blender version for your operating system from your_project_name/shared/artifacts/blender and extract it to the local directory. Along with any add-ons in the your_project_name/shared/artifacts/addons folder. Your Blender preferences are stored on a per project basis in {directory-path}

Create Linux Shortcut ​

cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./install_desktop_file.sh

cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./install_desktop_file.sh

Launch with Custom Build on Linux ​

You must run the Create Linux Shortcut step before running a custom build. This will launch blender using your custom binary, but with the Add-Ons and preferences of your project.

1. Navigate to your custom Blender binary
2. Right Click the binary
3. Select Open with > Blender your_project_name

Create Windows Shortcut ​

1. Open the directory %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
2. Create a shortcut to launch_blender_win.bat on your desktop

Create Mac Shortcut ​

1. Open the directory ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
2. In finder, select the launch_blender_mac.command and press ctrl+shift+command+t to add it to the dock.

Launch via Terminal ​

To launch Blender from the terminal, open the tools directory within your project folder, and from the terminal use the run Blender script.

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./run_blender.py

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./run_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python run_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python run_blender.py

Update Blender ​

This script will fetch the latest Blender download from https://builder.blender.org/download/ The Blender download for Linux, Mac, and Windows will be downloaded into the your_project_name/shared/artifacts/blender folder. It will keep up to 10 previous downloaded versions for backup. This Blender doesn't update automatically, at least one user in the project must manually initiate an update, all users will receive this update because blender is stored within the shared directory.

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_blender.py

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_blender.py

Rollback Blender ​

Use rollback_blender.py to switch the "current" version hosted in your_project_name/shared/artifacts/blender to one the older downloads, rolling back affects all users using your project. This is intended to be used to rollback to an older version in case of bugs in newer downloaded versions.

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./rollback_blender.py

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./rollback_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python rollback_blender.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python rollback_blender.py

Run a previous version of Blender Locally ​

In some cases users may want to run a previous version of Blender on their machine without affecting other users.

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./run_blender_previous.py

# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./run_blender_previous.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\your_project_name\svn\tools
python rollback_blender_local.py

# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\your_project_name\svn\tools
python rollback_blender_local.py

Install/Update Add-Ons ​

Blender Add-ons can be packaged directly from the Blender Studio Pipeline repository. Personal Add-Ons can be installed normally.

1. Enter Directory

cd ~/data/blender-studio-pipeline/scripts/pipeline-release # Linux/Mac

cd ~/data/blender-studio-pipeline/scripts/pipeline-release # Linux/Mac

cd %HOMEPATH%\data\blender-studio-pipeline\scripts\pipeline-release # Windows

cd %HOMEPATH%\data\blender-studio-pipeline\scripts\pipeline-release # Windows

2. Update Git

# Windows & Linux/Mac
git checkout main # Checkout main branch
git reset --hard # Remove any changes stored in your branch
git pull --rebase origin # Pull to update to latest commit

# Windows & Linux/Mac
git checkout main # Checkout main branch
git reset --hard # Remove any changes stored in your branch
git pull --rebase origin # Pull to update to latest commit

3. Run Package Local Script

./package_local.py ~/data/your_project_name/shared/artifacts/addons # Linux/Mac

./package_local.py ~/data/your_project_name/shared/artifacts/addons # Linux/Mac

python package_local.py %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\shared\artifacts\addons # Windows

python package_local.py %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\shared\artifacts\addons # Windows