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.
Using our scripts to download the latest Blender LTS or daily build version
# 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
Choosing Branch to Install
You can specify a daily build branch to fetch by editing the BLENDER_BRANCH
variable in the script file.
Manually deploying Blender versions of your choosing
You can download and put any Blender release into the your_project_name/shared/artifacts/blender
folder with their corresponding shasum file. NOTE: If you do this, it is strongly adviced to not run the update_blender.py
script as it will overwrite your files.
There are a few things to keep in mind though:
- It has to be the
.zip
release for Windows,.tar.gz
for Linux, and.dmg
for Mac. - Each file has to have a shasum file. You can generate this yourself easily on Linux with:
shasum256 file.tar.gz > file.tar.gz.sha256
- The file names for the Blender archives has to have the following naming scheme:
Linux: blender-linux.x86_64.tar.xz
Mac: blender-darwin.arm64.dmg
or blender-darwin.x86_64.dmg
Windows: blender-windows.arm64.zip
or blender-windows.amd64.zip
Note that the file names doesn't have to match exactly with the examples above as long as their corresponding shasum file is picked up by the following file globbing schema:
"blender*" + operating_system + "." + architecture + "*.sha256"
- There can be no ambiguity on which archive the
run_blender.py
script should use. So for example you can not haveblender-windows.arm64.zip
andblender2-windows.arm64.zip
in theyour_project_name/shared/artifacts/blender
folder at the same time.
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
Available on Gentoo
To learn more about running the Blender if you are on a Gentoo system please see the Gentoo guide, including how to run a debug build.
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.
- Navigate to your custom Blender binary
- Right Click the binary
- Select
Open with > Blender your_project_name
Create Windows Shortcut
- Open the directory
%HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
- Create a shortcut to
launch_blender_win.bat
on your desktop
Create Mac Shortcut
- Open the directory
~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
- In finder, select the
launch_blender_mac.command
and pressctrl+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
Command Line Arguments
Note: Command Line Arguments also known as Flags are not supported by the run_blender.py
script.
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.
Blender Studio Users
Internally to the Blender Studio only, the blender inside your project is automatically updated overnight, not manual update is required.
# 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
Update Blender Studio Add-Ons
All Add-Ons in the Blender Studio Pipeline repository can be quickly downloaded using the update_addons.py
script.
# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_addons.py
# Linux/Mac
cd ~/data/your_project_name/svn/tools
./update_addons.py
# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_addons.py
# Windows
cd %HOMEPATH%\data\your_project_name\svn\tools
python update_addons.py
To learn more see Add-On Setup page
Gentoo Users
Flamenco is installed and updated by the package manager of your Gentoo workstation. To learn more see Update Local Add-Ons in the Gentoo section.