Setup Assistant

The setup_assistant.py script is a wizard that helps you set up a new Blender Studio Tools project. It guides you through connecting to your Kitsu server, creating project folders, and configuring everything you need. You can download it as part of the project-tools release package.

🛠️ What Does the Script Do?

• Creates all required folders
  Sets up the standard Blender Studio project structure.

• Configures Blender
  Ensures the correct Blender version is used for your project.

• Downloads Blender & Add-ons
  Runs update_blender.py and update_extensions.py to fetch the right versions.

• Saves your settings
  Stores all configuration for use with deployment_assistant.py.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Download & Unzip
   Get the release package and unzip it.

2. Run the Script

• Linux/Mac:

  ./setup_assistant.py

• Windows:

  python setup_assistant.py

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🖥️ Interactive Setup Walkthrough

Welcome

****************************************
****************************************
* Blender Studio Tools Setup Assistant *
****************************************
****************************************
Welcome to the Blender Studio Tools Setup Assistant!
This script will help you set up your Blender-Studio-Tools project.
Please follow the prompts to set up your project and set your Blender branch.

Kitsu Setup

• Enter your Kitsu server URL, username, and password.
  Kitsu is the source of truth for your projects—make sure your project exists there.

********************
*   Kitsu Setup    *
********************
Input Kitsu Server URL: localhost
Kitsu Server URL set to: https://localhost/api
Login to Kitsu Account
Email: admin@example.com
Password:

Project Selection

• Choose your project from the list.

************************
* Select Kitsu Project *
************************
(0): Singularity
(1): Wing It!
(2): Charge
Select a project by number: 1
Selected Project: Wing It!

Shortname

• If needed, set a shortname (lowercase, no spaces).

***********************
* Set Kitsu Shortname *
***********************
Kitsu project shortname 'wing_it' is valid.

Project Folder

• Choose where to create your project directory. The script builds the standard folder structure using init_folder_structure().

************************
* Setup Project Folder *
************************
Enter the path where the project directory will be created. 
This directory will be named after the Kitsu project.

Enter the project path:  ~/data/
Project path created at: ~/data/your_project_name

Version Control

• Indicate if you use SVN or GIT-LFS. If not, disk-based versioning is enabled.
  See Version Management Modes for details.

*************************
* Version Control Setup *
*************************
The Blender Studio Tools project is designed to work with version control software (SVN/GIT-LFS) to manage versioning of project files such as Assets & Shots.
If you are not using version control, the Blender Kitsu add-on will create version files on your disk to provide versioning functionality.
Are you using a version control software (SVN/GIT-LFS)? (y/n): y

Blender Branch

• Pick the Blender version for your project.

*************************
* Select Blender Branch *
*************************
Select the Blender branch you want to use for this project.
Only 4.5+ versions are supported.
(0): 5.0.x main (latest)
(1): 4.5.x v45
Select Blender Branch from List: 1
Selected Blender Branch: 4.5.x v45

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📂 Mounting Project Folders

After setup, make sure the svn and shared directories are available on artist workstations. Then, run deployment assistant on each workstation.

Setting Up SVN & Syncthing

• If using SVN or GIT LFS, make your initial commit of your_project_name/svn now.
• If using Syncthing or a NAS, set up your shared folder your_project_name/shared now.

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⚙️ Usage with CLI Arguments

You can also provide setup options as command-line arguments:

Argument	Description
-u, --url	Kitsu server URL (e.g., http://localhost/api)
-e, --user	Kitsu username or email
-p, --password	Kitsu password
-r, --root	Folder where your new project will be created
-P, --platform	(Optional) Specify one or multiple platforms for which Blender will be downloaded (if not given, all platforms will be downloaded)

Example:

./setup_assistant.py --url http://localhost/api --user admin@example.com --password mysecretpassword --root /mnt/projects

With specific Blender platforms:

# Single platform
./setup_assistant.py ... --platform darwin # MacOS

# Multiple platforms
./setup_assistant.py ... --platform linux windows

If you make a mistake in your arguments, the script will prompt you to correct them during execution.