GoldenQubicle / BAT4Blender

highly experimental isometric renderer for SimCity4

BAT4Blender

Running external python scripts in Blender

1. download (or copy contents of) link_script.txt
2. open Blender and switch to scripting layout
3. open the link_script.txt file in the text editor (or paste the contents in a new file)
4. change the strings in the filename to point towards a python file, e.g.
   filename = os.path.join("DRIVE:/folder/path", "HelloBlender.py")
5. while in the Blender text editor hit the key combo alt+p to run the script
6. use an IDE / text editor of choice to edit the python file, save, and re-run the link script in Blender
7. That's it :)

Notes

• in Blender print output is send to system console, not to the python console. Go to 'Window' -> 'Toggle System Console' to open it.

Installing the Add-on

The current project structure is not well suited yet to accommodate this. However the general gist of it is as follows.

1. download __init__.py and BAT4Blender.py
2. put the two in a folder, and zip said folder.
3. open Blender and go to 'Edit' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Add-ons' -> 'Install..'
4. navigate to the zip file created in step 2
5. select 'Install Add-on from File..'
6. the Add-on is now installed and available in the output context menu.

Notes

• the render path is currently not set and consequently rendering the camera views will fail.
• no checks yet to see if sun / cameras are already present
  • i.e. hitting the buttons more than once will result in multiple objects added to scene
• disabling / enabling the Add-on only reloads code from __init__.py
  • i.e. changes made to BAT4Blender.py will only take effect after a full restart of Blender.