Installation

Ubuntu/Debian

Installation

Make sure you have Blender 2.48 installed. The Ar library is not compatible with Blender 2.46

These scripts suppose that your Blender folder scripts folder is ~/.blender/scripts. If you have installed Blender differently, change the BLENDER_SCRIPTS variable in the ar/linux/install and update_blender_scripts scripts.

Execute these commands in the terminal:

$ bzr branch lp:ar
$ cd ar/linux
$ ./install

For other linux distributions as well, check the contents of the ar/linux/install script first and verify if the location of the python site-packages is the same.

Update

Run the update script in the linux folder:

$ ./update

Windows

Installation

1. Install the following requirements:

   • bazaar http://launchpad.net/bzr/1.13/1.13/+download/bzr-setup-1.13-1.exe
   • ipython http://ipython.scipy.org/dist/ipython-0.9.1.win32-setup.exe
   • pyreadline http://ipython.scipy.org/dist/pyreadline-1.5-win32-setup.exe
   • pil http://effbot.org/downloads/PIL-1.1.6.win32-py2.5.exe
   • optionally pycairo (see http://pycha.yourwei.com/installation.html#windows for instructions)

2. Open a dos terminal (cmd.exe) in a folder where you want ar to be downloaded. Use the full path to bzr and ignore any warnings:

   C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents>"C:\Program Files\Bazaar\bzr.exe" branch lp:ar
   You have not informed bzr of your Launchpad ID, and you must do this to
   write to Launchpad or access private data.  See "bzr help launchpad-login".
   Branched 12 revision(s).

3. Copy the ar/ar folder in your Blender scripts folder (for example C:\Documents and Settings\x\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts).

4. Copy all the scripts (.py) in the ar/blender/scripts folder in the same Blender scripts folder as the step above.

Update

1. To update later to the newest version, open a terminal inside the ar folder and type:

   C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents>"C:\Program Files\Bazaar\bzr.exe" merge

2. Remove any copied files from the last two steps of the installation process

3. Repeat the last two steps of the installation process with the updated ar folder.

If you get this error message ...

bzr: ERROR: Working tree "C:/Documents and Settings/user/My Documents/ar/"
has uncommitted changes.

Remove the ar folder and start all over again with a fresh install.

Other platforms

Installation

1. Install bazaar, ipython, python-imaging and python-cairo.

2. Symlink the ar/ar folder into the python site-packages folder (or into the ar/blender/scripts folder, if you plan to only use it inside Blender):

   sudo ln -s "`pwd`/ar" /usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages

3. Symlink every script (.py) of the ar/blender/scripts folder into the ~/.blender/scripts folder:

   cd blender/scripts
   for file in *.py
    do
     ln -s "`pwd`/$file" $BLENDER_SCRIPTS
    done

Update

Open a terminal in the ar folder:

$ bzr merge

DWG Support

If you want DWG export from Blender, you need to download the Open DWG EveryDWG File Converter. You need to comply with its terms of use:

Open Design Alliance and its members have created the following
free utilities, based on the Open DWG Libraries, for unrestricted,
non-commercial use. Please note that inclusion of any utility
in a commercial product does require commercial licensing, unless
otherwise stated in the product description. ODA members are
encouraged to create and share their own utilities with the
CAD community.

Only if you agree with these terms, put the EveryDWG.exe file into your Blender scripts folder, which is given by:

Blender.Get('scriptsdir')

Linux users will need to install wine first. For example for Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-get install wine

This will enable you to save your drawings as different DWG or DXF versions.

Folders

ar

Python package which should be installed in the site-packages PYTHONDIR.

blender

This folder contains:

• scripts: which should be installed in the ~/.blender/scripts folder. The different scripts will integrate in the scripts menu.
• space_handlers: the contents of these scripts might be copied in a Blender text window to be used.
• demo: some example blender files. Before using any of the demos, the ar package and the blender scripts should be installed.
  • The cairo folder contains cairo exports as .svg or .pdf of the BGLSurfaces.
  • The dev folder contains the latest (unstable) developments.

linux

The linux specific install script is here.

tests

Files for doing unittests of the ar library.