Python Console

The Python Console is a quick way to execute commands, with access to the entire Python API, command history and auto-complete. The command prompt is typical for Python 3.x, the interpreter is loaded and is ready to accept commands at the prompt >>>.

The Python Console is a good way to explore the possibilities of Blender built-in Python. The Python Console can be used to test small bits of Python code which can then be pasted into larger scripts.

Python Console.

Interface

Header Menus

View Menu

Zoom In / Zoom Out

Increases/Decreases the font size of the console text.

Move to Previous Word Ctrl-Left

Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word. If the cursor is in the middle of a word, the cursor is moved to the beginning of the current word.

Move to Next Word Ctrl-Right

Moves the cursor to the end of the next word. If the cursor is in the middle of a word, the cursor is moved to the end of the current word.

Move to Line Begin Home

Moves the cursor to the start of the current line.

Move to Line End End

Moves the cursor to the end of the current line.

Console Menu

Clear All

Refreshes the console giving the view a fresh start. Note that command history is not cleared.

Clear Line Shift-Return.

Removes everything from the prompt line.

Delete Previous Word Ctrl-Backspace

Deletes everything between the cursor and the beginning of the previous word (separated by periods). If the cursor is in the middle of a word, deletes everything to the beginning of the current word.

Delete Next Word Ctrl-Delete

Deletes everything between the cursor and the end of the next word. If the cursor is in the middle of a word, deletes everything to the end of the current word.

Copy as Script Shift-Ctrl-C

Copies the full history buffer to the clipboard, this can be pasted into a text file to be used as a Python script.

Copy Ctrl-C

Copy the selection.

Paste Ctrl-V

Paste into the command line.

Indent Tab

Inserts a tab character at the cursor.

Unindent Shift-Tab

Unindents the selection.

Backward in History Up

Changes the current command to previous command as they appear in the command history.

Forward in History Down

Changes the current command to next command as they appear in the command history.

Autocomplete Tab

See Auto Completion for more information.

Main View

Key Bindings

• Left / Right – Cursor motion.

• Ctrl-Left / Ctrl-Right – Cursor motion, by word.

• Backspace / Delete – Erase characters.

• Ctrl-Backspace / Ctrl-Delete – Erase words.

• Return – Execute command.

• Shift-Return – Add to command history without executing.

Usage

Aliases

Some variables and modules are available for convenience:

• C: Quick access to bpy.context.

• D: Quick access to bpy.data.

• bpy: Top level Blender Python API module.

First Look at the Console Environment

To check what is loaded into the interpreter environment, type dir() at the prompt and execute it.

Auto Completion

Now, type bpy. and then press Tab and you will see the Console auto-complete feature in action.

You will notice that a list of sub-modules inside of bpy appear. These modules encapsulate all that we can do with Blender Python API and are very powerful tools.

Lets list all the contents of bpy.app module.

Notice the green output above the prompt where you enabled auto-completion. What you see is the result of auto completion listing. In the above listing all are module attributed names, but if you see any name end with (, then that is a function.

We will make use of this a lot to help our learning the API faster. Now that you got a hang of this, lets proceed to investigate some of modules in bpy.

Before Tinkering with the Modules

If you look at the 3D View in the default Blender scene, you will notice three objects: Cube, Light and Camera.

• All objects exist in a context and there can be various modes under which they are operated upon.

• At any instance, only one object is active and there can be more than one selected object.

• All objects are data in the blend-file.

• There are operators/functions that create and modify these objects.

For all the scenarios listed above (not all were listed, mind you…) the bpy module provides functionality to access and modify data.

Examples

bpy.context

Nota

For the commands below to show the proper output, make sure you have selected object(s) in the 3D View.

bpy.context.mode

Will print the current 3D View mode (Object, Edit, Sculpt, etc.).

bpy.context.object or bpy.context.active_object

Will give you access to the active object in the 3D View.

Change the X location to a value of 1:

bpy.context.object.location.x = 1

Move the object from previous X location by 0.5 unit:

bpy.context.object.location.x += 0.5

Change the X, Y, Z location:

bpy.context.object.location = (1, 2, 3)

Change only the X, Y components:

bpy.context.object.location.xy = (1, 2)

The data type of object’s location:

type(bpy.context.object.location)

Now that is a lot of data that you have access to:

dir(bpy.context.object.location)

bpy.context.selected_objects

Will give access to a list of all selected objects.

Type this and then press Tab:

bpy.context.selected_objects

To print out the name of first object in the list:

bpy.context.selected_objects[0]

The complex one… But this prints a list of objects not including the active object:

[obj for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects if obj != bpy.context.object]

bpy.data

bpy.data has functions and attributes that give you access to all the data in the blend-file.

You can access following data in the current blend-file: objects, meshes, materials, textures, scenes, screens, sounds, scripts, etc.

That is a lot of data.

bpy.ops

The tool system is built around the concept of operators. Operators are typically executed from buttons or menus but can be called directly from Python too.

See the bpy.ops API documentation for a list of all operators.