3D Mesh Editor GUI

Question

I have been using Blender for a while, and I am trying to make a computer application using Python which incorporates Blender's sewing capabilities. However, I understand now that there's no such thing as a Blender GUI API. How would I go about creating this application if I want to use Blender functionality but also display the results in a 3D mesh editor?

Answer 1

Blenders GUI is controlled by python scripts. It is possible for you to replace all of the standard layout scripts with your own, you can also configure the window layout to only show what you want to be visible.

Starting with a new file, whether starting blender or creating a new file, the preferences file called startup.blend is read. This blend file contains the window layout that is used. This means you can setup any window layout you want and save it to startup.blend and use it when blender starts. An addon/s can then be used to add panels and operators to make blender behave anyway you want.

If you want the flexibility of using a normal version of blender as well as your setup, you can use the application templates system to place your setup among the choices when you choose to create a new file.

If you want to build and distribute your own variation of blender, you will want to setup and replace the startup.blend found in blenders source tree .

As far as controlling the visual layout, you can remove and create panels that fit within blenders existing layout system or you can setup a window with only a 3D viewport and draw your own interface within the 3D view. Have a look at the video demo for CGCookies retopoflow for an example of this, you can look at the source for the addon at github .