Cannot install package bpy using pip

Question

Problem description : In VS Code, run the command pip install bpy (as indicated in https://pypi.org/project/bpy/ ) and get the following error message:

PS C:\Users\(...)\Local\Programs\Python\Python38> pip install bpy
Collecting bpy
  Using cached bpy-0.0.0a0.tar.gz (19 kB)
    ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
     command: 'c:\users\(...)\local\programs\python\python38\python.exe' -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\(...)\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-xln6pb4c\\bpy\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\(...)\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-xln6pb4c\\bpy\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' egg_info --egg-base 'C:\Users\(...)\Local\Temp\pip-pip-egg-info-0pdk7e9q'
         cwd: C:\Users\(...)\Local\Temp\pip-install-xln6pb4c\bpy\
    Complete output (16 lines):
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "c:\users\(...)\local\programs\python\python38\lib\tokenize.py", line 342, in find_cookie
        codec = lookup(encoding)
    LookupError: unknown encoding: future_fstrings
    During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
      File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
      File "c:\users\(...)\local\programs\python\python38\lib\tokenize.py", line 394, in open
        encoding, lines = detect_encoding(buffer.readline)
      File "c:\users\(...)\local\programs\python\python38\lib\tokenize.py", line 381, in detect_encoding
        encoding = find_cookie(second)
      File "c:\users\(...)\local\programs\python\python38\lib\tokenize.py", line 350, in find_cookie
        raise SyntaxError(msg)
    SyntaxError: unknown encoding for 'C:\\Users\\(...)\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-xln6pb4c\\bpy\\setup.py': future_fstrings
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: python setup.py egg_info Check the logs for full command output. code here

------- What I tried (without success): -------

Installed wheels (pip install wheel), then downloaded the package from pypi.org to manually install: pip install 'C:\Users(...)\Downloads\bpy-2.82.1.tar.gz' got the same error .

------- Conclusion : -------

Cannot use bpy outside of Blender. I found some workarounds (which I have yet to try) on another post on Blender Stack Exchange Thanks Anand and phd for the very useful links!

Answer 1

From what I understand it is actually possible to run bpy outside blender and information that claims otherwise was written for older versions. I have to admit though that I am still in progress of installing bpy which is not an easy task and I cannot verify this, yet.

In your case, a pip module is missing. You can install it with pip install future_fstrings . Have a look at https://pypi.org/project/bpy/ for more guidelines.

EDIT: I was able to install bpy under Windows and Linux. It throws some errors on Linux but works fine under Windows. And absolutely works standalone!

Answer 2

I used a lot of trial and error and found out that using a Python version of 3.7.6 and pip version of 20.2.4, I was able to install bpy version - 2.82.1 by pip install bpy. I am using Windows 10 and Anaconda prompt.

Answer 3

TL:DR- install from prebuilt wheel, not from standard pip install bpy && bpy_post_install

---

Errors installing on macos:

I have been trying to install it for the last 8 hours or so.

My installation steps thus far:

• I built the blender app from source, following instructions on blender.org
• According to the bpy github repo- bpy depends upon bpy-build (though it's not in the prerequisites).
• The bpy-build github repo doesn't have great installation instructions, and the setup.py script specifically declares the OS as windows. So, I basically just skipped this- a possible cause of the install failures.
• In two different attempts, I used both pyenv and virtualenv, to create a python 3.7 dev environment. Both resulted in a hanging install for pip install bpy during the running of setup.py . The actual error from the pip install is:

Collecting bpy
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/4b/ed/ba6092b691acc5b157891421d9fde4a9dd5dcc8a8b93a4e8119fec261391/bpy-2.82.1.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: bpy
  Running setup.py install for bpy ... error
    ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
     command: /<path-to-venv>/venv/bin/python3 -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record /private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-record-ti3q9j4a/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers /<path-to-venv>/venv/include/site/python3.7/bpy
         cwd: /private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/
    Complete output (58 lines):
    running install
    running build
    running build_py
    creating build
    creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7
    creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blenderpy
    copying blenderpy/__init__.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blenderpy
    copying blenderpy/pre_uninstall.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blenderpy
    copying blenderpy/post_install.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blenderpy
    running build_ext
    Preparing the build environment
    Searching for compatible Blender online (this will take a while)
    Found compatible Blender version 2.82
    Cloning Blender source from git (this will take a while)
    Cloning precompiled libs from svn (this will take a while)
    cmake -DWITH_PYTHON_INSTALL=OFF -DWITH_PYTHON_MODULE=ON -DWITH_OPENMP=OFF -DWITH_AUDASPACE=OFF -S/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/build/temp.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blender -B/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/build/temp.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/build
    -- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 12.0.5.12050022
    -- The CXX compiler identification is AppleClang 12.0.5.12050022
    -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
    -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
    -- Check for working C compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/cc - skipped
    -- Detecting C compile features
    -- Detecting C compile features - done
    -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
    -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
    -- Check for working CXX compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/c++ - skipped
    -- Detecting CXX compile features
    -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
    -- Detected OS X 11.3 and Xcode 12. at /Applications/Xcode.app
    -- OSX_SYSROOT_PREFIX: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform
    -- Setting deployment target to 10.11, lower versions are not supported
    CMake Warning at CMakeLists.txt:580 (message):
      WITH_OPENAL requires WITH_AUDASPACE which is disabled


    CMake Warning at CMakeLists.txt:584 (message):
      WITH_JACK requires WITH_AUDASPACE which is disabled


    -- WITH_DRACO requires WITH_PYTHON_INSTALL to be ON, disabling WITH_DRACO for now
    -- Performing Test SUPPORT_SSE_BUILD
    -- Performing Test SUPPORT_SSE_BUILD - Success
    -- SSE Support: detected.
    -- Performing Test SUPPORT_SSE2_BUILD
    -- Performing Test SUPPORT_SSE2_BUILD - Success
    -- SSE2 Support: detected.
    -- Found Git: /usr/bin/git (found version "2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)")
    CMake Error at build_files/cmake/platform/platform_apple.cmake:38 (message):
      Mac OSX requires pre-compiled libs at:
      '/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/build/temp.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/blender/../lib/darwin'
    Call Stack (most recent call first):
      CMakeLists.txt:808 (include)


    -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
    See also "/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/build/temp.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
    See also "/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/build/temp.macosx-10.9-x86_64-3.7/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeError.log".
    error: command 'cmake' failed with exit status 1
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: /<path to venv>/venv/bin/python3 -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'/private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-install-m6rixhki/bpy/setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record /private/var/folders/4n/wsjhxhbn0pb11r7cyqcvtxcc0000gn/T/pip-record-ti3q9j4a/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers /<path to venv>/venv/include/site/python3.7/bpy Check the logs for full command output.

---

**** The breakthrough **** While writing this, I noticed the option in the bpy github page to install via pre-build wheel rather than the usual pip install bpy && bpy_post_install . You have to go to some 'sketchy' sites to download the file, but after I downloaded it and installed it that way I was able to run blender scripts outside of the blender app!!

Answer 4

I guess you can't install bpy because you're installing bpy by python 3.8 version. You have do downgrade your python version to 3.7

Check out https://pypi.org/project/bpy/

then you can see bpy module requires version of Python >=3.7, <3.8

Answer 5

Unfortunately the 'bpy' module cannot be used outside of Blender.

More details are here: https://creativepolygon.com/development/starting-with-bpy-blender-python-part-1-installation