blender_automated_csv_rendering v1.x

The following is intended to accompany a lesson in automating renders from a CSV file in blender.
This lesson and its instructions is a work in progress, but feel free to use it any time.
Check back later for links to the YouTube video series.
If you encounter a problem with the instructions or the script, please don't hesitate to file an issue.

Step 1

Clone this repository into your blender project.

cd ~/path/to/my/project
git clone https://github.com/CptCornWault/blender_automated_csv_rendering.git

Step 2

Setup the project path.

Open blender_automated_csv_rendering/lessons/csv_render_1.py and replace the projectPath with the full system path to your project.

For for these lessons, include automated_csv_rendering\\lessons\\ in your path so that the script will know where to find the jobs, textures, and renders related to these lessons.

projectPath = 'C:\\path\\to\\my\\project\\blender_automated_csv_rendering\\lessons\\'

Don't forget to escape the slashes (\\) and use the trailing slash.

Step 3

Setup the lesson.

In the same file as step two, update the currentJobFilePath with the path to the lesson directory you want to work from.

Lesson 1 is set by default

currentJobFilePath = projectPath + 'lesson_1\\'

Step 4

Begin lesson 1.

1. Open Blender (For this tutorial we are using blender v2.82a) and set up a default scene with the default cube. If you are using an older version of Blender you may have to UV unwrap the Cube.

2. Open the scripting panel and load /lessons/lesson_1/csv_render_lesson_1.py. Also open the System Console so that you can see the script output.

3. Make sure the cube object is named Cube. If you want to use a different name, make sure the objectName reflects your object name.

   objectName = "Cube"

4. Apply a material to your object, and name the material cube_mat. You can use a different name for the material if you change the material_slots key that is being accessed to define the material variable.

   material = renderObject.material_slots['cube_mat'].material

5. Set up the material to use an image texture.

6. Run the script. It will output progress and tell you when it is finished. If there is a problem, blender will tell you the error message and where it ocurred.