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Extending Blender
Unlike many programs you may be familiar with, Blender is not monolithic and static. You can extend its functionality with Python scripting without having to modify the source and recompile.
Addons
Outside of the Blender executable, there are literally hundreds of addons written by many people:
- Several addons are bundled with Blender.
- Not all addons can be included within the Blender release for logistical or support reasons, but many of them work reliably and are very useful.
An Overview of all addons is available in this wiki in the Scripts Catalog and in the Extensions tracker.
Scripts
Apart from addons there are also scripts you can use to extend Blenders functionality:
- Modules: Utility libraries for import into other scripts.
- Presets: Settings for Blender's tools and key configurations.
- Startup: These files are imported when starting Blender. They define most of Blender's UI, as well as some additional core operators.
- Custom scripts: In contrast to addons they are typically intendet for one-time execution via the text editor
Saving your own scripts
File location
All scripts are loaded from the scripts folder of the local, system and user paths.
You can setup an addittional search path for scripts in User preferences (User Preferences → File Paths).
Installation
Addons are conveniently installed through Blender in the User Preferences → Addons window. Click the Install from File... button and select the .py or .zip file.
To manually install scripts or addons place them in the addons, modules, presets or startup directory according to their type. See the description above.
You can also run scripts by loading them in the text editor window.
