Using Blendercam from github

Using Blendercam from github is a great way to try out the newest features and fixes. The latest build (dailybuild) of Blender can be used with the latest Master branch of Blendercam and then you can live on the bleeding edge.

The easiest way to install is not to install but tell Blender where to find the add-on. This way you don't have to worry about copying/moving files around. You can keep Blendercam source files separate from Blender if using source control ie git for developement and still easily test your changes in Blender.

• Get Blendercam source code
• Setup Blender scripts alternate path
• Enable Blendercam add-on
• Enter CAM mode
• Updating Blendercam

Get Blendercam source code from Github

• The first step is to get the source code from the github repository.

  • Make a parent directory where blendercam from github will reside

  • Assuming that Git is installed on your machine, at the command prompt change into the directory where blendercam will be and then type:

  • git clone https://github.com/vilemnovak/blendercam.git

  • 

  • git will make a subdirectory called blendercam in the current directory and then download the most recent version of blendercam on github.

Setup Blender scripts alternate file path

• The second step is to tell blender to also search an alternate path for add-ons. When blender starts up it will search its own paths for add-ons and will also search the alternate path that you add. This way an external source add-on can be used in Blender.
  • 1 - select User Preferences panel
  • 2 - select File tab
  • 3 - select the file button on the Scripts input field and select the path to your blendercam/scripts directory
  • 4 - select Save User Settings
  • 5 - restart Blender

Enable Blendercam add-on

• The third step is to enable the Blendercam add-on.

  • 1 - select User Preference panel
  • 2 - select Add-ons tab
  • 3 - select Scene category
  • 4 - enable the CAM addon by left click on the check box
  • 4a - the file path should match your Blendercam git path
  • 5 - Optional: you can enable the experimental features
  • 6 - select Save User Settings

• Now when ever blender is started, the external source blendercam add-on will be enabled.

Enter CAM mode

• To put blender into CAM mode do the following.
  
  • 1 select Blender CAM as the render engine
  • 2 select the Properties editor
  • 3 select the Render data in order to see the CAM panels

Updating Blendercam

• Every once in a while, maybe even daily, you will want to update your copy of Blendercam to match what is on Github.

  • at the command line change to the directory of blendercam
  • tell git to pull all the latest changes from Github and update your copy

  git pull

After git finishes updating blendercam you can run blender. If blender was already running then restart it ie close blender and then start it.