Node to Python

About

A Blender add-on to create add-ons! This add-on will take your Geometry Nodes or Materials and convert them into legible Python add-ons!

It automatically handles node layout, default values, subgroups, naming, colors, and more!

I think Blender's node-based editors are powerful, yet accessible tools, and I wanted to make scripting them easier for add-on creators. Combining Python with node based setups allows you to do things that would otherwise be tedious or impossible, such as

• for loops
• creating different node trees for different versions or settings
• interfacing with other parts of the software or properties of an object

NodeToPython recreates the node networks for you, so you can focus on the good stuff.

Supported Versions

NodeToPython v2.0 is compatible with Blender 3.0 - 3.4 on Windows, macOS, and Linux. I generally try to update the addon to handle new nodes around the beta release of each update.

Installation

1. Download the NodeToPython.zip file from the latest release
   • If you download other options, you'll need to rename the zip and the first folder to "NodeToPython" so Blender can properly import the module
2. In Blender, navigate to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons
3. Click Install, and find where you downloaded the zip file. Then hit the Install Add-on button, and you're done!

Usage

Once you've installed the add-on, you'll see a new tab in any Node Editor's sidebar. You can open this with keyboard shortcut N when focused in the Node Editor.

In the tab, there's panels to create add-ons for Geometry Nodes and Materials, each with a drop-down menu.

Just select the one you want, and soon a zip file will be created in an addons folder located in the folder where your blend file is.

From here, you can install it like a regular add-on.

Future

• A "copy" mode, where just the functionality to build the node group is just copied to the clipbaord
• Expansion to Compositing nodes
• Add all referenced assets to the Asset Library for use outside of the original blend file
• Auto-set handle movies and image sequences
• Automatically format code to be PEP8 compliant
• Automatically detect the minimum version of Blender needed to run the add-on

Potential Issues

• As of version 2.0.1, the add-on will not set default values for

  • Scripts
  • IES files
  • Filepaths
  • UV maps

• Currently when setting default values for the following, the add-on must be run in the same blend file as the node group was created in to set the default, otherwise it will just set it to None:

  • Materials
  • Objects
  • Collections
  • Textures

• In a future version, I plan on having the add-on adding all of the above to the Asset Library for reference

Bug Reports and Suggestions

When submitting an issue, please include

• Your version of Blender
• Your operating system
• A short description of what you were trying to accomplish, or steps to reproduce the issue.
• Sample blend files are more than welcome!

Suggestions for how to improve the add-on are more than welcome!