LuxBlend 2.5 installation instructions

From LuxRender Wiki

This page contains installation instructions for LuxBlend25, LuxRender's export script for Blender 2.6x.

LuxBlend25 will only work with LuxRender 0.8, not with earlier versions. Please be aware that LuxBlend for Blender 2.49 is a different script and will not work on Blender 2.5x or any release after it.

If you're using a build of Blender that includes LuxBlend (such as those on graphicall.org), you can skip steps one, two and three.

The instructions on this page are primarily meant for installing the latest development code. If you are using LuxRender 0.8 you should follow the instructions included with your 0.8 download or installer.

1. Download LuxRender

Download LuxRender for the operating system you use. Only LuxRender 0.8 and recent development versions (weekly builds) work well with Blender 2.6x; LuxRender 0.7.1 does not. Either get LuxRender here or get a weekly build from the forum. Extract the download and put it in a convenient location (for example in the Program Files folder on Windows).

2. Get LuxBlend25

The very latest development version can be found here: http://src.luxrender.net/luxblend25/archive/tip.zip

Once you have downloaded the zip file and unpacked it, you should see a folder called "src" inside the "luxblend25" folder. Inside the "src" folder there is a folder called "luxrender". Copy this "luxrender" folder (the folder, not just the contents) into your <blender scripts>/addons/ folder. The exact location of the folder we are looking for depends on your operating system:

1. on Windows XP, it is either in Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\addons (or C:\Program Files\blender-2.60-windows32\2.60\scripts\addons) or C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.60\scripts\addons. This latter folder is normally hidden, so you may need to make hidden folders visible first.
2. on Vista and Windows 7 it may either be the same location as XP or otherwise C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.60\scripts\addons. This folder is normally hidden, so you may need to make hidden folders visible first.
3. on Linux it should be /usr/lib/blender/scripts/addons.
4. for OS X, please follow the instructions that are part of the LuxRender download. However, if you are doing a completely manual install, such as for a development build, check /Users/[username]/Applications Support/Blender/2.60/scripts/addons

You should end up with the following structure: <blender scripts>/addons/luxrender/ which contains an __init__.py file and several other directories.

3. Get Pylux

Pylux is a binary add-on for LuxBlend25 which will allow you to do fully integrated rendering inside Blender.

On Windows the file is called pylux.pyd and comes with the LuxBlend25 download, on Linux and Mac OS X it's called pylux.so. If you have a copy, you can copy the pylux file into the folder <blender scripts>/addons/luxrender/. On OS X and Linux, do the same with the file called liblux.dylib or liblux.so.

4. Activate LuxBlend25 within Blender

After installing into your add-ons directory, you should see an entry for LuxRender in User Preferences -> Add-Ons -> Render, where you can enable the exporter. Please note that it may take a few seconds for the box to be checked after you click it, so click it once and wait. Press CTRL-U to save your default settings.

In Blender's Info window (the bar at the top), select LuxRender as your render engine. This should change the available options in the properties window, giving you control over LuxRender’s own render settings. Note that some of the panels (such as the dimensions and output panels) don't change as they contain settings that are shared between render engines.

If you want to use LuxRender as your default render engine, press CTRL-U again.

5. Add the path to LuxRender in LuxBlend

In order for LuxBlend to be able to start LuxRender, the path to location of the program needs to be specified. This can be done by ticking the "Run Renderer" option in the LuxRender Engine Configuration section and then adding the path in the Path to LuxRender field.

5. Troubleshooting

If you have troubles activating the add-on, please restart Blender and try again. If this still doesn't work there is a workaround: download a .blend file that has LuxBlend activated (for example here), open it in Blender and save preferences. Please note that unfortunately this will overwrite your preferences.