How to Import Python Blender Modules in PyCharm IDE

Question

I have just started using Python as a language.

I have built blender as python modules using the instructions at https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Ideasman42/BlenderAsPyModule.

I have built it successfully on Mac OS X. The last operations I have performed successfully, as instructed by the webpage, are

cp ./bin/bpy.so /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/

cp -R ./bin/2.77 /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/

However, when I run the last test:

python -c "import bpy ; bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)"

I get:

File "", line 1, in ImportError: No module named 'boy'

Even in PyCharm IDE, PyCharm IDE does not recognise import bpy. I can see bpy.so and 2.77 on the site packages for python. I do not think the 2.77 contains the file in the correct structure.

How do you correctly copy the built files correctly to the Python site package folder?

Answer 1

Try running these two lines in your terminal and see how your test works afterwards. I had the exact same problem when I built the module.

sudo mkdir "/Library/Application Support/Blender"
sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/2.77 "/Library/Application Support/Blender/2.77"

Python isn't recognizing the bpy module because Blender's unique import protocol searches for /Library/Application Support/Blender/2.77 before the Python site packages. You can work around this by creating a symbolic link that leads to /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/2.77. Your test should work once you do that.