2.53 Beta Add Ons

It's so new that the URL still says alpha! Versions of 2.53 Beta can be downloaded for Windows 32bit, Windows 64 bit, Linux 32bit and 64 bit, Mac OS X, and Solaris. As a beta version, the basic features should be in place, although bugs are still expected. There are many bug fixes, some reorganization of window choices, and some new features. You can read more about all the changes in Blender 2.5, at:

http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-250/

In this tutorial, I'm going to talk about the new Add-On repository, which is a way to extend Blender functionality by adding Python scripts. A number of these scripts are shipped with 2.53 beta. They are documented online in the Blender 2.5 Add-Ons Repository, at:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.5/Py/Scripts

I will show you where the add-on scripts are stored and how to install and run them. I will also show you how to edit the source code of the installed scripts, which are a great resource for learning how to write add-ons.