Installing what you need
There are three things that you need to install on your computer before you can make sculpties in Blender:
Blender 3d 2.49b
The Python software
The Primstar sculptie scripts
Installation is… fairly straightforward if you do it right, but unfortunately, there are two steps that are easy to mess up, and can make things very difficult, so I had to write up this short tutorial.
Go figure.
Installing Blender
Download Blender 3d 2.49b from here. For now, Primstar does not work with Blender 2.5x. The people at Machanimatrix are working on a new version of the scripts, but for now, we’ll have to stick to the older version of Blender.
Installing Blender is fairly easy. For the most part just follow the instructions. However, there is ONE thing that Windows XP users will have to change
There is a point during installation that asks you where you want to store the user data files. By default, the ‘Application Folder’ is selected. Switch this to the “Installation Directory. This will save you some hassle in a bit.
After that, just wrap up the installation as normal.
Python
Download Python 2.6.6 from here.
For the current stable version of Blender (2.49) you’ll want to download the latest 2.6 build of Python. Do NOT download 3.1 or 2.7. Install normally.
Domino’s Primstar Scripts
Download the scripts from here.
Installing the Primstar scripts is probably the most troublesome of the three. Go into your file explorer, and navigate to the Blender data directory. You’re looking for the .blender/scripts folder.
.blender is a “hidden folder.” If you can’t see it, you may need to change your settings to show hidden files and folders.
In the Windows file explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options, and in the View tab check “show hidden files and folders.
In the Mac OSX, type the following in the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
Try looking for the folder in the following directories:
Linux: ~/.blender/scripts
Mac: /Applications/blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/.blender/scripts/
Windows XP: c:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Windows Vista: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Once you’ve found the scripts directory, find the folder called “primstar” inside the zip file you downloaded and copy the whole folder into the blender scripts directory. If you’ve installed Domino’s scripts previously, you might have to find the old ones and delete them manually. Now you’re ready to start Blender.
nothing to add, just wanted to say a big thank you for your tutorial work. the effort you put into these is much appreciated as they are some of the MOST helpful tutorials around. i hope you stick with it, even though the lack of comments on the whole page is not a good sign! :/
i like the new look of the page too
keep it up and THANK YOU!
Heheh. Well I only started redirecting people to the new site a couple of days ago, so I’m actually more surprised that I’ve already gotten one comment.
I’ve hardly given up hope. xD
I have some what of a problem when i go to install Domino’s script my blender directory path ends at “C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender” ( i have show hidden file and folder on) I am using blender version 2.6.2. I have to wonder is blender.\script a directory i have to make ..
Ahh found it your file path is a little off i believe… you tell me… “C:\Documents and Settings\Nick\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts” Where as “Nick” is your user name on your computer
It looks like you have Windows XP, and in this tutorial, I tell people to change the user data directory from the “Application Data” to the “Install Directory.”
I suppose I could change this to reflect the default now, but back when Blender first made this change, people were getting confused as all of the long-time Blender users still had the directory in the old location.
I suppose the short answer is, yes, you can use the scripts folder in the Application Data directory if you want to.
Arrghhh,
Windows 7 32 bit – and I did the same thing, installed before reading your tutorial… so my default was also nder “MYNAME/APPDATA/BLENDERFOUNDATION/BLENDER/.BLENDER/SCRIPTS”.
Love the Tutorials,
I will promote as much as I can to fellow scripters.
Thanks,
Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to make these tutorials! Great work! I love “old school” primwork for the challenge, but finally caved and decided to learn sculpties. Thanks to you I was able to get “up and running” over this weekend. Awsome stuff! If I could think of anything you could add would be perhaps a tutorial (or just the basic information) on importing objects and converting them to sculpties. I am aware this can be tricky due to various factors such as general complexity. just a thought
I can’t say it enough Thank you so much for making my transition into the world of sculpties a lot easier than I expected. 
I suppose maybe I should look into how to convert objects… I know there’s a function to do this with the Primstar scripts. I haven’t really bothered because, in my experience, models that weren’t built in the sculptie format generally don’t make good sculpties. Even WITH the Primstar scripts, I’ve seen Domino tell people pretty often that the object that they’re trying to convert simply won’t work.
If I do write it, I’d probably have to tell people not to attempt it until they know enough about sculpties to have an idea what will and will not convert. Or… well no. I don’t like telling people to not try something. I’d probably just tell them not to expect stellar results. Hehe.
I’m a longtime Maya and Cinema 4D creator/designer. Could no longer afford the cost of updating either one, so decided to give open source a chance. Although Blender has a steep learning curve, it is actually very powerful if you can figure out the interface. Didn’t expect to see 90 percent of Maya ‘under the hood’. From a professional: Give Blender a chance!
Also, a note to Blender Ubuntu 9.10 users: If Domino’s Primstar Scripts are not working due to script errors: Find Blender’s scripts directory and copy them to the directory above. Ubuntu made a mistake and the Primstar scripts will not work otherwise. Took me hours to find this information so I thought I’d spead the word
Well, I used Terminal to reveal the hidden .files on my Mac: no problem. Then I looked for the .blender/scripts folder: can’t find it, using the path that you give, viz., Mac: /Applications/blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/.blender/scripts/
The troubles is, the third term in this list, blender.app, is the naked app itself, and not a folder containing Contents/MacOS/.blender/scripts. So, clicking it just launches blender, rather than navigating further. I have tried looking in username/Applications, and in username/Library/Application Support, but can’t find it. Looked for .blender/Scripts using Spotlight, the system-widen search function, but no result.
Please could you suggest a path?
Many thanks!
Devi
Unfortunately, I don’t really know the answer to this one. I’ve heard that Mac users often have trouble with installation. Your best bet is probably to go to the forums on Domino’s site and ask for help there. The people who frequent the forums there are a lot more knowledgeable about this sort of problem than I am.
Murgy, I’m very much a beginner in all this, so maybe I don’t see the difficulties that you and everyone else does.
All I’m asking is for an accurate file-path to a folder where I can install Primstar so that Blender can find it.
The file-path you provide has as its 3rd term, ‘blender.app’ and that must be a misprint, since it’s a _folder_ we need there, no? I have tried placing nested folders called ‘Contents/MacOS/.blender/scripts’ into the folder called ‘Blender’, as the nearest thing to what you’re saying, but it doesn’t seem to work: the Blender File:import command doesn’t see Primstar.
I just don’t see why this is all so difficult…!
Kind regards
Devi
The file path I provided was copied directly from Domino’s site. I checked it again today and its the same, and after doing a google search, it seems that this is the correct file path. You just can’t get to the folder by the conventional route.
You can blame Blender 3D for that. In any case, here’s a forum entry from Blender.org. Hopefully it’ll help some. http://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=70779&sid=c8ccd843623ce74c5aab27a930cd8952
Edit: Oh. Alternatively, you can customize blender to use an additional user-defined scripts folder. http://blog.machinimatrix.org/2009/12/07/the-blender-basic-customization-guide/
Hello Murgy: thank you for your patience! I’ll try both suggestions. I posted twice on the Blender forums, as you suggested, but have had no response over 4 days…
Ok i have a problem with adding the sculptie mesh i am running mac os on an intel mac and when i try to add a sculpty mesh it says Python script error:check console what does this mean does it mean i have done something wrong?
Are you running it on Windows or Mac OS? (Assuming that you may have both, since you have an intel machine.) There are several things that could be wrong, but it helps to know what is actually written in the console. On Windows, the console is the second window that opens up. On OSX, you have to use the Mac console program, which you should be able to find using the Mac search thing.
A common problem seems to be people extracting the entire primstar ZIP file, and place the whole thing (the folder named Primstar_1.0.0 or something similar) into the script folder. Instead you want to JUST copy the subfolder (called primstar) into the scripts directory. Everything else in the zip file is if you want to try to use the installer, which is more confusing to me than installing the scripts manually.
everything appeared to be installed properly, but when I open up blender I get a command line window with the following message:
Compiled with Python version 2.6.2
‘import site’ failed; use -v for traceback
Checking for installed Python… No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily
I’ve got Blender 2.6.5 installed
It sounds like you don’t have Pythong 2.6.* installed. If you installed Python, its likely that you installed 3.0.* instead, which isn’t compatible with the current version of Blender.
Sorry I meant to say I have Python 2.6.5 installed not Blender. I tried uninstalling and re-installing it. I am using the X86-64 version will that make a difference?
Hmm. Very possible. Blender’s current version certainly wouldn’t be able to take advantage of 64 bit in any case, though I don’t know all of the technical details as to why it wouldn’t work.
I had this problem, too. I think it’s because I used the zip installation of blender for Windows XP-64 rather than the .exe installer. I added an environment variable PYTHONPATH and then blender found Python okay.
I installed Python at E:\Python2.6.6 and set PYTHONPATH to
E:\Python2.6.6;E:\Python2.6.6\DLLS;E:\Python2.6.6\LIB;E:\Python2.6.6\LIB\LIB-TK.
So yeah, i got the “portable” version of Blender 2.49 64 bit…
im currently runnign windows7 ulötimate 64bit, installed python and the domino scripts like you said.
the last action obvously failed as i am getting this when trying to make a sculpty mesh:
Checking for installed Python… got it!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “”, line 1, in
File “C:\Program Files\Blender\.blender\scripts\primstar\add_mesh_sculpt_mesh.
py”, line 50, in
from Tkinter import *
File “C:\Python26\Lib\lib-tk\Tkinter.py”, line 38, in
import FixTk
File “C:\Python26\Lib\lib-tk\FixTk.py”, line 63, in
import _tkinter
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.
I’d be very pleased if this issue can be resolved, as i desperately need to learn how to sculpt. no learning without practice and something to work on, right?
You want to uninstall the 64 bit versions of Blender and Python and instead install the 32bit versions. Primstar doesn’t work with 64 bit.
I am runnig Window 7. C:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\Scripts is where my old version of python script files are in. They work fine. However, when I extract primstar I can not create a C:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\Scripts path as instructed. \.blender can not be used as a file name so, I am force to use the old path
C:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\Scripts
and I do not get the panel displayed in the Jass 2 tutorials.
What am I doing wrong?
I’m also using Windows 7, and .blender can still be used as a folder name. I’m guessing that your folder options aren’t set up to show hidden files and folders. You need to set it to do so by going to Organize > Folder and search options, then look under the View tab for “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Just FYI for Mac users, if you right-click (or control-click) the application itself, you get an option called “Show Package Contents.” That’s where the path is.
thanks
I have followed the steps but in my Blender folder there are no hidden folders for scripts. I actually did the show hidden folders and files and nothing. Help, please?
Do a search for “.blender” in your main drive. The folder is likely in you application data directory, but if not, your computer can probably find the directory faster than I could.
Why is this so hard to do? Why don’t someone write proper instructions? Like this:
Step 1: do this
Step 2 do that
If step 1 or 2 doesn’t work do this:
These instructions don’t work. I don’t have a .blender file, or a scripts file.
This doesn’t work
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Why are you waisting my time?
Why does windows have invisible items in it’s folders? When a human looks in a folder they are looking for what’s in the folder, so why do they have invisible things in it?
There is no situation in life so bad that complaining about it won’t make it worse.
Seriously, I made this tutorial about as easy to understand as I could without treating my readers like infants. I realize that installation can be tricky, and if you have problems, I’m usually willing to help, but you’ve given me no information about what your problem is… unless you haven’t figured out how to show hidden folders on your machine.
In that case there is a lovely tool called Google.
Hey, I have Windows 7 Pro, I downloaded Python 2.6.6 as it was the closest available to 2.6.5 on their site. I found the .blender file at
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
I placed in the primstar folder, and launched Blender, but I still do not have the option in the Scripts menu.
The options aren’t in the Scripts menu. The function to add a new sculpt mesh is under Add -> Mesh in the spacebar menu, the function to bake a sculpt map is under the Bake menu at the top, and import and export are in the File menu.
I figured out what I did wrong, I had placed the Install file into the primstar folder before putting it into the scripts folder. Added them seperatly and works fine now
Well I completed my mesh, but when I go to the split view, and back the mesh, I dont get the ‘raindbow colors’ in the UV view
Did you read the rest of the starter tutorials?
2.46 is not available, pls, help me out murgy!!!! what version should i download now?
Go to the download page and look two lines under the orange “Get Blender” bar. There’s a link for “Older Versions. You can get 2.46 from the archive.
Domino Marama also appears to be back. Hopefully he’ll have a version of Primstar ready for Blender 2.5 sometime soon.
I feel like a dumbass… I have windows 7, Downloaded python, got the zip folder for the dominoes primstar, did every thing right and when I got to the point of putting the files into the hidden folder .blender/scripts… The file doesn’t exist. I tried searching for it and it doesnt come up at all. I have my hidden files shown always cause I have a tendency to hack my ipod to get my music off of it. So Im not sure what is wrong. Did I miss something? I tried placing the contents of the files from primstar into the blender/scripts folder but nothing worked. Should I downgrade the 2.57 version of Blender for the one you listed here rather than the updated version?
Yes you should, actually. The primstar scripts use Python 2.6 whereas Blender 2.5x uses Python 3, so the two are incompatible.
*facepalm*
I’ve hit a snag it seems, it all went so smoothly and easily (too easily of course) until I went to “Add a Sculpty Mesh” and I recieve a “Python Script Error” something along the lines of;
Traceback :
File “”, line1, in
File “C:\Users\Iain\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\add_mesh_sculpt_.py”, line 48 in
from primstar import sculpty
This appears in the console every-time. I’m not entirely sure what I’ve done wrong!
Could you please tell me what version of blender you installed, what version of python, and what operating system you’re using?
I am new to Blender…like newer than new…just started yesterday. I run a Mac OS X and just installed JASS/Blender without much of a problem. I made the install harder than it needed to be by reading mind boggling instructions that made little sense to me as a simplified Mac user.
I visited JASS Island and got my link and downloaded from the site. My first mistake was not understanding you don’t need both JASS and Primstar. If you get the JASS version it has Primstar in it. From what I was told after the fact, you don’t Primstar unless you are installing it to Blender you already have. To simplify things, it might be easier to move your files elsewhere, uninstall your old Blender and reinstall with the JASS version.
My second mistake was in thinking I had to move JASS and all it’s content to the Applications folder. While you can do this, it is not necessary in my opinion, but like I said…I am newer than new. I unzipped the file to the desktop and am running it from the JASS folder on the desktop. I created a subfolder in the JASS/Blender folder for sculpt projects and other needed items. I did install python to the normal Mac applications folder.
So far, I have had no issues running it via this method. It could be that I might later on, but only time will tell. I hope this is helpful for other new Mac Blender Users.
I have tried everything from Jass magic, to this installation of blender with primstar scripts. I’m using win xp 32 bit. I cant get the splash screen to disappear and load the UI. Does anyone have any information on why? I cannot seem to figure this out and I would very much like to learn to make my own sculpts.
Thank you.
I find if I run my mouse back and forth over the ui and splash screen, that the UI shows up in parts, I can try to load a mesh, but since there were no detailed instructions on “installing python normally” for newbies, i must have installed it wrong, I am getting some error message from python.
I could reallly use some help, I’m going nuts here
Installing Blender tends to be easy for the average newbie. Your problem sounds familiar, but I can’t remember from where.
What versions of Blender and Python did you install, and what’s the error message you’re getting?
Hi Murgy, I installed 2.49b, and python 2.6.6. I cant install primstar until I get those two working. I appreciate your help:)
I seem to remember something about a problem like this related to certain video cards. Try updating your video drivers. If that doesn’t work, try posting on the Blender support forums. You’re more likely to find people who know about the problem there.
Thank you, these are the easiest instructions I’ve found for this. Unfortunately after hours of trying, I could not get that Primstar junk to work at all. I’m on a Mac and the “.blender” folder doesn’t exist, nor do I have the permissions to create one. Oh well.
Hey.
I am sorry but in this tutorial theres nothing about actualy making the python work.
i have blender 2.49b win 32 and i downloaded python 2.6.6 as a zip file.
Now the problem is i have no idea where to extract it (Python) so i extracted it to program files.
i copyed the primstar to the scripts folder.
after that i set the python path inside blender to the same location where i unziped it but blender still not finding it and when i try to add mesh, it gives me this:
“Python Script Error: Check Console”.
Please help figure this thing out
Download Python’s msi file (microsoft installer) and run that instead. It will install python correctly on your computer.
Hi, I was going through this, and had a huge length of frustration and veins pop (Not really but it sure felt like it!) But through this and my determination and a longed time of searching I found these two step-by-step tutorials that help patch those twilight spots that pictures and texts simply cannot cover.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5t5U0XnSew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcrncclkMTQ
Hope it helps!