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Blender Python for Beginners

From headless execution through modelling, materials, lighting, rigging, add-ons and CLI batch rendering. Twenty lessons that take you to the point where one command handles everything from render to export. Every piece of code and result shown was produced by actually running Blender 5.0.1.

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Curriculum

The 20 lessons are grouped into five chapters. Working through them in order is the best way, but you are welcome to dip into whatever interests you. Note: this cannot run inside the browser, so try it with your own Blender 5.0 or later using blender --background --python script.py.

Chapter 1 — Getting started (lessons 1–2)

You set up a way to drive Blender from Python. You render headlessly and get clear on the difference between bpy.data, bpy.ops and bpy.context.

Driving Blender from Python

Why bpy cannot be pip installed, and the shape of headless execution. Rendering with --background and saving a PNG.

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When to use bpy.data, bpy.ops and bpy.context

Separating the roles of the three APIs. Reproducing "poll() failed", and comparing three ways of emptying a scene.

Free

Chapter 2 — Modelling (lessons 3–5)

You create and transform objects and assemble meshes. By the end you can change shapes non-destructively with modifiers.

Creating and transforming objects

Why assigning to a property does not change matrix_world. The rotation_mode trap, and the 319x speed difference between bpy.ops and bpy.data.

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Assembling a mesh directly

Building a shape from vertices and faces with from_pydata. Normal direction, why validate() is needed, and conditional editing with bmesh.

Changing shapes non-destructively with modifiers

Adding them with modifiers.new and what the order does. Why obj.data.vertices does not grow, and how to use evaluated_get.

Chapter 3 — Appearance (lessons 6–9)

You set up materials, lights, cameras and rendering from Python, and go as far as shooting the same scene in both EEVEE and Cycles.

Materials and shader nodes

Materials in Blender 5.0, where use_nodes = True is no longer needed. Renamed inputs, material_index, and connecting nodes.

Lights and the world

When to use each of the four light types, and why only SUN has different units. Confirming that the world acts as a light source too.

Cameras and composition

Nothing renders unless you set scene.camera. Field of view is lens paired with sensor width, and constraints do not change rotation_euler.

Shooting the same scene in EEVEE and Cycles

Lowering Cycles' default 4,096 samples and adding denoising. AgX colour management and the output settings.

Chapter 4 — Structure and motion (lessons 10–14)

You bring the parts together into a single piece and make it move. You assemble a desk lamp and go on to keyframes, drivers and IK rigging.

Parenting and collections

Why a child jumps when you assign to parent, and matrix_parent_inverse. Nesting collections, belonging to several at once, and instancing.

[Project] Assemble a desk lamp

Bringing the previous ten lessons together into one file. Designing backwards from the joint coordinates, and two traps: the cone cap and use_auto_smooth.

Animation and keyframes

How to place a keyframe_insert, and the removal of Action.fcurves in Blender 4.4. frame_set and a turntable.

Drivers and constraints

Two ways to link things without keyframes. The bpy.types.Constraint type names, influence, and the limits of driver expressions.

Armatures and IK rigging

The three faces of edit_bones, bones and pose.bones. Bending an arm from the position of its tip with IK, and parenting rigid parts to bones.

Chapter 5 — Advanced work and tooling (lessons 15–20)

You work with geometry nodes and UVs, and turn your scripts into tools you can drive from the GUI. Finally you build a pipeline where one command handles render and export.

Building geometry nodes from Python

Creating your own node tree, and the interface API that changed in 4.0. Why instances are not vertices, and when to realise them.

UVs and textures

Why UVs are stored per loop. UV unwrapping works headlessly too. Checking with COLOR_GRID, and procedural textures.

Custom operators and panels

Becoming the person who writes bl_idname and poll(). How declaring a property as an annotation is enough to produce UI.

Packaging it as an add-on

The difference between bl_info and blender_manifest.toml, and how to choose. The structure of the zip that extension build produces, and AddonPreferences.

Batch rendering from the CLI

Everything after -- is your own arguments. Forget it and no exception is raised. When to do it all in one process, and CLI arguments where order matters.

Exporting and the pipeline

What survives in each format, export_apply and Realize, and a 172-byte .glb. Draft and final presets, and a JSON report.

Once you have finished all 20 lessons, shore up the foundations for automation with Python for Beginners or Linux Fundamentals. Membership unlocks every course.