Installing Python FBX

Python FBX is a Python wrapper for the Autodesk FBX SDK, which allows users to work with FBX files in Python. In this article, we will guide you through the process of installing Python FBX on your system, and provide a code example to demonstrate how to use it.

Installation

To install Python FBX, you will first need to download the Autodesk FBX SDK from the Autodesk website. Make sure to choose the correct version for your operating system and architecture. Once you have downloaded the SDK, follow these steps to install Python FBX:

  1. Extract the contents of the SDK archive to a directory on your machine.
  2. Set the FBX_SDK_DIR environment variable to point to the directory where you extracted the SDK. For example, if you extracted the SDK to C:\Autodesk\FBX SDK\2022.1, you would set FBX_SDK_DIR to C:\Autodesk\FBX SDK\2022.1.
  3. Install the Python FBX package using pip:
pip install python_fbx

Code Example

Now that you have installed Python FBX, let's see how we can use it to read an FBX file and print out the names of all the nodes in the scene. Here is a simple code example:

import fbx

def print_node_names(node, indent=0):
    print(f"{' ' * indent}{node.GetName()}")

    for i in range(node.GetChildCount()):
        print_node_names(node.GetChild(i), indent + 4)

def main():
    manager = fbx.FbxManager.Create()
    scene = fbx.FbxScene.Create(manager, "")

    importer = fbx.FbxImporter.Create(manager, "")
    importer.Initialize("path/to/your/file.fbx", -1)
    importer.Import(scene)

    root_node = scene.GetRootNode()
    print_node_names(root_node)

    importer.Destroy()
    manager.Destroy()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed how to install Python FBX and provided a code example to demonstrate how to read an FBX file using the Python FBX package. By following these steps, you can start working with FBX files in Python and incorporate them into your workflow. Feel free to explore the capabilities of Python FBX and unleash the power of FBX files in your projects!