Tips for Exploring USD in Blender with an Already Functional Build

Contributing to Blender
1

Hello everyone!

I already have Blender built from source and have been diving into development. Recently, I attempted to create a new window to test some ideas, but I wasn’t successful, and I realized that recompiling Blender for every modification is quite costly.

My goal now is to explore the integration of USD (Universal Scene Description) within Blender. I’m looking for guidance on how to streamline the testing process without having to rebuild the entire project each time a change is made. I would also appreciate recommendations on:

  • Strategies or tools that can facilitate incremental development and debugging.
  • Resources, tutorials, or documentation to better understand USD integration in Blender.

Thanks in advance for any tips, links, or suggestions. I’m motivated to learn more and contribute to the community!

Cheers!

2

It shouldn’t rebuild the whole project every time a change is made unless you changed some really common header, i’d look into why that is happening rather than trying to work around the problem.

3

The why/problem is me, haha. Programming in C++ seems so complex to me, and even using ChatGPT to help me has been a hard path. But I really want to make this integration. I’m trying with Python right now, but I know that it might not be enough for me. Even if I don’t have to rebuild everything all the time. I think I just need some personal guidance on this path; exploring something completely new from scratch is a huge challenge for me.

4

I’m a bit confused, just to clarify: rebuilding after a change is not as costly as you make it out to be?