Installation¶

Install Blender

Goo runs within Blender, so you will first need to download Blender 4.0 from here. Goo currently support Blender 3.3 to 4.0. We aim to maintain Goo for future Blender LTS versions but might have a slight lag from their releases.

Note

Goo is not currently not compatible with Blender 4.1 because of a dependency clash with the RoadRunner Simulation Engine. Use Blender 4.0 while we are working towards implementing biocircuitery in Goo.

Clone the Goo library from GitHub. Download the zip file of the latest release, and unzip it in an empty folder. n Alternatively, it can be downloaded from the command line as follows:
```
mkdir Goo
cd Goo
wget <Goo-latest-release>.tar.gz
tar -xvf <Goo-latest-release>.tar.gz
```

In Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Scripts and add <your_root_path>/Goo/scripts.

Dependencies¶

python 3.7 or newer
bpy (bundled with Blender)
numpy
scipy
antimony
libroadrunner
h5py

Install dependencies in Blender¶

Blender comes with its own Python interpreter, which is isolated from the system’s Python environment. Goo requires some additional packages that must installed and then be exposed to Blender.

MacOS/Linux¶

For MacOS and Linux, Goo comes packaged with a Makefile to streamline dependency installation. To use it:

Set the Makefile variables BLENDER_PATH and BPY_PATH to the paths of the Blender executable and its Python interpreter, respectively.

For macOS, it is usually in the Applications folder, e.g.:
```
BLENDER_PATH = /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender
BPY_PATH = /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/4.0/python/bin/python3.10
```
Set up the Blender environment:
```
make setup
```
Allow Blender to access the dependency folder:

In Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Scripts and add <your_root_path>/Goo/hook/scripts.

Windows¶

For Windows, the setup must be done manually.

Find the paths of the Blender executable and its Python interpreter.

These are usually found in Program Files, e.g., C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 4.0\Blender.exe and C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 4.0\4.0\python\bin\python.exe.

Create a new virtual environment using Blender’s Python interpreter:

C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 4.0\\4.0\\python\\bin\\python.exe -m venv .blender_env

Install dependencies into the virtual environment

.blender_env\\bin\\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Check that the dependencies are installed:

.blender_env\\bin\\python.exe -m pip list

Create a “hook” folder that enables the installed packages to be exposed to Blender.

mkdir hook\\scripts\\modules
xcopy .blender_venv\\lib\\python3.10\\site-packages\\* hook\\scripts\\modules /E /H /I

Allow Blender to access the dependency folder:

In Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Scripts and add <your_root_path>/Goo/hook/scripts.