Installation

1. 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.

2. Download 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
   

2. In Blender < 4.0, go to Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Scripts: add <your_root_path>/Goo/scripts. In Blender 4.0 and above, the script folder is now located at Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Script Directories: add an entry with goo as name and <your_root_path>/Goo/scripts as path.

Dependencies

• python 3.7 or newer

• numpy

• scipy

• bpy (bundled with Blender)

Install dependencies in Blender

MacOS/Linux

Blender comes with its own Python interpreter, which is isolated from the system’s Python environment. Goo requires minimal dependencies that need to be installed directly into Blender’s Python environment.

Note

Blender’s Python interpreter changes from Python 3.10 to 3.11 between 3.x and 4.x versions. Make sure to adapt your path accordingly.

To install Goo’s dependencies from the terminal:

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

   For macOS, it is usually in the Applications folder, e.g., /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender and /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/4.1/python/bin/python3.11.

2. Create a new environment using Blender’s Python interpreter:

   /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/4.0/python/bin/python3.11 -m venv blender_venv
   

3. Activate the environment:

   source blender_venv/bin/activate
   

4. Install the dependencies:

   /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/4.0/python/bin/python3.11 -m pip install numpy scipy typing_extensions
   

5. Check that the dependencies are installed:

   /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/4.0/python/bin/python3.11 -m pip list
   

6. Launch Blender by running this command in your terminal:

   /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender
   

Windows

Blender comes with its own Python interpreter, which is isolated from the system’s Python environment. Goo requires a few additional Python packages that need to be installed directly into Blender’s Python environment.

To install Goo’s dependencies from a terminal:

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

   For Windows, it is usually in the 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.

2. 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
   

3. Activate the environment:

   .blender_env\\Scripts\\activate
   

4. Install the dependencies:

   C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 4.0\\4.0\\python\\bin\\python.exe -m pip install numpy scipy typing_extensions
   

5. Check that the dependencies are installed:

   C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 4.0\\4.0\\python\\bin\\python.exe -m pip list
   

6. Launch Blender from within the activated virtual environment:

   C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 4.0\\Blender.exe
   

Blender supports virtual environment and the installed packages will be available to use for scripting in Blender.