Blender 4+ support

Help
1

Hey guys,

I just installed Speckle Manager and the latest version of the Blender Connector (2.17.0).

Unfortunately, I cannot install it in Blender 4.0.1 which is the version of Blender I use.

Are there any plans for a release that supports the latest Blender version?

2

Hey @BIMvoice ,

We should already support any Blender version, including Blender 4+. Is Speckle the first plugin you are installing for that version?

3

If this is a fresh install of Blender 4.0, then Blender won’t have created AppData structure needed to install plugins, until you perform some action like saving a blender file, a preference, or installing a plugin via ZIP.

Unfortunate, but our installers need this AppData structure in order to tell what versions of Blender to install to.

Please follow these steps.

  1. Opening Blender and save a file (doesn’t matter what file), this should trigger Blender to create the AppData structure.
  2. From Speckle Manager, (re)install the Blender connector.
4

Hi,

This is not a fresh install of Blender. I use other add-ons already daily.

I tried to install it using both approaches: from the Manager and as any other addon in Blender using the source file.

Still nothing.

5
  • Just to confirm, did you enable the Speckle connector from the Addons dialog within Blender?
  • Do you have BlenderBIM installed? We have some reports of Speckle connector not working well when BlenderBIM is installed.
  • Do you have a folder for speckle connector in the following path: %appdata%\Blender Foundation\Blender\BLENDER_VERSION_NUMBER\scripts\addons
1 Like
6

Hi, all!

I also have problem installing the latest version of Speckle (2.17) on the latest official build of Blender (4.0.2) via the Speckle Manager.
Every time I try to enable the plugin in Blender Preferences I got this errors …

image
image1290×911 172 KB

I don’t have Speckle Folder in this folder - AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.0\scripts\addons

7

Well if I cannot use Speckle with BlenderBIM that would be a real issue.

Not possible to troubleshoot that?

8

I also had issues with Blender BIM and Speckle but currently they run
fine beside each other.

I usually have Blender latest stable and one of the newest Alphas or Betas
installed.
With constant updates of Alphas and migrating Blender Settings from
previous versions, it seems I brought some chaos in there.

Trouble started at a point where I could no more activate Speckle AddOn
after one of its updates …

I had to realize that that way my Blender 4 builds ended up with quite old
versions of BlenderBIM. And at one point Speckle Manager was no more
able to update Connectors or install them in all Blender’s Setting Folders.

The solution for me was,

  • cleaning up all Blender installations from BlenderBIM AddOns
    (by the recommended tedious uninstall procedure with Blender restarting)
  • cleaning up all Blender installations from Speckle AddOns
  • AFAIR I also needed to delete the hidden
    Users/XXX/.config/Speckle Folder or some of its content like …/connector_installations …
  • then first install Speckle AddOns via Manager
  • open all Blenders and check if Speckle is working
  • restart all Blenders, download and install the latest official BlenderBIM AddOn

For me Speckle AddOn installed fine that way and it worked again.
And Speckle was still fine after installing BlenderBIM again.

9

@Voronium from the logs you’ve posted, it looks like there may be a conflict with a different plugin MeasureIt_ARCH-development. Please can you try a few different versions of their plugin, hopefully we can find you a version that doesn’t conflict with ours. I’ll do a little experiments my end also.

10

I’ve been successful in using version version 230506 of blender BIM plugin with the latest Speckle Blender connector. It’s a couple versions older than the latest version. Hopefully this works for you, I’ll keep this topic updated when we have a timeline for supporting the newer versions of BlenderBIM.

See

11

@BIMvoice Its worth me adding that this isn’t exactly a problem with our plugin,
Conflicting dependencies is a notorious issue with Blender plugins. BlenderBIM have a big disclaimer about potential incompatibles.

We’re still looking into options from our end. But we can’t be compatible with every version of every blender plugin out there.

12

Just adding, this worked for me.

Completely fresh install of Blender 4.0 and install of the connector (2.18.1). Was not showing up in Blender at all, additionally under add-ons, (Edit>Preferences>Add-ons) — “scene” was not even a category.

  1. Saved a blender file to desktop (nothing in it, just dumb, didn’t even rename)
  2. Closed Blender
  3. Opened connector and uninstalled.
  4. Reinstalled immediately
  5. Opened Blender, and its there now.

Just confirming this did solve my issue.

1 Like
13

Thanks for sharing it @Kyle ! I’d be happy to see how you are utilizing our Blender connector.

14

OMG!

Speckle 2.20 does not run (or appear in) Blender 4.4 Alpha('s Palettes)

Yes,
no Speckle installation/support for Alphas and Betas, maybe at max for a RC,
but in the past it worked well to
a) “install” Speckle by just migrating Blender Settings from previous Blender
b) just copying/replacing the Speckly Pie … ahm …py folder …
from a supported Blender Version’s Settings Folder to an unsupported
Pre-Blender Settings Folder …

So, as it (unexpectedly) didn’t work with my Blender 4.4 installation today,
I assume severe future problems arising by by different/newer Python
versions or such things I don’t have the tiniest clue of at all as a mere
superficial Mac CAD and BIM user …

… but just that you know … :grin:

BTW,
just that you Speckle’rs also know …
Blender Speckle Connector 2.20,
on a M1 Mini with latest macOS 15.1 Sequoia Public Beta,
together with BlenderBIM AddOn … ahm … aka “Bonsai” “Extension”,
seems to work flawlessly here with official Blender 4.2.2 LTS …
as well as (still) with Blender 4.3.0, now in Beta Status !

So thank you very much for your great work !

2 Likes
15

@zoomer; always living on the edge of betas on betas on betas

image

1 Like
16

:slight_smile:

That’s silly but true and usually pretty exciting :))

BIG DISCLAIMER
A Beta is a Beta, it can easily ruin your ability to work and your work.
You should not even think about Alphas.
I would never ever switch to any Beta when in tight deadlines or while
any critical work …

… As long as I do not have a secure time frame, options like Apple’s
Time Machine Back up, OS Disk Backups, options to convert back to
a previous Service Pack, a (non-beloved but reliable) Windows PC
alternative, ways to manually repair/revert things, have the official
App version in parallel, …

You milage may vary, this is no guaranty, …
I started CAD Apps Beta testing (in early 2000s), beside a regular
App version for testing only, separated from work,
I started the first macOS Public Beta just for the new GUI, as I could
no more stand the old one beside Windows GUI updates.
But my “overall” experience, beside very recent relatively serious(?)
events, over the years was :
For macOS Public Betas,
they release at a recent time frame, according to the risc/known issues,
AFTER the developer Beta, at a reasonable “safe” state.
App Betas usually have already fixed more of those annoying bugs of the
official versions than they introduce new ones. If there are new issues,
these are usually related to the new introduced feature only.
(Bricscad is a great example)

There is a, not unlikely, risk that it does not always work out that well, though.
Unfortunately this is also true for initial “official” releases !

But TL;DR;
“overall!” I really had a better experience with (Public) Betas than
with most release versions of macOS and especially CAD Apps - in
my special case and my kind of usage.
Also, if things go wrong/wrong direction, this way I have the chance
to raise my voice - before I will get the issues presented unexpectedly
with the next “official” release.

Again,
You milage may vary, this is no guaranty, …

1 Like