Serpens 2.0 - Blender Add-on Template

Developing Blender Add-ons is hard and time consuming. 

Serpens makes this much easier, and it's geared towards the visually minded programmer. 

This Add-on Template will streamline that process by taking care of many mundane tasks associated setting up your add-on.

One of the best new features of the Serpens 2.0 update is the ability to make multiple graphs for your add-on with a Main graph where important node-code lives.

• This template keeps everything off the main graph.

Operators and interface menu items are organized to cut down on clutter. 

• Nodes that play together, stay together.

• There is a 3D Viewport Menu with a clean layout and icon nodes set up: ready to be changed to your liking.

• A similar Pop-up Menu has also been made with a keymap already assigned.

There is a Properties Editor Panel that also has been set up to allow a user to configure which Category they want the panel to show up in by selecting from a drop-down from the add-on preferences menu. There is also a sample script with comments that shows how to use the Add-on Preferences Node's Properties within a script so you can interact between nodes and code. This alone will teach you how powerful Serpens 2.0 truly is!

• Customizable Properties Panel let's your users decide where they want it to go (Pick between one or all categories).

A similar Pie Menu has also been made with a keymap already assigned.

A 3D Viewport Panel is a staple of many add-ons. You can always change the workspace where it lives if you develop for something like UV editing or Sculpting, etc. More importantly though, you get a feature in the Add-on Preferences menu where you can let your users

• Panel renaming allows the user to combine N panels or blank out the name for the panel to hide temporarily to save precious space! Also there is a clever revert button that allows the user to go back to the name you chose for the panel if they change it (no need to have a memory like an elephant).

Painstaking time has gone into making a wonderful Add-on Preferences with Three Selectable Menu's built-in.

• Keep down on clutter and help your users by giving them organized options. Even promotes clicking for support and allows you to take them to your marketplace or other URL links.

The Add-on Preferences Graph is one of the pivotal node graphs in this template. Most other graphs rely on this single graph for most of their functionality. This makes it easy to remove other graphs you don't need. The only Properties that exist for this template have been defined within the Add-on Preferences Node.

This is the biggest graph in the template it has been organized, labeled, and color coded for ease of navigation.

• The large graph can be adjusted to suite your needs but most of the painful organizing work has been done for you

An added benefit of this template is that you can actually load and use it to help you develop and debug without searching through menus to toggle important dev operators. 

The Bpy Console, Info Log, and System Console helper buttons are available right where you need them within the scripting workspace after you compile the add-on template.

• Calling the System Console window, toggling aggressive event logging, and clearing cluttered logs/lines has never been easier.

What this is: A template to assist you get up and running. Work on the things that are important and spend less time working on the interface and menus.

What this isn't: This is not a stand alone module and relies on the Serpens v2.0 Add-on within Blender. If you don't have Serpens yet, grab a copy here: Serpens Visual Scripting

How to use: Simply download and open the Add-on Creation Template.blend file after installing Serpens 2.0 and set your Workspace Editor Type to Visual Scripting. Then make use of whatever you like within the template. The template has also been compiled into an add-on .zip to assist you with it's developer friendly buttons and operators and can be installed via Preferences Add-on tab.

This was made with love and with Serpens 2.0, and I hope it brings you as much satisfaction as it has brought me.

I originally made this for myself during the coding overhaul of Serpens 2.0, but I believe in the spirit of paying it forward and giving back to a community that gives freely. If you enjoy this and want to give back then please leave a review and/or donation.

This Add-on Creation Template can also be found on Blender Market and on my GitHub.

Changelog:

• Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release. Made 100% with Serpens.