HOW TO: Install Blender 2.5+ (Manually) for 3D Animated Title Screen

Created by Jonathan Thomas
Keywords:
Blender 3D Animated Title
Last updated by:
Jonathan Thomas

This FAQ will teach you exactly how to successfully install Blender for use with OpenShot's "Animated Titles" feature. Also, these instructions will not mess up your current install of Blender (if you already have it installed).

Step 1) Download Blender 2.5+ beta (http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/)
Step 2) Extract the archive file to the following folder: /home/YOURUSER/blender25/ (you can name this folder however you like)

And... that's it. Not very hard is it? We don't need to "install" blender, but rather just extract the files to a folder. Well, there is actually 1 more step. We must tell OpenShot where this folder is on our computer:

Step 3) Launch OpenShot, and click on the following menu: Edit > Preferences. Change the "Blender Executable" to the path of your new blender folder, for example: /home/YOURUSER/blender25/blender. Note: Be sure to add the word "/blender" to the end of the path. That is the name of the blender executable, which we need to know about.

TROUBLESHOOTING
If you still get an error while trying to use the "Animated Title" screen, use the following troubleshooting steps:

A) Test that the "Blender Executable" path is valid. Copy and paste it into your terminal and hit enter. Does it launch Blender? If not, you need to double check the path. For example:
    $ /home/jonathan/blender25/blender

If the path successfully launches Blender, then we need to move on to the next step.

B) Launch OpenShot from the terminal:
    $ openshot

C) Click the menu: Title > New Animated Title.... Select any of the 3D templates. Now switch back to the terminal and see if any useful looking error messages have appeared.

D) If you have followed all of these steps, and are still getting an error, please feel free to stop by our forum and see if anyone has a suggestion for you, or file a bug.

Forum: http://openshotusers.com/forum
File a bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/openshot/+filebug