Installation & Update Guide

This page provides in-depth instructions to install, update and uninstall the add-on.

Note that the add-on requires Blender 2.93 and above to function.

How to Install

1. Visit the release section and download on of the mitsuba-blender.zip archives.

⚠️ Note that the latest release can be unstable. Use the latest official release unless you know what you are doing.

2. In Blender, go to Edit -> Preferences and open the Add-ons panel. Click on Install... and browse to the mitsuba-blender.zip file. Press Install Add-on.

ℹ️ If you already have another version of the add-on installed, please remove it first.

3. Search for Mitsuba-Blender in the add-on search bar on the top right to locate the newly installed add-on. Click on the checkbox next to the add-on name to activate it.

ℹ️ You can find more information on how to install 3rd party add-ons in the Blender manual.

4. To install the required add-on dependencies, first expand the Mitsuba-Blender add-on item.
5. The Mitsuba modules can be installed either using Python's pip module or can be manually compiled.

• Install with pip: Click on Install dependencies (or Update dependencies if you already have a version of Mitsuba installed in you Blender's environment that is not supported by the add-on).

ℹ️ Blender will appear to hang while the packages are being downloaded, do not interrupt it.

• Install manually:
  1. Follow the official instructions to compile Mitsuba.
  2. Check Use custom Mitsuba path in the Advanced Settings section.
  3. Browse to the compiled Mitsuba build path (containing the mitsuba executable).

6. Once Mitsuba is correctly detected and initialized, the status message should display a check mark indicating that the add-on is ready to be used.

ℹ️ Note that if you wish to switch between the official Mitsuba release and a custom version, you will need to restart Blender as instructed by the status message in the add-on preferences.

How to Update

1. In Blender, go to Edit -> Preferences and open the Add-ons panel.
2. Search for Mitsuba-Blender in the add-on search bar on the top right to locate the add-on.
3. Click on the checkbox next to the add-on name to de-activate it.
4. Click on Remove. This will remove the add-on files from the disk.
5. Restart Blender.
6. Refer to the previous section to install the other add-on version.

How to Uninstall

1. In Blender, go to Edit -> Preferences and open the Add-ons panel.
2. Search for Mitsuba-Blender in the add-on search bar on the top right to locate the add-on.
3. Click on the checkbox next to the add-on name to de-activate it.
4. Click on Remove. This will remove the add-on files from the disk.
5. Restart Blender.