PyAssimp Readme
===============

A simple Python wrapper for Assimp using `ctypes` to access the library.
Requires Python >= 2.6.

Python 3 support is mostly here, but not well tested.

Note that pyassimp is not complete. Many ASSIMP features are missing. In
particular, only loading of models is currently supported (no export).

USAGE
-----

To get started with pyAssimp, examine the `sample.py` script in `scripts/`,
which illustrates the basic usage. All Assimp data structures are wrapped using
ctypes. All the data+length fields in Assimp's data structures (such as
`aiMesh::mNumVertices`, `aiMesh::mVertices`) are replaced by simple python
lists, so you can call len() on them to get their respective size and access
members using [].

For example, to load a file named 'hello.3ds' and print the first
vertex of the first mesh, you would do (proper error handling
substituted by assertions ...):

```python

from pyassimp import *
scene = load('hello.3ds')

assert len(scene.meshes)
mesh = scene.meshes[0]

assert len(mesh.vertices)
print(mesh.vertices[0])

# don't forget this one, or you will leak!
release(scene)

```

Another example to list the 'top nodes' in a
scene:

```python

from pyassimp import *
scene = load('hello.3ds')

for c in scene.rootnode.children:
    print(str(c))

release(scene)

```

INSTALL
-------

Install `pyassimp` by running:

> python setup.py install

PyAssimp requires a assimp dynamic library (`DLL` on windows,
`.so` on linux :-) in order to work. The default search directories 
are:

- the current directory
- on linux additionally: `/usr/lib` and `/usr/local/lib`

To build that library, refer to the Assimp master INSTALL
instructions. To look in more places, edit `./pyassimp/helper.py`.
There's an `additional_dirs` list waiting for your entries.