Inspection Tools

This section lists a number of tools to support programming in Panda.

Many of the tools provided are invoked by pressing a hot-key inside of the Panda3D main window. These hot-key driven tools are called the “direct tools.” The direct tools are initially disabled, because the hot-keys used to invoke them might interfere with the program’s own keys and events.

To enable the hot-keys for the direct tools, you need to set the want-directtools variable in config.prc, the main panda configuration file. Additionally, set want-tk true in order to enable the Direct Session Panel. More information about this configuration file is available in the Configuring Panda section.

If you want to quickly enable the Direct Session browser, add the following code before importing DirectStart:

from panda3d.core import loadPrcFileData
loadPrcFileData("", "want-directtools #t")
loadPrcFileData("", "want-tk #t")

After enabling direct tools and starting panda, the Direct Session window should appear:

../../../_images/directtools1.jpg

Many of these tools can also be launched by calling specific utility functions.

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