When working with Blender, it is common to need to search for materials using Python. This can be a tedious task if you don’t know the right approach. In this article, we will explore three different ways to solve the problem of searching for materials in Blender using Python.

Option 1: Using bpy.data.materials

The first option is to use the bpy.data.materials collection in Blender. This collection contains all the materials in the current Blender file. We can iterate over this collection and check if a material matches our search criteria.

import bpy

def search_materials(material_name):
    matching_materials = []
    for material in bpy.data.materials:
        if material_name in material.name:
            matching_materials.append(material)
    return matching_materials

# Example usage
search_results = search_materials("wood")
print(search_results)

This code defines a function called search_materials that takes a material_name as input. It iterates over all the materials in bpy.data.materials and checks if the material_name is a substring of the material’s name. If it is, the material is added to the matching_materials list. Finally, the function returns the list of matching materials.

Option 2: Using bpy.context.scene.objects

Another option is to use the bpy.context.scene.objects collection in Blender. This collection contains all the objects in the current scene. We can iterate over this collection and check if an object has a material that matches our search criteria.

import bpy

def search_materials(material_name):
    matching_materials = []
    for obj in bpy.context.scene.objects:
        if obj.type == 'MESH':
            for slot in obj.material_slots:
                if material_name in slot.name:
                    matching_materials.append(slot.material)
    return matching_materials

# Example usage
search_results = search_materials("wood")
print(search_results)

This code defines a function called search_materials that takes a material_name as input. It iterates over all the objects in bpy.context.scene.objects and checks if the object is of type ‘MESH’. If it is, it iterates over the object’s material_slots and checks if the material_name is a substring of the slot’s name. If it is, the material is added to the matching_materials list. Finally, the function returns the list of matching materials.

Option 3: Using bpy.data.materials and bpy.data.objects

The third option combines the previous two options. It uses both bpy.data.materials and bpy.data.objects collections to search for materials. This approach is more comprehensive as it searches for materials in both the materials collection and the objects collection.

import bpy

def search_materials(material_name):
    matching_materials = []
    for material in bpy.data.materials:
        if material_name in material.name:
            matching_materials.append(material)
    for obj in bpy.data.objects:
        if obj.type == 'MESH':
            for slot in obj.material_slots:
                if material_name in slot.name:
                    matching_materials.append(slot.material)
    return matching_materials

# Example usage
search_results = search_materials("wood")
print(search_results)

This code defines a function called search_materials that takes a material_name as input. It first iterates over all the materials in bpy.data.materials and checks if the material_name is a substring of the material’s name. If it is, the material is added to the matching_materials list. Then, it iterates over all the objects in bpy.data.objects and checks if the object is of type ‘MESH’. If it is, it iterates over the object’s material_slots and checks if the material_name is a substring of the slot’s name. If it is, the material is added to the matching_materials list. Finally, the function returns the list of matching materials.

After exploring these three options, it is clear that the third option, which combines bpy.data.materials and bpy.data.objects, is the most comprehensive solution. It searches for materials in both the materials collection and the objects collection, ensuring that no materials are missed. Therefore, if you need to search for materials in Blender using Python, the third option is the best choice.