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Editing the Shelf Preferences with Python | Substance 3D Painter

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Editing the Shelf Preferences with Python

Below are example Python scripts to modify Windows registry in order to manipulate resource paths.

Registry key path

See the table below to use the appropriate registry key path:

System Version Path

Windows

(registry)

7.2 or newer HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter
Legacy HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Allegorithmic\Substance Painter

Mac

(library)

7.2 or newer /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Adobe Substance 3D Painter.plist
Legacy /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/com.substance3d.Substance Painter.plist
Linux 7.2 or newer /home/[username]/.config/Adobe/Adobe Substance 3D Painter.conf
Legacy /home/[username]/.config/Allegorithmic/Substance Painter.conf

Adding a new path

Adding a resource path requires to check which one exist already in order to increment the list with a new one.

The following code adds in the registry key a new shelf path after checking what is the current number of path already defined.

Note:
The sub-key Shelf (alongside pathInfos) may not be present in the registry. To make it appear start the application, open the preferences (Edit > Settings) then click OK and close the application.
import winreg 
 
RegistryKeyName = "SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\Shelf\pathInfos" 
 
ShelfName = "myshelf" #Needs to be lowercase 
ShelfPath = "C:/Temp" 
ShelfStatus = "false" #false = not disabled 
 
RegConnection = winreg.ConnectRegistry( None, winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER ) 
  
# Open parent registry key 
Key = winreg.OpenKey( RegConnection, RegistryKeyName, winreg.KEY_READ  ) 
 
# Iterate over each sub-key to retrieve the biggest Shelf number 
SubKeyCount = winreg.QueryInfoKey( Key )[0] 
ShelfNumber = 0 
 
for x in range(SubKeyCount) : 
 SubKeyName = winreg.EnumKey(Key, x) 
 ShelfNumber = max( ShelfNumber, int(SubKeyName) ) 
 
ShelfNumber += 1 
 
# Create the new Key and add its values 
NewKey = winreg.CreateKey( Key, str( ShelfNumber ) ) 
 
winreg.SetValueEx( NewKey, "disabled", 0, winreg.REG_SZ, ShelfStatus) 
winreg.SetValueEx( NewKey, "name", 0, winreg.REG_SZ, ShelfName) 
winreg.SetValueEx( NewKey, "path", 0, winreg.REG_SZ, ShelfPath) 
 
NewKey.Close() 
 
# Increment the Shelf path counter 
Count = winreg.QueryValueEx( Key, "size" ) 
Key.Close() 
 
Key = winreg.OpenKeyEx( RegConnection, RegistryKeyName, 0, winreg.KEY_SET_VALUE  ) 
winreg.SetValueEx( Key, "size", 0, winreg.REG_DWORD, Count[0] + 1 ) 
Key.Close()

Disabling or enabling a resource path

Any path created can be removed when not needed anymore, but also disabled for the default path which cannot be removed altogether.

The following code parse the Windows Registry and disable the default shelf (named "starter_assets").

import winreg 
 
RegistryKeyName = "SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\Shelf\pathInfos" 
RegConnection = winreg.ConnectRegistry( None, winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER ) 
 
#Open registry key 
Key    = winreg.OpenKey( RegConnection, RegistryKeyName, winreg.KEY_READ ) 
SubKeyCount  = winreg.QueryInfoKey( Key )[0] 
 
#Iterate over each sub-key 
for x in range(SubKeyCount) : 
 SubKeyName = winreg.EnumKey(Key, x) 
 SubKey = winreg.OpenKey( 
  RegConnection, 
  RegistryKeyName + "\" + SubKeyName, 
  winreg.KEY_READ ) 
 SubKeyValueCount = winreg.QueryInfoKey( SubKey )[1] 
 
 #Read subkey values 
 Values = [] 
 for i in range( SubKeyValueCount ) : 
  Values.append( winreg.EnumValue( SubKey, i ) ) 
 
 #Note : Values is a table of tuples 
 FoundKey = False 
 for Value in Values : 
  if Value[0] == "name" : 
   if Value[1] == "starter_assets" : 
    FoundKey = True 
 
 SubKey.Close() 
 
 #Found the path ? Then we edit the Key 
 if FoundKey : 
  print( " - Editing Windows Registry" ) 
 
  #Re-Open key in edition mode 
  SubKey  = winreg.OpenKey(   
   winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, 
   RegistryKeyName + "\" + SubKeyName, 
   0, 
   winreg.KEY_SET_VALUE ) 
 
  #Assign new value 
  winreg.SetValueEx(SubKey, "disabled", 0, 1, "true" ) #use "false" to Enable that shelf path 
 
  SubKey.Close() 
 
#Finish 
Key.Close()

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