Re-work the Maya dcc integration to use the PREDITOR_SITE env var

Author: MHendricks

README.md

@@ -97,13 +97,13 @@ a better `parent_callback`.
 ## Installing Qt
 
 PrEditor is built on Qt, but uses [Qt.py](https://github.com/mottosso/Qt.py) so
-you can choose to use PySide2 or PyQt5. We have elected to not directly depend
-on either of these packages as if you want to use PrEditor inside of a an existing
-application like Maya or Houdini, they already come with PySide2 installed. If
-you are using it externally, add them to your pip install command.
+you can choose to use PySide6, PySide2, PyQt6 or PyQt5. We have elected to not
+directly depend on either of these packages so that you can use PrEditor inside
+of existing applications like Maya or Houdini that already come with PySide
+installed. If you are using it externally add them to your pip install command.
 
-- PySide2: `pip install preditor PySide2`
-- PyQt5: `pip install preditor PyQt5`
+- PySide6: `pip install preditor PySide6`
+- PyQt6: `pip install preditor PyQt6`
 
 ## Cli
 
@@ -125,35 +125,68 @@ this is only useful for windows.
 ## QScintilla workbox
 
 The more mature QScintilla workbox requires a few extra dependencies that must
-be passed manually. It hasn't been added to `extras_require` because we plan to
-split it into its own pip module due to it requiring PyQt5 which is a little hard
-to get working inside of DCC's that ship with PySide2 by default. Here is the
-python 3 pip install command.
+be passed manually. We have added it as pip `optional-dependencies`. QScintilla
+only works with PyQt5/6 and it is a little hard to get PyQt working inside of
+DCC's that ship with PySide2/6 by default. Here is the python 3 pip install command.
 
-- `pip install preditor PyQt5, QScintilla>=2.11.4 aspell-python-py3`
+- PyQt6: `pip install preditor[qsci6] PyQt6, aspell-python-py3`
+- PyQt5: `pip install preditor[qsci5] PyQt5, aspell-python-py3`
 
 The aspell-python-py3 requirement is optional to enable spell check.
 
+You may need to set the `QT_PREFERRED_BINDING` or `QT_PREFERRED_BINDING_JSON`
+[environment variable](https://github.com/mottosso/Qt.py?tab=readme-ov-file#override-preferred-choice) to ensure that PrEditor can use PyQt5/PyQt6.
 
 # DCC Integration
 
-## Maya
-
-PrEditor is pre-setup to use as a Maya module. To use it, create a virtualenv
-with the same python as maya, or install it using mayapy.
-
-```
-virtualenv venv_preditor
-venv_preditor\Scripts\activate
-pip install PrEditor
-set MAYA_MODULE_PATH=c:\path\to\venv_preditor\Lib\site-packages\preditor\dccs
-```
-Note: Due to how maya .mod files works if you are using development installs you
-can't use pip editable installs. This is due to the relative path used
-`PYTHONPATH +:= ../..` in `PrEditor_maya.mod`. You can modify that to use a hard
-coded file path for testing, or add a second .mod file to add the virtualenv's
-`site-packages` file path as a hard coded file path.
-
+Here are several example integrations for DCC's included in PrEditor. These
+require some setup to manage installing all pip requirements. These will require
+you to follow the [Setup](#setup) instructions below.
+
+- [Maya](/preditor/dccs/maya/README.md)
+- [3ds Max](/preditor/dccs/studiomax/README.md)
+
+If you are using hab, you can simply add the path to the [preditor](/preditor) folder to your site's `distro_paths`. [See .hab.json](/preditor/dccs/.hab.json)
+
+## Setup
+
+PrEditor has many python pip requirements. The easiest way to get access to all
+of them inside an DCC is to create a virtualenv and pip install the requirements.
+You can possibly use the python included with DCC(mayapy), but this guide covers
+using a system install of python.
+
+1. Identify the minor version of python that the dcc is using. Running `sys.version_info[:2]` in the DCC returns the major and minor version of python.
+2. Download and install the required version of python. Note, you likely only need to match the major and minor version of python(3.11 not 3.11.12). It's recommended that you don't use the windows store to install python as it has had issues when used to create virtualenvs.
+3. Create a virtualenv using that version of python. On windows you can use `py.exe -3.11` or call the correct python.exe file. Change `-3.11` to match the major and minor version returned by step 1. Note that you should create separate venvs for a given python minor version and potentially for minor versions of Qt if you are using PyQt.
+    ```batch
+    cd c:\path\to\venv\parent
+    py -3.11 -m virtualenv preditor_311
+    ```
+4. Use the newly created pip exe to install PrEditor and its dependencies.
+    * This example shows using PySide and the simple TextEdit workbox in a minimal configuration.
+        ```batch
+        c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_311\Scripts\pip install PrEditor
+        ```
+    * This example shows using QScintilla in PyQt6 for a better editing experience. Note that you need to match the PyQt version used by the DCC, This may require matching the exact version of PyQt.
+        ```batch
+        c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_311\Scripts\pip install PrEditor[qsci6] PyQt6==6.5.3
+        ```
+
+### Editable install
+
+You should skip this section unless you want to develop PrEditor's code from an git repo using python's editable pip install.
+
+Due to how editable installs work you will need to set an environment variable
+specifying the site-packages directory of the virtualenv you created in the
+previous step. On windows this should be the `lib\site-packages` folder inside
+of the venv you just created. Store this in the `PREDITOR_SITE`, this can be done
+permanently or temporarily(via `set "PREDITOR_SITE=c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_311\lib\site-packages"`).
+
+This is required because you are going to use the path to your git repo's preditor
+folder in the module/plugin loading methods for the the DCC you are using, but
+there is no way to automatically find the virtualenv that your random git repo
+is installed in. In fact, you may have have your git repo installed into multiple
+virtualenvs at once.
 
 # Plugins
 

preditor/dccs/maya/PrEditor_maya.mod

@@ -1,2 +1 @@
 + PrEditor DEVELOPMENT .
-PYTHONPATH +:= ../..

preditor/dccs/maya/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Maya Integration
+
+This is an example of using an Maya module to add PrEditor into Maya. This adds
+a PrEditor menu with a PrEditor action in Maya's menu bar letting you open PrEditor. It
+adds the excepthook so if a python exception is raised it will prompt the user
+to show PrEditor. PrEditor will show all python stdout/stderr output generated
+after the plugin is loaded.
+
+# Setup
+
+Make sure to follow these [setup instructions](/preditor/README.md#Setup) first to create the virtualenv.
+
+Alternatively you can use [myapy's](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-72A245EC-CDB4-46AB-BEE0-4BBBF9791627) pip to install the requirements, but a
+separate virtualenv is recommended. This method should not require setting the
+`PREDITOR_SITE` environment variable even if you use an editable install.
+
+# Use
+
+The [preditor/dccs/maya](/preditor/dccs/maya) directory is setup as a Maya Module. To load it in
+maya add the full path to that directory to the `MAYA_MODULE_PATH` environment
+variable. You can use `;` on windows and `:` on linux to join multiple paths together.
+You will need to enable auto load for the `PrEditor_maya.py` plugin.

preditor/dccs/maya/plug-ins/PrEditor_maya.py

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
+import os
+import site
+from pathlib import Path
+
 import maya.mel
 from maya import OpenMayaUI, cmds
 
@@ -35,12 +39,39 @@ def launch(ignored):
     return widget
 
 
+def update_site():
+    """Adds a site dir to python. This makes its contents importable to python.
+
+    This includes making any editable installs located in that site-packages folder
+    accessible to this python instance. This does not activate the virtualenv.
+
+    If the env var `PREDITOR_SITE` is set, this path is used. Otherwise the
+    parent directory of preditor is used.
+
+    - `PREDITOR_SITE` is useful if you want to use an editable install of preditor
+    for development. This should point to a virtualenv's site-packages folder.
+    - Otherwise if the virtualenv has a regular pip install of preditor you can
+    skip setting the env var.
+    """
+    venv_path = os.getenv("PREDITOR_SITE")
+    # If the env var is not defined then use the parent dir of this preditor package.
+    if venv_path is None:
+        venv_path = cmds.moduleInfo(moduleName="PrEditor", path=True)
+        venv_path = Path(venv_path).parent.parent.parent
+        venv_path = str(venv_path)
+
+    print(f"Preditor is adding python site: {venv_path}")
+    site.addsitedir(venv_path)
+
+
 def initializePlugin(mobject):  # noqa: N802
     """Initialize the script plug-in"""
     global preditor_menu
 
     # If running headless, there is no need to build a gui and create the python logger
     if not headless():
+        update_site()
+
         from Qt.QtWidgets import QApplication
 
         import preditor
@@ -67,7 +98,7 @@ def initializePlugin(mobject):  # noqa: N802
         gmainwindow = maya.mel.eval("$temp1=$gMainWindow")
         preditor_menu = cmds.menu(label="PrEditor", parent=gmainwindow, tearOff=True)
         cmds.menuItem(
-            label="Show",
+            label="PrEditor",
             command=launch,
             sourceType="python",
             image=preditor.resourcePath('img/preditor.png'),

preditor/dccs/studiomax/README.md

@@ -8,46 +8,10 @@ output generated after the plugin is loaded.
 
 # Setup
 
-PrEditor has many python pip requirements. The easiest way to get access to all
-of them is to create a virtualenv and pip install the requirements. You can possibly use the python included with 3ds Max, but this guide covers using a system install of python.
-
-1. Identify the minor version of python that 3ds Max is using. 3ds Max 2025 and 2026 are both using python 3.11. The version of python is printed when you first activate python mode in the Scripting Listener.
-2. Download and install the required version of python. Note, you likely only need to match the major and minor version of python(3.11 not 3.11.12). It's recommended that you don't use the windows store to do this as it has had issues when used to create virtualenvs.
-3. Create a virtualenv using that version of python. On windows you can use `py.exe -3.11` or call the correct python.exe file.
-    ```batch
-    cd c:\path\to\venv\parent
-    py -3.11 -m virtualenv preditor_venv
-    ```
-4. Use the newly created pip exe to install PrEditor and its dependencies.
-    * This example shows using PySide and the simple TextEdit workbox in a minimal configuration.
-        ```batch
-        c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_venv\Scripts\pip install PrEditor
-        ```
-    * This example shows using QScintilla in PyQt6 for a better editing experience. Note that you need to match the Qt version used by 3ds Max. Both 2025 and 2026 use 6.5.3.
-        ```batch
-        c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_venv\Scripts\pip install PrEditor[qsci6] PyQt6==6.5.3
-        ```
+Make sure to follow these [setup instructions](/preditor/README.md#Setup) first to create the virtualenv.
 
 # Use
 
-There are a few environment variables that need to be set. They can be set permanently, but this
-example shows setting them temporarily for the current command prompt window.
-Note that these paths are referencing the site-packages folder of the virtualenv.
-
-1. Open a command prompt.
-2. Set the `ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS` variable. This env var is used by 3ds Max to load the package defined by the PackageContents.xml file. If you are using an editable install of PrEditor, this should point to it's `preditor\dccs\studiomax` folder not inside the virtualenv's site-packages.
-    ```batch
-    set "ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS=c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_venv\Lib\site-packages\preditor\dccs\studiomax"
-    ```
-3. Set the `PREDITOR_SITE` variable. This env var is used to make the packages in the virtualenv's site-packages accessible in 3ds Max's python. The virtualenv is only used to handle the pip installations, 3ds Max doesn't activate the virtualenv, it just makes its site-packages folder importable.
-    ```batch
-    set "PREDITOR_SITE=c:\path\to\venv\parent\preditor_venv\Lib\site-packages"
-    ```
-4. Optional: If using QScintilla, you will also need to force Qt.py to load it instead of PySide by setting `QT_PREFERRED_BINDING` or `QT_PREFERRED_BINDING_JSON`.
-    ```batch
-    set "QT_PREFERRED_BINDING=PyQt6"
-    ```
-5. Launch 3ds Max.
-    ```batch
-    "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2026\3dsmax.exe"
-    ```
+The [preditor/dccs/studiomax](/preditor/dccs/studiomax) directory is setup as a 3ds Max Application Plugin.
+To load it in 3ds Max add the full path to that directory to the `ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS` environment
+variable. You can use `;` on windows and `:` on linux to join multiple paths together.