DCC Integration

AuroraView is designed specifically for integration with Digital Content Creation (DCC) software.

Supported Software

DCC Software	Status	Python Version	Integration Mode
Maya	✅ Supported	3.7+	Qt Mode
Houdini	✅ Supported	3.7+	Qt Mode
3ds Max	✅ Supported	3.7+	Qt Mode
Blender	✅ Supported	3.7+	Desktop / Native Mode
Nuke	✅ Supported	3.7+	Qt Mode
Substance Painter	🚧 In Progress	3.9+	Qt Mode
Unreal Engine	🚧 In Progress	3.9+	Native Mode (HWND)
Photoshop	🚧 Planned	3.9+	WebSocket

Integration Modes

AuroraView provides three integration modes for different scenarios:

Mode	Class	Description	Best For
Desktop	WebView + show()	Independent window with own event loop	Standalone tools, desktop apps
Native (HWND)	WebView + parent=hwnd	Embedded via HWND, no Qt dependency	Blender, Unreal Engine, non-Qt apps
Qt	QtWebView	Embedded as Qt widget child	Maya, Houdini, Nuke, 3ds Max

Desktop Mode

Best for: Standalone tools, development, Blender (floating windows)

Creates an independent window with its own event loop.

from auroraview import run_desktop

run_desktop(
    title="My Tool",
    url="http://localhost:3000"
)

Key features:

• ✅ Full window effects support (click-through, blur, mica)
• ✅ No DCC dependency
• ✅ Owns event loop

Native Mode (HWND)

Best for: Blender, Unreal Engine, non-Qt applications

Embeds WebView via HWND without Qt dependency.

from auroraview import WebView

# Get parent HWND from non-Qt app
parent_hwnd = get_app_window_handle()

webview = WebView.create(
    title="My Tool",
    parent=parent_hwnd,
    mode="owner",
)
webview.show()

# Get HWND for external integration
hwnd = webview.get_hwnd()

Key features:

• ✅ Direct HWND access
• ✅ Full window effects support
• ✅ Works with any HWND-accepting application
• ✅ No Qt dependency required

Qt Mode

Best for: Maya, Houdini, Nuke, 3ds Max

Creates a true Qt widget that can be docked and managed by Qt's parent-child system.

from auroraview import QtWebView

webview = QtWebView(
    parent=dcc_main_window(),
    url="http://localhost:3000",
    width=800,
    height=600
)
webview.show()

Key features:

• ✅ Works with QDockWidget for dockable panels
• ✅ Automatic lifecycle management
• ✅ Native Qt event integration
• ✅ Supports all Qt layout managers
• ⚠️ Limited window effects support

Installation

Basic Installation

pip install auroraview

With Qt Support

For Qt-based DCCs (Maya, Houdini, Nuke):

pip install auroraview[qt]

This installs QtPy as middleware to handle different Qt versions.

Common Patterns

Getting Main Window

Each DCC has its own way to get the main window:

Maya

import maya.OpenMayaUI as omui
from qtpy import QtWidgets
import shiboken2

def maya_main_window():
    ptr = omui.MQtUtil.mainWindow()
    return shiboken2.wrapInstance(int(ptr), QtWidgets.QWidget)

Houdini

import hou

def houdini_main_window():
    return hou.qt.mainWindow()

Nuke

from qtpy import QtWidgets

def nuke_main_window():
    return QtWidgets.QApplication.activeWindow()

Dockable Panel

from auroraview import QtWebView
from qtpy.QtWidgets import QDockWidget

# Create dock widget
dock = QDockWidget("My Tool", main_window)

# Create WebView
webview = QtWebView(parent=dock)
webview.load_url("http://localhost:3000")

# Set as dock widget content
dock.setWidget(webview)
main_window.addDockWidget(Qt.RightDockWidgetArea, dock)

webview.show()

Lifecycle Management

AuroraView automatically handles cleanup when the parent DCC closes:

webview = QtWebView(
    parent=dcc_main_window(),  # Monitor this parent
    url="http://localhost:3000"
)
# WebView closes automatically when parent is destroyed

For manual control:

webview = AuroraView(
    url="http://localhost:3000",
    parent_hwnd=get_dcc_hwnd(),
    parent_mode="owner"
)
# WebView follows parent minimize/restore/close