How can I embed a Panda3D window in a Tkinter app?

Question

I am designing a Tkinter app in Python that uses the Panda3D game library to display some 3D models. With my current design, I run the Panda3D engine in headless mode with the option windowType='offscreen', and I periodically take screenshots from the headless window and display them in a Tkinter Canvas widget. However, this view does not have any of the interactive features of Panda3D.

I am using Panda3D version 1.10.13.post1.

Is there a way that I could embed the Panda3D window in Tkinter, so that it could be an interactive 3D view?

Answer 1

Based on example code from https://discourse.panda3d.org/t/an-example-of-panda3d-integration-into-tkinter/28329, as suggested by user acw1668, I got a Panda3D window to run in a Tkinter app.

from direct.showbase.ShowBase import ShowBase
from panda3d.core import WindowProperties
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import Button


class AppTk(ShowBase):

    def __init__(self):
        ShowBase.__init__(self, windowType='none')
        self.startTk()

        self.tk = self.tkRoot
        self.tk.geometry("500x400")

        self.label_frame = tk.LabelFrame(self.tk, text='Panda3D Example', width=420, height=340)
        self.label_frame.pack()

        button = Button(self.tk, text='Click me !', bd='5', command=self.test)
        button.pack()

        # Set properties of the Panda3D window
        props = WindowProperties()
        props.set_parent_window(self.label_frame.winfo_id())  # Display within the label frame
        props.set_origin(10, 20)  # Relative to the label frame
        props.set_size(400, 300)

        self.make_default_pipe()
        self.open_default_window(props=props)

        scene = self.loader.load_model("environment")
        scene.reparent_to(self.render)

    def test(self):
        print("Hello")


app = AppTk()
app.run()

Screenshot: PNG

Note: I had to run pip install Pmw for this to work, which I believe is an unlisted dependency of Panda3D.