Python environment in plaxis

Question

Hi, 
 Since we are trying to automise more and more with Plaxis, we try to implement/use our own input-excel sheets to set up a model within Plaxis. We try to use python scripting for this. 
 I found out that the python environment with the packages within plaxis is managed by Anaconda. However, we are not able to modify the root environment of Plaxis, which I can understand. I am able to make a copy of this environment and add some extra packages to this environment which are pretty usefull to use within Python, such as Pandas or xlsxwriter. 
 However, I cannot change the python intrepreter from the root environment to this new environment? How can I do so? Or is there another way to install and use extra python packages within Plaxis? 
 
 Thanks for your help in advance. 
 
 Thijmen Plomp

Stefanos Papavasileiou · Answer

Dear Thijmen, 
 We are currently busy implementing a way to be able to select a different Python environment. This will come in the future versions. 
 For now, it is not possible to change the Python environment in Input or Output programs. I would recommend using a different IDE, instead of the one delivered by PLAXIS as then you can use any custom environment needed. 
 Note that we deliver a Python distribution that is not directly related to Anaconda. We make sure to include a series of modules we would expect users to need for developing their scripts. 
 It is possible to install Python packages within PLAXIS. Please follow the steps below: 
 
 On Windows Start menu search for PLAXIS Input or Output and run it as Administrator 
 Open the command prompt from Expert > Python > Command prompt 
 
 New packages can be installed by using pip. For example, if you want to install the dropbox package you would type: python -m pip install dropbox

Note that by installing Python packages, some existing modules may need to be upgraded. This might introduce issues to the Python distribution we deliver which we cannot foresee. In that case. please make sure to always make a copy of the Python folder before updating it so that you can always fall back to the version we deliver.

Python environment in plaxis

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