Maya comes with its own external Python interpreter.
External Python interpreters are useful for batch processing and for accessing Maya's libraries from another application.
mayapy, Maya's Python 3 interpreter, is installed with Maya on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
mayapy2, Maya's Python 2 interpreter, is installed with Maya on Windows and Linux.
mayapy and mayapy2 are located in the following directories:
| Platform | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya<VersionNumber>\bin\ |
| Linux | /usr/autodesk/Maya<VersionNumber>/bin/ |
| macOS | /Applications/Autodesk/maya<VersionNumber>/Maya.app/Contents/bin/ |
mayapy and mayapy2 must be run from a command line.
mayapy can also be used to install Python 3 packages, including PyMel, using the pip package management system.