Mechanical Blender

This branch allows to load an image to be used on other parts of a Python script (or Addon) but it does not need to be stored in Blender file data.

Example Python Script

import os
import bpy
import bpy.utils.images

img = None

def register(): 
    global img
    # Set path to an existing file        
    path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(bpy.app.binary_path), 'image.png')
    img = bpy.utils.images.load('my_image', path)

def unregister():
    global img
    if img != None:
        bpy.utils.images.release(img['id'])   


if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

See Documentation and Development Notes on Project's website.