We’ve developed a VNTANA Blender Plugin that makes it easy to export, upload, and optimize 3D assets directly from Blender. This powerful tool streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need to manually export files and upload them to the platform separately.
Blender is the world’s leading open-source 3D creation suite, used by artists and studios worldwide for modeling, animation, rendering, and more. However, highly detailed Blender scenes can result in large file sizes that are unsuitable for web and AR experiences. VNTANA’s optimization process can drastically reduce the file size of Blender exports without sacrificing visual quality. The VNTANA Plugin for Blender simplifies this pipeline by handling the export process from Blender and automatically uploading the asset to the VNTANA Platform for optimization.
Version Support and Downloads
The plug-in supports Blender 4.2+ on MacOS and Windows.
To view all versions visit the downloads page.
Installation
The best method to install the plug-in is to sync the plug-in release repository. This will allow Blender to check for updates and easily download them. There are two routes to add the repository, you can manually add the link to the repository, or drag and drop the version you’d like synced.
Manually Add Repository Link
To manually add the link, first you will need to copy this link (right click and select ‘Copy Link Address’). Next:
1. In Blender, navigate to Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.
2. In the upper right corner, click the the Repositories dropdown and click the ‘+’ button in the dropdown’s upper right corner.
3. Click ‘Add Remote Repository’.
4. In the new popup, paste the link into the URL field.
5. Check the option for ‘Check for Updates on Startup’.
6. Click ‘Create’.
7. It may take a couple seconds to load the plug-in content, you can search within the Get Extensions window for VNTANA to find the plug-in.
8. Once it is there, click the ‘Install’ button to complete the installation.
Drag and Drop Version
To install the plug-in by dragging and dropping the version, first navigate to the downloads page. Find the version you wish to install, and drag and drop it into the 3D Viewport of Blender.
1. After dropping in Blender, a popup will appear, click ‘Add Repository’.
2. In the next popup, check the box for ‘Check for Updates on Startup’.
3. Click ‘Create’.
4. Navigate to Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions and verify Vntana DAM exists by searching for it.
5. In the Vntana DAM extension, click the Install button to download the content.
You can also verify the repository was synced by clicking the Repositories dropdown and looking for vntana-3d.github.io in the list.
Once successfully installed and enabled, the plug-in should be available in a tab along the upper right side of the viewport.
Using the Plug-in
Authentication
Upon opening the plug-in within Blender, you have two options for authentication, using a VNTANA API key or your email/password. The key is the recommended route with an option to remember it for easier access later, but if email/password is used they must be entered each time.
In order to generate an API key, login to the VNTANA platform in your browser.
Within VNTANA, click your user icon in the upper right corner and select
Profile.Open the
Authentication Keytab.Click
GenerateorRegenerate*and copy the key to your clipboard.
*Note: Regenerate will invalidate any previously generated key, so only do this if you are not using the key elsewhere, otherwise just use the key you already have.
After successfully logging in, you can select the Organization and Workspace on VNTANA you would like to work with.
These selections will be used throughout the plug-in for:
Retrieving existing tags.
Retrieving Viewer and Optimization Presets.
Retrieving a list of Assets available for download/import.
Indicating where exported assets will be uploaded to.
Exporting to VNTANA
One of the main features of the VNTANA plug-in is allowing you to export the current blend file as a GLB and uploading it to the VNTANA platform for optimization and conversion. The Export to VNTANA section allows for the setting of metadata, optimization settings, as well as a couple key export settings for blender.
Set Metadata for Upload
The plug-in will allow you to set the following metadata on the asset you upload to the VNTANA Platform:
Name – the name used to identify and search for assets.
Description – an optional brief description of the asset being uploaded.
Tags – Add multiple tags to allow quick filtering of assets when navigating the platform.
Attributes – Add key data about your asset such as SKU’s, ID’s or descriptive details such as dimensions.
Blender Export Options
Most export settings are hard set by the plug-in based on our recommended export settings, however we do open three settings up for modification:
Selected Only – only export the currently selected content in the scene.
Apply Modifiers – ensure modifiers are applied before export, enabled is the default behavior.
Export Animations – exports the 3D animation data in the GLB
Optimization Settings
The plug-in provides settings for optimization settings in the form of Optimization Presets or you can adjust on a more granular level with the Advanced Settings. In addition to the Optimization Presets, you can also select the Pipeline to use and a Viewer Preset to ensure the viewer settings are automatically matching the standard your organization uses.
Finally, the Publish status can also be set with the default being Draft.
Importing from VNTANA
In addition to exporting GLB’s to upload to the platform, the plug-in will also allow you to pull your models into Blender directly from VNTANA. In the Import from VNTANA section of the plug-in you will find a panel that will display a set number of assets pulled from the currently selected Organization + Workspace. You can change the number of assets displayed, as well as search by data such as name and tags.
When checking an asset in the list view, you will see either a ‘checkmark’ or ‘minus’ in the right most side of the entry, the checkmark indicates the asset has a downloadable version of the model. Additionally, if you select an asset, you will get a preview at the bottom of the panel with a couple additional details about the asset as it exists on the VNTANA Platform. If you decide to import the model, simply click the Import Selected button.
Plug-in Settings
Within the Add-ons panel located at Edit > Preferences > Add-ons, the Vntana DAM plug-in provides a couple settings that can be adjusted.
Enabled Auto-Login – this will allow the plug-in to check for the existence of an authentication key and directly apply it to login when the plug-in is opened.
Enable Debug Logging – adds more verbose logging to the plug-in to check in the event some action isn’t behaving as expected. Additionally shows the local path the file is stored at.
