BlenderKit

BlenderKit is an online database of materials, brushes, and 3D models which you can search, download, upload and rate directly from the add-on.

Activation

  • Open Blender and go to Preferences then the Add-ons tab.

  • Click 3D View then BlenderKit Asset Library to enable the script.

Account and Login

Click on the sign-up button to create a new account and activate it by pressing Log in directly in BlenderKit settings. It will direct you to log in through our website.

Basic Usage

  1. Type a search term into the search field.

    ../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_search-sidebar.jpg
  2. The result are shown in the Assetbar.

    ../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_assetbar.jpg
  3. Drag-and-drop the material or model into your scene.

    ../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_drag-drop.jpg

Interface

Assetbar

Reference

Panel

Assetbar

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_assetbar.jpg

The Assetbar shows search results and allows you to interact with them. It pops up when the search results are retrieved from the server. The Assetbar can be shown or hidden by clicking the toggle with the eye icon next to the search field.

Actions that can be performed in the Assetbar:

  • Drag and dropping an object or material directly into the scene.

  • Click on an item to link/append it to the scene.

  • Open the context menu of an item for further interaction:

    Open Authors Website

    Opens the link that the author has specified in a web browser.

    Show Assets by Author

    Shows all assets uploaded by the author of the selected 3D model.

    Replace Active Models

    Replace all selected assets with the last selected asset (active). If you use this option from the context menu, the target asset is downloaded and replaces selected assets.

  • Use the Wheel to scroll the results.

  • Click arrows on the side of the Assetbar for a jump to the next or previous page.

BlenderKit Profile Panel

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ BlenderKit Profile

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-search-bkprofile.jpg

This panel shows your login information and information about your public and private remaining storage.

See My Uploads

Open the BlenderKit website and show a list of your assets.

BlenderKit Login Panel

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ BlenderKit Login

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-search-login.jpg
Log In

Log in online on BlenderKit web page.

Log Out

Log out from BlenderKit.

Find and Upload Assets Panel

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_search-sidebar.jpg

The main panel enables you to Search or Upload all supported asset types.

Search/Upload

Switch the main panel between the Search and Upload tabs.

Search and Download

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-search-common.jpg
Models/Materials/Brushes

Switch between asset types available in BlenderKit.

These controls are common for all asset types:

Models Search Options

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search ‣ Models

My Assets

Search only for your 3D models.

Free Only

Show only free models. This option is available only for models, since all Materials and all Brushes are free.

Search Filters:
Condition

Condition of the object.

New, Used, Old, Desolate

Designed In (min - max)

When the object was approximately designed in terms of year. Can be used for parallel worlds or future sci-fi dates (search for sci-fi assets by entering 2100 as minimum year).

Poly Count In (min - max)

Use the poly count of 3D object for filtering.

Texture Resolution (min - max)

Limit search to the texture resolutions in a range.

File Size (min - max)

Limit search file size. This uses the basic file size of the original file.

Categories

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search ‣ Models ‣ Categories

Category panel enables direct browsing of BlenderKit categories.

Set Category >>

Visit subcategory.

Return

Return to parent category.

Import Method

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search ‣ Models ‣ Import settings

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-search-models-importsettings-only.jpg
Append

Append 3D model into Blender scene. Appended objects are included and editable in your scene.

Randomize Rotation

Randomize the rotation of the model around the Z axis during placement in the Blender scene.

Perpendicular Snap

Limit snapping if the angle is close to perpendicular angles to become exactly perpendicular. Useful for placing lamps on curved ceilings, or placing trees on slopes, or similar cases.

Threshold

Limit perpendicular snap.

Materials Search Options

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search ‣ Materials

Search filters:

Procedural/Texture Based/Both

Limit search to only procedural or texture based materials.

Texture Resolution

Limit search with resolution of the texture.

File Size

Limit search with file size.

Categories

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Find and Upload ‣ Search ‣ Materials ‣ Categories

Same as the model search.

Set Category >>

Visit subcategory.

Return

Return to parent category.

Import Settings

Auto-Map

Add cube mapping UV to the object after drag-and-drop. This allows most materials to be applied instantly to any mesh. BlenderKit generates a new UV map called ‘automap’ and doesn’t replace your previous UV maps. It also resets the texture space of the target object to (1, 1, 1) which enables most procedural materials to have correct scaling.

Upload

Models/Materials/Brushes

Switch between asset types which are available to upload in BlenderKit.

Common Options

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-upload-model-public-design.jpg
Hide Asset Preview

Show/Hide asset preview, which shows how the asset will approximately look for people searching the database.

Read Upload Instructions

Open the Upload manual on the BlenderKit website. Read the manuals for models, materials, and brushes on the website.

Upload

Upload or re-upload the 3D model. In the operator you can choose if you want to update the file. If both file and thumbnail are deactivated, only the metadata get updated.

Category

The main category to place the model into.

Subcategory

The subcategory to place the model into.

Private/Public

Set the assets privacy. Assets marked as Public will be automatically submitted into the Validation process. Private assets will be hidden to the public and are limited in quantity by a quota.

License

BlenderKit offers two licenses for the assets. Both licenses allow for commercial and non-commercial use.

Royalty free

Royalty-free commercial license

Creative Commons Zero

Creative Commons Zero

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_thumbnail-generator.jpg
Name

Name of your asset.

Thumbnail

The path to the preview image (square, at least 512×512 px, JPG image).

Generate Thumbnail

Automatically generate a thumbnail for the 3D model assets.

Description

Describe the properties of the object in detail. Do not include obvious technical specifications.

Tags

List of tags, separated by commas. Include at least three tags.

Models Only Options

Style

Define the visual style of the asset.

Realistic

Photo-realistic model

Painterly

Hand-painted with visible strokes

Mostly

For games

Low-poly art

Do not mix up with poly count!

Anime

Anime style

2D Vector

2D vector graphics

3D graphics

3D graphics

Other

Other style

Any

Any style

Production Level

Production state of the asset. Also templates should be actually finished, just the nature of it can be a template, like a thumbnail scene, finished mesh topology as start for modeling or similar:

Finished

For the public database, the asset should always be ready for rendering. Assets without materials aren’t accepted into the public database.

Template

Templates are models that have general usability and have a clear description of how the asset is supposed to work. An example can be a beverage can with a prepared texture slot.

Condition

Condition of the object.

New, Used, Old, Desolate

Free for Everyone

You consent to that you want to release this asset as free for everyone, under the license specified in the license field.

PBR Compatible

The asset meets the PBR standard.

Design Properties:
Manufacturer

The company making the design piece or product.

Designer

Author of the original design piece depicted. Usually not you – fill in your name and personal statement in your profile on BlenderKit web page.

Design Collection

Fill if this piece is part of a real-world design collection.

Variant

Color or material variant of the product.

Design Year

Time when the item was designed. It can also be used for living creatures and other objects, for example, for a dinosaur you can set it to something like 240 million years.

Work Hours

How long it has taken you to finish the asset? This value isn’t used in the BlenderKit scoring mechanism, but serves as comparison for administrators on how the rating system performs.

Adult Content

Mark adult content.

Materials Only Options

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_sidebar-upload-material.jpg
Pure PBR Compatible

The asset is meets the PBR standard. This means only image textures are used with no procedural textures, no color correction, and only PBR shaders are used.

Needs UV

Requires a UV set.

Animated

The material is animated.

Texture Size in Meters

If the material uses textures, this value sets the length of one side of the texture. This value is very important so that the materials apply with correct scale.

Thumbnail

Path to the thumbnail (512×512 px sized JPG image). Needs always to be the image generated with the BlenderKit thumbnail generator or with the same look. Only exceptions are special effects like fire.

Render Thumbnail with Cycles

Generate a thumbnail in the background. Use only this tool for thumbnails.

Selected Model/Name Panel

Reference

Panel

Sidebar ‣ BlenderKit ‣ Selected model

This panel is shown if you select a 3D model downloaded from BlenderKit. The name of the model appears below.

Bring to Scene

Bring the linked object hierarchy to a scene and make it editable. This is similar as if you would originally append the asset.

Ratings

You can rate an asset by giving it stars (with a maximum of 10).

Work Hours

Estimate how many hour you saved thanks to this asset. Rating helps BlenderKit distribute rewards to authors, and thus it is very important for us that you rate assets and do it in a fair manner.

Asset tools:
Open Authors Website

Opens the link that the author has specified in a web browser.

Show Assets by Author

Shows all assets uploaded by the author of the selected 3D model.

Replace Active Models

Replace all selected assets with the last selected asset (active). If you use this option from the context menu, the target asset is downloaded and replaces selected assets.

The same options are available in the Assetbar context menu.

Management Tools:
Delete

Change asset status.

Downloads:

This panel is visible when running downloads. You can cancel downloading of assets by pressing the X button. This cancels the download and deletes the file on your computer.

Preferences

../../_images/addons_3d-view_blenderkit_preference-open.jpg
Show Assetbar when Starting Blender

Shows Assetbar after the Blender startup.

Log Out

Log out from BlenderKit.

Your API Key

The BlenderKit API Key stores your API key that is automatically retrieved when you log in to the service and is used to connect to BlenderKit server. Don’t change this value manually.

Global Files Directory

Global storage for your asset files. Set this up on a hard drive where you have enough space to store the assets.

Project Assets Subdirectory

Name of the subdirectory where your assets will be stored. For each blend-file where you use BlenderKit assets, a subdirectory will be created in the same folder. This enables you to compress the whole directory and transfer it to a render farm or another workstation.

Use Directories:

Which directories will be used for storing download data.

Global

Store downloaded files only in a global directory. This saves drive space by storing assets only in one place. You have to pack your project carefully when transferring it to another computer, since the assets won’t be in the subfolder of the current project.

Local

Store downloaded files only in a local directory. This option can uses more bandwidth when you reuse assets in different projects, since the add-on won’t find assets that are already in different folders. However, it enables you to pack your projects easily.

Global and Subdirectory

Use both previously mentioned methods.

Use GPU for Thumbnails Rendering

By default the CPU is used so that the user can continue their work while the thumbnail is rendered in the background.

Asset Thumbnail Size

Size of the asset thumbnails in the Assetbar.

Max Assetbar Rows

Number of rows in the Assetbar.

Show Tips when Starting Blender

Show tips when starting Blender.

Show BlenderKit Search in 3D Header

Show an extra search field in the header of the 3D Viewport. This enables a quick access to the search when the Sidebar is hidden.

Tutorials

See this tutorial video on how to activate the add-on along with basic usage.

Reference

Category

Add Mesh

Description

Online Blenderkit Library, materials, models, brushes and more.

Location

3D Viewport ‣ Sidebar ‣ Blenderkit

File

blenderkit folder

Author

Vilem Duha, Petr Dlouhy

Maintainer

Vilem Duha

License

GPL

Support Level

Community

Note

This add-on is bundled with Blender.