.Blend to MeshLibrary Godot Addon

A Godot Editor Addon for .NET/C# projects that automates the creation of MeshLibrary resources from .blend, .glb, or .gltf files, complete with high-quality, automatic preview generation.

This tool is designed to streamline the workflow for creating levels with GridMap, allowing you to design your tileset directly in Blender and have it seamlessly imported into Godot as a ready-to-use MeshLibrary.

Features

• Automatic MeshLibrary Creation: Creates a .meshlib resource when you save a .blend file in your project.
• High-Quality Preview Generation: Generates clean, well-lit, and perfectly framed preview images for every item.
• Physics and Navigation Support: Automatically detects and configures collision shapes and navigation meshes from your Blender file.
• Standard Blender Workflow: Uses Godot's built-in import features like -col suffixes for a seamless experience.
• Non-Destructive Re-importing: Option to preserve manually set previews when your models change.
• Robust and Stable: Intelligently structures the MeshLibrary to prevent common GridMap errors.

Prerequisites

For the addon to import .blend files, you must have Blender installed and tell Godot where to find it.

Official Godot documentation:

• Import configuration
• Available formats (importing .blend files directly)

1. Open Godot's editor settings: Editor -> Editor Settings.
2. Go to Filesystem -> Import -> Blender.
3. Set the Blender Path to point to your Blender executable.

Basic Workflow

1. Installation: Install the addon from the Asset Library or by copying the addons/ folder into your project.

2. Enable the Addon: In Project Settings -> Plugins, enable the ".Blend to MeshLibrary" plugin.

3. Design in Blender: Create your tileset in a .blend file following the guidelines in the Blender Workflow section below.

4. Configure the Import Script: Save the .blend file anywhere in your project directory. By default, Godot imports this as a standard 3D scene. To generate a MeshLibrary, you must attach the post-import script:

   • Select your .blend (or .glb/.gltf) file in the Godot FileSystem dock.
   • Navigate to the Import dock.
   • Locate the Import Script (or Custom Script) property.
   • Assign the BlendPostImport.cs script to this field.
   • Click the Reimport button.

   

5. Automatic Previews: After reimporting, a your_file_name.meshlib resource will be generated alongside your source file. The plugin will then automatically generate clean, framed previews for all items in the library.

6. Use in GridMap: Select your GridMap node and assign the newly created .meshlib file to its Mesh Library property.

Blender Workflow

To ensure your .blend file is processed correctly, follow these guidelines. The addon processes each top-level, visible object in your scene as a potential MeshLibrary item.

Basic Structure

• Each tile for your GridMap should be a separate, top-level object in your Blender scene.
• The name of the object in Blender (e.g., wall_corner, floor_tile) will become the name of the item in the MeshLibrary.
• Make sure that transforms (location, rotation, scale) are applied if you don't want them to be part of the item's offset in the MeshLibrary.

Creating Collision Shapes

The addon leverages Godot's standard import suffixes. To add a collision shape to a mesh, create a separate mesh in Blender and add the -col suffix to its name.

• Example: You have a visual mesh named rock. Create a second, lower-poly mesh that covers its shape and name it rock-col.
• When imported, the rock-col mesh will be removed from view and a StaticBody3D with a CollisionShape3D will be generated for the rock item.

• The original rock-col mesh will not be included as a visible item in the MeshLibrary.
• You can use this for multiple items. A wall-col mesh will create collision for the wall mesh, and so on.

For more complex scenarios, you can manually add StaticBody3D and CollisionShape3D nodes in the Godot Import Scene dock, and the addon will also include them.

Creating Navigation Meshes

Similar to collision, you can add a navigation mesh for AI pathfinding.

• Create a mesh that defines the walkable area for an item.
• In the Godot Import Scene dock, select this mesh, go to the "Mesh" menu, and choose "Create Navigation Mesh".
• The addon will detect the generated NavigationRegion3D and assign the navigation mesh to the corresponding MeshLibrary item.

Project Settings

This addon adds one project setting, which you can find in Project -> Project Settings -> General -> Blend To Meshlibrary.

• Overwrite Previews On Reimport (blend_to_meshlibrary/overwrite_previews_on_reimport)
  • Type: bool (true/false)
  • Default: true
  • Description:
    • If true, the addon will regenerate all item previews every time the source .blend file is re-imported. This is the default and recommended behavior.
    • If false, the addon will attempt to preserve any existing previews. This is useful if you have manually assigned a custom preview to an item and you don't want to lose it on re-import.

Compatibility

• Godot Version: This is a C# addon, so it requires a version of Godot with .NET support enabled.
• Language Compatibility:
  • The addon itself is written in C#.
  • However, the .meshlib file it generates is a standard Godot resource. This means it can be used from any language that Godot supports, including GDScript, C#, C++ (via GDExtension), and Rust (via godot-rust). You do not need to be using C# in your game's logic to use the generated MeshLibrary.

License

This addon is distributed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.