Blender guides

Export gLTF files from Blender

13min

This guide provides you with the recommended settings for exporting glTF files from Blender to ensure your models work properly in the iR Engine.

General guidelines

Follow these best practices when exporting models to glTF for the iR Engine:

  • Recommended format: Choose glTF Separate (.gltf + .bin + textures). This format exports the model, binary data, and textures separately, which makes it easier to manage and share textures across models.
  • Alternative format: Use .glb only if your model doesn’t include textures or if you need a single-file format for simpler models.


Recommended export settings

Follow these steps to configure the correct export settings:

1. Access the export menu

Go to File > Export > glTF 2.0 (.glb, .gltf) in Blender. This will open the Blender File View.

2. Define export settings

Configure the following settings in the right-side panel of the file view:

Document image



Format

  • Choose glTF Separate (.gltf + .bin + textures). This format ensures your model, binary, and texture files are exported separately.
  • Leave Keep original unchecked unless you need to preserve the original texture resolution.


Include settings

Enable the following options:

  • Selected Objects: Check this option if you want to export specific objects. Select the objects in your scene before exporting.
  • Custom Properties: Enable this option to include any custom data that the iR Engine requires (such as physics or collider information).


Transform settings

Ensure the Y-Up axis option is enabled. This ensures your objects have the correct orientation in the iR Engine.



Mesh settings

Enable these options for your mesh:

  • Apply Modifiers: Check this option to apply any modifiers you’ve used (like subdivision or decimate) to finalize your geometry.
  • UVs: Include UV maps to ensure textures are correctly mapped.
  • Normals: Enable this option to include normal data for proper shading and lighting.
  • Tangents: Only enable tangents if your materials require them (for example, if you use normal maps).
  • Vertex Colors: Enable this if your model uses vertex colors. If not, leave it unchecked.


Scene Graph settings

Enable GPU Instances to export instances efficiently, reducing memory usage and improving performance in the iR Engine.



Material settings

  • Shape Keys: Enable this if your model uses shape keys (morph targets) for animation.
  • Skinning: Enable this if your model includes armatures for character animation.


Animation settings

  • Enable the Animations option if your model contains animations. If your model is static, disable this option to reduce the file size.