Exporting Models from Blender

Blender is a useful and free 3D design tool that can be used to create 3D assets, convert them to other file types or help fix issues like incorrect orientation. You can download Blender here.

Wonderland Editor provides the smoothest import experience when you using the GLB format, so this tutorial will walk you through the required export settings for GLB.

Importing into Blender 

If you have an existing 3D asset on your device that you would like to format in Blender, you will need to import the file into Blender.

Open Blender and you should see a cube and some other 3D objects, which appear in new Blender projects by default. In the top-right of the editor, you should see a tab titled “Scene Collection”. We do not want these default objects in our export, so delete all the objects found in the Scene Collection: select everything by pressing the “A” key, then “X” to delete.

Next, import the model by clicking File > Import and the file type that matches the asset you want to import. You will be taken to a file browser where you can select the file to import.

Checking Compatibility 

Whether you imported an existing model, or created your own in Blender, there are some things you should check before exporting the model:

  • Ensure your model is oriented so its “forward” direction faces along the negative Y-axis
  • Ensure the “up” direction faces along the positive Z-axis. Technically, these axes do not match the naming of Wonderland Editor’s axes, but we will fix that during the export step.
  • Check that your materials are compatible: Wonderland Editor currently does not support transparent materials.
  • Check for any unwanted extra objects.
  • Ensure Blender’s units are set to default (Properties > Scene > Units, Unit Scale at 1.0 and Unit System metric), 1 unit in blender will match 1 unit in Wonderland Editor. Otherwise the scene may appear scaled.

Once you performed these checks, you are ready to export.

Exporting 

Go to File > Export and choose the glTF 2.0 option. In the export menu, select the destination for the export.

Make sure the Format option is set to glTF binary (.glb) and that the Transform > Y-Up checkbox is selected.

The exported file and should import into Wonderland Editor without issue.