Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.95 (transition release)

The plugin has been moved to another repository and all the updates will happen there.
This repository will no longer be maintained.

Please go to this repository for latest versions of the plugin.

Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.90 (beta)

Sketchfab Plugin v0.0.90 for Blender

Import glTF assets into Blender using Sketchfab download API

IMPORTANT: this is a beta version, stability is not guaranteed. It's recommended to save your scene before using the plugin.

If you have any issue, please have a look at this section before using "Report an issue" button in the plugin. You can also report through this link.

If you are using Blender on OSX

The plugin can have issues to check if the plugin is up-to-date. It's due to openssl using a protocol not alowed anymore on gihtub urls, for security concerns.
One possible fix is to update openssl (or the ssl client your using).
Version check is not mandatory to use the plugin, but you might miss some important updates.

If you are in this case, be sure to manually check if you're using the latest version of the plugin by comparing your version with the one available on https://sketchfab.com/importers/

How to use

Installation

Download the attached zip file and install it as a regular blender

Login, browse and import models

The addon is available in View3D -> Tools under the tab 'Sketchfab'.

You don't need to login to browse models but it's required if you want to import a model.

Importing models into Blender:

The plugin allows to download and import 100k+ free downloadable models into Blender.
Materials are converted to CYCLE materials, the importer is not compatible with other renderers.
Animation not supported yet, but it will be implemented in the next version. Animated model are available for search and download but animation data will be missing.

Known limits/issues and further improvements

My model doesn't look good, it's different from Sketchfab

There are still improvements to do on import, and Sketchfab to Blender (through glTF) conversion has some limits.
This section will give some hints about differences or issues that can be encountered when importing models into Blender.

I don't see anything after my model is imported:

Scale can vary a lot between different models, and the origin is not always at the center. Try to scale up/down the model in order to make it visible.
Note: root object is automatically selected after import, so you just need to use the scale shortcut "s" to scale up or down your model.
If it's not enough, select a mesh object in hierarchy and use numpad '.' or Blender menu to focus/align the view on it.

Transparency is looking weird, transparent objects are not visible:

Some models are using refraction, and it's not supported by glTF so it's converted to regular transparency.
Refraction is easy to spot on a model, you just need to check the Sketchfab version by clicking "View on Sketchfab"

My model has weird seams/normals:

Tangent space import is not working yet so you might experience rendering issue on some models with normal maps.
It's something we will improve in the next versions

My model is black, or has weird colors

It can be caused by several limits in material import.

• The model has vertex colors: Vertex colors are always exported in glTF files (to allow edition) so they are always loaded in Blender. Sometimes this data is wrong or useless, and the author disables it on Sketchfab.
  You can easily check if the model has this color data by selecting one of the meshes and looking in mesh properties if it has a Vertex colors layer.
  Fix: remove vertex colors if they are not valid

• The model has an outline: a way to have an outline on a Sketchfab model is to duplicate the mesh, flip it's faces and make the material single sided. It is not well imported yet, and it can gives some rendering issues.
  Example of a model with outline:

  • if base and ouline meshes have faces that are very close, Blender can render them totally transparent, so the model will have holes.
  • If your scene has a light casting shadows, it will make the base mesh look dark because of outline mesh casting shadows on it. There are several solutions to fix this.

• Backface culling:
  Some models are set to use single sided materials, which is converted into Blender by using a trick with transparency and backfacing property.
  Fix: look for a "Geometry" node in the graph, removes the "backfacing" link et set the linked node "Mix Shader" factor to 0.

I have a weird behaviour and no error nor warning message shown:

If an error occurs, you will have an error or a stack trace in Blender's console.
You can open the console using "Windows => Toggle system console" but this feature is not always available (for example you don't have it on OSX). The workaround is to start Blender from command line: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/render/workflows/command_line.html . Outputs will be printed in the shell from which you launched Blender.

My model's transforms are wrong:

It might happen if the original model has animation.
Check if the plugin displays a warning about "animation not supported" when you select the model to import.
Animation data are skipped during import to some transforms/rig data can be missing, which can give a wrong result.
Note: bones are imported as regular bones since they can have object attached. So models skeleton will be imported in the scene graph as a hierarchy of regular nodes.

Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.85 (beta)

Sketchfab Plugin v0.0.85 for Blender

Import glTF assets into Blender using Sketchfab download API

IMPORTANT: this is a beta version, stability is not guaranteed. It's recommended to save your scene before using the plugin.

If you have any issue, please have a look at this section before using "Report an issue" button in the plugin. You can also report through this link.

If you are using Blender on OSX

The plugin can have issues to check if the plugin is up-to-date. It's due to openssl using a protocol not alowed anymore on gihtub urls, for security concerns.
One possible fix is to update openssl (or the ssl client your using).
Version check is not mandatory to use the plugin, but you might miss some important updates.

If you are in this case, be sure to manually check if you're using the latest version of the plugin by comparing your version with the one available on https://sketchfab.com/importers/

How to use

Installation

Download the attached zip file and install it as a regular blender

Login, browse and import models

The addon is available in View3D -> Tools under the tab 'Sketchfab'.

You don't need to login to browse models but it's required if you want to import a model.

Importing models into Blender:

The plugin allows to download and import 100k+ free downloadable models into Blender.
Materials are converted to CYCLE materials, the importer is not compatible with other renderers.
Animation not supported yet, but it will be implemented in the next version. Animated model are available for search and download but animation data will be missing.

Known limits/issues and further improvements

My model doesn't look good, it's different from Sketchfab

There are still improvements to do on import, and Sketchfab to Blender (through glTF) conversion has some limits.
This section will give some hints about differences or issues that can be encountered when importing models into Blender.

I don't see anything after my model is imported:

Scale can vary a lot between different models, and the origin is not always at the center. Try to scale up/down the model in order to make it visible.
Note: root object is automatically selected after import, so you just need to use the scale shortcut "s" to scale up or down your model.
If it's not enough, select a mesh object in hierarchy and use numpad '.' or Blender menu to focus/align the view on it.

Transparency is looking weird, transparent objects are not visible:

Some models are using refraction, and it's not supported by glTF so it's converted to regular transparency.
Refraction is easy to spot on a model, you just need to check the Sketchfab version by clicking "View on Sketchfab"

My model has weird seams/normals:

Tangent space import is not working yet so you might experience rendering issue on some models with normal maps.
It's something we will improve in the next versions

My model is black, or has weird colors

It can be caused by several limits in material import.

• The model has vertex colors: Vertex colors are always exported in glTF files (to allow edition) so they are always loaded in Blender. Sometimes this data is wrong or useless, and the author disables it on Sketchfab.
  You can easily check if the model has this color data by selecting one of the meshes and looking in mesh properties if it has a Vertex colors layer.
  Fix: remove vertex colors if they are not valid

• The model has an outline: a way to have an outline on a Sketchfab model is to duplicate the mesh, flip it's faces and make the material single sided. It is not well imported yet, and it can gives some rendering issues.
  Example of a model with outline:

  • if base and ouline meshes have faces that are very close, Blender can render them totally transparent, so the model will have holes.
  • If your scene has a light casting shadows, it will make the base mesh look dark because of outline mesh casting shadows on it. There are several solutions to fix this.

• Backface culling:
  Some models are set to use single sided materials, which is converted into Blender by using a trick with transparency and backfacing property.
  Fix: look for a "Geometry" node in the graph, removes the "backfacing" link et set the linked node "Mix Shader" factor to 0.

I have a weird behaviour and no error nor warning message shown:

If an error occurs, you will have an error or a stack trace in Blender's console.
You can open the console using "Windows => Toggle system console" but this feature is not always available (for example you don't have it on OSX). The workaround is to start Blender from command line: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/render/workflows/command_line.html . Outputs will be printed in the shell from which you launched Blender.

My model's transforms are wrong:

It might happen if the original model has animation.
Check if the plugin displays a warning about "animation not supported" when you select the model to import.
Animation data are skipped during import to some transforms/rig data can be missing, which can give a wrong result.
Note: bones are imported as regular bones since they can have object attached. So models skeleton will be imported in the scene graph as a hierarchy of regular nodes.

Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.8 (beta)

Sketchfab asset browser plugin v0.0.8 for Blender

Import glTF assets into Blender using Sketchfab download API

*IMPORTANT: this is a beta version released for testing purpose.
Stability is not guaranteed

How to use

Installation

Download the attached zip file and install it as a regular blender

Login, browse and import models

The addon is available in View3D -> Tools under the tab 'Sketchfab'.

You don't need to login to browse models but it's required if you want to import a model.

Results can be displayed in two ways: using buttons or using the preview widget (also used by matcaps).
A temporary checkbox allows to switch from one model to another.

OSX specific: depending of your oopenssl version, you might have issues with requests.

If you're not able to get results (even when logged of), you might find the solution here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30830901/python-requests-throwing-ssl-errors

Also, OSX version of Blender doens't provide the Console window.
If you want to get the logs from Blender, launch it from a terminal.

Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.5 (beta)

Sketchfab asset browser plugin v0.0.5 for Blender

Import glTF assets into Blender using Sketchfab download API

*IMPORTANT: this is a beta version released for testing purpose.
Stability is not guaranteed

How to use

Installation

Download the attached zip file and install it as a regular blender

Login, browse and import models

The addon is available in View3D -> Tools under the tab 'Sketchfab'.

You don't need to login to browse models but it's required if you want to import a model.

Results can be displayed in two ways: using buttons or using the preview widget (also used by matcaps).
A temporary checkbox allows to switch from one model to another.

OSX specific: depending of your oopenssl version, you might have issues with requests.

If you're not able to get results (even when logged of), you might find the solution here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30830901/python-requests-throwing-ssl-errors

Also, OSX version of Blender doens't provide the Console window.
If you want to get the logs from Blender, launch it from a terminal.

Sketchfab for Blender 0.0.1a

Sketchfab asset browser plugin v0.0.1a for Blender

Import glTF assets into Blender using Sketchfab download API

IMPORTANT: this is an alpha version released for testing purpose. Stability is not guaranteed, the plugin being still in development

How to use

Installation

Download the attached zip file and install it as a regular blender

Login, browse and import models

The addon is available in View3D -> Tools under the tab 'Sketchfab'.

You don't need to login to browse models but it's required if you want to import a model.

Results can be displayed in two ways: using buttons or using the preview widget (also used by matcaps).
A temporary checkbox allows to switch from one model to another.

OSX specific: depending of your oopenssl version, you might have issues with requests.

If you're not able to get results (even when logged of), you might find the solution here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30830901/python-requests-throwing-ssl-errors

Also, OSX version of Blender doens't provide the Console window.
If you want to get the logs from Blender, launch it from a terminal.