Solutions to Common FVS Model Issues

To export models with textures in Blender, tick Automatically Pack Resources under File > External Data.

Choose File > Export > glTF 2.0 (.glb/.gltf).

Tick Compression in the pop-up Blender File View window, and tick Animation if the model includes animations.

If you want to merge multiple animations in a scene into one, set Animation Mode to Active actions merged.

You are advised to connect texture channels following the Physically Based Rendering (PBR) workflow when creating models.

Multiple renderers are available on the market today. Materials that are specific to certain renderers or plugins cannot be exported when used on a model, as shown in the following figure. 

If the materials of a converted model are not supported by FVS, the material textures will be lost during export. In this case, you need to reassign materials to objects in Blender (For details about assignment steps, see the "Model Material Assignment" section.)

During model conversion, material textures may be lost due to software compatibility issues. In such cases, you need to relink existing textures in Blender (if the texture folder is still available), or create new materials and add textures (the PBR material workflow recommended) before re-exporting the model. The steps are as follows:

Relinking texture files

After a model is imported, if it appears magenta in the Material Preview mode, textures are missing due to an incorrect file path and need to be relinked to materials.

Choose File > External Data > Find Missing Files.

Select the folder where the texture files are stored, and click Find Missing Files. Blender will automatically search and relink the missing textures.

If you need to reassign materials to a model and add textures to the materials, you can:

Select the model, locate the material to be linked, open Shader Editor, and drag the texture files into the panel.

Connect the Color output of each texture node to the Base Color input of the Principled BSDF shader. For normal maps, add a Normal Map node and connect it to the Normal input. (Strength can be adjusted as needed.)

If the model does not have an existing material, create a material first, and configure the textures following the steps above.

You can use Babylon.js Sandbox to check the backface culling setting of a material. If backface culling is enabled, the model may be rendered incorrectly, with only part of the geometry visible.

If the issue occurs, disable backface culling in the modelling software and re-export the model.

You can check if the applied texture has an alpha (transparent) channel in Babylon.js Sandbox.

Requirements for a transparent material:

• For Blender of V3.6 and prior versions, set Blend Mode of a material to Alpha Blend. Starting from Blender V4.2, the Blend Mode option has been removed and does not need to be configured.

• If no alpha texture is connected, you can configure material transparency by adjusting the value of Alpha. The closer the value is to 0, the more transparent the material becomes.

For a black-and-white JPG texture image, connect the Color output of the image texture node to the Alpha input of the Principled BSDF shader.

For a PNG texture image with an embedded Alpha channel, connect the Alpha output of the image texture node to the Alpha input of the Principled BSDF shader.

Material emission needs to be enabled and configured in both Blender and FVS. You can set relevant parameters based on desired emission effects.

Configuring emission color and strength in Blender

Enabling emission in FVS

Connecting the emission texture node to the Emission input in Blender

Note: 

In Blender, emission textures with the Strength value greater than one cannot be exported correctly. To ensure that brightness levels are clearly distinguishable and emission colors are reproduced accurately in FVS, set the Strength value to one or lower.

Modeling software provides various modifiers, generators, or effectors, such as Subdivision and Mirror, to help users achieve modeling effects more efficiently.

Take Blender for an example. Modifiers take effect immediately in the viewport after being added. However, to export a model with the modifier effects preserved, the modifiers must be applied first.

You can press Ctrl + A to apply a modifier.

Alternatively, you can tick Apply Modifiers under Mesh in the export settings.

Basic Animation Settings

Tick Animation in the export settings.

If the scene contains multiple animated objects, set Animation Mode to Active action merged to merge all object animations into one (available in Blender of V3.6 and later versions).

After a model is exported, you can import it into Babylon.js Sandbox to check animation playback. If multiple animation clips are present, you can preview them individually.

After importing a model with animations into FVS, you can set model animations in Scene Event.

Animation Baking

 (Take the skeletal animation as an example.) In Object Mode, select the armature, and choose Object > Animation > Bake Action. 

Specify the baking time range, tick the options shown in the following figure, and click OK to start baking the action. 

Creation

When animating UV maps as needed in Blender, you need to follow the PBR workflow to ensure proper export to the GLB format.

Add a Texture Coordinate node and a Mapping node, and connect the Mapping node to the image texture node.

Open the Timeline panel, move the playhead to frame 0, and select the Mapping node.

Right-click any axis value of the transform property (Location, Rotation, or Scale) and select Insert Keyframes.

A keyframe will be created at frame 0.

Move the playhead to the target frame, adjust the axis value as needed, right-click the value, and select Insert Keyframes again to create a keyframe at the end of the animation.

Export

After animating UV maps and confirming that the animation playback is normal, export the model as a GLB file. In the export settings, set Animation Mode to Scene and tick Animation Pointer (Experimental).

After the model is exported, you can import it into FVS, set the animations, and preview them.

For single-object models, set the origin at the bottom center to facilitate object rotation and scaling in the modelling software and FVS. For multi-object models, set the origin to the world origin to make it easier to locate objects, adjust their position, and configure functions such as self-rotation in FVS.

1. Configuration steps in Blender: Right-click an object, choose Set Origin > Origin to Geometry. In this way, the origin is set to the center of the object.

In the Options dropdown list in the upper-right corner of the viewport, tick Origin in Affect Only.

Move the coordinate axis to the bottom of the object, and untick Origin in Affect Only. In this way, the coordinate axis is moved to the bottom of the object.

Ensure that the object is positioned at the world origin (0, 0, 0). If not, manually set its location to (0, 0, 0).

Note: 

If an object is configured with animations, move the timeline to frame 0 first, reset the origin, and recreate animations for the object.

2. You can also reset the origin using the model optimization tool. For details about usage instructions, see Custom 3D Model Check.