by NRGSille·Workflow
Images © NRGSille. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place in the blender_extensions library as the maintained route for the legacy .3ds format, carried over from Blender's earlier bundled add-ons and kept current for Blender 4.2 LTS and newer.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) handles both import and export of Autodesk .3ds files in Blender, carrying across meshes, materials, textures, cameras, lights, animations, and ambient and atmosphere settings. It's reached through File → Import-Export → Autodesk 3DS (.3ds). The extension was part of Blender 4.1's bundled add-ons and is now maintained separately by Sebastian Sille (NRGSille), building on work by Bob Holcomb, Campbell Barton, and Sebastian Schrand.
On import, ambient chunks are interpreted as world nodes, with the importer creating a node setup for each chunk to reproduce the 3ds settings. Ambient animation keyframes are imported to the timeline, a background image is connected to the background node, and fog chunks are read into volume shaders. The exporter mirrors this by using a specific node for each chunk, and distance cue can be exported from a map range node.
Material properties map between the two formats, including 3ds Diffuse Color to Blender Base Color and 3ds Mat Opacity to Blender Alpha inverted. Textures are always linked rather than packed into the .3ds file.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) is best for moving scenes between Autodesk .3ds and Blender — including meshes, materials, cameras, lights, and animations — and working with legacy .3ds assets.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) is completely free to download and use.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer. The extension began as part of Blender 4.1's bundled add-ons and is now maintained separately, so on a current release you can add it through Blender's extensions system. For versions older than 4.2 LTS, compatibility isn't stated here, so check the developer's page before installing on an earlier build.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) does not pack textures into the exported .3ds file — textures are always linked rather than embedded. To keep them assigned to your model, place the texture files in the same folder as the .3ds file, or in a subfolder, and they'll be picked up on import. The developer's documentation covers the texture node setup in more detail if you need to configure it.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) can be added by dragging and dropping it into Blender, or by downloading the file and using Install from Disk in Blender's extensions preferences. Once installed, it appears under File → Import-Export → Autodesk 3DS (.3ds), where you can run both the importer and exporter. The developer's page links to documentation if you want to read through the setup first.
Autodesk 3D Studio (.3ds) is listed as free here and is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. That license governs how you can use, modify, and redistribute the extension, including its source code. For the current licensing terms and any details specific to your situation, check the developer's page linked with this listing rather than relying on a snapshot here.
Also in Workflow for Blender.
by Community
3D Viewport Pie Menus is a Blender add-on that provides a range of gesture-based pie menus to speed up various workflows. Some of the menus also add new operators for copying, keyframing and camera controls.
by nutti
Magic UV is a UV toolset add-on for Blender, developed by nutti. Originally part of Blender 4.1's bundled add-ons, it is now offered as an extension with limited support and configured through the Add-ons Preferences.
by Tal Hershko
Animation Layers is a Blender addon that brings a standard animation layers UI and workflow into the 3D viewport, simplifying work with the NLA Editor for editing animation or mocap data.
by Community
Export Autocad DXF Format (.dxf) is a Blender add-on that exports Blender geometry to the DXF r12 file format. Once part of Blender 4.1's bundled add-ons, it is now offered as-is with limited support.
by nutti
Screencast Keys is a Blender add-on that displays keyboard and mouse status along with the last executed operator, using customizable on-screen UIs. It's aimed at making tutorials for Blender.
by Salt Media
BlenderAe2 by Salt Media transfers 3D data and objects between Blender and After Effects in both directions, covering vertices, 3D layer transforms, camera data and layer synchronization.
by MACHIN3
Machin3Tools is a continuously evolving collection of tools and pie menus for Blender, gathered in a single customizable package. It ships in two base variants, Prime and DeusEx, with the DeusEx variant adding more advanced tools.
by MikhailRachinskiy
3D Print Toolbox is a Blender add-on with utilities for 3D printing. It analyzes mesh volume and surface area, checks and fixes geometry, hollows shapes, aligns models to the print bed, and exports to STL, PLY, and OBJ.
by glukoz
UVPackmaster 4 is a UV packing engine for Blender that packs UV maps on the CPU and GPU, using the Cuda and Vulkan APIs, and can run on the CPU and all system GPUs at once.
by MMD
MMD Tools is a Blender add-on for editing MikuMikuDance (MMD) models. It handles importing and exporting model, motion and pose data, along with chopping and joining parts, plus rigid body, material and motion editing.
by HaughtyGrayAlien
SimpleBake brings PBR and traditional texture baking to Blender from a single panel. Select objects, choose maps, and bake — no special node groups or new workflow, working with whatever materials you've already built.
