by RomainGuimbal·Workflow
Images © RomainGuimbal. Used for product review; image policy.
STEPper Reborn earns its place as a maintained revival of the discontinued STEPper add-on, rebuilt on cadquery-ocp to run cross platform. Note the current limitations around materials per face and FreeCAD scale.
STEPper Reborn is a Blender add-on for importing .STEP CAD files, revived from the STEPper add-on developed by Ambi, which is no longer maintained. This fork is built on cadquery-ocp instead of python-occt, making it lighter, simpler and cross platform. Imported files retain their hierarchy, and geometry is tessellated by OpenCascade.
Components can be instanced using collections or meshes. Resolution is handled through maximum angular and linear deviation control, and this can be adjusted afterward for each component. The revival also focuses on being more lightweight and slightly more performant than the original.
Version 2.3.0 introduces resolution improvements, including a range adjustment for Simple mode (previously called "artist friendly") and toggles for Simple mode in the import panel and side panel. It also fixes resolution control issues tied to the 2.2.0 scale changes and removes the debug panel. Current limitations include broken materials per face, and incorrect scale for STEP files generated from FreeCAD with a unit other than millimeter.
STEPper Reborn is best for blender users bringing CAD models from .STEP files into their scenes with preserved hierarchy and component instancing.
STEPper Reborn is completely free to download and use.
STEPper Reborn is compatible with Blender 5.1 and newer. The add-on is distributed for macOS Apple Silicon, macOS Intel, Windows and Linux, so the same import functionality is available across those platforms. It can be added by dragging and dropping the downloaded package into Blender, or downloaded and installed from disk. Check the developer's GitHub page for the current release details and platform-specific downloads before installing on your system.
STEPper Reborn controls resolution through maximum angular and linear deviation, and this setting can be adjusted afterward for each component. Version 2.3.0 adds a range adjustment for Simple mode, which was previously called "artist friendly", along with toggles for Simple mode in both the import panel and the side panel. That release also fixes resolution control issues that were introduced by the scale changes in version 2.2.0.
STEPper Reborn currently has two documented limitations. Materials per face is broken, so per-face material assignment does not work as intended. Scale is also incorrect for STEP files generated from FreeCAD when the unit is set to something other than millimeter. These are stated as current limitations, so it is worth checking the developer's GitHub page for any updates before relying on those specific workflows in a project.
STEPper Reborn is listed as free here and is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. It is a fork of the STEPper add-on originally developed by Ambi, which is no longer maintained. The add-on is distributed for Windows, macOS Intel, macOS Apple Silicon and Linux, and requests permission to import STEP files. For the current licensing terms, source code and platform-specific downloads, refer to the developer's GitHub page linked with this listing.
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