Blender Exporter to A-Frame VR
This Blender add-on allows you to model your scene in Blender and export it to an A-Frame VR project with a single click. The generated sources can be modified manually according to your project needs and can use a baking process to use baked Lightmaps.
This is an open source project under MIT terms, so feel free to email me or ask for a pull request, or just offer me a coffe!
Features
- Pure Blender Add-On (tested on Blender 3.5.1)
- Simple UI for configuration
- It exports and creates a new A-Frame project
- Optimized Pipeline: Model with blender -> export -> test on browser
- Use of a A-Frame html template saved inside the blend file (to make a higher customisation)
- Open Source (MIT)
Changelog & todo
See here for the updated changelog.
Main Configuration
This Addon manages the following settings (all of them switchable inside the UI):
- Stats window
- Joystick controller on screen
- HTC and Quest controllers
- Cube Map Env (for objects with reflections)
- Cast Shadows
- Raycast Management
- Player's speed and height Management
- Project name and final export directory
- Use of the Lightmapper add-on to add lightmaps to the exported models
- Use an embedded HTTP Server for quick preview
Contents
Installation
- Download the latest release version from Itch.io
- Open Blender (3.5.1)
- Edit -> Preferences -> Add-ons -> Install
- Browse and choose the addon zip file
- Enable the addon
- Note: This addon requires the glTF Exporter 2.0
How to use this A-Frame Blender Exporter
- Open a new/existing blender scene.
- Open the View3D window (
nkey) to show the export window. - Set up best settings for your scene
- Click on
Export to A-Frame project-> a-frame web project will be generated - Customize the 'index.html'-template in the Script-tab for future exports
- Use
Custom Propertiesof blender-objects to control tags/attributes (example)
How to view the 3D scene
How to execute the A-Frame 3D scene from Blender
- click on
Start Serving-> a simple http server in python will start - click on
Open Preview-> to launch your local server web with the 3D scene - click on
Stop Serving-> to stop the http server - Note: Don't close Blender until you stop the http server. Always click on "Stop Serving" before close Blender
How to execute the A-Frame 3D scene standalone
Several possibilities for running a local web server to test or delivery your WebVR page:
- with Nodejs: run
live-serverunder npm (install it withnpm install -g live-server) - with Python: run
python -m SimpleHTTPServer - with a Python script: run
python start_web_server.pyinside the output directory - Note: For massive exports, 'live-server' could be more useful because it can manage a content auto-refresh.
For further instructions, see the official project page.
Main UI configuration
Main Ui for the current version 0.0.10. For a better usability, the add-on is divided into 6 main panels:
- A-frame
- Renderer
- Player
- Interactive/action
- Exporter
A-Frame Panel
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| A-Frame | A-Frame Version | 1.2.0 |
| Show Stats | Show the A-Frame stats window. For debug purpose. | False |
| Show Joystick | Show a icon controller to move player | False |
| Enable VR Controllers (HTC, Quest) | Enable Controllers for further inteactions | False |
| Cube Env Map | For skybox reflections (but not objects reflections). To get objects reflections also, enable the Camera Cube Env |
False |
| Camera Cube Env | with objects reflections | False |
| Show Enviroment Sky | Activate a default skybox | False |
| Enable Background | Camera cube env with background sky | False |
| Path | directory path for the equirectangular sky | /env/ |
| Ext | with objects reflections | jpg |
| Cast Shadows | For dynamic lights and shadows. | False |
Renderer Panel
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| Antialiasing | A-Frame's Scene Setting | True |
| Color Management | A-Frame's Scene Setting | True |
| Physically Correct Lights | A-Frame's Scene Setting | True |
Player Panel
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Raycast | Activate a raycast for interactions. You can set length and interval values | False |
| Raycast Length | Set the Length of the raycast. Shorter or turned off is for better performance | 4.0 |
| Raycast Interval | Set the polling interval in msec. Higher is for better performance | 2000.0 |
| Player Height | Set the Height of the main camera | 1.70 |
| Player Speed | Set the Speed of the player | 0.1 |
Interactive/Action Panel
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| Add Cubemap | Enable the reflections for the selected object | |
| Add Rotation on Z | Enable rotation animation on Z axis for the selected object | |
| Add Toggle Images | set 2 images toggling with click on the selected object (plane mesh) | |
| Add Link Web | Enable html link when clicking on the selected object | |
| Add Video | set a mp4 video for the selected object (plane mesh) |
Exporter Panel
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Project name. It's the target directory where your project will be created. | aframe-prj |
| Export To | Target Directory where the Name Directory will be created |
C:/temp/ |
| Clear Assets Directory | To remove old 3d models from the main assets dir |
Credits
Contributors
- Gltf Exporter & Collaboration - @AndreaRotondo
- Code Refactoring - @fsoft72
- HTTP Embedded Server - @msfeldstein
- embedded index.html template - @coderofsalvation
- PNG fix code - @jure
Third Party Components
This Addon Uses the following 3rd Party Software (or their integration/modification):
- Aframe Joystick - https://github.com/mrturck/aframe-joystick
- Aframe Components - https://github.com/colinfizgig/aframe_Components
- Icons - https://ionicons.com/
Help
If you like the project and want to help, these are the main activities:
- Writing documentation (wiki)
- Writing Official Manual or (video/text) tutorial
- Tests on different O.S. (i.e. MacOSX, Linux)
- Python script programming
- Add new features
In this case, drop me a line.
License
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2023 Alessandro Schillaci
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.