The Blender Exporter

The Blender plugin also has a multi-export tool for glTF files. This tool can be accessed from the sub menu available from the side of a scene in any of the views by clicking the tiny arrow button shown in the image below (mouse over the image to see an example):

• Add Preset - Clicking this button will add a new preset element to the view, and you can set its name , the collections it contains, and also enable / disable it for export (by checking/unchecking the box next to the preset name). You can also remove the preset by clicking the minus - button.

  NOTE

  Adding a preset this way means that it cannot be added to a group. If you want a preset in a group, create the group first then use the + of the group to add the preset.

• Add Group - Clicking on this element will add a new group element to the view. Groups are supplied as a way to organise your presets into logical groups of parts, where the you would have - for example - one group per model, and in each group, a preset per-LOD of the model. You can use the ✎ button to name the group and the + button is used to add a new preset to the group, and the - button will delete the group. You can enable / disable the group for export by checking/unchecking the box next to the group name.

  IMPORTANT!

  Deleting a group will also delete all the presets it contains, so use with caution

General workflow would be to add a group for the part you want to export, and then in the group create the required presets. For each preset you will need to click the collections button and add the required items into the preset:

Once you have set up your groups and presets, you should set the Export Path from the group / preset Settings. These settings will be shown when you have selected one or more presets, or when you have selected a group (note that if you have selected multiple groups or multiple presets, changes here will be applied to all of them):

• Name: Name the preset(s) or group(s).

• Export Path: Give the path to export the preset/group contents to. If you click the folder 🖿 button, an explorer window will open and you can select the export path from that.

• Export Preset: From here you can select one of the available export presets to configure how the files will be exported.

Once you have set up all your presets for exporting, you can click the Export button, and the exporter will create the *.gltf and *.bin files required for a MSFS 2024 package. However, it is important to note that using presets means that no XML files are generated. This is due to the nature of the export as you may require multiple XML files and it’s impossible for the plugin to know how they should all be named and structured for any given preset. You can find how to create your own XML for the model(s) here:

• Aircraft XML and Model CFG

Logs#

Under the exporter, you can find the Logs panel.

The objective of this window is to provide readable log output and avoid relying on Blender’s black-and-white terminal, which can sometimes be difficult to read.

Logs are divided into three levels:

• - Information
• - Warning
• - Error (blocks the export, carefully read the error message)

You can click a log entry to display a detailed message:

For example, here we have an error: we cannot export a preset because no layers are enabled.

You can copy the log report details to the clipboard using this button.
This can be useful when reporting a crash on DevSupport:

Logs can be filtered by level or by text using the filters:

Logs are automatically cleared between each export, but you can also clear them manually using this button:

The Settings Panel#

Here you can find the various export settings like geometry, animations, materials, etc… for the Blender glTF export, and these can be edited as required for the project being exported.

At the top of this tab you can click on the + button to create a new Export Preset. After adding the preset, you can then set up the various options for it and it can be selected in the Presets tab for use. The rest of the tab is taken up with various sub-sections and options that you can use to configure your exports.

General#

• Export in Background: When enabled, export is done in a background process, allowing you to continue working in blender.

  IMPORTANT!

  This setting is global and common to all presets.

• Copyright: Legal rights and conditions for the model

• Remember Export Settings: Store glTF export settings in the Blender project.

Textures#

• Keep original: Keep original textures files if possible.

  IMPORTANT!

  If you use more than one texture - where PBR standard requires only one - only one texture will be used. This can lead to unexpected results.

   

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024#

Enable Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 glTf extensions.

Textures#

• Generate TextureLib: Generate Texture XML files for the textures after the export.

Export process#

• Reset Origins: From this drop-down menu you can select the following:

  • Disabled - Node origins will remain “as is” in the model.

  • All roots - All root nodes will be reset to (0, 0, 0) on export.

  • Per Object - Node origins will be reset on a per-object basis, based on the object settings themselves (see the object Transform Properties description for more information).

• Remove LOD prefix: Remove LOD prefixes ‘x0_/x1_…’ on node names.

• Merge nodes: Merge glTf Meshes into one root node.

• Export as submodel: This option is dedicated to “Merge models”. Only use it for models contained in <MergeModel> xml elements.

Include#

• Selected Objects: Export selected objects only. You can ignore this setting since it is disabled by the MultiExporter addon.
• Visible Objects: Export visible objects only.
• Cameras: Export Cameras.
• Punctual Lights: Export Lights.

Transform#

• +Y Up: Up axis orientation. Always enabled when using MSFS2024 extension.

Mesh#

Enable/Disable meshes export (useful for exporting animations only).

• Apply Modifiers: Apply modifiers (excluding Armatures) to mesh objects.

• UVs: Export UVs (Texture Coordinates) with meshes.

• Normals: Export vertex normals with meshes.

• Tangents: Export vertex tangents with meshes.

• Attributes: Export Attributes (when starting with underscore).

• Loose Edges: Export loose edges as lines, using the material from the first material slot.

• Loose Points: Export loose points as glTF points, using the material from the first material slot

Vertex Colors#

• Use Vertex Color

  • MATERIAL: Export vertex color when used by material.

  • NONE: Do not export vertex color.

• Export all vertex colors: Export all vertex colors, even if not used by any material. If no Vertex Color is used in the mesh materials, a fake COLOR_0 will be created in order to keep material unchanged.

• Export active vertex color when no material: When there is no material on an object, export active vertex color.

Material#

• Export: Export all materials used by included objects.

• Placeholder: Do not export materials, but write multiple primitive groups per mesh, keeping material slot information,

• No export: Do not export materials, and combine mesh primitive groups, losing material slot information.

Shape Keys#

Export shape keys (morph targets).

• Shape Key Normals Export vertex normals with shape keys (morph targets).

• Shape Key Tangents: Export vertex tangents with shape keys (morph targets).

Armature#

• Use Rest Position Armature Export armatures using rest position as joints’ rest pose. When off, current frame pose is used as rest pose. Always enabled when using MSFS2024 extension.

• Export Deformation Bones Only: Export Deformation bones only (and needed bones for hierarchy).

• Remove Armature Object: Remove Armature object if possible.If Armature has multiple root bones, object will not be removed

• Flatten Bone Hierarchy: Flatten Bone Hierarchy. Useful in case of non-decomposable transformation matrix

Skinning#

Export Skinning Armature Data.

• Bone Influences: Choose how many bone influences to export.

Animation#

• Animation mode

  • Actions: Exports active actions and NLA tracks as glTF animations. In blender 4.5 or superior, this is the default and advised mode. You can use it with the new Slotted actions features.

  • NLA Tracks: Export individual NLA Tracks as separate animation. In blender 4.2 or inferior, this is the default and advised mode.

• Bake All Objects Animations: Force exporting animation on every object. Can be useful when using constraints or driver. Also useful when exporting only selection

Rest And Ranges#

• Use Current Frame: Export the scene in the current animation frame.

• Limit to Playback Range Check: Clips animations to selected playback range.

• Set all glTF Animation starting at 0: Set all glTF animation starting at 0.0s. Can be useful for looping animations

• Negative Frames

  • Slide: Slide animation to start at frame 0.

  • Crop: Keep only frames above frame 0.

Armature#

• Export all Armature Actions: Export all actions, bound to a single armature.

  IMPORTANT!

  Option does not support exports including multiple armatures.

• Reset pose bones between actions: Reset pose bones between each action exported. This is needed when some bones are not keyed on some animations

Shape Keys Animation#

Export shape keys animations (morph targets).

• Reset shape keys between actions: Reset shape keys between each action exported. This is needed when some SK channels are not keyed on some animations.

Sampling Animations#

Apply sampling to all animations.

• Sampling Rate: How often to evaluate animated values (in frames).

Optimize Animations#

• Optimize Animation Size: Reduces exported filesize by removing duplicate keyframes. Can cause problems with stepped animation.

• Force keeping channels for bones: If all keyframes are identical in a rig, force keeping the minimal animation. When off, all possible channels for the bones will be exported, even if empty (minimal animation, 2 keyframes).

• Force keeping channel for objects

• If all keyframes are identical for object transformations, force keeping the minimal animation.

• Disable viewport for other objects: When exporting animations, disable viewport for other objects, for performance. This option can cause issue in some cases (complicated rigs with special constraints for example).