Importing to Blender

After exporting a mesh from the SpeedTree Modeler, you can use the included Blender add-on to load it into Blender and recreate the materials as closely as possible.

To install it, open the Blender preferences with the Edit→Preferences menu item and switch to the Add-ons tab. Click the install button and browse to the included add-on at /scripts/Blender/SpeedTreeAddOn.zip. Then be sure to tick the checkbox to enable it.

Importing

Once the add-on is installed, you will now have a new SpeedTree (stmat) file type available for import in Blender. You don't need to worry about the format of the actual mesh exported from the SpeedTree Modeler, as that information is stored in the “.stmat” file. The script will load the appropriate mesh as best it can, and replace the materials with new ones based on the material information from the SpeedTree Modeler stored in the “.stmat” file.

Note

The material networks created by the importer will work in both Cycles and Eevee renderers.

Extending the Add-on

If you wish to change how the materials are created, the Add-on has been designed to be easily extensible in this manner. The UpdateMaterial() function is called for every material found in the tree export. It creates a node-based material network, which you could change to be suitable for your own needs.

See Blender's documentation on add-on authoring for more information.