Exporting a Blender Scene

The active Blender scene can be exported as a Mitsuba XML scene under File -> Export -> Mitsuba (.xml).

Export parameters

• Selection Only: Only export the currently selected Blender objects.
• Split File: Separate the resulting XML into multiple files depending on the type of data (meshes, materials, etc...).
• Export IDs: Use the object's Blender name as an identifier in the Mitsuba XML. This identifier can be used as a reference to a definition to limit duplications.
• Ignore Default Background: Do not export Blender's default gray sky color, resulting in a black background.
• Forward/Up: Coordinate system transformation during export. The default values should work in most cases.

ℹ️ In case of errors, log messages are printed to the console window. To enable it under Windows, click on Window -> Toggle System Console. Under MacOS and Linux, simply run blender from the command-line.

What's supported ?

Currently, this feature only allows you to save a Blender scene as a Mitsuba-compatible scene. Future versions may support more fancy features, such as custom nodes for materials or in-blender rendering.

Exporting the following Blender objects is supported:

• Objects:
  • Meshes
  • Metaballs
  • Text
  • Nurbs surfaces
• Material Nodes:
  • Diffuse BSDF ⚠️ Mitsuba does not handle rough diffuse BSDFs currently
  • Glossy BSDF
  • Emission BSDF
  • Glass BSDF
  • Principled BSDF
  • Image Texture
  • Vertex Colors
  • Mix Shader
  • Add Shader ⚠️ Adding two BSDFs is not supported
• Light Sources:
  • Point Light
  • Spot Light
  • Sun Light
  • Area Lights ⚠️ Ellipse area lights are not supported
  • Environment Maps