Universal Bridge: Godot — Documentation

Blender 3.3–5.2 · Godot 4 · Windows

Version: 3.0.9 Blender 3.3–5.2 · Godot 4 · Windows

A bridge between Blender and Godot 4. Send your selected meshes as glTF straight into a Godot project and let Godot import them natively the moment the editor gets focus — no File ▸ Import, no importer plugin, no exporting a file by hand. It's two-way: pull a glTF that Godot exported back into Blender in one click. The bridge auto-detects your Godot installs, launches the version you pick, and prefers a Godot you already have open.

It also does something a file exporter cannot: with the editor plugin installed it pulls the open Godot scene into Blender as light proxies, lets you lay the level out with Blender's own tools, and pushes it back as a single undo step in the editor. That half is documented under Level design in Blender below.

Requirements - please read before buying

• Windows only. The add-on detects and launches Godot through Windows paths and processes. macOS and Linux are not supported.
• Blender 3.3 - 5.2 - Extension on 4.2+, classic add-on on 3.3-4.1.
• Godot 4 is required and is not included. It is a free download from the Godot Foundation; install it yourself. This add-on is the Blender-side bridge only and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Godot Foundation.
• libraries, or set the .exe by hand.
• Network: none. Blender and Godot exchange files on your own machine - the add-on opens no network connection.

Installation

Blender 4.2+ (Extension): Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ drop-down ▸ Install from Disk… → pick universal_bridge_godot-x.x.x-blender4.2-5.2.zip, then enable it. Blender 3.3–4.1: Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ Install… → pick universal_bridge_godot-x.x.x-blender3.3-4.1.zip.

The panel is in the 3D Viewport sidebar (press N) under the Universal Bridge tab. Open the add-on preferences and check the version dropdown — it lists the Godot builds found on this machine; pick one, or set the executable by hand.

Getting started

1. On the panel, set your Godot Project — the folder that contains

project.godot.

1. Select mesh objects in Blender.
2. Click Open Godot if it's closed, or Send to Godot once it's running.
3. The glTF lands in your project subfolder and Godot imports it as soon as the

editor has focus. To bring geometry the other way, click Get from Godot.

Send to Godot

Send to Godot exports the selected mesh objects as glTF into <project>/<subfolder>/. Because Godot 4 watches the project folder, the asset imports itself when the editor next has focus — there is nothing to press in Godot.

• If Godot isn't running, the bridge launches it with your project (unless

Reuse Running Godot is on and an instance is already open).

• A single object is named after itself; a multi-object send is named after the

active collection.

• Set Save File to export to one fixed glTF path instead of the auto-named

file in the subfolder.

The primary panel button is two-state: it reads Open Godot while Godot is closed (nothing is sent) and Send to Godot once Godot is running. A status line shows the project name and whether Godot is open.

Get from Godot

Get from Godot imports godot_to_blender.glb from the bridge folder back into Blender. Objects arrive in a dedicated Godot Import collection and are tagged by source name so re-imports line up.

• On Get mode: Update (keep others) refreshes only the objects you

re-sent and leaves every other bridged object in place; Replace all clears the collection and imports everything fresh.

• New 'Godot Import' Collection keeps imports out of your working

collections (turn off to import into the active collection).

Export options

• Format — glTF Binary (.glb) (a single self-contained file,

recommended) or glTF Separate (.gltf + .bin) with loose textures.

• Export Materials — include materials and textures with the glTF, or send

geometry only.

• Meshes are exported Y-up to match Godot's axis convention.
• Subfolder — the folder inside the project to export into (default

blender). Open Export Folder opens it in Explorer.

Apply modifiers

Apply Modifiers bakes modifiers into the mesh on send. When it's on, the panel lists the active mesh's modifiers with a checkbox each, plus All / None buttons — only the ticked modifiers are baked; the rest are temporarily muted for the export and restored afterwards. Your scene is never changed.

The Godot editor plugin

Install Godot Plugin copies a small editor plugin into <project>/addons/universal_bridge. Enable it in Godot under Project Settings ▸ Plugins. It adds an Open Blender + rescan button to the Godot toolbar, and it is what Blender talks to when it needs an answer from the running editor.

Which half needs it:

Without it those second-row buttons report that they cannot reach the plugin. The panel says when it is missing rather than letting a button fail quietly.

Level design in Blender

The bridge's second half. It needs the editor plugin installed and Godot open on the scene you want to edit.

Pull Level brings the open Godot scene into Blender as light proxies — stand-ins rather than the full meshes, so a large level stays workable in the viewport. Move, rotate and duplicate them with the Blender tools you already use.

Push Level sends them back. It arrives in the editor as one undo step, not one per object, so a layout you are not happy with is a single Ctrl+Z on the Godot side.

Two things to reach for before you push:

• Select Changed selects only the proxies you have actually moved, so you

can see what you are about to commit.

• Revert to Godot puts the selected proxies back where the editor has

them.

Unload Level clears the proxies out of your Blender file when you are done.

Placing things

Layout snapshots

Save Layout Snapshot remembers where every proxy is, under a name. Apply Layout Snapshot puts them back. Try a version of the level, then come back from it.

Live Sync

Live Sync switches on a mode where every edit crosses to Godot on its own — no Push, no button. Press it again to stop.

Beside it:

• Select in Godot selects the same nodes in the editor that you have

selected here.

• View from Godot points your Blender viewport where the editor's 3D

camera is looking, so neither of you is describing a different corner of the same room.

Both need the editor plugin.

Folders — where each asset lands

The bridge reads your project's folder tree so you can route sends into it once rather than picking a path each time. Three levels, most specific first:

1. Send Here — a per-object override. It beats everything else.
2. The collection's folder — set it on a collection and its contents

follow.

1. Mark Folder — "send to this folder for now". Click again to unmark.

With nothing marked, sends follow each asset's own folder, then the default.

Move to Marked Folder relocates assets you have already sent. Select Assets picks everything that came from one folder, and Rescan Folders re-reads the tree after you have changed it in Godot.

Import options and presets

These are written into the asset's .import file, so Godot imports it your way the first time it sees it rather than after you fix it by hand:

Import Scale · Generate LODs · Shadow Meshes · Compress Mesh · Light Baking · Animation FPS · the scene's Root Node name.

The file is merged, not replaced. That matters: the uid:// other scenes reference lives in it, and replacing the file would break every reference to the asset.

Save Import Preset keeps a combination under a name; Apply Import Preset puts it back.

Textures

Materials and their texture files travel with the send.

• Update Textures Only re-sends the maps without the mesh, for when all

you did was repaint.

• Send Texture Folder sends a folder of maps as it stands.
• Pull Painter Textures takes a texture set Substance Painter exported,

wires it into the Blender material and copies it into the Godot project. Painter's texture-set name is the material name, which is how it knows which set belongs where. (The Substance Painter bridge is a separate product; this reads what Painter exports and does not require it.)

• Setup Textures in Blender wires a set into the material without sending

anything.

Sockets and pivots

Add Socket drops a SOCKET_<name> empty at the 3D cursor under the active asset. Godot keeps it as a transform — attach points for weapons, hinges and particle anchors.

Pivot: Base Center writes the file's origin at the bottom centre of the asset, so props sit on the floor where you drop them instead of half through it.

The viewport card

The whole bridge as a card in the 3D View instead of a sidebar panel: the same controls in the same order, with an animated explanation beside any control the pointer rests on.

• / searches it.
• Pin what you use to Favorites by right-clicking a control.
• Fold it small, drag it where you want it, recolour it.

One of the two interfaces shows at a time, and either switches to the other with a button.

Keeping the project tidy

• Restore Version puts an earlier copy of an asset back into the project.
• Move Strays Aside moves model files in the default folder that nothing

in this .blend could have written into .ub_history/strays. Nothing is deleted.

Preferences

• Godot Version — a dropdown of the Godot builds found on this machine, plus

Custom / Browse…; the Detect button rescans.

• Godot Executable — a manual path, used when Version is set to Custom.
• Reuse Running Godot — prefer an already-open Godot (it re-imports on focus)

rather than launching a second copy.

• Show Godot Engine Panel — hide/show this bridge's panel on the sidebar tab.

Shared Universal Bridge tools

Registered once and shared with every other bridge you own, on the same tab:

• Preflight — check the selected meshes for unapplied scale/rotation,

missing UV maps, missing materials, n-gons and non-manifold edges, with one-click fixes for transforms and UVs.

• Naming — apply a convention to the selection: low / high / LOD / UCX

(collision) / socket.

• Selection Sets — save the current selection as a named set and re-select

it later.

• Send History — a running list of sends with a re-send button; optionally

persisted and logged to file.

• Versioned Files — keep a numbered copy of each sent/received file in a

versions subfolder.

• Command Palette and Send Each Collection — pop up every bridge action,

or batch-send each scene collection in turn.

• Verify Exchange Folder and the first-run Bridge Setup wizard.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing appears in Godot after Send → click into the Godot editor window so

it regains focus and rescans the filesystem, or confirm the Godot Project points at the folder that holds project.godot.

• "Set a valid Godot project" → the project path must be the folder

containing project.godot, not a subfolder.

• Godot not found / won't launch → run Detect Godot, or set the Godot

.exe by hand in the add-on preferences.

• Get from Godot says there's no file → export a glTF from Godot to the

bridge folder as godot_to_blender.glb first.

• Two versions installed → pick the one you want in the version dropdown; the

bridge launches exactly that build.

Button icons

The buttons in the bridge panels use a drawn icon set rather than Blender glyphs borrowed from elsewhere. Preferences ▸ Button Icons controls it:

• Brand Colours (default) — each bridge in its own colour.
• Mono — every icon in one accent colour you pick.
• Blender Built-ins — no custom icons at all, exactly as before.

Colour-code Status keeps the link and modifier icons green / amber / red, where the colour is the message; turn it off and they take your accent too. Blender's own glyphs are kept wherever they are already the familiar thing — the trash can, the folder, the warning triangle — so the panels still look like Blender.

Support

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/kfN2vjCRmc — include your Blender and Godot versions.

Part of the Universal Bridge line. Works on its own, and the free Universal Bridge Manager hub add-on is included with your purchase.