M3D Prep Tools — Documentation

Version 1.0.0 | Blender 2.80+

Author: Mik Santos

Compare, Tag, Simplified.

Overview

M3D Prep Tools is a full bake-prep workflow addon for 3D game artists working in Blender. It streamlines the entire pipeline from organizing and naming meshes, through visibility management and visual QA, all the way to export — from one sidebar panel.

Modules

Installation

1. Download the .zip file.
2. In Blender, go to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Install.
3. Select the .zip file and enable "M3D Prep Tools".
4. The panel appears in the 3D Viewport sidebar (N key) under the M3D Prep Tools tab.

Panel Layout

The panel has two sections:

Global Header (always visible):

• MG1 (Low) and MG2 (High) collection pickers — shared by all modules
• Compare View button with Select All icon
• Keyboard shortcut reminders

Module Tabs (below the header):

• Active module name on the left, four icon buttons on the right
• Click any icon to switch tabs.

Global Features

Collection Pickers

The MG1 (Low) and MG2 (High) collection pickers at the top of the panel are global — set them once and every module uses them. Name Tagger uses them for Smart Tag, Compare View uses them for the offset, Visibility Toggler uses them in Collections mode (by default), and Export Manager reads suffixes from objects in these collections.

Compare View

Compare View shifts the MG1 (low poly) collection to the left of MG2, creating a side-by-side comparison. The offset is calculated automatically from the combined bounding box of all objects in both collections.

Activate: Click the Compare View button or press Ctrl+Shift+C (configurable).

Deactivate: Click "Deactivate Compare" or press the hotkey again. Deactivating performs a full session reset — all MG1 objects return to their original positions, all tagged meshes are unhidden, and the session log is cleared.

Mesh separation support: If you enter Edit Mode and separate a mesh while Compare View is active, the newly created pieces stay at the correct offset position. When you deactivate, all objects in the MG1 collection are restored — including pieces that were separated during the session.

Viewport Overlay: While Compare Mode is active, a yellow "● COMPARE MODE ●" banner appears at the top-center of every 3D viewport. Below it, a live count of floating meshes (meshes without a suffix) per collection is displayed — e.g., Low: 4 floating mesh(es) / High: 3 floating mesh(es). This tells you at a glance how many meshes still need naming. If you've tagged meshes during the session, a running log of recent renames appears on the left side.

Select All from Collections

The icon button (⊕) next to Compare View selects all visible mesh objects from both MG1 and MG2 collections in one click. Useful before exporting.

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts are displayed at the top of the panel and update automatically when you change them in preferences. Configure via Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → M3D Prep Tools.

Name Tagger

The Name Tagger handles batch renaming and organizing meshes into bake-ready groups. It follows the Marmoset Toolbag naming convention: a base family name followed by a suffix (e.g., table_low, table_high).

Setup

1. Create two collections in your scene — one for low poly meshes, one for high poly.
2. Assign them using the global MG1 (Low) and MG2 (High) pickers at the top of the panel.

Untagged Mesh Counts

The Name Tagger tab shows live counts for each collection:

• Low: 3 untagged / 8 total
• High: 4 untagged / 12 total

This tells you at a glance how many meshes still need naming.

Smart Tag

Smart Tag is the primary tagging tool. It automatically detects which collection each selected mesh belongs to and applies the correct suffix.

Workflow:

1. Activate Compare View (optional but recommended).
2. Select meshes from both the MG1 and MG2 collections.
3. Click Smart Tag.
4. Either select an existing family from the dropdown, or click New Name to type a custom base name.
5. The dialog shows a live preview of the final names.
6. Confirm — each mesh is renamed and hidden from the viewport.

Multi-object support: Multiple meshes from the same collection are numbered automatically (e.g., statue_high, statue_high2, statue_high3).

Visibility Toggler

The Visibility Toggler lets you quickly flip between viewing low poly and high poly mesh groups.

Modes

Collections Mode (Default)

By default, uses the global MG1/MG2 collections from the top pickers — no setup needed. Check "Use Custom Collections" to use separate collection pickers for visibility-specific overrides.

Suffixes Mode

Define two suffixes (default: _low and _high). The addon scans the scene for objects whose names contain these suffixes. Suffix matching uses substring containment — _high matches table_high, table_high1, table_high-top, etc.

Controls

Toggle Cycle

By default, the toggle cycles: MG1 → MG2 → Both → MG1 → …

Disable "Toggle Cycle Includes Both Visible" in Global Settings (gear icon) to simplify to MG1 → MG2 → MG1 → …

Filters & Match Check (Suffixes Mode)

• Scope — limit search to specific collection
• Filter by Family — restrict operations to specific base name families
• Match Check — scan for bake group mismatches (families with a low poly but no high poly, or vice versa)

Color Tagger

The Color Tagger applies visual color tags to meshes for QA — making it easy to see which objects belong to which bake group at a glance.

Apply To Modes

All tabs share a common "Apply to" selector:

The gear icon (⚙) toggles Auto Switch Viewport Shading Color — automatically switches the viewport shading to match after tagging.

Quick Tab

Instantly apply a color to selected meshes with one click.

Color buttons: Red, Green, Blue | Magenta, Yellow, Cyan. Plus a Custom row with a color picker for any color.

Exclude MG1 (Low Poly) — on by default. Prevents accidentally coloring _low meshes when they're in your selection.

Auto Tab

Auto-assigns unique colors from a fixed palette, then generates random distinct colors for additional groups. Each mesh or family group gets a different color automatically.

Options: Apply to Mesh Group 2 Only, Group Families.

Custom Tab

Manually assign colors to specific objects using a layer system.

• Collapsible layers with object counts in the header
• Selection highlighting — selected objects glow orange in the list
• Conflict handling — transfer prompt when objects are already in another layer
• Auto-clean — renamed/deleted objects are silently removed from layers

Export Manager

The Export Manager handles FBX export with a selection-based workflow.

Selection-Based Export

You must select meshes before exporting. Buttons are greyed out when nothing is selected. This prevents accidental exports.

Smart Batch (Default)

Splits your selection by suffix into separate FBX files:

• BaseName_low.fbx — all selected meshes with the MG1 suffix
• BaseName_high.fbx — all selected meshes with the MG2 suffix

Export Preview

Live preview showing:

• Mesh count and family count per suffix group
• Broken families count — families missing a pair (red alert if any, green checkmark if all matched)

Export Settings

Naming Convention

M3D Prep Tools follows the Marmoset Toolbag bake group naming convention:

basename + suffix + optional_variant

All variants with the same base name belong to the same bake family.

Global Settings

Accessible via the gear icon (⚙) in the Visibility Toggler tab header.

Addon Preferences

Accessible via Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → M3D Prep Tools.

All three hotkeys can be individually enabled/disabled and reconfigured to any key combination. Disable and re-enable the addon to apply changes.

Tips & Best Practices

1. Set your collections first — assign MG1 and MG2 in the global pickers before doing anything else.
2. Use Compare View when batch tagging — the side-by-side layout makes identification easy.
3. Smart Tag handles everything — select from both collections, one base name, both sides renamed.
4. Separate meshes freely — if you split a mesh during Compare View, all pieces restore correctly.
5. Color tag your high polys with Quick mode before baking — one click per bake group.
6. Run Match Check before exporting to catch missing pairs.
7. Check the Export Preview — broken families count catches mismatches instantly.
8. Select intentionally — Smart Batch only exports what you select.
9. Ctrl+Shift+C is your best friend — toggle Compare View without touching the panel.
10. Ctrl+Shift+V for rapid toggling — cycle visibility while modeling or checking alignment.

Compatibility

• Blender: 2.80 and above
• Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux
• License: See LICENSE file

M3D Prep Tools v1.0.0 — Built for 3D game artists who bake.