Phase 0 — Download with Location

Save your .blend file first. Enter an address in the Location field and use Expand Radius to widen the download area (recommended: 200–300 m). Click Find Location to fill in latitude and longitude automatically, then Download OSM to save osm_download.osm next to your .blend file.

Tip: ideal .osm file sizes are 1–2 MB. Check the file size before generating geometry.

Phase 1 — Extract Tags

Click Extract Tags to process the OSM file into osm_tags.json. Repeat this step whenever the OSM file is updated or replaced.

Phase 2 — Generate Geometry

Building 3D generates buildings with height and function tags where available; additional info is stored under Object Properties > Custom Properties. Road 2D generates 2D street and road outlines.

Phase 3 — Visualization / Analysis

Function assigns each building use type a unique color; shuffle combinations with Seed. Height – Random colors each unique building height, randomized but repeatable via Seed. Height – Gradient maps height to a single-hue gradient, adjustable via Hue. Click Show Colours to switch the viewport to Object Color mode for fast, editable previews.

Phase 4 — Export / Material Generation

Click Assign Materials to convert viewport colors into real materials. Each object gets a material matching its Object Color, compatible with both Cycles and Eevee. Materials are reused by color, never duplicated.

v1.0.7 2026-07-28 · current

Automatic Overpass server fallback. When the main OSM server is overloaded or blocks the request (errors 406, 429, 504), the add-on retries and switches to a European backup server on its own. You can also pick the server manually in the panel. Longer timeouts for slow responses.

v1.0.5 2026-07-18

Compatibility & stability update — one version for Blender 4.2 LTS – 5.1.
• Fixed the „osm_download.osm not found“ error and downloads that silently did nothing. The cause: with an unsaved .blend, the add-on saved data to one folder and looked for it in another. All data now lives next to your .blend file — just save it before you start; the add-on will remind you if you forget.
• Clear messages instead of Python tracebacks — if you skip a step, it tells you exactly what to run first (e.g. „run 'Download OSM' first“).
• Rewritten networking for reliable downloads across all supported Blender versions; respects the „Allow Online Access“ preference.
• Existing project files from 1.0.4 keep working — no re-download needed.

v1.0.4 2025-11-29

A fundamental geometry-generation change — from minutes to seconds.
• Buildings are no longer extruded one by one via edit-mode operators (which forced a full scene update per building) — geometry is now built directly in memory with BMesh and written to the mesh in a single step.