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Integration · Unity

Use Vi3W models in Unity, from FBX or glTF

Export the model from Vi3W as FBX and drag it into your Unity project's Assets folder; Unity imports FBX natively.

Export-compatibleNo plugin: export a file from Vi3W and import it here.

  • .fbx
  • .glb
  • .obj

Quick answer

How do you import Vi3W models into Unity?

Export the model from Vi3W as FBX and drag it into your Unity project's Assets folder; Unity imports FBX natively. In the import settings, keep Convert Units on, extract the textures and materials, and connect any PBR maps your render pipeline needs. GLB works too, through Unity's glTFast package.

Setup

From Vi3W to Unity, step by step.

Steps checked against the Unity 6 manual, October 2026.

  1. Export from Vi3W as FBX. Unity reads it with no extra packages. If you prefer GLB, install Unity's glTFast package first.
  2. Drag the file into the Assets folder. Unity imports it as a model asset you can place in a scene.
  3. Check the Model tab of the import settings. Convert Units turns the file's units into Unity's one-unit-per-metre scale. Bake Axis Conversion writes the Z-up to Y-up conversion into the mesh itself, which avoids the classic −90° X rotation on child objects.
  4. Open the Materials tab and use Extract Textures, then Extract Materials, so you can edit them as normal project assets.
  5. Connect the PBR maps. FBX reliably carries base colour and normal maps. Roughness and metallic need assigning by hand: the Built-in and URP Lit shaders use a metallic map with smoothness in its alpha, and HDRP packs metallic, ambient occlusion, detail mask and smoothness into one mask map. Smoothness is roughness inverted. See PBR materials.

Example: Load at runtime (C#, glTFast)

You can also import from a script.

C# · Unity + glTFast
using GLTFast;
using UnityEngine;

public class LoadModel : MonoBehaviour
{
    async void Start()
    {
        var gltf = new GltfImport();
        if (await gltf.Load("file:///path/to/your-model.glb"))
            await gltf.InstantiateMainSceneAsync(transform);
    }
}

Formats that work with Unity

File formats

Formats that work with Unity, in order of preference.

  • FBXFBXnative import
  • GLBGLB / glTF 2.0via the glTFast package
  • OBJOBJ

What doesn’t carry across

  • No Unity plugin. You export a file and import it. There is no Vi3W window inside the Unity Editor.
  • FBX materials need finishing. Unity creates a material per FBX material but does not pack roughness and metallic maps into its own formats automatically. glTF through glTFast maps them more completely.
  • Static meshes only. No rigs, so no Humanoid avatar setup. Rig in Blender first if the asset needs to animate.
  • LODs are yours to add. Build lower levels yourself and name them _LOD0, _LOD1… in one FBX, and Unity creates the LOD Group automatically. See level of detail.

Common issues

Questions Unity users actually ask.

How to properly export blender objects with children into unity?

The −90° X rotation on children comes from the axis change: Blender is Z-up, Unity is Y-up. Fix it on the Unity side by enabling Bake Axis Conversion in the model's import settings, or on the Blender side with the FBX exporter's Apply Transform option. Blender marks that option experimental and unsafe with armatures, so use it for static props only.

Fully populating unitys embedded FBX material with a blender export?

Not automatically. FBX carries base colour and normal maps into Unity's generated materials, but Unity's packed maps, such as the HDRP mask map (metallic, AO, detail mask and smoothness in one texture), have to be built and assigned by hand. Extract the materials, pack the channels in an image editor, and assign them, or import glTF through glTFast instead.

Improve Blender-2-Unity workflow (automatically baking?)

Bake only what needs baking. Procedural Blender materials have to become image textures before any engine can use them, but image-based PBR materials export as they are. A baking add-on can batch every map for every object in one pass. Models generated in Vi3W already use image textures, so they skip the baking step entirely.

Need more help?

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More integration guides

The same workflow, for your other tools.

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