This is a list of free Blender addons that I highly recommend you take five minutes to download.
Why Should I Use Blender Addons?
Addons help you get tasks done faster than doing everything manually as well as allowing you to do tasks otherwise impossible or extremely hard.
These free Blender addons are worth premium, but there creators have decided to give them to us for free!
Do These Addons Work With Blender 4.0?
Yes, almost all of these addons work with 4.0. However for some, the developement is still in progress.
How do I Install Addons in Blender?
- Download the addon from online (do not unpack the .zip file)
- Open Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Addons
- click the install button at the top right, navigate to the downloads folder and select the file
- Finally select the check box on the addon to enable it and you are ready to go!
BlenderKit
BlenderKit is a built in addon that comes with a separate library of 3D models free and paid alike. It is a very quick way to create scenes and import models.
The paid version costs $6/month, and gives you access to more models and cloud storage.
UV Packer
UV Packer will optimize your UV space and do it very quickly, it is also great for very large models, when the default blender UV packer isn’t enough.
ND: Non-destructive Modeling
ND is an addon for the non-destructive modeling of hard surface objects. It allows for extrusion of 2D sketches, as well as including a variety of stacked modifier groups and Power Modifiers which essentially give non-linear workflows a whole new level of speed and options.
Mouse Look
Mouse Look gives Blender some Z-sculpt type navigation features and is made for people using Tablets and iPads. Take a look if this is you.
Tracky
Tracky is a camera tracking addon that takes data from iOS devices, and converts it into blender tracked footage.
BY-GEN
BY-GEN is an addon which uses Blender’s built in modifiers to create procedural structures and weird generative alien things that can be customized however you like.
Kit Ops 2
Kit Ops 2 is a 3D asset manager for blender, which means It allows you to make awesome scenes with your own or ready made 3D models, by simply dragging them into your scene.
BagaPie Modifier
BagaPie is packed with great features, it creates modifiers for geometry nodes, this means that you do not have to build the nodes from scratch every time you want to scatter objects or array something for example.
Power Save
This addon gives you more options when saving Blender files, which is a really important part of using Blender.
EasyBPY
EasyBPY converts blender’s python into a more readable and understandable format. Therefore it is a good addon for people who are not already experienced with coding in blender and want an easy entrance.
Holt Tools
This addon is full of helpful little features that can speed up your workflow as well as cleaning utilities and organization tools.
Blender GIS
Blender GIS allows you to take data from satellite maps and import it into your scenes. It uses OpenStreetMap, which has a height-map of the entire world and can even import buildings as 3D.
Blosm
A new version of Blender-OSM, Blosm imports buildings, streets, cities, rivers, and more using a combination of google maps, and open street map.
Nature Clicker
Nature clicker is a small tool that allows you to simply click to add objects. Though created specifically for nature, it can be used for anything you want to scramble; trash, people, zombies, rocks, whatever.
Simple Tabs
Simple tabs is a tool for rearranging the sidebar/n-panel it lets you drag around the sections allowing you to choose which tabs you would like to be closest to the top.
Free Built in Blender Addons
Blender actually has many built in addons, which are all free. These can be activated by simply going to the Blender Addons Menu, searching for the addon and clicking the checkbox that activates it. Here are some of the built in Blender addon highlights:
Import Images As Planes
Impost images as planes is SO helpful, it imports images with transparency and automatic UVs and cropping, it’s the easiest way to import images and should definitely be activated.
Node Wrangler
While texturing models, you will constantly be adding the texture coordinate and mapping nodes after textures. Node Wrangler does that for you when you select a texture node and press ctrl-T. If you select a shader node, it will also add an image texture.
Cell Fracture
Cell Fracture is just such a fun addon, it takes shapes and shatters them into little random shaped pieces. Then you can include them in Rigid Body Simulations and do all kinds of fun stuff with them.
BoltFactory
BoltFactory is great for making spiral shaped objects. It’s mean’t for nuts, bolts and screws but you can also chop off a piece for a light-bulb or a screw-on lid of some kind.
Archimesh
Archimesh gives you some customizeable 3D models, like doors, walls, windows, furniture, counters and roofs. Great for quick mock-ups or previews for archvis.
But Wait! There’s more!
We have made other addon collections for 2023, which include…
MORE BLENDER ADDONS!
