This addon for Blender 2.79 and up makes it possible to export models made in Blender to the X-Plane object format (.obj). Despite the name "XPlane2Blender", there is no import feature.
The best way to contact us is through a bug report. Otherwise, e-mail ted at x-plane dot com, especially if you're worried about the security of your models while we debug them.
- Blender 2.79 or 2.80-2.82
- For the greatest stability, use the latest non-beta version of XPlane2Blender. Currently Blender 2.80 only has a beta out, however it is very stable
People wishing to develop the plugin should read the tutorial on Plugin Development in the manual.
Note: This process will override an existing copy of the plugin! To backup your current version of the plugin, see the manual instructions in the manual. Always make backups of your work, especially when beta testing, as newer versions may not be backwards compatibility. Read the release notes for more details.
- Download the version of XPlane2Blender that matches your Blender version. "beta" means there could be some bugs, "release candidate (_rc)" means it has been tested more. See the releases page for notes on each. Download the .zip file that has in the name: for instance
io_xplane2blender_3_4_0_rc-1-3_20171223025744.zip. Do NOT unzip the file - In Blender, open up the User Preferences, go to the Addons tab, and click at the bottom "Install From File..."
- Using the file picker, find the .zip file and click "Install From File...". This will automatically unzip to the addons folder
- Ensure the checkbox next to the words "Import-Export: Export: X-Plane (.obj)" is checked
- Restart Blender even if you see the UI change and begin using XPlane2Blender!
- XPlane2Blender Manual
- BD-5J Microjet, a complete open source Airplane
- Dan Klaue's "Using Blender With PlaneMaker" Playlist
- X-Plane Scenery File Formats
- X-Plane.org's 3d Modeling board
- X-Plane Scenery Developer Blog/Knowledge Base
- X-Plane Modeling Tutorials
The average user does not need the test suite. Before releasing a build to the public we test the code many many many times! This is only useful for developers and power user who make changes to the source code.
If you have Python installed (hopefully matching Blender's internal interpreter for maximum stability) and the full source code downloaded, you can run the test suite. It will attempt to export sample .blend files that utilize various features of the exporter and print the results (see the contents of the test folder). All passing means XPlane2Blender is safe to use. In the XPlane2Blender folder, open up a command line and run
python tests.py --print-fails
This will run all tests until the end or a failure occurs. Only detailed logs will be printed for the failed test. See --help to show all flags and what they do.