Export Blender

Export Blender

Autodesk® Alias® Plugin to export as a Blender® file.
 

Description

Autodesk® Alias® Plugin to export Surfaces, Shells, Curves, Layers and Shaders to a Blender® file.

Getting Started

Open Utilities > Plugin Manager and select ExportBlender to enable the plugin. The plugin will be listed under Autodesk Exchange Apps.

ExportBlender Plugin

Please select

  • ExportBlender_2026 for Alias 2026 and newer.

  • ExportBlender_2024_1 for Alias 2024.1 to Alias 2025.1

  • ExportBlender_2021_3 for Alias 2021.3 to Alias 2023.1

  • ExportBlender for older versions of Alias.

Select the Auto Load option to automatically load the plugin the next time Alias starts. For Alias 2024.1 the autoload option is not available and the plugin once enabled stays enabled. Please unload and re-load the plugin after updating the plugins.
The plugin will be installed under File > Export menu, as Export Blender

Usage

Click on ExportBlender to save as a .blend file depending upon the options in the option box.
Please ensure that the geometric normal of the surfaces and shells points outward.
The following datasets are translated

Alias Blender
Surfaces Meshes
Shells Meshes
Curves NURBS Curves
Shaders Materials
Layers Collection


Since Alias shading model and BSDF shading model is different only the following Alias Shader values are currently supported.

Alias Shader Blender Principle BSDF
Color Base Color
Incandesence Emission
Trasparency Transmission
Reflectivity Roughness

Export Blender option box

  • The Tolerance option sets the accuracy of the meshes. The default chord height deviation of the mesh is set at 0.01 cm
  • The merge option joins the objects in a layer as a single mesh. It also merges double vertices into a single vertex. This option should be ideally used for fully filleted models. If there are sharp edges in the model, unselect this option. Default is off.
  • New Option for Alias 2026 and newer. Set the location of the Blender location. It is set to Blender 5.0 standard install location.

Screenshots.

Export Blender Plugin Option

 ExportBlender_2026 Options

Export Blender Plugin Option.

 

From Alias

From Alias

To Blender

To Blender

Installation/Uninstallation

The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in from Autodesk App Store will start installing the app/plug-in. OR, simply double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin.

You can unload the plugin without uninstalling it by unchecking the "Load/Unload" check box associated with the plugin in the Autodesk® Alias® Plug-in Manager. You may have to restart Alias to completely unload the application.

Please ensure the following pre-requisites are met.

  • Recent version of Blender from Blender Download.
    Please note that the blender executable directory should be added to the environment variable PATH. If in doubt, try to run blender from a command prompt.
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable or above. Download the files from https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe

To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Autodesk product if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the "Uninstall" button. OR, you can uninstall it from 'Control Panel/Programs and Features' (Windows 10), just as you would uninstall any other application from your system. 

Known Issues

Limitations:
  • Other Alias entities such as lights, camera, animation etc. are not supported this time.
  • The geometric normals needs to point outwards.

Download

 Please visit Autodesk App Store to download the plugin

Video Tutorial.

Version History

Version Number Version Description

3.4.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Alias 2026 and newer
Enhancement: Ability to select the path to Blender executable.

3.3.0.0

BugFix: File not saved if objects/layers/shaders have very long names

3.2.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Blender 4.1
Enhancement: Tolerance now in MM.

3.1.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Blender 4.0

3.0.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Alias 2024.1

2.8.0.0

Enhancement: Performance improvements

2.7.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Blender® 3.0.0

2.6.3.0

BugFix: File not saved if comma is present in Layer names

2.6.2.0

Enhancement: Exclude hidden layers.
Enhancement: Performance improvements

2.6.1.0

Enhancement: Layer Symmetry quality improvements
Enhancement: Merge objects quality improvements

2.6.0.0

Enhancement: Better mesh quality.
Bugfix: Minor bug fixes.

2.5.0.0

Enhancement: Support for Meshes.
Enhancement: Support for Layer Symmetry.

2.0.0.0

Enhancement: Support for curves.
Bugfix: Crash on older versions of Alias.

1.0.1.0

Bug Fix: Alias 2021.3 Crash when tessellation fails

1.0.0.1

Initial Release.

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