Cookbook — Qwen-MM-Plugins Blender

Driving a real, running Blender from a prompt with qwen-mm-plugins-blender: the model models the scene, lights it, renders with Cycles, writes the project file to disk, and returns screenshots. See the Cases below. (For parametric CAD, see cookbooks/freecad.)

This capability connects to a running Blender carrying the bundled addon. You don't start it by hand — after installing, the first query brings it up automatically (on Linux it also auto-downloads the app if missing). It needs no API key (some asset/generation back-ends have their own keys, set inside Blender).

Tools

Scene & code

• execute_blender_code — run arbitrary Python in Blender (the workhorse)
• get_scene_info — summarize the current scene
• get_object_info — inspect one object
• get_viewport_screenshot — capture the viewport

PolyHaven assets

• get_polyhaven_status, get_polyhaven_categories, search_polyhaven_assets, download_polyhaven_asset, set_texture

Sketchfab models

• get_sketchfab_status, search_sketchfab_models, get_sketchfab_model_preview, download_sketchfab_model

Hyper3D / Rodin generation

• get_hyper3d_status, generate_hyper3d_model_via_text, generate_hyper3d_model_via_images, poll_rodin_job_status, import_generated_asset

Hunyuan3D generation

• get_hunyuan3d_status, generate_hunyuan3d_model, poll_hunyuan_job_status, import_generated_asset_hunyuan

For exact schemas, check the installed Skill or the MCP tool list.

Install

claude plugin marketplace add https://github.com/QwenLM/Qwen-MM-Plugins.git
claude plugin install qwen-mm-plugins-core@qwen-mm-plugins
claude plugin install qwen-mm-plugins-blender@qwen-mm-plugins

On a headless server (a cloud host / SSH with no display), one extra step (needs root):

sudo apt install xvfb

Skip this on a desktop with a real display.

For Codex and other harnesses, use the guided installer. Harness-specific Skill + MCP registration is covered in Manual harness setup.

Environment variables (usually none needed)

On non-Linux-x86_64 platforms (auto-download only covers Linux-x86_64), install Blender 4.2.x yourself and put it on PATH, or point at it with BLENDER_BINARY.

Set these via env vars, ~/.qwen-mm-plugins/config, or the guided installer bash install.sh (bash install.sh verify checks what's set).

Cases

Case 1 — model a desk lamp from scratch, then render it with Cycles (Claude Code)

Model a desk lamp from scratch — articulated arm, weighted base, a shade with a visible bulb
inside. Real-world dimensions, brushed metal plus an emissive bulb, lit from inside the scene.
Render it with Cycles when it looks right.

44 tool calls: get_scene_info on the empty scene, then 28 × execute_blender_code in small chunks — bmesh lathes for the base and shade, a bevelled helix for the tension spring, a 26× radial array for the knurled knobs. Verification went through renders rather than viewport screenshots: it rendered to a PNG and read the file back 13 times before it was satisfied.

Two of the fixes are things only a render could reveal: a clear-glass bulb that read as a white blob, and a back wall too narrow for the frame. That is the verify half of the loop doing actual work.

Case 2 — glass greenhouse terrarium, debugged through viewport screenshots (Codex)

Model a miniature greenhouse terrarium from scratch: a clear glass house with a pitched roof,
black metal frame bars, a hinged front door with tiny handle, layered soil and pebbles inside,
moss mounds, several small leafy plants, condensation droplets on the glass, and warm grow-light
strips under the roof. Use real-world dimensions, transparent glass and varied plant materials,
set up camera and Cycles lighting, verify visually with at least one render or viewport screenshot,
then save the finished scene and final render to cookbooks/blender/assets/ as
blender-codex-terrarium.blend and blender-codex-terrarium.png.

Work only through the qwen-mm-plugins-blender MCP tools. Do not use shell commands.

16 Blender MCP calls: get_scene_info to read the scene, 10 × execute_blender_code, 4 × get_viewport_screenshot interleaved as visual checks, and a closing get_scene_info. The terrarium is laid out at tabletop scale (1.20 m long, 0.65 m deep, ~1.05 m to the ridge) and the finished scene carries 873 objects and 37 materials — glass panes, metal frame bars, a hinged door with handle, layered substrate, pebbles, moss, individual leaves, condensation droplets, and grow-light strips.

Case 3 — ask a GUI harness to install Blender support

The agent is asked to install the blender plugin from this repository:

Troubleshooting

• Can't connect / first call is slow: the first call downloads Blender (~300 MB) in the background and starts it — wait 1–2 min; subsequent queries connect instantly. For manual or source-checkout launch commands, see the Skill.
• Headless machine reports xvfb errors: sudo apt install xvfb (needs root). Not needed with a real display.
• PolyHaven / Sketchfab / Hyper3D tools report "disabled": those asset / generation services need their own API key configured app-side (PolyHaven is free); leaving them unset doesn't affect anything else.

Attribution & License

• blender is ported from ahujasid/blender-mcp (MIT)
• We also acknowledge the official Blender projects.blender.org/lab/blender_mcp (GPL-2.0-or-later, referenced only — none of its code is used)

Full third-party licenses are in the capability's NOTICE.md.