How To Export Materials From Blender

Getting your 3D models out of Blender is one thing, but knowing how to export materials from Blender correctly is what makes them look great anywhere else. Whether you’re sending assets to a game engine, a rendering farm, or another artist, this guide will walk you through the exact steps.

Materials define the color, texture, and surface properties of your model. If you export just the geometry without the materials, you’ll get a bland, gray object. The process isn’t always a single click, as it depends heavily on where the model is going. But don’t worry, we’ll cover all the common methods.

This main section covers the universal principles. First, you need to understand that “exporting materials” can mean two different things. You might be exporting the material data embedded in a file format, or you might be “baking” the materials into image textures. We’ll start with the embedded approach.

Understanding Material Data and File Formats

Not every 3D file format can hold Blender’s material information. Choosing the right format is the first critical step. Here’s a quick breakdown:

FBX (.fbx): A very common format for game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine. It does a good job of exporting materials, textures, and even basic shader setups.
glTF / GLB (.gltf, .glb): The modern standard for the web and many real-time applications. GLB is the binary version that packs everything into one file. It’s excellent for preserving PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials.
OBJ (.obj): A simpler, older format. It can export material information via an accompanying .mtl file, but it only handles very basic color and texture data. Complex shaders will be lost.
USD (.usd, .usdc): A growing standard for large-scale pipelines and interchange. It supports sophisticated material definitions.

For most users, FBX and glTF are the go-to choices. They offer the best balance of compatibility and feature support.

Preparing Your Materials for Export

Before you hit export, a little preparation ensures things go smoothly. Follow this checklist:

Use Supported Shaders: Game engines and other software may not understand Blender’s Principled BSDF shader directly, but the FBX and glTF exporters will convert it. For the best results, try to build your materials using the Principled BSDF shader as your main node.
Check Texture Paths: Ensure all your image textures are packed into the Blender file or use relative paths. Go to File > External Data > Pack Resources to embed all images into the .blend file. This prevents missing texture errors later.
Apply Your Transforms: Select all objects, then press Ctrl+A and choose “All Transforms.” This applies the object’s location, rotation, and scale, which prevents unexpected issues in the target application.
UV Unwrapping: Every object that uses an image texture must have proper UV coordinates. If you haven’t unwrapped your model, the textures won’t map correctly on export.

Step-by-Step: Exporting with Materials to FBX

Let’s walk through a standard FBX export, which is widly used for Unity and Unreal.

Select the object(s) you want to export. To export everything, simply deselect all objects (press A until nothing is selected).
Go to File > Export > FBX (.fbx).
In the export options on the bottom-left panel, find the Geometry section. Ensure “Apply Modifiers” is checked if you have subdivision surface or other modifiers that affect the mesh shape.
Find the Armature section if exporting animated characters. For now, we’ll focus on materials.
Crucially, locate the Materials section. Check the box for “Export Materials“.
Also in the Materials section, you’ll often see an option for “Path Mode“. Choose “Copy” and click the little folder icon to set a path. This tells Blender to copy the texture images to the same folder as your FBX file, which is essential for portability.
Choose your file location, name your file, and click “Export FBX“.

Your model, materials, and textures are now exported. You should see the FBX file and a folder of texture images in your chosen destination.

Step-by-Step: Exporting with Materials to glTF/GLB

For web projects, AR/VR, or any modern real-time app, glTF is often the better choice.

Select your object(s) or deselect all to export the entire scene.
Go to File > Export > glTF 2.0 (.glb/.gltf).
In the export options, under the Format dropdown, choose .glb (for a single, packed file) or .gltf (which will create a .json file plus separate resources). For simplicity and sharing, .glb is fantastic.
In the Materials section, ensure “Export Materials” is enabled.
Under Images, choose “Automatic”. For .glb, it will embed them. For .gltf, it will copy them to a folder.
Click “Export glTF 2.0“.

The glTF exporter is very smart about converting Blender’s PBR materials into the standard glTF PBR material model, so fidelity is usually high.

When Embedding Isn’t Enough: Baking Textures

Sometimes, the target software can’t handle complex Blender shaders—even via FBX or glTF. This is common with very old game engines or certain 3D printing workflows. The solution is “baking.” Baking converts all the details of your material (lights, shadows, colors, patterns) into simple image textures that any software can read.

How to Bake a Material to an Image Texture

Prepare a New Image Texture: In your Shader Editor, add an Image Texture node. Click “New” to create a new image. Give it a name like “Baked_BaseColor,” set the resolution (e.g., 2048×2048), and choose a color like white as the base.
Setup for Baking: Connect this new Image Texture node to the input of a Principled BSDF shader’s Base Color, temporarily. More importantly, select the mesh object, go to the Render Properties tab, and switch the Render Engine to Cycles (baking requires Cycles).
Configure Bake Settings: In the Render Properties tab, open the Bake section. Set the Bake Type to “Diffuse” for color, or “Combined” to grab everything. Ensure “Direct” and “Indirect” are checked under Influence.
Select and Bake: Make sure your mesh and the new image texture are selected in the Shader Editor. Click the big “Bake” button. Blender will calculate and paint the material onto the image.
Save the Image: Once baked, go to the Image Texture node, click “Image > Save As,” and save your texture (e.g., as a PNG).

You would repeat this process for other maps like Roughness, Metallic, and Normal. After baking, you create a simple material in Blender using just these baked image textures. This simple material will then export perfectly to any format, even OBJ, because it’s just basic colors and images.

Troubleshooting Common Export Issues

Missing Textures in Unity/Unreal: This is almost always a path issue. Double-check that you used the “Copy” texture path mode during FBX export and that the textures are actually in the folder you imported. In Unity, you may need to re-assign them the first time.
Materials Look Different: The target engine may interpret values differently. For example, Blender’s roughness of 1.0 is “fully rough,” but some older engines might invert this. You may need to adjust settings in the game engine’s material editor after import.
Transparency Not Working: For transparent materials, ensure you are using the Principled BSDF shader’s “Alpha” input and that the “Blend Mode” is set to “Alpha Hashed” or “Alpha Blend” in the Material Properties > Settings panel. Not all export formats support all blend modes equally.
Export is Taking Forever: If you have very high-resolution textures or a complex scene, export can be slow. Consider baking down your textures to a lower resolution for export if the target platform doesn’t need 4K images.

Advanced Workflow: Using the Node Wrangler Add-on

Blender’s built-in Node Wrangler add-on is a huge help. You can enable it in Edit > Preferences > Add-ons. Once on, it offers a quick way to setup baking. Select your material, press Ctrl+Shift+LMB on the Principled BSDF shader, and choose “Bake Image Texture.” It automates much of the node setup we described earlier.

Exporting for Specific Platforms

Different destinations have small quirks. Here’s a quick reference:

Unreal Engine: Prefers FBX. Make sure to check “Export Materials” and “Copy Textures.” Unreal will create its own material instances on import that you can then tweak.
Unity: Also works great with FBX. The newer versions have excellent glTF support via packages, which can sometimes give even better results.
Sketchfab: Upload a .glb file. It’s the most reliable format for their viewer and will preserve your PBR materials perfectly.
3D Printing: Materials are usually irrelevant for color printing, you export the geometry (as STL or OBJ) and the vertex colors or a separate UV texture map, depending on the printer software.

FAQ Section

How do I export a model with materials from Blender?

Use the FBX or glTF export options. In the export settings, make sure the “Export Materials” box is checked, and set the “Path Mode” for textures to “Copy” to ensure all image files are included with your model file.

Why are my materials not exporting from Blender?

The most common reasons are: 1) You forgot to check “Export Materials” in the chosen exporter (FBX/glTF). 2) Your materials use very complex node setups that the export format doesn’t support. Simplify to a Principled BSDF or bake the textures. 3) The file format you chose (like STL or PLY) doesn’t support material data at all.

Can you export textures from Blender?

Yes, absolutely. When you export a model with materials using FBX or glTF with the “Copy” path mode, the textures are automatically copied to a folder alongside the 3D file. You can also manually save any image texture from the Shader Editor’s Image Texture node.

How do I export a Blender file with textures embedded?

For a truly single file, you have two great options. First, you can use the .glb format, which is designed to embed everything. Second, you can “Pack Resources” in your original .blend file (File > External Data > Pack Resources) and then send the .blend file itself, though this only works for other Blender users.

What is the best format to export Blender models with materials?

For general purpose and game engines, FBX is the most universally compatible. For modern web, mobile, or real-time applications, glTF/GLB is the best and most accurate format. Choose based on where your model is going.

Mastering material export is a key skill for any Blender artist working in a pipeline. It bridges the gap between creating something beautiful in Blender and using it effectively in another tool. Start with the simple FBX/glTF export, and then experiment with baking for those tricky situations. With these steps, you’ll be able to share your work confidently, knowing the materials will arrive looking just as you intended.