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Can Blender modifiers be exported with the model and work in other 3D software or game engine software?

For example, I have applied the wave modifier on a plant, that automatically set up an "animation like" property of wind when "play" is pressed.

Without adding animations, but just setting up the modifier, I got the desired result. Now I would like to take that result somewhere else, say Unity3D or 3Dmax, how can I create/export a file that stores the "wave" information?

Please don't tell me to export an .mdd, because I really don't know how to use it. Tried several plugins for Unity that supposedly converts the .mdd to .fbx and it failed. 3Dmax doesn't read .mdd. Please don't refer me to a similar question asked here (the one with the image of water pouring from one place to another), I've read it all and still don't get it.

Thank you all.

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    $\begingroup$ I don't think so, modifiers are non-destructive and thus so much bound to the program that creates them (other programs have similar tools and you get the same consequence)... btw "apply" a modifier is different from "setting" a modifier: it means make modification distructive and permanent. Applying as shape keys allows you to edit the animation flow by editing shapekey's keyframes, but you are anyway bound to use them in blender. About "don't tell me to export an .mdd" why you can't try to post here what you tried and didn't work, as it could help you? $\endgroup$
    – m.ardito
    Commented Oct 30, 2017 at 20:14
  • $\begingroup$ related blender.stackexchange.com/questions/42910/… $\endgroup$
    – m.ardito
    Commented Oct 30, 2017 at 20:16
  • $\begingroup$ related blender.stackexchange.com/questions/43154/… $\endgroup$
    – m.ardito
    Commented Oct 30, 2017 at 21:06
  • $\begingroup$ altermesh.com can do it with UE5. Is still on development but can be done, I think on the future will be more integrations like this one with other packages that support node systems. $\endgroup$
    – blenderdac
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 1:51

4 Answers 4

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A modifier uses part of blenders programming to dynamically alter the mesh data. As such they can only be used within blender, though other software may provide ways to get similar results.

The only way to use the results of blenders modifiers in other software is to apply the modifiers before exporting. For a static mesh nothing more than applying the modifier before exporting is needed, many exporters provide an option to do this for you.

For a modifier that generates an animated result, you will need to "bake" the result as a series of meshes for each frame. The .mdd and .pc2 file formats support mesh data that is different for each frame. Alembic is a newer format that supports baked animations, 3dsmax is listed as supporting alembic.

The only difference between exporting to an .obj file and an .mdd file is that the .mdd file contains multiple copies of the mesh for each of it's visual states. Whether exporting a static or animated object, it is a matter of finding a file format supported in both applications that provides a desired result.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hello @sambler you wrote "For a modifier that generates an animated result, you will need to "bake" the result as a series of meshes for each frame. The .mdd and .pc2 file formats support mesh data that is different for each frame. Alembic is a newer format that supports baked animations, 3dsmax is listed as supporting alembic." How do you bake the modifier? $\endgroup$
    – Eco_Editor
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 20:04
  • $\begingroup$ @Eco_Editor While it is similar to baking a simulation, the exporters take care of that, they play through the animation as they export the mesh for each frame. The mdd, pc2 and alembic exporters give you start and end frame options to define what gets exported. $\endgroup$
    – sambler
    Commented Nov 1, 2017 at 7:09
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Had the same problem with blender 2.91.2. Answer from another forum that worked for me:

Scott Ramsay (smramsay).Dec 9 2020, 9:02 PM Exporters rely on selection, not visibility, to determine what to export. So select only your final model with all of it's modifiers still on. Then in the export window, you need to enable 'Include > Selection Only' and 'Geometry > Apply Modifiers'.

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BH

Someone made a JavaScript parser called jsblend that turns the raw blend file into a JavaScript object when loaded, and includes all data that is included in the blend file, although there is no official documentation so it may be a discovery process, but it's certainly possible to determine what modifiers apply to which meshes, then recreate the effects of those modifiers in JavaScript or anything else

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I would like to post here a solution as been given to me:

  1. place the modifier on the model
  2. export .mdd file
  3. import .mdd file back to blender and set apply on the modifier, this will make the modifier disappear.
  4. export as .fbx file

These are the basic steps, that you should know.

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  • $\begingroup$ What's the difference between this and just applying the modifiers and exporting to fbx? $\endgroup$
    – B''H Bi'ezras -- Boruch Hashem
    Commented Aug 25, 2022 at 11:51

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