Blue Hole is a free Blender addon and workflow environment designed to streamline production workflows, particularly for game development and studio pipelines.
It provides a curated collection of tools, keymaps, pie menus, and pipeline integrations that transform Blender into a production-ready environment inspired by professional DCC tools such as 3ds Max, MODO, and Maya.
Blue Hole focuses on:
- faster interaction
- predictable workflows
- pipeline integration
- project environments
- artist-friendly tools
The goal is to create a consistent and efficient workspace where artists can focus on creating content rather than fighting configuration and setup.
Blue Hole introduces the concept of Environments.
An environment represents a project configuration controlling pipeline settings such as:
- source content paths
- export directories
- asset directory structures
- container configuration
- game engine bridge settings
- source control settings
Each environment stores its configuration in:
envFiles/<environment_name>/env_variables.ini
This allows teams to:
- maintain multiple project setups
- share pipeline configurations
- version control environment settings
- switch between projects easily
Blue Hole simplifies sending assets from Blender into game engines.
Send assets directly from Blender to Game Engines while preserving:
- Folder Structure
- Export Settings
- Transform Rules
Blue Hole provides structured container systems to organize assets inside Blender scenes.
Containers help enforce production-ready hierarchies for export pipelines.
Available systems include:
- Asset Hierarchy Containers
- Asset Mesh Containers
- Asset Collection Containers
These tools help maintain consistent scene structure across artists and projects.
Export assets from Blender in structured formats suitable for production pipelines.
Features include:
- batch export workflows
- project-based directory structures
- engine-ready exports
- configurable transform options
This reduces repetitive export steps and keeps assets consistent.
Blue Hole integrates directly with multiple version control systems:
- Perforce
- Plastic SCM
- Git
Source control features include:
- checkout workflows
- synchronization
- add/edit operations
- workspace validation
- safe file handling
Commands are wrapped internally to provide safe behavior inside Blender.
Blue Hole includes a modular keymap system designed for speed and consistency.
Keymap features include:
- transform tool shortcuts
- viewport navigation improvements
- selection enhancements
- transform modal tools
- gizmo shortcuts
- pie menu triggers
Keymap features can be enabled or disabled directly in the addon preferences.
Some keymaps are still transitioning to a fully programmatic system.
By switching to Blue Hole Deluxe mode, Blue Hole will still overwrite Blender's userpref.blend, to offer all features. This is preceeded by a very clear warning dialog window.
Blue Hole includes artist-focused pie menus designed to reduce menu navigation.
Pie menus provide fast access to:
- tools
- transforms
- utilities
- configuration menus
- help and documentation
Menus adapt to context where appropriate.
Blue Hole adds a header menu inside Blender that exposes many pipeline tools.
From this menu you can access:
- export tools
- container creation
- bridge tools
- environment features
- source control utilities
- help and documentation
This keeps important production tools easily accessible.
Blue Hole includes several utilities to assist production workflows.
Examples include:
- object sorting tools
- asset hierarchy generation
- renaming utilities
- environment validation helpers
- pipeline configuration tools
These remove common friction points in day-to-day work.
Blue Hole is built around several core ideas.
Artists should not need to navigate complex menus or repeat tedious tasks.
Blue Hole reduces friction through:
- hotkeys
- pie menus
- automation
- structured workflows
Switching between tools should not require relearning workflows.
Blue Hole borrows interaction patterns familiar to artists coming from:
- Maya
- MODO
- 3ds Max
- game engine editors
Tools adapt to the current situation.
Blue Hole features frequently react to:
- selection state
- active environment
- pipeline configuration
- project structure
Modern pipelines involve multiple tools and teams.
Blue Hole is designed to integrate with:
- game engines
- version control systems
- structured asset pipelines
- multi-environment projects
Installation instructions are available on the Blue Hole website:
https://blue-hole.weebly.com/installation.html
Blue Hole requires Blender 4.5.1 or newer.
Website
https://blue-hole.weebly.com
Feedback / Issues
https://blue-hole.weebly.com/contact.html
MIT License
Copyright (c) 2026 Marc-Andre Voyer
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files to deal in the Software without restriction.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
This repository includes code derived from:
Epic Games – Blender Tools
https://github.com/EpicGamesExt/BlenderTools
which is included under its respective license in Lib/send2ue.