A Structural Modelling and Analysis Addon for Blender [RELEASED]

UPDATE: Course is live and Addon is available to download! 🚀

Blender is a fantastic all round 3D modelling tool. Although mainly used by 3D artists, it also has a lot to offer the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. For example, take a look at the ambitious Bonsai (formerly BlenderBIM) project which aims to provide a full BIM modelling workflow right inside Blender. This is all achieved through an addon!

Blender addons are a great way of extending the functionality of Blender. They can take the form of simple utilities or tools that help speed up your workflow, all the way up to tools that add massive additional functionality to Blender.

Project update

Back in August of 2024, I announced that I had started exploring the idea of building a structural analysis addon for Blender. At the time I was thinking mainly about building a simple modelling helper tool and wanted to guage interest in the addon and an EngineeringSkills course on how to build addons for Blender.

The response was really positive, so in the intervening months, I continued working on the project, completing the first version of the addon and launching the course that walks you through how to build it, step by step.

Well I'm pleased to say that you can now download the StructureWorks addon (V0.1.0) as part of the course!

👇 The video below walks you through how to install the addon in Blender and also gives a demo of how to use the addon to analyse the four demo structural models that come bundled with the addon.

While the addon itself is a really useful tool, I think that knowing how to build your own addons is going to be the most valuable thing you can take away from this project. We all have different ways of working and different problems to solve, so being able to whip up a quick addon to enhance the functionality of Blender for your own particular workflow is huge!

If you want to learn how to build your own addons (and download the StructureWorks addon and all future updates to it), you can signup for the course here.

Building Engineering Modelling and Analysis Addons in Blender

Unleash the power of Blender by learning how to build custom tools to complement your workflows

After completing this course...

You’ll be able to build custom logic directly inside Blender and build your own sharable tools in the form of addons.
You’ll understand how to add custom UI elements such as buttons, menus and panels into the Blender interface.
You’ll be comfortable using a combination of Serpens, the intuitive and user-friendly node-based development workflow and custom scripting to develop your addons.
You’ll understand how to implement custom analysis code in your addon and leverage Blender’s 3D capabilities for modelling and visualising structural behaviour.

Blender addon development using a combination of Serpens (node-based development) and Blender's Python scripting API.

An ongoing project

The course focuses on building version 0.1.0 of the StructureWorks addon (the first 'complete' version). This includes the ability to analyse 2D and 3D truss structures. However, my plan is to continue developing the addon way beyond what we cover in the course.

Developing and maintaining the StructureWorks addon will become a core part of the EngineeringSkills offering.

Ultimately, you can expect the addon to grow into a complete structural analysis tool for Blender. Version 2 (releasing later in 2025 🤞) will likely include the ability to analyse 2D and 3D frame structures. Future versions will continue to incorporate analyses from the library of EngineeringSkills courses - basically, the model is...

...cover the theory in an EngineeringSkills course, then build it into StructureWorks as an easily deployable analysis tool.

Accessing the addon and course

As usual, EngineeringSkills members already have full access to the addon and course. Addon updates will also be available to all members with an active subscription at no extra cost. Check out annual and lifetime membership options here and here. As mentioned above, you can now also join the course and download the addon here.