The Ultimate Guide to Blender

Video: 
Purpose: This video teaches you how to install Blender and other necessary files. You can either watch the video and/or follow the instructions below, the choice is yours. Your journey begins here!

Step 1: Install Blender 4.0 or higher, I strongly recommend 4.1.1 which you can download here . Multiple versions will be listed so pick what OS you are using


Step 2: After downloading Blender install the program.


Step 3: Open Blender once installation is complete. Congrats, you've installed Blender!


Step 4: We will need to install the io_dif add-on by RandomityGuy which is a Blender plugin that allows us to import/export .dif files, github link here . In the github page you will move your mouse to the right and below Releases we will click the latest version, as of the making of this post it is 1.3.1. Click io_dif.zip to download.


Step 5: Once io_dif is downloaded we will go back to Blender, in the top left of Blender click Edit and then Preferences, a small window will pop up.


Step 6: On the left side click Add-ons, in the top right corner we will locate a Downwards Arrow and click Install... Navigate where you saved io_dif.zip,  click on it then hit the blue Install Add-on button and there ya go, you now have io_dif installed. In the example below I saved it in my Downloads folder.


Step 7: We can close the Blender Preferences window now. If we check File -> Import we will now see the option for .dif, same deal for File -> Export. If you see these then congrats, you've successfully installed the io_dif plugin!


Step 8: Lastly, we will need to install the marbleBlastToolkit asset library by Lily. A toolkit for Marble Blast level creation in blender. Github link here . Click the green Code button, click Download ZIP. Once downloaded open up the .zip and extract the marbleBlastToolkit-main folder anywhere you want.



Step 9: Let's go back to Blender. In blender open Preferences -> File Paths -> Asset Libraries and hit the + icon. Navigate the file browser to where you extracted marbleBlastToolkit-main, in the folder you'll see another folder named MBU-Lily-AssetPak, select the folder and hit Add Asset Library. You may have to hit Add Asset Library twice once you select the folder.



Step 10: After adding the Asset Library, select MBU-Lily-AssetPak under Asset Libraries. Afterwards you will want to change the Import Method to Append (Reuse Data). Once this is done you may close the Blender Preferences window.


Step 11: In the bottom left corner of Blender, you should see a clock icon. Click that then select Asset Browser. It may be hard to see the window, thankfully you are able to show more by simply hovering your mouse over the edge of the window and clicking it, similar to resizing a window.


Final Step: Click the drop down to the left of the Asset Browser and select MBU-Lily-AssetPak. If you see a bunch of random 3D Models and Textures from all Marble Blast games then congrats you've successfully installed the marbleBlastToolkit!


If you want better organization you can select the Interiors or Shapes directories to narrow the results down on what you're looking for, you can narrow it down even further by game when you've selected either directory. I highly recommend browsing to get a good feel on where things are in the Asset Browser.

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you the ABSOLUTE basics of Blender. Ranging from Selection, Movement, Modes, Hotkeys, and Objects. You're not expected to make something grandiose by the end of this, it's just to help get your feet wet on what to expect in Blender. Keep persevering and eventually you'll become a natural!

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you how to create and texture a basic platform in Blender for Marble Blast and how to load it in-game. This puts what you've installed and learned to use, more specifically how to use the marbleBlastToolkit's Asset Browser, io_dif's export tool, and the basic fundamentals of Blender.

Important Notes: It's worth noting that if you're working in PQ then the exported interiors should go into their respective folders, e.g. if you make an mbg-styled level then it'll go into data/interiors_mbg/custom. If you're strictly working in MBG then all exported interiors will go into data/interiors.

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you how to preview a Skybox in Blender and more importantly how to use the Templates that come with the marbleBlastToolkit. You will learn how these Templates work and have a small taste on how to work with them in order to get an idea on what kind of complex geometry you can make with them. There are more tools I left out and those will be covered in another video.

The biggest takeaway here is that you can use these Templates to create complicated shapes quickly, however you shouldn't rely on them too much. Making geometry from scratch like what was shown in Your First Platform is always good practice.

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you how to utilize Scene Collections in Blender and more importantly how to use the Shapes & Triggers that come with the marbleBlastToolkit. You will learn how to place and load these Shapes & Triggers from Blender to Marble Blast.

Important Notes: Rotations done in Blender for Shapes or Triggers DO NOT get exported from Blender to Marble Blast, there is no way around this unfortunately so keep in mind that you'll have to manually rotate these shapes in-game or through HIDE-MB , whichever you prefer. Scaling and Positions work fine though.

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you how to work with UVs & Alignments. More specifically how to use the Skew & Shift UVs tool to make trims look more pleasing, and how to snap vertices, edges, or faces to the grid using the Quantize Trim Aligned tool. Both of these tools are provided by the marbleBlastToolkit. You will also learn the basics of UV Editing within Blender and how to do your first UV Unwrap on a cylinder.

It may seem like quite a bit, but I promise you the video makes it look easier than it sounds!

Video: 

Purpose: This video teaches you how to create Moving Platforms in Blender. More specifically how to create both Moving Platforms and Triggered Moving Platforms with the combination of the marbleBlastToolkit and io_dif tools. It looks daunting at first, but it gets much easier once you get the basics down.

Special thanks to Keppy for the io_dif moving platform update, without him this tutorial would have been much more complicated!

Blender Guru - Andrew Price's beginner donut tutorials are considered the best starting point for any Blender user; would watch at 1.25x speed if you have the time.
Grant Abbitt - Friendly tutorials on niche topics; would recommend browsing playlists, especially his Get Good at Blender in 2025 playlist.
The Royal Skies - Short and sweet tutorials on a variety of topics; would recommend browsing both the Videos and Shorts on their channel.
CG Cookie - High quality intermediate tutorials on a large variety of topics, and lots of in-depth paid courses.