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Mesh Editing with Blender Add-On

The Tiny Glade Blender Add-On lets you easily import and export Tiny Glade mesh files (.json) for editing in Blender.

Installation

Requirements:

To install:

  1. Open Blender.
  2. Go to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons.
  3. Click the arrow-down button at the top right, then select Install from Disk.
  4. Choose the downloaded tiny_glade_blender_addon.zip file and click Install from Disk (bottom right).
  5. Enable the add-on by checking its box in the add-ons list.

Importing Tiny Glade Meshes

  1. In Blender, go to File → Import → Tiny Glade JSON (.json).
  2. Select your mesh file and click Import. import window

Your object will appear in Blender as "Tiny Glade Object".

Supported features:

  • Vertex positions and faces import correctly.
  • Normals may sometimes be inverted—double-check them!
  • Vertex colors are poorly supported (may need manual adjustment).
  • UV maps are not well supported.

Other mesh attributes are not currently supported.

Modeling Tips

Triangulate faces

Why: Tiny Glade expects triangles. Quads or n-gons can cause incorrect color mapping and rendering artifacts. How:
- Enter Edit Mode: select the whole mesh (A).
- Press Ctrl+T or use Mesh → Faces → Triangulate Faces to convert faces to triangles.
- For a non‑destructive workflow, add a Triangulate modifier (Object Properties → Modifiers → Add Modifier → Triangulate) — then apply it before export.

Info

If you use modifiers, apply them in Object Mode before exporting so the exported geometry matches the viewport.

Apply vertex colors

Why: The game reads per-vertex color data. Paint on the final (triangulated) mesh so colors align with exported vertices.
How:
- With the object selected, switch to Vertex Paint mode.
- Create or select a vertex color layer (Object Data Properties → Color Attributes / Vertex Colors).
- Use the Paint tools or Bucket Fill to paint the mesh. Use Fill for a quick base color.
- Verify the color layer is active and saved before export.

color convert

Info

In recent Blender versions vertex colors are stored as color attributes. Ensure the attribute name is preserved in export.

Check normals

Why: Normals determine surface orientation for lighting; inverted normals produce dark or transparent appearances in‑game.
How:
- In Edit Mode, select all faces (A) and use Mesh → Normals → Recalculate Outside (Shift+N).
- To flip specific faces, select them and use Mesh → Normals → Flip.
- Visualize normals via Overlays → Face Orientation or enable normal display in Viewport Overlays.

Notes: - If your shader relies on split normals, either clear custom split normals (Mesh → Normals → Clear Custom Split Normals Data) or export proper normal data.

Split edges (preserve sharp edges)

Why: Sharp edges often require duplicated vertices so normals and vertex colors don’t interpolate across a hard seam.
How:
- Option 1 (modifier): In Object Mode add an Edge Split modifier (Modifiers → Add Modifier → Edge Split), choose Sharp Edges or angle threshold, then Apply.
- Option 2 (mark sharp): In Edit Mode, select edges → Edge → Mark Sharp, then enable Auto Smooth (Object Data Properties → Normals → Auto Smooth) or apply Edge Split.

No Edge Split
Edge Split

Edge Split preserves hard seams so normals and vertex colors don't interpolate across the edge — prevents color bleeding and shading artifacts.

Paint every vertex

Why: Missing vertex color data will crash the game. Every exported vertex must have a color value.
How:
- After triangulating and splitting edges, enter Vertex Paint and do a complete fill (Bucket Fill) to set a color for every vertex.
- Verify vertex count and color layer length match: open the object’s Color Attributes and confirm the layer exists and covers the mesh.
- As a final check, export a test JSON and inspect the color arrays or re-import to verify no vertex is uncolored.

Quick checklist before exporting

  • Mesh is triangulated and modifiers applied.
  • Vertex color layer exists and is active.
  • Normals face outward (Shift+N) or flipped where appropriate.
  • Edge Split or equivalent applied for sharp seams.

Danger

Missing vertex colors will crash the game!
Always ensure every vertex is painted.

Exporting Tiny Glade Meshes

  1. Select your object in Object Mode.
  2. Go to File → Export → Tiny Glade JSON (.json).
  3. Choose a file name matching the asset you want to replace.
  4. In the right panel, select the required attributes for your mesh. export window

Info

Export change the order of vertex and faces, that can cause trouble especially when you animate sheep

Video Tutorial

Watch this step-by-step video by JSK for a full walkthrough:

Troubleshooting

If you run into problems after importing or exporting meshes, here are some common issues and solutions:

1. Game Crashes at Startup

crash window

If Tiny Glade crashes, a log file is generated in tmp/panics/panic_yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss inside your Tiny Glade folder.
To access the log, click the right button and then the "Details" button in the crash window.

Check the bottom of the log for error messages.
The two most common causes are:

  • Missing required mesh attributes:
    Your exported mesh may lack necessary data (like normals or colors).
    Example error: 
    2025-03-24T22:27:02.493+01:00 ERROR [tiny_glade::panic_reporter] [frame:0] PANIC: panicked at crates/country-core/src/resources/render/mesh_atlas_library.rs:89:17:
Error adding prefab AtlassedMeshName(NameHash { hash: 13536922265885218580 }) to atlas of shader SolidVertexColor: Mesh attribute mismatch.
    Existing: ["Vertex_Color", "Vertex_Normal", "Vertex_Position", "flags"]
    Incoming: ["Vertex_Color", "Vertex_Position", "flags"]
    Solution:
    Make sure your mesh includes all required attributes in the export windows

Info

If the atribute is not in the export windows you can try to add it manually in the json file

  • Unpainted vertices:
    If any vertex is missing a color, the game will crash. 
    2025-05-30T18:02:02.238+02:00 ERROR [tiny_glade::panic_reporter] [frame:0] PANIC: panicked at crates/country-core/src/utils/load_json.rs:44:9:
assertion failed: values.array_length() as i32 > max_index
    Solution:
    In Blender, use Vertex Paint mode and make sure every vertex is painted.

2. Colors Are Incorrectly Placed

If your mesh has strange or misplaced colors, it’s usually because the original object had quad faces instead of triangles.

cube quad

Solution:
Always triangulate faces before painting colors.
Go to Edit Mode → Select All → Faces → Triangulate Faces.

3. Item Looks Dark or Transparent

If your item appears too dark or transparent in-game, the normals are probably inverted.

cube normal inverted

Solution:
In Blender, select your mesh, go to Edit Mode → Mesh → Normals → Recalculate Outside to fix the normals.

Still stuck?
- Visit the Tiny Glade Discord #modding channel for help.
- Check the Mesh Rendering page for more technical details.