Exaro Model

What you get

One installer sets up two parts that work together:

• The Exaro Model engine (exaro-blender.exe), a signed Windows program. It runs the building, rigging, animation, export and Unreal handoff, the connection for your AI, and the licence check.
• The Exaro add-on for Blender 5.2, which puts an Exaro tab in the 3D Viewport sidebar and does the work inside your open scene. The add-on is open source under the GPL.

Exaro Model is a subscription, monthly or yearly. Without one only the viewport preview works. Building with kits, model checks and fixes, and recipes run on our Build Service (build.exarostudio.com), so they need an active subscription and an internet connection while you build. After 12 paid months you keep the version you have for local work (the add-on, preview, basic techniques and export), even if you cancel.

What's in Exaro Model

• Guided building. Your own AI (Claude, Codex, Cursor or a local model, over MCP) builds models in Blender 5.2 from basic techniques, guided by Exaro's building guide and lessons.
• Live model checks and automatic fixes on the Exaro Build Service: floating parts, z-fighting, overlaps, clearance, ground contact, spelling and more.
• Working mechanisms. A hinge kit makes any door, hatch, lid, gate, flap or car door your AI models actually swing, with hinge hardware, open and close animation clips, and a rigged game export (GLB/FBX for Unreal, Unity and Godot).
• 129 recipes: reviewed starting plans for common objects, such as produce, bowling equipment and furniture pieces.
• Humanoid rigging and animation of a character mesh you already have (T-pose or A-pose; separate clothing pieces follow the body), with game export.
• Critic, review and compare tools. Exaro Model learns over time: build data from Individual plans improves the product.

Coming next: more construction kits (sliders and drawers, double doors, wheels, switches and more).

Not in Exaro Model yet: creature and animal rigging; faces, fur, groom and hair; clothing creation (rigging a character that already wears separate clothing pieces is supported); VFX; whole levels and environments.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
• Blender 5.2 (Windows x64) from blender.org. Other Blender versions are not supported.
• For Unreal: Unreal Engine 5.5 to 5.8. Send to Unreal also needs Exaro Unreal in the editor, which is sold separately.
• An internet connection to activate your key, and while you build.

1. Buy and download

1. Subscribe on the Exaro Model page: Individual ($29 a month or $249 a year) or Studio ($999 a year).
2. Sign in at app.exarostudio.com/account. The Exaro Model section shows your licence key and the installer download.
3. Download ExaroStudioBlender-Setup-<version>.exe.

2. Install

1. Install Blender 5.2 from blender.org first, if you haven't already.
2. Close Blender. If it is open, the installer may ask you to close it.
3. Run ExaroStudioBlender-Setup-<version>.exe and allow it to make changes when Windows asks for administrator rights.
4. Finish the installer, then start Blender. The add-on loads the next time Blender starts.

“Windows protected your PC”

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen can show this for a new release that few people have downloaded yet. Click More info, check that the publisher is Noob Media LLC, then click Run anyway. If the publisher is anything else, don't run it, and email us.

The engine is installed in C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\. Installed Blender 5.2 after Exaro Model? Run Start menu → Exaro Model → Install the Blender add-on.

3. Activate your key

Your key is in your account. Individual keys start with EXAROBLENDER, Studio keys with EXAROBSTU. The first activation needs an internet connection.

In Blender

1. In the 3D Viewport press N to open the sidebar, then click the Exaro tab.
2. In the Welcome panel, paste your key and click Activate.
3. The panel shows your licence status. When it says Licensed, everything is unlocked.

From a terminal

The engine is not added to your PATH, so call it by its full path:

"C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe" licence activate EXAROBLENDER-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
"C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe" licence status

The rest of this page writes exaro-blender for short.

4. Three ways to work

a. In the Blender sidebar

Press N in the 3D Viewport and open the Exaro tab:

• Welcome: your licence status, key entry, how to connect your AI, and a link to this guide.
• Rig & Animate:
  • Make Game-Ready turns a dense mesh (a scan or a generated model) into a clean, game-ready copy. The original is hidden, not deleted.
  • Rig & Animate Selected rigs the selected humanoid mesh, skins it and bakes its animation clips. Choose a Name, a Height, and where to Export it: Unreal, Unity, Godot, Generic or None. Creature rigging is not in this release.
• Advanced: the connection your AI and the engine use to reach Blender, shown as the bridge, with Start/Stop and its port.

Rigging works best on a model standing in an A-pose or T-pose with its arms clear of the body and its feet on the ground. If a model can't be rigged, the message says why.

b. With your AI over MCP

Exaro Model includes an MCP server, so Claude, Codex, Cursor or any MCP app can build, rig, inspect and export in your Blender. Open Blender 5.2 with the Exaro add-on enabled first: the server connects to that Blender and does not start one itself. The server runs over stdio with this command:

"C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe" mcp

The quickest way to set it up: in Blender, open the Exaro tab and click Connect your AI, then pick your app. It copies the exact setup for this computer, which you paste into a terminal (Claude Code) or into the app's settings file. The same entries, written out:

Claude Code

claude mcp add exaro-model -- "C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe" mcp

Claude Desktop

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config to edit claude_desktop_config.json, add this, then restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exaro-model": {
      "command": "C:\\Program Files\\Exaro Studio for Blender\\exaro-blender.exe",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI

Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.exaro-model]
command = 'C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe'
args = ["mcp"]

Cursor

Put the same block as Claude Desktop in .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exaro-model": {
      "command": "C:\\Program Files\\Exaro Studio for Blender\\exaro-blender.exe",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Any other MCP app that can start a local command works the same way: the command is exaro-blender.exe with the argument mcp. Then just ask, for example: “Rig the selected mesh as a biped called Scout, 1.7 m tall, for Unreal.” A good assistant looks at every render the tools send back; if yours reports success without describing them, ask it to check.

c. Headless from the command line

The engine's commands start a background Blender by themselves when they need one, so you can script them without opening Blender. Add --help to any command for its options.

exaro-blender version
exaro-blender setup-report
exaro-blender rig-mesh --help
exaro-blender export-game --engine unity --help

5. Teach it your standards

Exaro Model starts with what we have learned building our own assets: dozens of lessons on joinery, hardware, materials, wear and mechanisms, which your AI reads before it plans. You can add your own on top, in plain words, while you work:

• “Remember: …” For example “remember: our wood bevels are 2 mm” or “remember: no text on props”. Your AI saves it and follows it in every build after, before our lessons.
• “What are my standards?” lists them; “forget the bevel one” removes one.
• When an update improves something you had changed, your AI tells you what changed and asks whether to try the new way. Your standard stays until you say so.

Your standards are yours: they stay on your computer, in one readable file in your Exaro Model data folder, and updates never change them. A team on a Studio license can share one set: ask your AI to remember a standard “for the team”, with every seat pointed at the same shared folder (the EXARO_STANDARDS_SHARED environment variable).

6. Send to Unreal and Unity

Unreal

Open your project in Unreal Editor (5.5 to 5.8) with the Exaro Unreal plugin enabled. Then ask your AI to send the character to your project, or run exaro-blender send-to-unreal. Exaro Unreal is sold separately; see the Unreal plugin docs to install it. To get files instead, use export-game --engine unreal or the Unreal option of Rig & Animate Selected.

Unity

Export with Rig & Animate Selected (Unity), export-game --engine unity, or ask your AI to send the character to your Unity project. Sending writes it into the project as Assets/BlenderCharacters/<Name>/<Name>.fbx.

Godot and other engines: use export-game --engine godot or --engine generic.

7. Subscription, machines, updates and your data

• Moving to a new machine: run exaro-blender licence deactivate on the old one, then activate on the new one. If the old machine is gone, release it from your account page.
• Renewal and cancelling: your subscription renews automatically. Cancel any time from your account page; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for. We email a reminder before a yearly renewal.
• The version you keep: after 12 paid months you keep the version current then, for local work: the add-on, preview, basic techniques and export.
• Building needs a connection: kits, model checks, fixes and recipes run on the Build Service and do not work offline. Local work keeps going offline; the licence refreshes itself when you are online, or run exaro-blender licence refresh.
• What is sent: when you build, the engine sends your plans, check results, fixes and outcomes. Never your .blend files, scenes or AI conversations, and never your meshes or reference images unless you opt in (Individual). On Individual plans this build data helps improve Exaro Model; on Studio it is processed and not stored. The EULA and privacy policy have the details.
• Updates: new versions are on your account page while you are subscribed.

Troubleshooting

Start with exaro-blender setup-report: it shows which Blender and Unreal installs were found and where your files are.

Your AI app can't find the engine

Check the path in your MCP config. The engine is at C:\Program Files\Exaro Studio for Blender\exaro-blender.exe and is not on PATH, so use the full path. In JSON files every backslash is doubled. Restart the app after changing its config.

Your AI can't reach Blender

• Blender 5.2 must be open with the Exaro add-on enabled. The AI connection never starts Blender for you.
• In the Exaro tab, open Advanced and check the bridge is running. Click Start if it isn't.
• If the add-on and the engine report different versions, reinstall with the latest installer.

Port already in use

Blender listens on port 8811 on your own machine only. If another program has that port, usually a second copy of Blender, close it and click Start in Advanced. To use a different port, set the Windows environment variable BRIDGE_PORT (for example 8810) for both Blender and your AI app, then restart both.

No Exaro tab in Blender

• Press N in the 3D Viewport; the tab is in the sidebar.
• Check you are running Blender 5.2. Other versions are not supported.
• Check Edit → Preferences → Add-ons and enable the Exaro add-on.
• Installed Blender 5.2 after Exaro Model? Run Start menu → Exaro Model → Install the Blender add-on (or exaro-blender install-extension), then restart Blender.

Licence states

Too many machines: deactivate one you no longer use, or release it from your account page. Can't reach the licence server: check your internet connection, proxy or firewall, and that build.exarostudio.com is allowed too: building needs it.

Support

Email [email protected] with the output of exaro-blender setup-report, the version from exaro-blender version, and the exact error text you saw.