// blender add-on
Block the shot in 3D
A text prompt asks a model to invent camera motion, so it invents differently every time. Block the shot in Blender out of proxies instead, render the camera path, and hand that clip to the model as a reference. Blender locks the motion; the model builds the world.
Free and open source. Iteration moves to the half that costs nothing.
Drag that button onto an open Blender window. Dragging is what installs it and signs you up for updates. Clicking only saves the file.
Or save the .zip for a manual install if you would rather use Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Install from Disk. That route does not get automatic updates.
Requires Blender 5.1 or newer. It ships Blender 5.1's own Python reference so your agent writes real bpy instead of remembering it.
It updates itself
Installing this way also adds Slates as an extension repository, so new versions show up inside Blender under Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions. Hit Refresh Remote to check, then Update. You never have to come back here for a new build.
Prefer to do it by hand? Save the zip and use Install from Disk, or add the repository yourself at https://slates-web-assets.t3.tigrisfiles.io/blender/index.json. Installing from a saved file does not subscribe you to updates.
Already installed it from a file? Blender tracks extensions per repository, so that copy will not update even once the repository is added. Remove the add-on first, then install it again by dragging.
Install
- 1
Drag the button above into Blender
Drop it anywhere on an open Blender window and confirm the install dialog. Blender will ask once whether to allow the repository. - 2
Open the Slates panel
In the 3D viewport press N to open the sidebar, then pick the Slates tab. The bridge starts on its own; the panel says Bridge connected when it is listening. - 3
Point your agent at it
Install the CLI, sign in, and add the MCP server to Claude Code, Claude Desktop or Cursor. It finds the running Blender by itself.npm i -g @slatesvideo/clislates login
What it gives the agent
- Run Python in your scene. Primitives, empties, constraints, camera rigs, keyframes, markers. Anything Blender can do.
- Blender's own documentation, on disk. The full 5.1 API reference and manual ship inside the add-on, so operator names and enum values get looked up rather than guessed.
- Render the blocking pass. Untextured mp4 through your scene camera, imported straight into a Slates project as a reference video. The set stays neutral, but colour on the proxies is doing work: it is how the model knows which body is which character across cuts, and which way a featureless one is facing.
The add-on is a dumb executor on purpose. It holds no prompts, no model choice and no account state, so none of that can go stale behind a plugin reinstall.
It only listens on your own machine
The bridge is a localhost socket. Nothing about your scene leaves your computer through it, and it stops when you close Blender or press Stop Bridge in the panel. Generation still goes through your Slates account, the same way it does in the app.
GPL-3.0-or-later, like every Blender add-on. Source: github.com/EricDisero/slates-blender.