SanVAT Tools

🎬 SanVAT Tools — Vertex Animation Textures for Sansar VirtualWorld Platform

SanVAT Tools is a Blender addon for creating and validating Vertex Animation Textures (VAT) specifically designed for the Sansar platform. Convert complex mesh animations into GPU-friendly texture data for real-time playback. Consider this project as ongoing experimental research and if you find it beneficial consider supporting the developers by tipping them.

Jonathan Lindquist of Epic Games originally created a powerful 3ds Max script to generate Vertex Animation Textures (VAT), enabling complex mesh deformation to be baked into lightweight textures for real-time use. The technique quickly spread beyond Unreal Engine as developers recognized its potential—being adapted for Unity and other engines eager for efficient animated assets. Later, Joshua Bogart ported the workflow into Blender, opening the door for a wider creator community. Eventually, dedicated community members brought VAT support all the way to the Sansar virtual-world platform, where the method continues to empower creators with high-performance animated content.

Key Features:

• VAT Export Pipeline: Capture per-frame vertex positions and normals, exporting to 16-bit EXR textures
• FBX Mesh Export: Automatically generates UV-encoded meshes with embedded vertex indices for shader sampling
• VAT Validator: Load and validate VAT data with auto-detection of vertex count, frame count, and texture dimensions from headers
• In-Viewport Preview: Apply the decoder and scrub the timeline to preview your VAT animation directly in Blender
• Sansar Coordinate Frames: Multiple export options optimized for Sansar world editing and avatar imports
• Smart Processing: Automatic edge splitting by normals, triangulation, and modifier validation

Perfect For:

• Sansar creators needing animated props, effects, or characters
• Artists working with cloth, fluid, or complex skeletal animations
• Anyone wanting to bake high-poly animations into efficient texture-driven playback
• Developers validating VAT exports before uploading to Sansar

Change log:

• 2025-12-15: v2.0 released.
• Optimised UI with enhancements
• Added VAT Validator tool
• Added progress bar
• Added code line of included modifiers: 'MESH_SEQUENCE_CACHE',
• 2025-04-08: Original latest 1.6 release
• Original change log: https://github.com/TENS0R/Sansar-Blender-Tools/releases

How It Works:

Install SanVAT Tools and find it in the 3D Viewport's N-panel under "SanVAT Tools". Select your animated mesh, set your export path and coordinate frame, then process. The addon captures each frame's vertex data, encodes it into EXR textures, and exports a ready-to-use FBX mesh. Use the built-in Validator to verify your exports before deploying.

Bring your animations to life in Sansar with VAT.

Requirements:

Exclusive for Blender 4.0 - 4.0.2

• May work with newer versions, but not tested.

Sansar VAT Documentation:

Visit Website!

© 2025 SanVAT Tools - Vertex Animation Made Simple for Sansar