Using Blender with coding agents on macOS

Modern frontier models have got really good at using Blender. I've been having a lot of fun trying this out recently - models can produce .blend files you can edit in Blender itself, and can also render images and even movies (by rendering a sequence of images and combining them with ffmpeg).

Setting this up, at least on macOS, is really easy. Install the Blender desktop app from blender.org and then tell the coding agent:

Use the already install /Applications/Blender to render a scene of a pelican riding a bicycle

That worked for me with GPT-6 Astra. You can also be a bit more explicit, to save the model some time figuring out how to use it:

Use Blender like this: /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender --background --python scene.py

A pelican riding a bicycle with GPT-6 Astra

I used GPT-6 Astra (Medium) in the ChatGPT macOS application, Codex mode:

Use the already install /Applications/Blender to render a scene of a pelican riding a bicycle

2m39s later:

A whimsical 3D illustration of a white pelican riding a turquoise bicycle with cream mudguards and silver spokes. Its wings stretch forward to grip the handlebars, and its long yellow legs bend down to the pedals. A coral scarf streams behind its neck. The pelican has a large glossy eye and a long pale yellow bill with a rounded throat pouch. Soft lighting and a muted sage-green background give the scene a pastel, toy-like appearance.

pelican-bicycle.blend, pelican_scene.py

OK add a background and a lot of flair

3m51s later:

A whimsical pastel 3D illustration of a white pelican riding a turquoise bicycle along a pink boardwalk. It wears a cream boater hat with a pink band and a coral scarf fluttering behind it, with wings reaching for the handlebars and long yellow legs on the pedals. Three balloons trail behind, and a colorful pinwheel is mounted near the front wheel. Striped beach huts, pink-and-white parasols, and angular palm trees line the beach beneath a teal sky. Pastel triangular bunting hangs overhead, while confetti and curling streamers fill the festive scene.

pelican-bicycle-festival.blend, pelican_flair.py

OK make it a whole lot better

5m59s later:

A whimsical 3D illustration of a white pelican cycling along a seaside boardwalk at sunset. It wears a cream boater hat and a coral scarf, with wings on the handlebars and long orange legs reaching the pedals of a turquoise bicycle. A wicker front basket holds pink and white flowers, and three balloons float behind. Pastel bunting stretches overhead between palm trees. Striped beach huts stand beside a teal sea with a small sailboat, beneath a large peach-colored sun. The scene has a softly lit, toy-like style.

pelican-coastal-parade.blend, pelican_final.py

The project lives in this repo, and here's the exported transcript from Codex.

Creating a skill

Codex makes it pretty easy to create skills (using its built-in skill creating skill), so I finished up by prompting:

Create a quick skill that describes how to use the currently installed /Application/Blender based on what you learned

It produced and installed this Markdown skill, which I have since used for further Blender experiments with prompts like this:

Use your Blender Local skill to build this scene (attached image)

Created 2026-09-05T08:42:28-07:00, updated 2026-09-05T08:47:13-07:00 · History · Edit