Boat Generator
add-on
Procedural small boats with live rebuild: 22 presets from dinghies, canoes and gondolas to sailboats, catamarans, bowriders, center consoles, cruisers, pontoons, RIBs and fishing boats.
Boat Generator builds detailed, ready-to-render small boats in one click, in real-world meters. Pick one of 22 ready-made boats in four groups: a rowing dinghy, a Banks dory, a canoe, a sea kayak and a Venetian gondola; a sailing dinghy, a single-handed racing dinghy, a cruising sloop, a beach catamaran and a cruising catamaran; a bowrider, a classic mahogany runabout, a center console, a bass boat, a cabin cruiser with a flybridge and a pontoon boat; and a jon boat, a panga, an inflatable tender, a RIB, a fishing boat with a wheelhouse and a Thai long-tail.
Then change anything and the boat rebuilds live: length, beam and depth, hull form, deadrise, chines, flare, bow and stern shape, sheer, rocker, planking, keel and rudder, cockpit, cabin, motor, rig, sails, equipment, paint and name.
Every hull is lofted as one smooth surface with chines, strakes, a proper sheer line, keel and transom, and it has a real thickness and an inside. Boats come with what you would expect to find on board: cleats, rails and lifelines, winches, fenders, navigation lights, an anchor on its bow roller, upholstered seats, consoles with gauges, steering wheels, glass windscreens, floorboards, ribs, thwarts and oars. Outboards, sterndrives and inboards are modeled in detail, and sailboats get a mast, boom, standing and running rigging and sails that are set or furled.
The hull paint has a crisp boot stripe and antifouling at the waterline, and the boat floats at the right draft for its weight.
Features
- 22 presets in 4 groups: rowing and paddling, sailing, motor boats, work and utility
- Deep V, round bilge, flat bottom and shallow arch hulls with smooth, lapstrake (clinker), carvel and riveted aluminium planking
- Monohulls, catamarans, pontoon and tritoon decks, and inflatable collars
- Skeg, long, fin and bulb and centerboard keels; transom-hung, spade and skeg-hung rudders
- Outboards (one to three), sterndrives, inboards with shaft and rudder, long-tail engines, oars and paddles
- Sloop and cat rigs with set, furled or bare sails, battens, shrouds, stays, sheets and winches
- Cuddy cabins, cabin trunks, wheelhouses and cruiser saloons with framed windows
- Bimini, T-top and awning canopies
- Gelcoat (optionally metal flake), painted or varnished wood, aluminium, plastic and rubber hulls; boot stripe, antifouling and sheer stripe
- Boat name on the transom and registration numbers on the bow
- Floats at its waterline from the weight you set, or stands on the ground
- Photoreal PBR materials that also work in game engines, three detail levels, Convert to Mesh for export
- Surprise Me, Variation and New Seed buttons, a picture gallery and a Shift+A menu
Requires Blender 4.2 or newer. Tested on Blender 4.2, 4.5 and 5.2 LTS.
How to use
Installation
In Blender open Edit, Preferences, Get Extensions, then use Install from Disk and pick the boat_generator zip.
Usage
- Open the Boat tab in the 3D viewport sidebar (N). With nothing selected, click the picture to pick one of the 22 boats, then press Add. You can also use Shift+A, Mesh, Boat.
- The card at the top shows the boat. Surprise Me makes a random boat, Variation changes the current one and New Seed reshuffles the small details.
- Size, Paint and Placement are always visible. The closed sections below hold the details: hull shape, deck and cabin, motor, mast and sails, equipment, trim and name, wear and export.
- Afloat, the root empty sits on the waterline; set the weight and the boat settles to its draft. On Ground puts the keel on the ground.
- For game engines set Detail to Low and use Convert to Mesh; the meshes have UVs and plain Principled BSDF materials.
FAQ
Which Blender versions are supported?
Blender 4.2 and newer. It is tested on Blender 4.2, 4.5 and 5.2 LTS.
Can I use the boats in a game engine?
Yes. Set Detail to Low, then use Convert to Mesh. Every part has UVs and plain Principled BSDF materials that export to glTF and FBX.
Does the boat float in water?
Afloat mode places the root on the waterline worked out from the hull shape and the weight you set, so the boat sits at its real draft in any water plane at height zero.