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This page takes you from an empty Blockbench window to a model that’s ready for your server.

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1. Install Blockbench

Models are made in Blockbench, a free 3D editor built for Minecraft-style models. Download it, install it, open it. That’s the only tool you need.
Blockbench has its own excellent guides on modeling and animating. If you’re brand new to 3D modeling, spending twenty minutes with their basics will pay off here.

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2. Start the right kind of project

When Blockbench asks what to create, pick Generic Model. [Image here: Blockbench’s new project screen with the Generic Model option highlighted] This matters: other project types (Java Block/Item, Skin, and so on) export formats NMEntities doesn’t read. Generic Model gives you full freedom of shape and the right export format. Give the project a lowercase, simple name. That name becomes your model’s id everywhere: toast, fire_golem, shop_keeper.

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3. Build with cubes

Your model’s body is made of cubes: stretched, rotated and textured boxes. Add them from the toolbar, move and resize them until the shape emerges. [Image here: A simple creature being assembled from a few cubes in the Blockbench viewport] A good habit from the start: build low-poly. Minecraft’s style forgives blocky shapes, and fewer cubes means better performance for everyone on the server.

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4. Group cubes into bones

This is the most important concept on this page. A bone is a group of cubes that moves as one piece. Select cubes and group them (right-click, Group, or Ctrl+G), and name each group for the body part it represents: head, body, left_arm, tail. [Image here: The Blockbench outliner showing a model organized into named groups: head, body, arms, legs] Why bones matter:
  • Animation happens per bone. You animate the head bone, and everything inside it turns together. No bones, no animation.
  • Bones can be rotated freely, unlike loose cubes which have rotation limits.
  • Performance. Each bone is sent to players as one display packet, so a sane bone structure keeps your model cheap.
  • Special behaviors attach to bones by name. That’s the bone tag system: a bone named with the right prefix can follow the head, act as a hitbox, or hold a nametag.
A typical structure looks like: one root bone, with head, body, left_leg, right_leg inside it, and cubes inside each.

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5. Texture it

Create a texture in Blockbench’s Paint tab (or import a PNG), then paint your cubes. Blockbench handles the UV mapping as you go. [Image here: The Paint tab with a texture being applied to the model]

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6. Save as .bbmodel

File > Save Model gives you a .bbmodel file. That single file contains the shapes, the texture and the animations. It’s the only thing NMEntities needs.
Meshes (non-cube shapes) are supported only on recent Minecraft clients. If your players are on older versions, stick to cubes.

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Next step

Your model exists. Time to put it in the world: Importing Your Model.