Blender plugin

Type: How-to · Applies to: Blender

All eight KinoCloud DCC plugins are available to download and sign in with from DCC Plugins (sign-in required to download) — the install walkthrough below covers Blender. Cloud rendering is a separate axis from downloading the plugin: Blender is the only provisioned render candidate, and its full production qualification is still pending; every other host's render lane is private, local, or pending. Do not treat any cloud render lane as fully live.

The Blender plugin includes a default-off embedded MCP server that controls the running host through a typed command allowlist, plus the in-host Director Chat UI. In Blender, everything lives in the 3D Viewport sidebar's Kino Cloud tab (press N), led by the Cloud Render panel; the render panels also appear in Render Properties > Kino Cloud.

Embedded DCC MCP is not the hosted cloud MCP at https://kinocloud.io/mcp: it listens only on a generated 127.0.0.1 port, uses a per-session token, and exposes Blender scene commands rather than the cloud job catalogue. Start it explicitly from the KinoCloud panel and stop it when no longer needed.

Download Blender from DCC Plugins.

Current capability

All eight are downloadable (authenticated). The cloud render lane column is a separate axis and is not made live by installing the plugin:

Host	Cloud render lane	In-host agent surface
Blender	Provisioned candidate; qualification pending	Director Chat + embedded MCP
Maya	Private worker required	Director Chat + embedded MCP
Nuke	Unavailable	Director Chat + embedded MCP
Houdini	Private worker required	Director Chat + embedded MCP
Cinema 4D	Unavailable	Director Chat + embedded MCP
3ds Max	Unavailable	Director Chat + embedded MCP
Unreal	Private qualification	Embedded MCP
DaVinci Resolve	Local only	Director Chat + embedded MCP

Installing the plugin does not make its cloud render lane live. Runtime eligibility remains fail-closed on fleet binaries, node probes, qualification, and deployment configuration. A gated lane fails before upload or billing with an explicit availability error.

Install and authenticate

1. Download the Blender zip from DCC Plugins.
2. In Blender, open Preferences → Add-ons → Install, select the zip, and enable KinoCloud.
3. Open the KinoCloud panel (3D Viewport sidebar → Kino Cloud tab, or Render Properties > Kino Cloud) and sign in. The standard plugin flow opens https://kinocloud.io for OAuth and stores the resulting session in the OS keyring, with a restricted file fallback where keyring support is unavailable. API keys are for headless or self-hosted API clients, not the normal Blender login flow.

Start embedded MCP

Use Blender’s Start MCP action. The plugin displays a URL such as http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcp and creates a bearer token for that run. Connect an MCP client directly or through packages/plugins/tools/mcp_stdio_proxy.py.

Nothing listens before the artist starts the server. The token is regenerated after restart, the listener never binds a non-loopback interface, host calls are marshalled to Blender’s main thread, and tools cannot execute arbitrary code.

Staying current

The plugin reports its build version and checks the public build manifest. Re-download and reinstall when the panel reports an update. Capability badges describe conservative product status; the API and node probes remain authoritative.