How to install Cargo Bridge?
Cargo Bridge requires Blender 4.2 or newer and installs as an extension.
Open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions, click Install from Disk, choose the downloaded zip, and enable Cargo Bridge.
Once enabled, the add-on preferences are available under Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Cargo Bridge.
Point the add-on at your downloaded Cargo kits.
Download the assets through the Cargo desktop app first. Cargo normally stores kits under:
| Windows | %APPDATA%\kitbash3d\kits |
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/kitbash3d/kits |
| Linux | ~/.config/kitbash3d/kits |
Set the path in the add-on preferences under the Library tab. You can point it at either the kitbash3d folder or its kits folder.
The add-on reads Cargo's cargo_v1.sqlite manifest from the parent folder. If the database is missing or cannot be read, it falls back to scanning the folder tree.
Where to find each asset type?
Open the 3D Viewport sidebar with N and choose the C-Bridge tab. The panel has tabs for Models, Materials and HDRIs.
In the Shader Editor, the panel offers Materials and Textures. In the World shader editor it lists HDRIs.
Filter by kit with the dropdown, type in the search bar to filter by name, and use the page buttons or arrows to move through the results. Asset names are converted from Cargo folder codes, and the kit name is shown above each thumbnail.
Click the info icon for the detail popup with previews, resolution, poly count, height, material count and texture size. Click the three-dots icon for import options, opening the asset folder, and the add-on preferences. Use the refresh button in the panel header to rescan the library.
How to import models and assemblies?
Click Import on a model to add it as a new collection at the 3D cursor. Geometry uses Blender's USD importer, and the Cargo materials are rebuilt from their MaterialX graph.
With Import Colliders enabled, collision meshes are imported hidden from the viewport and render. Disable it to remove colliders during import.
Enable Import as Collection Instance to keep the imported asset in a hidden source collection and place a collection instance at the 3D cursor. Re-importing a model that is already in the scene is blocked instead of creating a duplicate.
Enable Copy Textures Locally in the Material preferences to copy imported textures beside the .blend file and keep the project portable.
How are Cargo materials rebuilt?
Cargo materials are parsed from the USD MaterialX standard-surface graph and rebuilt as Principled BSDF node trees. Base color, metalness, roughness, normal, height, emission, transmission, subsurface, coat and sheen are connected when the downloaded material provides them.
The add-on selects the resolution and format that were actually downloaded (png2k, jpg1k, exr2k, ...) instead of assuming 4K.
Apply Material is enabled by default and assigns the material to the selected mesh objects. Mark as Asset adds it to the Asset Browser. In the Shader Editor, a Cargo material can be added as a reusable shader node group instead.
Material preferences control whether already-imported materials are reused, whether a gamma node is added to the base color chain, whether texture nodes are hidden, and how height maps are used: Bump Only, Displacement Only, or Displacement and Bump.
How to use loose textures and lighting assets?
In the Shader Editor, switch to the Textures tab to add a loose Cargo texture as an Image Texture node or import it as a material. Use sRGB for color maps and Non-Color for masks, roughness and other data maps.
In the 3D Viewport, an HDRI can be set as the scene world. In the World shader editor, the same HDRI can be added as an Environment Texture node.
What each settings tab controls.
| Library | Cargo library path and the optional Pillow dependency. Install Pillow directly from the preferences for faster thumbnail scaling on large libraries. |
| Model | Import Colliders and Import as Collection Instance. |
| Material | Skip Existing Materials, Use Gamma Node, Hide Texture Nodes, displacement method and scale, and Copy Textures Locally with a target folder. |
| Texture | sRGB or Non-Color colorspace for standalone texture assets. |
| Preview | Sort order (Newest, Oldest, Name), assets per page, thumbnail scale, popup scale, and showing asset names under thumbnails. |
Common questions and limitations.
The panel says the library path is not set. Set the downloaded kits folder in the Library preferences. Cargo usually stores it in AppData/Roaming/kitbash3d/kits on Windows.
Assets are missing. Only explicitly downloaded assets are listed. Use the Cargo desktop app to download them, then refresh the panel. If the SQLite database is unavailable, the add-on falls back to scanning the folder tree.
Previews are slow or missing. Model views, material balls and HDRI composites are downloaded from Cargo's public CDN and cached. Downloads run on background threads. If the CDN is unreachable, cards fall back to the downloaded base color, material base color or raw HDRI.
Cargo Connector is not required. Cargo Bridge is a standalone browser. The official Cargo Connector can stay installed if you also use Cargo's Send to Blender button.
Geometry uses Blender's USD importer. Materials are rebuilt from the MaterialX graph because Blender does not translate Cargo's native shader nodes. Repeated sub-components use unique mesh data in this version; there is no custom USD mesh instancer.