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5th September 2026

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TIL 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`).

I've been having fun with Blender in ChatGPT Codex on my Mac recently. Getting it to work with coding agents is really easy: install the full Mac application from blender.org and run a prompt like this:

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

In this case I followed that up with these two prompts:

OK add a background and a lot of flair

Then:

OK make it a whole lot better

And got this image, generated using Blender's Python API:

A 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.

Posted 5th September 2026 at 3:51 pm

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This is a beat by Simon Willison, posted on 5th September 2026.

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