City Bus – Documentation

Last updated: September 2026 · Applies to Version 6.03

This page covers the City Bus with Complete Interior and Rig Controls, available on Superhive, Fab and Sketchfab. Version 6.03 was built together with BlenderigMaster, the developer of Vehicle Rig Factory Plus, and tested on Blender 4.0 through 5.2.1 under Linux and Windows.

If you own an older version (v2–v5), the update is free — re-download from the store you bought it from.

1. Compatibility

You do not need to own Vehicle Rig Factory Plus. The bundled script vrf_plus_animator_b_4x_5x.py gives you the animation controls without buying the add-on.

2. What’s in the download

Textures are both embedded in the .blend and included as a separate folder, so you can pack the file as-is or relink to external maps if your pipeline needs that.

Not included: the environment, buildings, people and HDRI shown in the preview renders. Your purchase covers the bus, its textures and the lighting setup with its settings.

3. Importing the bus into your scene

Append (recommended for most cases)

1. In your scene: File → Append
2. Navigate to City_Bus[Rig].blend
3. Open the Collection folder
4. Select the collection City_Bus[Rig] and confirm

The whole bus — mesh, materials, armature and rig controls — comes in as one collection.

Link (for large scenes and asset libraries)

If you work with linked libraries, use File → Link instead and then right-click the collection instance → Library Override → Make so you can still pose and animate the rig.

Note for Blender 5.x users

„Append (Reuse Data)“ was removed in Blender 5.0. If you append the bus several times into the same scene, materials and textures will be duplicated (.001, .002). To avoid this, append once and then duplicate with Alt+D (linked duplicate), or link the collection instead.

4. Using the rig

The rig gives you control over suspension, steering and doors.

Loading the animator script

1. Switch to the Scripting workspace
2. Text → Open and select vrf_plus_animator_b_4x_5x.py
3. Press Run Script (Alt+P)
4. The controls appear in the ⟨N-panel of the 3D viewport⟩

Run the script once per session, or enable Register in the Text Editor header so it runs automatically when the file is opened.

The controls

• Steering — C-steering-steering_control rotates the front wheels; the steering wheel in the cab follows automatically
• Suspension — x-suspension-wheel_xxxx.X reacts to body movement, so bumps and braking look right without keyframing each wheel
• Doors — x-door_control.xxx opens and closes the passenger doors

Open City_Bus[Rig]_for_showoff_final.blend to see all of this in a working animation. It’s the fastest way to understand how the controls fit together — start there before rigging your own shot.

5. Customizing the destination display

The destination sign above the windscreen is meant to be changed. Since v6.02 the access to it is simplified.

1. Select the indicator board object
2. Switch to the Shading workspace
3. In the shader node tree, find the Image Texture node feeding the board material
4. Click Open and load your own image

That’s it — no material has to be deleted or recreated.

Using the UV template

The download includes a UV template ⟨indicator-board.png⟩. Open it in Affinity Photo, Photoshop, GIMP or Krita, place your line number and destination on the marked area, and export as PNG. The template guarantees your text lands in the right place on the model.

Tip: For line numbers and destination text, a condensed sans-serif at high contrast reads best in renders. If you want the classic dot-matrix look, an amber-on-black image at 2048 px wide is plenty.

6. Textures

• 4K resolution, available as JPEG and PNG
• PBR set, authored in Substance 3D Painter
• Embedded in the .blend by default

If you prefer external textures, use File → External Data → Unpack Resources and point Blender at the included texture folder. To go the other way, File → External Data → Pack Resources puts everything back inside the .blend.

7. Rendering notes

The bus works in both Cycles and Eevee.

• Cycles — glass and interior materials look best here. The interior is fully modelled, so if the camera never goes inside, hiding the interior collection from renders saves noticeable time.
• Eevee — enable Screen Space Reflections and Raytracing for the windows; otherwise the glass reads flat.
• The lighting setup included in the file is a starting point. The HDRI used in the previews is not part of the package.

8. Troubleshooting

The rig controls don’t show up. The script wasn’t run. Go to the Scripting workspace, open vrf_plus_animator_b_4x_5x.py and press Run Script.

Textures are pink / missing after appending. The paths lost their link. Use File → External Data → Find Missing Files and point Blender at the included texture folder.

Materials duplicated as .001 after appending twice. Blender 5.x behaviour — see the note in section 3. Use linked duplicates (Alt+D) instead.

The bus is the wrong size in my scene. The model is at real-world scale. Check your scene’s Unit Scale under Scene Properties → Units; it should be 1.0 with metric units.

Something else? Message me through the store you bought from, or via larry.at.

9. Changelog

Version 6.03

• Rig overhauled together with BlenderigMaster: steering and door controls added, suspension setup fixed
• Updated animator script (vrf_plus_animator_b_4x_5x.py), tested on Blender 4.0–5.2.1 on Linux and Windows
• Demo file added with a ready-made animation
• Textures now also included as a separate folder alongside the embedded versions
• Readme with rig setup instructions added
• License wording corrected to Royalty Free

Version 6.02

• Simplified access to the indicator board
• 6-minute tutorial on customizing the display sign added
• Minor UV and material improvements

Version 6

• Complete rigging added: suspension, steering and movement

Version 5

• First rigged release, including meta-rig file and multi-format exports

Versions 2–4 (2018–2021) were earlier releases for Blender 2.9x and 3.x and are no longer distributed.

10. License

Royalty Free. Commercial use is permitted. See the Superhive Royalty Free License for the full terms.

11. Video tutorials

• Edit Bus Sign Text – Blender City Bus Tutorial
• City Bus showcase
• Second showcase / animation

Questions, problems, or something unclear in this documentation? Get in touch — I’d rather fix it than have you stuck. And if the model works well for you, a rating on the store page genuinely helps.

12. Change display board

These images guide you through the process of changing the text on the City Bus 3D model. Follow steps 1 to 5 to see exactly where to click in the interface, ensuring an easy and smooth customization of the bus’s signage for your project needs.