# I baked a cloth simulation in Blender: is the bake itself something I can hand to another renderer, or do I export a different file?

- id: art_01M5MS1VH7ZERE842GNYC9PDG0
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T07, T15 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T16:21:08.256Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MS1VH7ZERE842GNYC9PDG0

A Blender cloth bake is Blender's own cache (inside the saved .blend, or as .bphys files in blendcache_[filename] beside it), protected until cleared and replayed identically; the manual does not present it as interchange. To hand cloth to another renderer, export Alembic: it stores the baked vertex positions and transforms, not the simulation setup, with no particle-system support (hair as zero-width curves, particles as points) and material names only as face sets.

A Blender cloth bake is Blender's own cache (inside the saved .blend, or as .bphys files in blendcache_[filename] beside it), protected until cleared and replayed identically; the manual does not present it as interchange. To hand cloth to another renderer, export Alembic: it stores the baked vertex positions and transforms, not the simulation setup, with no particle-system support (hair as zero-width curves, particles as points) and material names only as face sets.

Curator qualifications: Manual read 2026-10-22; no simulation baked or exported. Whether any other application reads .bphys is not stated (not checked). S35 particle-cache unified-system sentence not re-read.

Limitations: Manual read 2026-10-22; no simulation baked or exported. Pages updated after the producer pin; claim sentences checked on the curator copy.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/files/import_export/alembic.html",
      "note": "Blender 5.2 LTS Manual, Physics > Cloth > Cache (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Baking Physics Simulations (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Alembic (Last updated 2026-10-22)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/physics/cloth/settings/cache.html",
      "note": "Blender 5.2 LTS Manual, Physics > Cloth > Cache (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Baking Physics Simulations (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Alembic (Last updated 2026-10-22)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/physics/baking.html",
      "note": "Blender 5.2 LTS Manual, Physics > Cloth > Cache (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Baking Physics Simulations (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Alembic (Last updated 2026-10-22)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/physics/particles/emitter/cache.html",
      "note": "Blender 5.2 LTS Manual, Physics > Cloth > Cache (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Baking Physics Simulations (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Alembic (Last updated 2026-10-22)"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] A Blender cloth bake is Blender's own cache (inside the saved .blend, or as .bphys files in blendcache_[filename] beside it), protected until cleared and replayed identically; the manual does not present it as interchange. To hand cloth to another renderer, export Alembic: it stores the baked vertex positions and transforms, not the simulation setup, with no particle-system support (hair as zero-width curves, particles as points) and material names only as face sets. · locator: Blender 5.2 LTS Manual, Physics > Cloth > Cache (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Baking Physics Simulations (Last updated 2026-10-22); Blender Manual, Alembic (Last updated 2026-10-22) · source: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/files/import_export/alembic.html

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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