What Hero Forge actually exports
Hero Forge and a virtual tabletop sound like they should plug straight into each other — a lot of players design their character there first. What actually moves between the two depends on which of Hero Forge's export options you pick, and the honest answer, as we understand it at the time of writing, is that only some of them are meant for a general-purpose VTT at all.
· 6 min read · TerrainTale
Three things, not one
Free: a screenshot of the design as a PNG, taken from the editor. Paid, per mini: a 3D Digital download built specifically for virtual tabletops, distributed as a .unity3d asset bundle for Tabletop Simulator, plus an Access Key that lets a small set of partner VTTs sync the mini directly. Paid, per mini: an STL for 3D printing, which carries the shape but no colour.
Why the .unity3d bundle doesn't travel
The 3D Digital download is built for one target — Tabletop Simulator's asset pipeline — and the Access Key sync is a partnership with specific VTTs that agreed to support it, not an open file format. A general-purpose 3D tabletop that reads standard model files, like TerrainTale, has no way to open a .unity3d bundle, and there's no Access Key integration here — that's a real gap, not a hidden option.
The two paths that do travel
The free PNG screenshot is the widest-compatible thing Hero Forge produces, because it isn't a 3D format at all — any tool that accepts an image can use it, TerrainTale included, as a standee token portrait. The paid STL is the other real path: STL is a standard 3D-printing mesh format with no proprietary lock-in, so any tool built to read model files can open it, including TerrainTale's importer, alongside .glb, .obj, .fbx, .ply, .dae, .3mf, .usdz and more.
What an STL is missing that a VTT usually wants
An STL made for printing carries geometry only — no colour, no material, no rig for animation. Dropped straight onto TerrainTale's table it renders as a neutral grey figure, which is honest but not what most players picture. Getting colour onto it means a detour through Blender: paint or assign materials there and export as glTF Binary (.glb) instead, which is the format the built-in library itself uses.
What this means in practice
If the goal is "my exact character on the table tonight," the free screenshot as a standee token is the practical answer and needs nothing from this page. If the goal is a full 3D mini, the STL is the only Hero Forge export a general VTT can use at all, and it's a genuine project — buy it, import it, expect grey, then decide whether the Blender colour pass is worth the time for that particular character.
Why it's worth knowing this before buying anything
The three export options aren't interchangeable, and it's easy to buy the wrong one for the VTT you actually use. Someone expecting an Access Key to "just sync" a purchased mini into a general-purpose tabletop will be disappointed — that sync is a specific integration with specific partner tools, not a universal feature of the paid tier. Knowing upfront that the STL, not the 3D Digital download, is the one that opens in a standard importer saves a wasted purchase.