NAME¶

blender - a 3D modelling and rendering package

SYNOPSIS¶

blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]

DESCRIPTION¶

blender is a 3D modelling and rendering package. Originating as the in-house software of a high quality animation studio, Blender has proven to be an extremely fast and versatile design instrument. The software has a personal touch, offering a unique approach to the world of Three Dimensions. Use Blender to create TV commercials, to make technical visualizations, business graphics, to create content for games, or design user interfaces. You can easy build and manage complex environments. The renderer is versatile and extremely fast. All basic animation principles (curves & keys) are well implemented. http://www.blender.org

OPTIONS¶

Blender 2.72 (sub 0) Usage: blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]

Render Options:¶

-b or --background

 

Run in background (often used for UI-less rendering)

 

-a or --render-anim

 

Render frames from start to end (inclusive)

 

-S or --scene <name>

 

Set the active scene <name> for rendering

 

-f or --render-frame <frame>

 

Render frame <frame> and save it.

 

+<frame> start frame relative, -<frame> end frame relative.

 

-s or --frame-start <frame>

 

Set start to frame <frame> (use before the -a argument)

 

-e or --frame-end <frame>

 

Set end to frame <frame> (use before the -a argument)

 

-j or --frame-jump <frames>

 

Set number of frames to step forward after each rendered frame

 

-o or --render-output <path>

 

Set the render path and file name.

 

Use // at the start of the path to

 

render relative to the blend file.

 

The # characters are replaced by the frame number, and used to define zero padding.

 

ani_##_test.png becomes ani_01_test.png

 

test-######.png becomes test-000001.png

 

When the filename does not contain #, The suffix #### is added to the filename

 

The frame number will be added at the end of the filename.

 

eg: blender -b foobar.blend -o //render_ -F PNG -x 1 -a

 

//render_ becomes //render_####, writing frames as //render_0001.png//

 

-E or --engine <engine>

 

Specify the render engine

 

use -E help to list available engines

 

-t or --threads <threads>

 

Use amount of <threads> for rendering and other operations

 

[1-64], 0 for systems processor count.

 

Format Options:¶

-F or --render-format <format>

 

Set the render format, Valid options are...

 

TGA IRIS JPEG MOVIE IRIZ RAWTGA

 

AVIRAW AVIJPEG PNG BMP FRAMESERVER

 

(formats that can be compiled into blender, not available on all systems)

 

HDR TIFF EXR MULTILAYER MPEG AVICODEC QUICKTIME CINEON DPX DDS

 

-x or --use-extension <bool>

 

Set option to add the file extension to the end of the file

 

Animation Playback Options:¶

-a or --render-anim

 

Render frames from start to end (inclusive)

 

Window Options:¶

-w or --window-border

 

Force opening with borders (default)

 

-W or --window-borderless

 

Force opening without borders

 

-p or --window-geometry <sx> <sy> <w> <h>

 

Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy> and width and height as <w>, <h>

 

-con or --start-console

 

Start with the console window open (ignored if -b is set), (Windows only)

 

--no-native-pixels

 

Do not use native pixel size, for high resolution displays (MacBook 'Retina')

 

Game Engine Specific Options:¶

-g Game Engine specific options

 

-g fixedtime Run on 50 hertz without dropping frames

 

-g vertexarrays Use Vertex Arrays for rendering (usually faster)

 

-g nomipmap No Texture Mipmapping

 

-g linearmipmap Linear Texture Mipmapping instead of Nearest (default)

 

Python Options:¶

-y or --enable-autoexec

 

Enable automatic python script execution

 

-Y or --disable-autoexec

 

Disable automatic python script execution (pydrivers & startup scripts), (compiled as non-standard default)

 

-P or --python <filename>

 

Run the given Python script file

 

--python-text <name>

 

Run the given Python script text block

 

--python-console

 

Run blender with an interactive console

 

--addons

 

Comma separated list of addons (no spaces)

 

Debug Options:¶

-d or --debug

 

Turn debugging on

 

* Prints every operator call and their arguments

 

* Disables mouse grab (to interact with a debugger in some cases)

 

* Keeps python sys.stdin rather than setting it to None

 

--debug-value <value>

 

Set debug value of <value> on startup

 

--debug-events

 

Enable debug messages for the event system

 

--debug-ffmpeg

 

Enable debug messages from FFmpeg library

 

--debug-handlers

 

Enable debug messages for event handling

 

--debug-libmv

 

Enable debug messages from libmv library

 

--debug-memory

 

Enable fully guarded memory allocation and debugging

 

--debug-jobs

 

Enable time profiling for background jobs.

 

--debug-python

 

Enable debug messages for python

 

--debug-depsgraph

 

Enable debug messages from dependency graph

 

--debug-wm

 

Enable debug messages for the window manager

 

--debug-all

 

Enable all debug messages (excludes libmv)

 

--debug-fpe

 

Enable floating point exceptions

 

--disable-crash-handler

 

Disable the crash handler

 

Misc Options:¶

--factory-startup

 

Skip reading the "startup.blend" in the users home directory

 

--env-system-datafiles

 

Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES environment variable

 

--env-system-scripts

 

Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS environment variable

 

--env-system-python

 

Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON environment variable

 

-nojoystick

 

Disable joystick support

 

-noglsl

 

Disable GLSL shading

 

-noaudio

 

Force sound system to None

 

-setaudio

 

Force sound system to a specific device

 

NULL SDL OPENAL JACK

 

-h or --help

 

Print this help text and exit

 

-v or --version

 

Print Blender version and exit

 

--

 

Ends option processing, following arguments passed unchanged. Access via python's sys.argv

 

Other Options:¶

/?

 

Print this help text and exit (windows only)

 

-a <options> <file(s)>

 

Playback <file(s)>, only operates this way when not running in background.

 

-p <sx> <sy> Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy>

 

-m Read from disk (Don't buffer)

 

-f <fps> <fps-base> Specify FPS to start with

 

-j <frame> Set frame step to <frame>

 

-s <frame> Play from <frame>

 

-e <frame> Play until <frame>

 

--debug-freestyle

 

Enable debug/profiling messages from Freestyle rendering

 

--verbose <verbose>

 

Set logging verbosity level.

 

-R

 

Register .blend extension, then exit (Windows only)

 

-r

 

Silently register .blend extension, then exit (Windows only)

 

Argument Parsing:¶

arguments must be separated by white space. eg
"blender -ba test.blend"
...will ignore the 'a'
"blender -b test.blend -f8"
...will ignore 8 because there is no space between the -f and the frame value

Argument Order:¶

arguments are executed in the order they are given. eg
"blender --background test.blend --render-frame 1 --render-output /tmp"
...will not render to /tmp because '--render-frame 1' renders before the output path is set
"blender --background --render-output /tmp test.blend --render-frame 1"
...will not render to /tmp because loading the blend file overwrites the render output that was set
"blender --background test.blend --render-output /tmp --render-frame 1" works as expected.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶

$BLENDER_USER_CONFIG Directory for user configuration files.
$BLENDER_USER_SCRIPTS Directory for user scripts.
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS Directory for system wide scripts.
$BLENDER_USER_DATAFILES Directory for user data files (icons, translations, ..).
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES Directory for system wide data files.
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON Directory for system python libraries.
$TMP or $TMPDIR Store temporary files here.
$SDL_AUDIODRIVER LibSDL audio driver - alsa, esd, dma.
$PYTHONHOME Path to the python directory, eg. /usr/lib/python.

SEE ALSO¶

luxrender(1)

AUTHORS¶

This manpage was written for a Debian GNU/Linux system by Daniel Mester <mester@uni-bremen.de> and updated by Cyril Brulebois <cyril.brulebois@enst-bretagne.fr> and Dan Eicher <dan@trollwerks.org>.