blender (1)

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.
www.blender.org

OPTIONS

Color management: using fallback mode for management Blender 2.78 (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.
* A comma separated list of frames can also be used (no spaces).
* A range of frames can be expressed using '..' seperator between the first and last frames (inclusive).

-s or --frame-start <frame>

Set start to frame <frame>, supports +/- for relative frames too.

-e or --frame-end <frame>

Set end to frame <frame>, supports +/- for relative frames too.

-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

-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
[1-1024], 0 for systems processor count.

Format Options:

-F or --render-format <format>

Set the render format, Valid options are...

  TGA RAWTGA JPEG IRIS IRIZ

  AVIRAW AVIJPEG PNG BMP
(formats that can be compiled into blender, not available on all systems)

  HDR TIFF EXR MULTILAYER MPEG FRAMESERVER QUICKTIME CINEON DPX DDS JP2

-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 without borders

-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-expr <expression>

Run the given expression as a Python script

--python-console

Run blender with an interactive console

--python-exit-code

Set the exit-code in [0..255] to exit if a Python exception is raised
(only for scripts executed from the command line), zero disables.

--addons

Comma separated list of add-ons (no spaces)

Debug Options:

-d or --debug

Turn debugging on

* Enables memory error detection
* Disables mouse grab (to interact with a debugger in some cases)
* Keeps Python's '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-cycles

Enable debug messages from Cycles

--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-depsgraph-no-threads

Switch dependency graph to a single threaded evaluation

--debug-gpumem

Enable GPU memory stats in status bar

--debug-wm

Enable debug messages for the window manager, also prints every operator call

--debug-all

Enable all debug messages

--debug-fpe

Enable floating point exceptions

--disable-crash-handler

Disable the crash handler

Misc Options:

--factory-startup

Skip reading the BLENDER_STARTUP_FILE 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)

--disable-abort-handler

Disable the abort handler

-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 (Do not 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 messages for FreeStyle

--debug-gpu

Enable gpu debug context and information for OpenGL 4.3+.

--enable-new-depsgraph

Use new dependency graph

--enable-new-basic-shader-glsl

Use new GLSL basic shader

--verbose <verbose>

Set logging verbosity level.

-R

Register blend-file extension, then exit (Windows only)

-r

Silently register blend-file extension, then exit (Windows only)

Experimental Features:

--enable-new-depsgraph

Use new dependency graph

--enable-new-basic-shader-glsl

Use new GLSL basic shader

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.
  $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>.