blender

NAME

blender - a full-featured 3D application

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

blender is a full-featured 3D application. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline - modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and video editing.

Use Blender to create 3D images and animations, films and commercials, content for games, architectural and industrial visualizations, and scientific visualizations.

https://www.blender.org

OPTIONS

Color management: using fallback mode for management Color management: Error could not find role data role. Blender 3.4.1 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 '..' separator 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.

: * 'animation_##_test.png' becomes 'animation_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 animation.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:

: Formats that can be compiled into Blender, not available on all systems:

-x or --use-extension <bool>: Set option to add the file extension to the end of the file.

Animation Playback Options:

-a <options> <file(s)>: Instead of showing Blender's user interface, this runs Blender as an animation player,

to view movies and image sequences rendered in Blender (ignored if '-b' is set).

: Playback Arguments:

: -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>.

-c <cache_memory>

Amount of memory in megabytes to allow for caching images during playback.

Zero disables (clamping to a fixed number of frames instead).

Window Options:

-w or --window-border: Force opening with borders.

-W or --window-fullscreen: Force opening in fullscreen mode.

-p or --window-geometry <sx> <sy> <w> <h>: Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy> and width and height as <w>, <h>.

-M or --window-maximized: Force opening maximized.

-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').

--no-window-focus: Open behind other windows and without taking focus.

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 <filepath>: 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 <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.

--python-use-system-env: Allow Python to use system environment variables such as 'PYTHONPATH' and the user site-packages directory.

--addons <addon(s)>: Comma separated list (no spaces) of add-ons to enable in addition to any default add-ons.

Logging Options:

--log <match>: Enable logging categories, taking a single comma separated argument.

Multiple categories can be matched using a '.*' suffix,

so '--log "wm.*"' logs every kind of window-manager message.

Sub-string can be matched using a '*' prefix and suffix,

so '--log "*undo*"' logs every kind of undo-related message.

Use "^" prefix to ignore, so '--log "*,^wm.operator.*"' logs all except for 'wm.operators.*'

Use "*" to log everything.

--log-level <level>: Set the logging verbosity level (higher for more details) defaults to 1,

use -1 to log all levels.

--log-show-basename: Only show file name in output (not the leading path).

--log-show-backtrace: Show a back trace for each log message (debug builds only).

--log-show-timestamp: Show a timestamp for each log message in seconds since start.

--log-file <filepath>: Set a file to output the log to.

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 all debug messages from dependency graph.

--debug-depsgraph-eval: Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on evaluation.

--debug-depsgraph-build: Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on graph construction.

--debug-depsgraph-tag: Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on tagging.

--debug-depsgraph-no-threads: Switch dependency graph to a single threaded evaluation.

--debug-depsgraph-time: Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on timing.

--debug-depsgraph-pretty: Enable colors for dependency graph debug messages.

--debug-depsgraph-uuid: Verify validness of session-wide identifiers assigned to ID datablocks.

--debug-ghost: Enable debug messages for Ghost (Linux only).

--debug-wintab: Enable debug messages for Wintab.

--debug-gpu: Enable GPU debug context and information for OpenGL 4.3+.

--debug-gpu-force-workarounds: Enable workarounds for typical GPU issues and disable all GPU extensions.

--debug-gpu-disable-ssbo: Disable usage of shader storage buffer objects.

--debug-wm: Enable debug messages for the window manager, shows all operators in search, shows keymap errors.

--debug-all: Enable all debug messages.

--debug-io: Enable debug messages for I/O (Collada, ...).

--debug-fpe: Enable floating-point exceptions.

--debug-exit-on-error: Immediately exit when internal errors are detected.

--disable-crash-handler: Disable the crash handler.

--disable-abort-handler: Disable the abort handler.

--verbose <verbose>: Set the logging verbosity level for debug messages that support it.

Misc Options:

--open-last: Open the most recently opened blend file, instead of the default startup file.

--app-template <template>: Set the application template (matching the directory name), use 'default' for none.

--factory-startup: Skip reading the BLENDER_STARTUP_FILE in the users home directory.

--enable-event-simulate: Enable event simulation testing feature 'bpy.types.Window.event_simulate'.

--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.

-noaudio: Force sound system to None.

-setaudio: Force sound system to a specific device.

-h or --help: Print this help text and exit.

/?: Print this help text and exit (Windows only).

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

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

-v or --version: Print Blender version and exit.

--: End option processing, following arguments passed unchanged. Access via Python's 'sys.argv'.

Other Options:

--gpu-backend: Force to use a specific GPU backend. Valid options: 'opengl'.

--debug-freestyle: Enable debug messages for Freestyle.

Arguments must be separated by white space, eg:

# blender -ba test.blend
...will exit since '-ba' is an unknown argument.

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_RESOURCES Top level directory for user files.
(other 'BLENDER_USER_*' variables override when set).
$BLENDER_USER_CONFIG Directory for user configuration files.
$BLENDER_USER_SCRIPTS Directory for user scripts.
$BLENDER_USER_DATAFILES Directory for user data files (icons, translations, ..).

$BLENDER_SYSTEM_RESOURCES Top level directory for system files.
(other 'BLENDER_SYSTEM_*' variables override when set).
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS Directory for system wide scripts.
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES Directory for system wide data files.
$BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON Directory for system Python libraries.
$OCIO Path to override the OpenColorIO config file.
$TMP or $TMPDIR Store temporary files here.

AUTHORS

This manpage was written for a Debian GNU/Linux system by Daniel Mester <[email protected]> and updated by Cyril Brulebois <[email protected]> and Dan Eicher <[email protected]>.

January 17, 2023

Blender 3.4.1