1BLENDER(1) General Commands Manual BLENDER(1)
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6 blender - a full-featured 3D application
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9 blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]
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12 blender is a full-featured 3D application. It supports the entirety of
13 the 3D pipeline - modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering,
14 compositing, motion tracking, and video editing.
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16 Use Blender to create 3D images and animations, films and commercials,
17 content for games, architectural and industrial visualizations, and
18 scientific visualizations.
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20 https://www.blender.org
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23 Color management: using fallback mode for management Color management:
24 Error could not find role data role. Blender 3.4.1 Usage: blender
25 [args ...] [file] [args ...]
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27 Render Options:
28 -b or --background
29 Run in background (often used for UI-less rendering).
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31
32 -a or --render-anim
33 Render frames from start to end (inclusive).
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36 -S or --scene <name>
37 Set the active scene <name> for rendering.
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40 -f or --render-frame <frame>
41 Render frame <frame> and save it.
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44 * +<frame> start frame relative, -<frame> end frame relative.
45 * A comma separated list of frames can also be used (no spaces).
46 * A range of frames can be expressed using '..' separator be‐
47 tween the first and last frames (inclusive).
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49
50 -s or --frame-start <frame>
51 Set start to frame <frame>, supports +/- for relative frames
52 too.
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55 -e or --frame-end <frame>
56 Set end to frame <frame>, supports +/- for relative frames too.
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58
59 -j or --frame-jump <frames>
60 Set number of frames to step forward after each rendered frame.
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63 -o or --render-output <path>
64 Set the render path and file name.
65 Use '//' at the start of the path to render relative to the
66 blend-file.
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69 The '#' characters are replaced by the frame number, and used to
70 define zero padding.
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72
73 * 'animation_##_test.png' becomes 'animation_01_test.png'
74 * 'test-######.png' becomes 'test-000001.png'
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76
77 When the filename does not contain '#', The suffix '####' is
78 added to the filename.
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81 The frame number will be added at the end of the filename, eg:
82 # blender -b animation.blend -o //render_ -F PNG -x 1 -a
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84
85 -E or --engine <engine>
86 Specify the render engine.
87 Use '-E help' to list available engines.
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89
90 -t or --threads <threads>
91 Use amount of <threads> for rendering and other operations
92 [1-1024], 0 for systems processor count.
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94
95 Format Options:
96 -F or --render-format <format>
97 Set the render format.
98 Valid options are:
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100
101 Formats that can be compiled into Blender, not available on all
102 systems:
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104
105 -x or --use-extension <bool>
106 Set option to add the file extension to the end of the file.
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108
109 Animation Playback Options:
110 -a <options> <file(s)>
111 Instead of showing Blender's user interface, this runs Blender
112 as an animation player,
113 to view movies and image sequences rendered in Blender (ignored
114 if '-b' is set).
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117 Playback Arguments:
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119
120 -p <sx> <sy>
121 Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy>.
122 -m
123 Read from disk (Do not buffer).
124 -f <fps> <fps-base>
125 Specify FPS to start with.
126 -j <frame>
127 Set frame step to <frame>.
128 -s <frame>
129 Play from <frame>.
130 -e <frame>
131 Play until <frame>.
132 -c <cache_memory>
133 Amount of memory in megabytes to allow for caching images dur‐
134 ing playback.
135 Zero disables (clamping to a fixed number of frames instead).
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138 Window Options:
139 -w or --window-border
140 Force opening with borders.
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143 -W or --window-fullscreen
144 Force opening in fullscreen mode.
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146
147 -p or --window-geometry <sx> <sy> <w> <h>
148 Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy> and width and height
149 as <w>, <h>.
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151
152 -M or --window-maximized
153 Force opening maximized.
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155
156 -con or --start-console
157 Start with the console window open (ignored if '-b' is set),
158 (Windows only).
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160
161 --no-native-pixels
162 Do not use native pixel size, for high resolution displays (Mac‐
163 Book 'Retina').
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166 --no-window-focus
167 Open behind other windows and without taking focus.
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169
170 Python Options:
171 -y or --enable-autoexec
172 Enable automatic Python script execution.
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174
175 -Y or --disable-autoexec
176 Disable automatic Python script execution (pydrivers & startup
177 scripts), (compiled as non-standard default).
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179
180 -P or --python <filepath>
181 Run the given Python script file.
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183
184 --python-text <name>
185 Run the given Python script text block.
186
187
188 --python-expr <expression>
189 Run the given expression as a Python script.
190
191
192 --python-console
193 Run Blender with an interactive console.
194
195
196 --python-exit-code <code>
197 Set the exit-code in [0..255] to exit if a Python exception is
198 raised
199 (only for scripts executed from the command line), zero dis‐
200 ables.
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203 --python-use-system-env
204 Allow Python to use system environment variables such as
205 'PYTHONPATH' and the user site-packages directory.
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208 --addons <addon(s)>
209 Comma separated list (no spaces) of add-ons to enable in addi‐
210 tion to any default add-ons.
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212
213 Logging Options:
214 --log <match>
215 Enable logging categories, taking a single comma separated argu‐
216 ment.
217 Multiple categories can be matched using a '.*' suffix,
218 so '--log "wm.*"' logs every kind of window-manager message.
219 Sub-string can be matched using a '*' prefix and suffix,
220 so '--log "*undo*"' logs every kind of undo-related message.
221 Use "^" prefix to ignore, so '--log "*,^wm.operator.*"' logs all
222 except for 'wm.operators.*'
223 Use "*" to log everything.
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225
226 --log-level <level>
227 Set the logging verbosity level (higher for more details) de‐
228 faults to 1,
229 use -1 to log all levels.
230
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232 --log-show-basename
233 Only show file name in output (not the leading path).
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236 --log-show-backtrace
237 Show a back trace for each log message (debug builds only).
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240 --log-show-timestamp
241 Show a timestamp for each log message in seconds since start.
242
243
244 --log-file <filepath>
245 Set a file to output the log to.
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248 Debug Options:
249 -d or --debug
250 Turn debugging on.
251
252
253 * Enables memory error detection
254 * Disables mouse grab (to interact with a debugger in some
255 cases)
256 * Keeps Python's 'sys.stdin' rather than setting it to None
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258
259 --debug-value <value>
260 Set debug value of <value> on startup.
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263 --debug-events
264 Enable debug messages for the event system.
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267 --debug-ffmpeg
268 Enable debug messages from FFmpeg library.
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271 --debug-handlers
272 Enable debug messages for event handling.
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275 --debug-libmv
276 Enable debug messages from libmv library.
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279 --debug-cycles
280 Enable debug messages from Cycles.
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283 --debug-memory
284 Enable fully guarded memory allocation and debugging.
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287 --debug-jobs
288 Enable time profiling for background jobs.
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291 --debug-python
292 Enable debug messages for Python.
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295 --debug-depsgraph
296 Enable all debug messages from dependency graph.
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299 --debug-depsgraph-eval
300 Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on evalua‐
301 tion.
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304 --debug-depsgraph-build
305 Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on graph
306 construction.
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309 --debug-depsgraph-tag
310 Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on tagging.
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313 --debug-depsgraph-no-threads
314 Switch dependency graph to a single threaded evaluation.
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317 --debug-depsgraph-time
318 Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on timing.
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321 --debug-depsgraph-pretty
322 Enable colors for dependency graph debug messages.
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325 --debug-depsgraph-uuid
326 Verify validness of session-wide identifiers assigned to ID dat‐
327 ablocks.
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330 --debug-ghost
331 Enable debug messages for Ghost (Linux only).
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334 --debug-wintab
335 Enable debug messages for Wintab.
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338 --debug-gpu
339 Enable GPU debug context and information for OpenGL 4.3+.
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342 --debug-gpu-force-workarounds
343 Enable workarounds for typical GPU issues and disable all GPU
344 extensions.
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347 --debug-gpu-disable-ssbo
348 Disable usage of shader storage buffer objects.
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351 --debug-wm
352 Enable debug messages for the window manager, shows all opera‐
353 tors in search, shows keymap errors.
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356 --debug-xr
357 Enable debug messages for virtual reality contexts.
358 Enables the OpenXR API validation layer, (OpenXR) debug messages
359 and general information prints.
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362 --debug-xr-time
363 Enable debug messages for virtual reality frame rendering times.
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366 --debug-all
367 Enable all debug messages.
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370 --debug-io
371 Enable debug messages for I/O (Collada, ...).
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374 --debug-fpe
375 Enable floating-point exceptions.
376
377
378 --debug-exit-on-error
379 Immediately exit when internal errors are detected.
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381
382 --disable-crash-handler
383 Disable the crash handler.
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386 --disable-abort-handler
387 Disable the abort handler.
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389
390 --verbose <verbose>
391 Set the logging verbosity level for debug messages that support
392 it.
393
394
395 Misc Options:
396 --open-last
397 Open the most recently opened blend file, instead of the default
398 startup file.
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400
401 --app-template <template>
402 Set the application template (matching the directory name), use
403 'default' for none.
404
405
406 --factory-startup
407 Skip reading the BLENDER_STARTUP_FILE in the users home direc‐
408 tory.
409
410
411 --enable-event-simulate
412 Enable event simulation testing feature 'bpy.types.Win‐
413 dow.event_simulate'.
414
415
416 --env-system-datafiles
417 Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES environment variable.
418
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420 --env-system-scripts
421 Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS environment variable.
422
423
424 --env-system-python
425 Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON environment variable.
426
427
428 -noaudio
429 Force sound system to None.
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431
432 -setaudio
433 Force sound system to a specific device.
434
435
436 -h or --help
437 Print this help text and exit.
438
439
440 /?
441 Print this help text and exit (Windows only).
442
443
444 -R
445 Register blend-file extension, then exit (Windows only).
446
447
448 -r
449 Silently register blend-file extension, then exit (Windows
450 only).
451
452
453 -v or --version
454 Print Blender version and exit.
455
456
457 --
458 End option processing, following arguments passed unchanged. Ac‐
459 cess via Python's 'sys.argv'.
460
461
462 Other Options:
463 --gpu-backend
464 Force to use a specific GPU backend. Valid options: 'opengl'.
465
466
467 --debug-freestyle
468 Enable debug messages for Freestyle.
469
470
471 Argument Parsing:
472 Arguments must be separated by white space, eg:
473 # blender -ba test.blend
474 ...will exit since '-ba' is an unknown argument.
475
476 Argument Order:
477 Arguments are executed in the order they are given. eg:
478 # blender --background test.blend --render-frame 1 --render-output
479 '/tmp'
480 ...will not render to '/tmp' because '--render-frame 1' renders be‐
481 fore the output path is set.
482 # blender --background --render-output /tmp test.blend --render-frame
483 1
484 ...will not render to '/tmp' because loading the blend-file over‐
485 writes the render output that was set.
486 # blender --background test.blend --render-output /tmp --render-frame
487 1
488 ...works as expected.
489
491 $BLENDER_USER_RESOURCES Top level directory for user files.
492 (other 'BLENDER_USER_*' variables override
493 when set).
494 $BLENDER_USER_CONFIG Directory for user configuration files.
495 $BLENDER_USER_SCRIPTS Directory for user scripts.
496 $BLENDER_USER_DATAFILES Directory for user data files (icons, trans‐
497 lations, ..).
498 $BLENDER_SYSTEM_RESOURCES Top level directory for system files.
499 (other 'BLENDER_SYSTEM_*' variables over‐
500 ride when set).
501 $BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS Directory for system wide scripts.
502 $BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES Directory for system wide data files.
503 $BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON Directory for system Python libraries.
504 $OCIO Path to override the OpenColorIO config
505 file.
506 $TMP or $TMPDIR Store temporary files here.
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510 luxrender(1)
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514 This manpage was written for a Debian GNU/Linux system by Daniel Mester
515 <mester@uni-bremen.de> and updated by Cyril Brulebois <cyril.brule‐
516 bois@enst-bretagne.fr> and Dan Eicher <dan@trollwerks.org>.
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520Blender 3.4.1 January 03, 2023 BLENDER(1)