1BLENDER(1)                  General Commands Manual                 BLENDER(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       blender - a full-featured 3D application
7

SYNOPSIS

9       blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]
10

DESCRIPTION

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.
15
16       Use  Blender to create 3D images and animations, films and commercials,
17       content for games, architectural  and  industrial  visualizations,  and
18       scientific visualizations.
19
20       https://www.blender.org
21

OPTIONS

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 ...]
26
27   Render Options:
28       -b or --background
29              Run in background (often used for UI-less rendering).
30
31
32       -a or --render-anim
33              Render frames from start to end (inclusive).
34
35
36       -S or --scene <name>
37              Set the active scene <name> for rendering.
38
39
40       -f or --render-frame <frame>
41              Render frame <frame> and save it.
42
43
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).
48
49
50       -s or --frame-start <frame>
51              Set start to frame <frame>, supports  +/-  for  relative  frames
52              too.
53
54
55       -e or --frame-end <frame>
56              Set end to frame <frame>, supports +/- for relative frames too.
57
58
59       -j or --frame-jump <frames>
60              Set number of frames to step forward after each rendered frame.
61
62
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.
67
68
69              The '#' characters are replaced by the frame number, and used to
70              define zero padding.
71
72
73              * 'animation_##_test.png' becomes 'animation_01_test.png'
74              * 'test-######.png' becomes 'test-000001.png'
75
76
77              When  the  filename  does  not contain '#', The suffix '####' is
78              added to the filename.
79
80
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
83
84
85       -E or --engine <engine>
86              Specify the render engine.
87              Use '-E help' to list available engines.
88
89
90       -t or --threads <threads>
91              Use amount of <threads> for rendering and other operations
92              [1-1024], 0 for systems processor count.
93
94
95   Format Options:
96       -F or --render-format <format>
97              Set the render format.
98              Valid options are:
99
100
101              Formats that can be compiled into Blender, not available on  all
102              systems:
103
104
105       -x or --use-extension <bool>
106              Set option to add the file extension to the end of the file.
107
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).
115
116
117              Playback Arguments:
118
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).
136
137
138   Window Options:
139       -w or --window-border
140              Force opening with borders.
141
142
143       -W or --window-fullscreen
144              Force opening in fullscreen mode.
145
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>.
150
151
152       -M or --window-maximized
153              Force opening maximized.
154
155
156       -con or --start-console
157              Start  with  the  console  window open (ignored if '-b' is set),
158              (Windows only).
159
160
161       --no-native-pixels
162              Do not use native pixel size, for high resolution displays (Mac‐
163              Book 'Retina').
164
165
166       --no-window-focus
167              Open behind other windows and without taking focus.
168
169
170   Python Options:
171       -y or --enable-autoexec
172              Enable automatic Python script execution.
173
174
175       -Y or --disable-autoexec
176              Disable  automatic  Python script execution (pydrivers & startup
177              scripts), (compiled as non-standard default).
178
179
180       -P or --python <filepath>
181              Run the given Python script file.
182
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.
201
202
203       --python-use-system-env
204              Allow  Python  to  use  system  environment  variables  such  as
205              'PYTHONPATH' and the user site-packages directory.
206
207
208       --addons <addon(s)>
209              Comma  separated  list (no spaces) of add-ons to enable in addi‐
210              tion to any default add-ons.
211
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.
224
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
231
232       --log-show-basename
233              Only show file name in output (not the leading path).
234
235
236       --log-show-backtrace
237              Show a back trace for each log message (debug builds only).
238
239
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.
246
247
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
257
258
259       --debug-value <value>
260              Set debug value of <value> on startup.
261
262
263       --debug-events
264              Enable debug messages for the event system.
265
266
267       --debug-ffmpeg
268              Enable debug messages from FFmpeg library.
269
270
271       --debug-handlers
272              Enable debug messages for event handling.
273
274
275       --debug-libmv
276              Enable debug messages from libmv library.
277
278
279       --debug-cycles
280              Enable debug messages from Cycles.
281
282
283       --debug-memory
284              Enable fully guarded memory allocation and debugging.
285
286
287       --debug-jobs
288              Enable time profiling for background jobs.
289
290
291       --debug-python
292              Enable debug messages for Python.
293
294
295       --debug-depsgraph
296              Enable all debug messages from dependency graph.
297
298
299       --debug-depsgraph-eval
300              Enable debug messages from dependency graph related  on  evalua‐
301              tion.
302
303
304       --debug-depsgraph-build
305              Enable  debug  messages  from  dependency graph related on graph
306              construction.
307
308
309       --debug-depsgraph-tag
310              Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on tagging.
311
312
313       --debug-depsgraph-no-threads
314              Switch dependency graph to a single threaded evaluation.
315
316
317       --debug-depsgraph-time
318              Enable debug messages from dependency graph related on timing.
319
320
321       --debug-depsgraph-pretty
322              Enable colors for dependency graph debug messages.
323
324
325       --debug-depsgraph-uuid
326              Verify validness of session-wide identifiers assigned to ID dat‐
327              ablocks.
328
329
330       --debug-ghost
331              Enable debug messages for Ghost (Linux only).
332
333
334       --debug-wintab
335              Enable debug messages for Wintab.
336
337
338       --debug-gpu
339              Enable GPU debug context and information for OpenGL 4.3+.
340
341
342       --debug-gpu-force-workarounds
343              Enable  workarounds  for  typical GPU issues and disable all GPU
344              extensions.
345
346
347       --debug-gpu-disable-ssbo
348              Disable usage of shader storage buffer objects.
349
350
351       --debug-wm
352              Enable debug messages for the window manager, shows  all  opera‐
353              tors in search, shows keymap errors.
354
355
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.
360
361
362       --debug-xr-time
363              Enable debug messages for virtual reality frame rendering times.
364
365
366       --debug-all
367              Enable all debug messages.
368
369
370       --debug-io
371              Enable debug messages for I/O (Collada, ...).
372
373
374       --debug-fpe
375              Enable floating-point exceptions.
376
377
378       --debug-exit-on-error
379              Immediately exit when internal errors are detected.
380
381
382       --disable-crash-handler
383              Disable the crash handler.
384
385
386       --disable-abort-handler
387              Disable the abort handler.
388
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.
399
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
419
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.
430
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

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

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.
507
508

SEE ALSO

510       luxrender(1)
511
512

AUTHORS

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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519
520Blender 3.4.1                  January 03, 2023                     BLENDER(1)
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