Ubuntu Manpage: blender - a full-featured 3D application

Provided by: blender-data_4.2.3+dfsg-3_all

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

Usage: blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]

Render Options:
-b or --background
Run in background (often used for UI-less rendering).

The audio device is disabled in background-mode by default
and can be re-enabled by passing in '-setaudo Default' afterwards.

-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
'//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
[1-1024], 0 to use the systems processor count.

Cycles Render Options:
Cycles add-on options must be specified following a double dash.

--cycles-device <device>
Set the device used for rendering.
Valid options are: 'CPU' 'CUDA' 'OPTIX' 'HIP' 'ONEAPI' 'METAL'.

Append +CPU to a GPU device to render on both CPU and GPU.

Example:
# blender -b file.blend -f 20 -- --cycles-device OPTIX

--cycles-print-stats
Log statistics about render memory and time usage.

Format Options:
-F or --render-format <format>
Set the render format.
Valid options are:
'TGA' 'RAWTGA' 'JPEG' 'IRIS' 'AVIRAW' 'AVIJPEG' 'PNG' 'BMP' 'HDR' 'TIFF'.

Formats that can be compiled into Blender, not available on all systems:
'OPEN_EXR' 'OPEN_EXR_MULTILAYER' 'FFMPEG' 'CINEON' 'DPX' 'JP2' 'WEBP'.

-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 full-screen 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 (Python-drivers & startup scripts),
(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.

Network Options:
--online-mode
Allow internet access, overriding the preference.

--offline-mode
Disallow internet access, overriding the preference.

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-uid
Verify validness of session-wide identifiers assigned to ID data-blocks.

--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-compile-shaders
Compile all statically defined shaders to test platform compatibility.

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

--debug-xr
Enable debug messages for virtual reality contexts.
Enables the OpenXR API validation layer, (OpenXR) debug messages and general
information prints.

--debug-xr-time
Enable debug messages for virtual reality frame rendering times.

--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.

--debug-freestyle
Enable debug messages for Freestyle.

--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.

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

--gpu-compilation-subprocesses
Override the Max Compilation Subprocesses setting (OpenGL only).

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 'startup.blend' 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-extensions
Set the BLENDER_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS 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.
'None' 'Default' 'SDL' 'OpenAL' 'CoreAudio' 'JACK' 'PulseAudio' 'WASAPI'.

-c or --command <command>
Run a command which consumes all remaining arguments.
Use '-c help' to list all other commands.
Pass '--help' after the command to see its help text.

This implies '--background' mode.

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

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

-r or --register
Register blend-file extension for current user, then exit (Windows & Linux only).

--register-allusers
Register blend-file extension for all users, then exit (Windows & Linux only).

--unregister
Unregister blend-file extension for current user, then exit (Windows & Linux only).

--unregister-allusers
Unregister blend-file extension for all users, then exit (Windows & Linux only).

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

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

Argument Parsing:
Arguments must be separated by white space, eg:
# blender -ba test.blend
...will exit since '-ba' is an unknown argument.

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_RESOURCES  Replace default directory of all 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_EXTENSIONS Directory for user extensions.
         $BLENDER_USER_DATAFILES  Directory for user data files (icons, translations, ..).
         $BLENDER_SYSTEM_RESOURCES  Replace default directory of all bundled resource files.
         $BLENDER_SYSTEM_SCRIPTS    Directory to add more bundled scripts.
         $BLENDER_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS Directory for system extensions repository.
         $BLENDER_SYSTEM_DATAFILES  Directory to replace bundled datafiles.
         $BLENDER_SYSTEM_PYTHON     Directory to replace bundled Python libraries.
         $OCIO                      Path to override the OpenColorIO configuration file.
         $TMPDIR                    Store temporary files here (UNIX Systems).
                                    The path must reference an existing directory or it  will  be
       ignored.

AUTHORS