Blender 5.0
Usage: blender [args ...] [file] [args ...]
-b, --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 -setaudio Default afterwards.
-a, --render-anim
Render frames from start to end (inclusive).
-S, --scene ``
Set the active scene `` for rendering.
-f, --render-frame ``
Render frame `` and save it.
-
+start frame relative,-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, --frame-start ``
Set start to frame ``, supports +/- for relative frames too.
-e, --frame-end ``
Set end to frame ``, supports +/- for relative frames too.
-j, --frame-jump ``
Set number of frames to step forward after each rendered frame.
-o, --render-output ``
Set the render path and file name. Use // at the start of the path to render relative to the blend-file.
You can use path templating features such as {blend_name} in the path. See Blender’s documentation on path templates for more details.
The # characters are replaced by the frame number, and used to define zero padding.
-
animation_##_test.pngbecomesanimation_01_test.png -
test-######.pngbecomestest-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, --engine ``
Specify the render engine. Use -E help to list available engines.
-t, --threads ``
Use amount of `` for rendering and other operations [1-1024], 0 to use the systems processor count.
Cycles add-on options must be specified following a double dash.
--cycles-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.
-F, --render-format ``
Set the render format. Valid options are: TGA RAWTGA JPEG IRIS 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, --use-extension ``
Set option to add the file extension to the end of the file.
-a
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
Open with lower left corner at , .
-m
Read from disk (Do not buffer).
-f
Specify FPS to start with.
-j ``
Set frame step to ``.
-s ``
Play from ``.
-e ``
Play until ``.
-c ``
Amount of memory in megabytes to allow for caching images during playback. Zero disables (clamping to a fixed number of frames instead).
-w, --window-border
Force opening with borders.
-W, --window-fullscreen
Force opening in full-screen mode.
-p, --window-geometry
Open with lower left corner at , and width and height as , .
-M, --window-maximized
Force opening maximized.
-con, --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.
-y, --enable-autoexec
Enable automatic Python script execution.
-Y, --disable-autoexec
Disable automatic Python script execution (Python-drivers & startup scripts), (default).
-P, --python ``
Run the given Python script file.
--python-text ``
Run the given Python script text block.
--python-expr ``
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.
\--python-use-system-env
Allow Python to use system environment variables such as PYTHONPATH and the user site-packages directory.
\--addons ``
Comma separated list (no spaces) of add-ons to enable in addition to any default add-ons.
\--online-mode
Allow internet access, overriding the preference.
\--offline-mode
Disallow internet access, overriding the preference.
\--log ``
Enable logging categories, taking a single comma separated argument.
\--log "*": everything \--log "event": every category starting with event. \--log "render,cycles": both render and cycles messages. \--log "*mesh*": every category containing mesh sub-string. \--log "*,^operator": everything except operators, with ^prefix to exclude.
\--log-level ``
Set the logging verbosity level.
fatal: Fatal errors only error: Errors only warning: Warnings info: Information about devices, files, configuration, operations debug: Verbose messages for developers trace: Very verbose code execution tracing
\--log-show-memory
Show memory usage for each log message.
\--log-show-source
Show source file and function name in output.
\--log-show-backtrace
Show a back trace for each log message (debug builds only).
\--log-file ``
Set a file to output the log to.
\--log-list-categories
List all available logging categories for \--log, and exit.
-d, \--debug
Turn debugging on.
-
Enables memory error detection
-
Disables mouse grab (to interact with a debugger in some cases)
-
Keeps Python’s
sys.stdinrather than setting it to None
\--debug-value ``
Set debug value of `` on startup.
\--debug-events
Enable debug messages for the event system.
\--debug-handlers
Enable debug messages for event handling.
\--debug-libmv
Enable debug messages from libmv library.
\--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-gpu-shader-debug-info
Enable shader debug info generation (Vulkan only).
\--debug-gpu-scope-capture
Capture the GPU commands issued inside the give scope name.
\--debug-gpu-renderdoc
Enable RenderDoc integration for GPU frame grabbing and debugging.
\--debug-gpu-vulkan-local-read
Force Vulkan dynamic rendering local read when supported by device.
\--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.
\--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 ``
Set the logging verbosity level for debug messages that support it.
-q, \--quiet
Suppress status printing (warnings & errors are still printed).
\--gpu-backend
Force to use a specific GPU backend. Valid options: vulkan, metal, opengl.
\--gpu-vsync
Set the VSync. Valid options are: on, off & auto for adaptive sync.
-
The default settings depend on the GPU driver.
-
Disabling VSync can be useful for testing performance.
-
autois only supported by the OpenGL backend.
\--gpu-compilation-subprocesses
Override the Max Compilation Subprocesses setting (OpenGL only).
\--profile-gpu
Enable CPU & GPU performance profiling for GPU debug groups (Outputs a profile.json file in the Trace Event Format to the current directory)
\--open-last
Open the most recently opened blend file, instead of the default startup file.
\--app-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, \--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, \--help
Print this help text and exit.
/?
Print this help text and exit (Windows only).
-r, \--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).
\--qos ``
Set the Quality of Service (QoS) mode for hybrid CPU architectures (Windows only).
default: Uses the default behavior of the OS. high: Always makes use of performance cores. eco: Schedules Blender threads exclusively to efficiency cores.
-v, \--version
Print Blender version and exit.
\--
End option processing, following arguments passed unchanged. Access via Python’s sys.argv.
\--disable-depsgraph-on-file-load
Background mode: Do not systematically build and evaluate ViewLayers’ dependency graphs when loading a blend-file in background mode (-b or -c options).
Scripts requiring evaluated data then need to explicitly ensure that an evaluated depsgraph is available (e.g. by calling depsgraph = context.evaluated_depsgraph_get()).
NOTE: this is a temporary option, in the future depsgraph will never be automatically generated on file load in background mode.
\--disable-liboverride-auto-resync
Do not perform library override automatic resync when loading a new blend-file.
NOTE: this is an alternative way to get the same effect as when setting the No Override Auto Resync User Preferences Debug option.
\--debug-ffmpeg
Enable debug messages from FFmpeg video input and output.
\--debug-cycles
Enable debug messages from Cycles.
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.
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:
Directories to add extra 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.
BLENDER_CUSTOM_SPLASH:
Full path to an image that replaces the splash screen.
BLENDER_CUSTOM_SPLASH_BANNER:
Full path to an image to overlay on the splash screen.
BLENDER_OCIO:
Path to override the OpenColorIO configuration file. If not set, the OCIO environment variable is used.
TEMP:
Store temporary files here (MS-Windows).
TMPDIR:
Store temporary files here (UNIX Systems). The path must reference an existing directory or it will be ignored.