Introduction

In some situations we want to increase the render speed, access blender remotely to render something or build scripts that use blender command line.

One advantage of using command line is that we don't need the X server (in case of Linux) and as a consequence we can render remotely by SSH or telnet.

Note! Arguments are executed in the order they are given!

blender -b file.blend -a -x 1 -o //render

...Wont work, since the output and extension is set after blender is told to render.

Always position -f or -a as the last arguments.

Syntax

 blender [-b <dir><file> [-o <dir><file>][-F <format>]
 [-x [0|1]][-t <threads>][-S <name>][-f <frame>]
 [-s <frame> -e <frame> -a]] [[-P <scriptname> [-- <parameter>]]

Render Options:

 -b or --background <file>
     Load <file> 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.
 
 -s or --frame-start <frame>
     Set start to frame <frame> (use before the -a argument)
 
 -e or --frame-end <frame>
     Set end to frame <frame> (use before the -a argument)
 
 -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.
         ani_##_test.png becomes ani_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 foobar.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
     [1-64], 0 for systems processor count.

Format Options:

 -F or --render-format <format>
     Set the render format, Valid options are...
         TGA IRIS JPEG MOVIE IRIZ RAWTGA
         AVIRAW AVIJPEG PNG BMP FRAMESERVER
     (formats that can be compiled into blender, not available on all systems)
         HDR TIFF EXR MULTILAYER MPEG AVICODEC QUICKTIME CINEON DPX DDS
 
 -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)>
     Playback <file(s)>, only operates this way when not running in background.
         -p <sx> <sy>    Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy>
         -m      Read from disk (Don't 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>

Window Options:

 -w or --window-border 
     Force opening with borders (default)
 
 -W or --window-borderless 
     Force opening without borders
 
 -p or --window-geometry <sx> <sy> <w> <h>
     Open with lower left corner at <sx>, <sy> and width and height as <w>, <h>
 
 -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')

Game Engine Specific Options:

 -g Game Engine specific options
     -g fixedtime        Run on 50 hertz without dropping frames
     -g vertexarrays     Use Vertex Arrays for rendering (usually faster)
     -g nomipmap     No Texture Mipmapping
     -g linearmipmap     Linear Texture Mipmapping instead of Nearest (default)

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 <filename>
     Run the given Python script file
 
 --python-text <name>
     Run the given Python script text block
 
 --python-console 
     Run blender with an interactive console
 
 --addons 
     Comma separated list of addons (no spaces)

Debug Options:

 -d or --debug 
     Turn debugging on
 
     * Prints every operator call and their arguments
     * Disables mouse grab (to interact with a debugger in some cases)
     * Keeps python 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-handlers 
     Enable debug messages for event handling
 
 --debug-jobs 
     Enable time profiling for background jobs.
 
 --debug-python 
     Enable debug messages for python
 
 --debug-wm 
     Enable debug messages for the window manager
 
 --debug-all 
     Enable all debug messages (excludes libmv)
 
 
 --debug-fpe 
     Enable floating point exceptions
 
 --disable-crash-handler 
     Disable the crash handler

Misc Options:

 --factory-startup 
     Skip reading the "startup.blend" in the users home directory
 
 
 --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
 
 
 -nojoystick 
     Disable joystick support
 
 -noglsl 
     Disable GLSL shading
 
 -noaudio 
     Force sound system to None
 
 -setaudio 
     Force sound system to a specific device
     NULL SDL OPENAL JACK
 
 
 -h or --help 
     Print this help text and exit
 
 -v or --version 
     Print Blender version and exit
 
 -- 
     Ends option processing, following arguments passed unchanged. Access via python's sys.argv

Other Options:

 /? 
     Print this help text and exit (windows only)
 
 --verbose <verbose>
     Set logging verbosity level.
 
 -R 
     Register .blend extension, then exit (Windows only)
 
 -r 
     Silently register .blend extension, then exit (Windows only)

Examples

Render a picture

# blender -b file.blend -o //file -F JPEG -x 1 -f 1

-b

Load blender without an interface

file.blend

File .blend to render

-o //file

Directory + Target image file

-F JPEG

JPEG image format

-x 1

Ensures an extension .jpg to the file name

-f 1

Render frame 1

Render a movie

# blender -b file.blend -x 1 -o //file -F MOVIE -s 003 -e 005 -a

-b

Load blender without an interface

file.blend

File .blend to render

-x

Ensures an extension .avi to the movie

-o //file

Directory + Target image file

-F MOVIE

This saves a .AVI movie with low compression

-s 003 -e 005 -a

Set start frame to 003 and end frame to 005. Important: You can use -s or -e, but if they're not in order, they'll not work!

Launch Blender with a specified engine

The flags that are used are -E engine or --engine engine

# blender --engine CYCLES

You can list the available engines by using

# blender --engine help

or

# blender -E help

Example output

found bundled python: /home/satishg/bin/blender-2.65a-linux-glibc27-x86_64/2.65/python
Blender Engine Listing:
       BLENDER_RENDER
       BLENDER_GAME
       CYCLES

[1]    Done                          ~/bin/blender-2.65a-linux-glibc27-x86_64/blender --engine help

Platforms

How to actually execute Blender from the command line depends on the platform and where you have installed Blender. Here are basic instructions for the different platforms.

Windows

Open the Command Prompt, go to the directory where Blender is installed, and then run the blender command.

# cd c:\<blender installation directory>
# blender

Mac OS X

Open the Terminal application, go to the directory where Blender is installed, and run the executable within the app bundle, with commands like this:

# cd /Applications/Blender
# ./blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender

If you need to do this often, you can make an alias so that typing just 'blender' in the terminal works. For that you can run a command like this in the terminal (with the appropriate path).

# echo "alias blender=/Applications/Blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender" >> ~/.profile

If you then open a new terminal, the following command will work:

# blender

Linux

Open a terminal, then go to the directory where Blender is installed, and run the blender command like this.

# cd <blender installation directory>
# ./blender

If you have Blender installed in your PATH (usually when Blender is installed through a linux distribution package), you may be able to simple do this:

# blender

Doc:2.6/Manual/Render/Command Line