Render Commander — Blender Add-on

Take full control of background rendering without leaving Blender.

Run stills, animations, or frame lists in the background while you keep working.
Designed for artists and studios working on multi-GPU systems.

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Features

Faster Renders with Device-Parallel Rendering

Launch multiple background render processes, each assigned to a specific GPU. Cut animation render times dramatically by leveraging all available devices simultaneously.

Render Presets & Overrides

Tweak resolution, samples, output paths, and more—without altering your original scene. Save and reuse presets for different project stages (draft, final, client review, etc.).

External Scene Support

Render scenes stored in external .blend files without opening them in Blender. Preview scene settings, apply overrides, and start renders directly from the add-on panel.

Advanced Customization

• Desktop notifications alert you when a render job finishes.
• Prevents system sleep during renders.
• Use custom Blender executable paths (e.g., different Blender versions or builds).
• Append your own Python scripts to render jobs for custom logging, post-processing, or pipeline integration.

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Requirements

• Blender 4.2 or newer
• Windows, Linux

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Installation

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page.
2. In Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.
3. Click Install from Disk… and select the downloaded .zip file.
4. Enable the add-on by checking the box next to Render Commander.

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Usage

1. Open the Render Commander panel in the Viewport Sidebar panel.
2. Choose a render mode: Image, Animation, or Frame List.
3. In the Add‑on Preferences, select the render devices for Cycles.
4. Optionally apply a preset or override specific settings.
5. Click Render — your job starts immediately, and you can keep working!

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Building from Source

If you want to build the extension yourself, follow these steps:

git clone https://github.com/n4dirp/Render-Commander.git
cd Render-Commander/render_commander
blender --command extension build --split-platforms

See blender extensions build docs.