blender.farm
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Your first render

A five minute walkthrough of the browser flow, from dropping a file to watching frames come back.

This is the browser route. If you would rather never leave Blender, jump to Install the add-on instead, the concepts are identical.

  1. 1
    Save and pack (optional but easier)In Blender, File > External Data > Pack Resources puts textures inside the .blend. Then everything travels as one file and there is nothing to attach later. Skip this for very heavy scenes and let the add-on ship the files separately instead.
  2. 2
    Drop the fileOpen dashboard.blender.farm and drag your .blend onto Start a new render. It is read in your browser, not uploaded.
  3. 3
    Check the sceneStep 1 shows the engine, frame range, resolution and output format read out of the file. Set the frame range you actually want here. Full field reference: Step 1: Scene.
  4. 4
    Attach anything missingStep 2 lists every external file the scene references and whether we already have it. Rows marked needed are what stops a render looking right. See Step 2: Files it needs.
  5. 5
    Add-ons and colourStep 3 lets you install add-ons on the render machine and upload a custom OCIO config. If your scene does not depend on either, skip it. See Step 3: Add-ons and colour.
  6. 6
    Upload, then launchStep 4 uploads everything and gives you a job ID. Press Launch render and a GPU machine is rented for you.
  7. 7
    Watch it happenFrames appear as they finish, with a live log and GPU / VRAM / RAM graphs. See Watching a render.
Do a one frame test firstSet the frame range to a single interesting frame and launch that. It costs 1 credit, takes a couple of minutes, and catches missing textures or a wrong colour transform before you spend real money on 250 frames.

If something looks wrong in the result

  • Pink or black surfaces: a texture did not make it. Check Step 2 for rows still marked needed, or use the add-on which finds them automatically.
  • Colours look off: your scene uses a custom OCIO config. Upload it in Step 3.
  • Geometry or shading is missing: the scene depends on an add-on that has to run at render time. Install it in Step 3.
  • Simulation renders as frame 1 only: the cache files were not attached. The add-on picks up full sequences by itself.

More causes and fixes on Troubleshooting.