Rebrickable Help Guide: Blender - Rendering | Rebrickable

Rendering with Blender

Blender is a free open-source 3D modeling software made by the Blender Foundation, that allows you to make incredibly photorealistic renders on your computer. Blender would suit experienced designers who want to take their MOCs to the next level. It may also benefit those with computers that are not powerful enough to handle Studio’s photoreal rendering, as Blender is more optimised for rendering.

Blender creates very realistic renders and is incredibly customizable allowing for you to make renders that look very similar to those taken with an actual camera. There is a steep learning curve, but with an active Blender community, and guides such as this one, you can learn how to make realistic renders.

Mecabricks does not allow use of their software for commercial purposes, however we have confirmed with Mecabricks it is ok to use images made with this method for premium MOCs, as long as you specify in your description that Mecabricks was used.

Setup	Using Blender	Keyboard Shortcuts

Setting up Blender to Import LEGO Models

Mecabricks is a website that allows you to build Lego models online without downloading any software. It also has downloadable addons that allow you to transfer your MOCs directly into Blender. There is a free version (Blender Lite) which allows the basic function of importing bricks into Blender, and a paid version (Blender Advanced) that has advanced settings like fingerprints/scratches/scuffs/etc.

Go to Blender.org to download Blender (alternatively, download it from the download platform of your choice if it is available there). Run the installation file.

Go to mecabricks.com and create a profile. After that, go to Shop > Blender Lite > Add to Cart .

Blender Lite is free, but you still need to check out by clicking on the cart icon , then Checkout. After this you can download the .zip file from your library at Username > Purchases > Download.

Save the .zip file onto your computer. Finally, install the MecaBricks add-on into Blender by opening Blender and going to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > V > Install from Disk..., and find where you saved the file in your library.

In order to get your model into Blender, there are three steps:

If you made your model in Studio or other Ldraw software, you can import your file into MecaBricks by going to File > Import... . See more in our MecaBricks guide.
Export your model from MecaBricks by going to File > Export > Blender Addon (.zmbx).
Open Blender and import the file at File > Import > Mecabricks (.zmbx) .

top

Using Blender

In Blender, you need to open a blank scene. Open up Blender and select “General” to get started. You’ll be greeted by a scene with a default cube, camera, and light. Delete these by dragging left mouse button, hitting the X key, and clicking on the prompt.

It is a good idea to set the units to mm before importing your Mecabricks file. There is a known issue where scaling down your model can cause issues. If units are set as m, the model can import very large. On the Properties menu (bottom right) go to the Scene tab, then change Length to Millimeters.

After that, you can import your creation. Go to File > Import > Mecabricks (.zbmx) and select your file. And viola, your model is in the scene!

If your model is too large, you may need to adjust the viewport viewing size by hitting N > View , then adding two zeros to the End number.

To navigate your scene, use Left Mouse Button to select objects, Middle Mouse Button to rotate, and Shift+Middle Mouse Button to pan. Again these controls are different to those needed for MecaBricks or Studio.

Function	MecaBricks	Blender	Studio
Pan	Hold right click	Shift + hold scroll wheel	Hold scroll wheel
Rotate	Hold left click	Hold scroll wheel	Hold right click
Zoom	Scroll wheel, or hold down scroll wheel and move mouse up and down for a more precise zoom	Scroll wheel	Scroll wheel

You need to add a camera into your scene to render images. Go to the Add button at the top left and select Add > Camera to add a camera into your scene. You can also use Shift+A.

Main images on Rebrickable need to look good in a 5:4 thumbnail, as this is the main way people will see your MOC. To get the aspect ratio of the camera right, go to the properties area on the right hand side and click on the output tab. From here you can set the resolution width and height. For a height of 1080 px, a width of 1350 px will give a ratio of 5:4.

In order to position the camera, click on the little camera button in the top right to enter camera view mode, and click the padlock button below it to allow you to move the camera.

Once that’s done, position the camera to your liking. Do this by navigating the scene normally. You can also click and hold the hand symbol to pan if you don't want to use shift + middle click.

We need a backdrop so your model isn’t just floating in grey space! Add a plane using Add > Mesh > Plane.

Once that’s placed, scale it up by hitting S on your keyboard. You may also need to move or rotate it to get it in the right place using the move and rotate buttons near the top left. Select the object, click move, then click and hold the arrow/plane you want to move the object in. Rotate works in a similar way.

Then select it and go into edit mode to make the backdrop. You can do this by hitting Tab on the keyboard, or by changing the mode in the dropdown to the top left. Select the two vertices (the little dots on the corners of the plane) and add a back by hitting E (extrude) and Z for the Z axis. scale that up to the size you need. Then, click the two vertices at the base of that added section and hit Ctrl+B to Bevel. Scroll up on the mouse wheel a few times to add some smoothness and then left click to finish it.

Hit Tab to get back out of edit mode, and make sure your backdrop is selected. Then right-click and select shade smooth to make the backdrop smooth.

For a good render, we will need some lights! To add one, hit Shift+A and add an Area Light.

Place the light above your creation, and scale it up to cover the entire area within the camera’s view. Be sure to increase the brightness in the properties. While it is possible to change the color of the light, make sure your render is showing the colour of the LEGO bricks accurately if you are using it as a main image of your MOC.

Now you can render! You can change the settings in the Render tab (camera symbol) of the Properties panel on the bottom right. For best results make sure Render Engine is on Cycles, Device as GPU Compute (if available), and make sure Denoise is on. The Noise Threshold will tell the Cycles Render Engine how picky to be with the noise in the render (how grainy it looks). Setting this to a higher number will decrease render time, but it will also decrease render quality.

Default settings may take a long time for older technology. To speed things up you can turn off denoise, increase the noise threshold, and/or reduce the max samples. Find a balance of settings that works with your computer.

You can now hit F12 or click on the Render button in the top left to render the currently shown scene. It may be a bit slow at first, as it has to gather render kernels. Don’t worry, it’s all fine.

To save, go to Image > Save as and save your file.

There are many more things you can do to make it more realistic or change the scene, but this covers the basics. Blender is incredibly versatile, so feel free to experiment!

top

More Info

There are many video tutorials online for Blender, however they may not be focussed specifically for LEGO renders.

Blender Guru has some good introduction videos.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are some of the most important features and keybinds:

Move/Translate (G) - Moves objects in 3D space. Use X, Y, and Z to lock movement to one axis
Rotate (R) - Rotates objects in 3D space. Use X, Y, and Z to lock rotation to one axis
Scale (S) - Changes object’s size. Use X, Y, and Z to lock the scaling to one axis
Change in/out of edit mode (Tab) - Changes viewport between object and edit mode
Hide selection (H) - Hides selected objects from viewport
Show hidden (Alt+H) - Shows all hidden objects
Undo (Ctrl+Z) - Undoes the last change made to the scene
Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z) - Redoes the last change to be undone
Clone Selection (Shift+D) - Duplicates current selection

Special thanks to Tiggerljc for writing most of this guide and providing screenshots.

Last modified April 5, 2025 by icedragonj

Resource	Value
User CPU time	273.519 msec
System CPU time	0.026 msec
Total CPU time	273.545 msec
Elapsed time	291.959 msec
Context switches	225 voluntary, 51 involuntary

HELP - Blender - Rendering

Rendering with Blender

Contents

Setting up Blender to Import LEGO Models

Using Blender

More Info

Keyboard Shortcuts

Time

Resource usage

Browser timing

SQL queries from 1 connection

Log messages