by Ernesto·Rendering
Illustrative cover generated by AnyPlugins — no product screenshot available.
Ernesto's addon earns a spot in the superhive library for turning a fiddly manual process, rendering an object and fitting an image plane to the camera, into a single Render button, with animated billboards and camera parenting added in later updates.
Billboards are planes that use a texture of the object they're meant to resemble, a common technique in animation, video games and films. They render much faster since the texture work is already done, and typically require less memory because only one texture is involved. A common use case is distant objects in the background.
Billboard Render - Image Planes offers a one-click approach: pressing the Render button in the 3D View's BillboardRender tab sets Blender to render the selected object(s) and, in Cycles, uses the result as a texture on a rectangular plane placed to look identical to the original from the camera's view. In Cycles it also isolates the object(s) so only they appear in the billboard texture. The addon installs through Edit → Preferences → Addon → Install and needs a saved file, since it stores the rendered image in the working directory.
The billboard object, its material and its image texture behave like any other in Blender and can be modified afterwards. An "Approach Object to Camera" operator moves and resizes an object nearer to or farther from the active camera while keeping the same look, and a "Parent to Camera" option lets the billboard follow a moving camera.
Billboard Render - Image Planes is best for blender artists creating billboard stand-ins for objects such as distant background elements by turning renders into textures on image planes.
Billboard Render - Image Planes is completely free to download and use.
Billboard Render - Image Planes works with Blender 4.2 as of version 1.3, which made the addon usable in that release. The same version added several color management types, including AgX. Earlier versions cover the core workflow of rendering a selected object and building a rectangular image plane from the result. For the exact range of supported Blender versions, check the developer's page before installing.
Billboard Render - Image Planes installs like other Blender addons, through Edit → Preferences → Addon → Install. Once enabled, you use it from the BillboardRender tab in the 3D View by pressing its Render button, which is separate from the usual Render button in the Render Properties section. Keep in mind the addon does not work on an unsaved file, since it needs a working directory prepared to save the resulting rendered image.
Billboard Render - Image Planes does not work on an unsaved file because it needs a working directory prepared, which is where it saves the resulting rendered image. Saving the file first gives it that location. After that, pressing the Render button in the 3D View's BillboardRender tab creates a still billboard, and in Cycles the render is used as a texture on a plane positioned to match the object from the camera's point of view.
Billboard Render - Image Planes added an Animated option in version 1.2, which creates an animated billboard based on Blender's animation render instead of a still one. As with regular animated renders, you should not edit the scene while it renders. The resulting billboard is a larger one that encompasses the entirety of the camera's view. Version 1.2 also added the Parent to Camera feature along with bug fixes.
Billboard Render - Image Planes is listed as free in this catalog. For current licensing terms, along with any updates, check the developer's page. The addon installs through Blender's preferences and runs inside Blender, turning renders of selected objects into textured image planes that stand in for the originals. You'll want a Blender version it supports; version 1.3 makes it usable in Blender 4.2 and adds several color management types, including AgX.
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