How to Render a Background Image in Blender 2.8 Using a Camera Background Image

[@HerrBusack]

Good work, Henry! Thanks for your efforts! I found out that from Blender 2.80 on, the rendered BG image is a little pale and colorless, compared to the original BG image. This happens because the view transform (Render Tab > Color Management) is set to "filmic" by default. If you want to preserve the original image colors, set view transform to "standard".

[@henryegloff]

Hi HerrBusack, thanks heaps for the feedback and that tip! Henry

[@suedrafahl]

Great tutorial. I have done a lot of tutorials myself on Photoshop, and one of the complaints was that I spoke to fast when I first started. I slowed down, and got lots of thumbs up. After looking at dozens of tutorials by other artists, I totally understand. You are easy to follow, and I learn a lot from your tutorials. Lots of thumbs up.

[@henryegloff]

Good to hear, and thanks for the kind feedback :)

[@Vanitas369]

I remember not using blender because there was no way to add and image on a plane such as a model reference to get your scaling where it needs to be. Now apparently they have it as well. And more effective alternative to background image. Just set up a plane behind your mesh, and add the image through the planes material properties > base color(little circle)> Image texture and open. You can edit your Image outside of blender and add it all the same. The second part of the video helped me out though ^^ thanks for that. Though I would like to know how to do this in eevee without the plane mesh rendering.

[@daleanmonster4218]

great help

[@TheShift1313]

Thanks for this! I have done this a few times importing video, doing motion tracking and then using it as a background. Today i upgraded to 2.92 and for some reason my workflow wouldn't render the background images anymore but your node method did the trick!

[@henryegloff]

Good to hear, and thanks for the feedback :)

[@TheShift1313]

@@henryegloff Oh i should note since i am using a movie input as a bunch of png images i used the Movie Clip rather than Image node going into scale. other than that the same thing.

[@praetoriancorps]

it is insane that you need a whole workaround with nodes in order to achieve this result. I'd think when they updated to 2.8 they made this more accessible, since, in 3ds max or Maya all you have to do is import the image and you're basically done. In my case I am trying to look for a way to let my background image that I placed behind a window to show up in render, will keep looking until I find what I need but add this tutorial to my list, I know I'm gonna need it.

[@3dhouse418]

thank you for great tutorial

[@arkenavetisyan7308]

Pefect dude excatly what I needed.

[@henryegloff]

Great to hear, and thanks for the feedback :)

[@waltercordes6099]

Hallo Henry, dieses Tutorial war absolut hilfreich! Vielen Dank dafür! Hi Henry, the best tutorial I came to see on this topic. Thank you very much!

[@pokeultraz4073]

LOVE YOU SIR

[@AlberTesla1024]

Thank u so much, I was starting the project from the beginning again and again. You saved my time thanks a lot.

[@rosiexro]

I loved this information. Perfect for when needing to work faster. Thank you very much.

[@henryegloff]

Hey, thanks for the kind feedback. I haven't looked at this in quite a while but generally I use cycles rather than eevee, so at the time I created this tutorial this technique worked with Cycles. I have also included a link to an alternative method using the document world settings, which is generally easier, and maybe this method will work better with your setup. The different techniques have different advantages / disadvantages that someone once outlined somewhere in the comments. Otherwise I hope this info helps.

[@darktechnosynth]

I just comment here so I can help you're channel with this much at least. keep the grind Henry.

[@henryegloff]

Thanks for the kind feedback MiawYou. Up until now I've only been doing the occasional tutorial, and I haven't done one in a while, but this year I'm really hoping to start putting out lots of tutorials as well as some organised courses on my website. So if you like my tutorials, please stay tuned ... :)

[@henryegloff]

I've just uploaded a newer, much simpler method using the World Settings: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqiapaSshrZ2hqc

[@jeffdavies2824]

Thanks a ton! I googled for an hour before I found this. Extremely helpful information.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Jeff, great to hear that this tutorial helped you out, and thanks for the kind comment. Cheers, Henry

[@nicostadi]

Same here lol...

[@danielstanton9764]

Amazing tutorial, thank you Henry.

[@OlgaTretiakova-u8x]

Thank you! It was very helpful 😍

[@Frank_Swiss]

beaaaaast! thank you so much for this dude

[@squiddyboy4488]

Very good tutorial, every explanation had a method which didn't work and this one did so thank you.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Shrimpy Gaming, thanks for the positive feedback and I'm glad to hear this tutorial helped :) Henry.

[@goggo9]

Great tutorial! could you also make one using a video as background. Possibly while also tweaking its XY offset, scale etc... THANKS

[@benyintube]

Thanks it helps a lot & you have a metallic black & white style and is nice. Why blender did it so hard to render cameras image background ??!

[@kandydavins]

Cool! Been using Dimension for this

[@amrufauzannafis683]

really helpfull, easy to follow, thank you

[@figotheanimator4883]

You have such a nice voice. 💖 Thx for helping me, I've been looking how to do that for so long.

[@Tribitty]

Thanks really helped alot! I subbed to your channel because really helpful tutorials.

[@henryegloff]

Great to hear, and thanks heaps for the feedback / sub :)

[@marespinoza1]

Great tutorial! Thoughtfully and clearly described!

[@gilvanrocha5487]

Obrigado!

[@moodywood4445]

Thank you this worked for blender 2.9 too

[@timijanzacimba1746]

Thanks for this! The clip is very useful.

[@henryegloff]

Cool, thanks for the feedback Timijan :)

[@henryegloff]

I've recently worked out a new simpler technique that does not require nodes. I will upload a video shortly but I have written the steps on my website: henryegloff.com/how-to-render-a-background-image-in-blender-2-8-using-the-document-world-settings/

[@wesleytillman9774]

Thanks, this really helped me render my first background image.

[@faridapsyche8236]

Hi, I don't understand English very well, but your video is so good that it was easy to do it, thanks. Greetings from Mexico.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Farifa, thank you for the kind feedback and I'm glad to hear this tutorial helped you. I was lucky enough to travel around Mexico once and I think it is an amazing country with great friendly people. Greetings all the way from Australia. :)

[@lilianprym3286]

very helpful, thank you

[@Toebiscuit]

Solid gold! Thanks Henry!!!

[@arnoldwarchol]

very useful video, good job :]

[@samuelgauthier7355]

Straight to the point! Awesome.

[@youngnachoz]

Bro you a saint

[@robble21]

Thanks!

[@mezzotint4274]

very useful. great. but really complicated, to render background images

[@henryegloff]

Hi Mezzotint, yes I agree it is complicated and I've since worked out a simpler method using the World settings. I'll upload a new movie soon, but in the meantime I've written the steps on my website: henryegloff.com/how-to-render-a-background-image-in-blender-2-8-using-the-document-world-settings/

[@sinusmagnus2015]

You saved me, thanks ! I was searching this one for a long time

[@henryegloff]

Good to hear, and thanks heaps for the feedback :)

[@hermandaniel4008]

@@henryegloff i need help. how can i do this with 2 images

[@sakana820]

A quick tip for more accurate results- there is an addon from blender(forgot the name) which calculates the exact camera settings on which the image was shot

[@thesippi007]

you mean Fspy?

[@arstan3]

Thank you so much for this♥️

[@stevecowell2415]

Great video, well explained.

[@MrYomaaaan]

Thanks for this, man! Most of the info about this basic form of compositing is dated. Yours was great!

[@Kekkuli9]

Thanks for the turorial, it really helped when I was struggling to get my camera background image to show up in render. Others have already complained that this is too complicated, but I just want to be sure. What's the point of the camera background image -feature in Blender if the image doesn't show up in render? It seems weird that if I want to change my background image I have to change it in two different places, and one of them affects the 3d viewport and the other one affects render.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Kekkuli9, I totally agree. You would think there would be a logical method for this. Perhaps there is and I just haven't found it yet. This is one method I worked out a while ago but I've since worked out a much simpler method using the 'World Settings'. I've got the steps on my website and I will upload a demo of this method to KZbin later this week. henryegloff.com/how-to-render-a-background-image-in-blender-2-8-using-the-document-world-settings/

[@spider007able]

Thank You but how did you learn all of this Its so in depth

[@henryegloff]

Hi Peter, thanks for your feedback. This is a relatively complex method and I just learnt it by watching other tutorials and figuring it out. There is another much simpler method linked to in the description and comments. Cheers, Henry

[@leonpijudo6875]

cant find a tutorial that explains this but with animations. Keep the background static while the camera is moving

[@ti0n676]

Thanks!!

[@bigt.y3085]

Thanks bro helped !!

[@marks7502]

Thanks

[@superdirt2]

In fact, the two methods creates really different results, both with different properties. Especially if you are working with reflecting surfaces. E.g.: 1. In this method, the background image IS NOT reflected by the reflecting materials. 2. The background is the (unaltered) original image.

[@Rexas5]

Thank you very much

[@da-drifter967]

Thank you, now could you do a tutorial on how to render a video file?

[@henryegloff]

Hi Shane, thanks for the feedback and suggestion. A while ago I realised that without covering the export to video part most of my tutorials were incomplete. I guess that at the time I thought that focusing on the specific technique would be best. I will aim to create a tutorial about rendering video soon and will incorporate a link to this at the end my videos.

[@gareth3d434]

thank you so much I have literally been trying for days thank you p.s I dropped alike

[@henryegloff]

Hey gh gaming, no worries at all, and thanks heaps for the feedback. Glad to hear that the demo helped you. Cheers, Henry

[@henryegloff]

P.S. I've also got the other simpler method using the Document World settings. (link in description).

[@sky-flyroos6150]

Hi, thanks for posting this video, but,,,,when i tryed (following the video step by step ) blender 2.8 btw. the backgound would not be moutned when render.. ??

[@papalla_021]

I don't know why but the camera preview and the rendered image doesn't match. They are slightly different, how can I solve this?

[@saltyscrimp]

Thank you for the tutorial.

[@Popfictn]

Super helpful, thanks!

[@ProXun]

THANK YOUUUUUU

[@Deusex-s8f]

it's really helpful ✔👌

[@farida3d625]

tysm this really helped

[@dani_em_96]

Thanks, you helped me a lot !

[@enochdollar-bill3306]

Ur a good man

[@spynorbays]

Thanks mate!

[@signpost6776]

Thanks a lot this was a very helpful tutorial as i dont have photoshop to add backgrounds in :))

[@brunolibano6513]

Hi. Did you removed the video background image without using nodes?

[@henryegloff]

Hi Bruno, I'm not sure if this will help, but in the description there is a link to another method that does not use nodes.

[@captainannaHK]

I followed your step, to add background for my animation. At camera, I can see the background.. But after I rendered, no background is shown. Please teach me how can I show the background when rendering animation. Thank you.

[@henryegloff]

Hi CaptainAnna, I'm not sure why it is not working. Currently the only thing I would suggest is to try the other simpler method linked in the description. I hope this helps.

[@captainannaHK]

@@henryegloffIt worked! I viewed in render mode and I could see the background image! I am a beginner! Thank you.

[@henryegloff]

@@captainannaHK Great to hear and thanks for the update :)

[@captainannaHK]

@@henryegloff If I want to take a video with rotation, can I make the background image as if it is inside a cylinder, that mean, I can see the background image, no matter from front view and top view? Thank you.

[@henryegloff]

@@captainannaHKSorry, but that is not something I know how to do... - It sounds fairly tricky.

[@elis.9862]

wow this really helped *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

[@henryegloff]

That's great to hear. Thanks heaps for the feedback.

[@maxwellsvoboda3666]

Thanks man

[@Kazla_Design]

Hi. Thanks for that it works great, but does not in Blender 2.81 when switching to Cycles Engine...

[@patryk091183]

Hey, same here. Did you maybe solve this problem?

[@Kazla_Design]

@@patryk091183 yes, just wait for the last square to be rendered, then the background image shows up

[@HCGJohn]

Is it also possible to project reflections if you have a glossy surface in the image?

[@henryegloff]

Yes, that's definitely possible. Commonly people use something like an hdri image for the reflection as well as the background image. This would require a different technique though, so if you're interested in that you could try searching along the lines of 'blender hdri background reflection' or just 'blender reflections' etc. There should be plenty of tutorials available for this. You could also reflect a non hdri image too, however in my experience that is a much trickier process and it is harder to make it look like a realistic reflection.

[@jorgemdahuar]

OMG, thank you, thank you, thank youuuuu!!!

[@patryk091183]

Thanks for tutorial. It's helpful. Going a little bit further, Is it possible to adjust manually size and displacement of background image in render? I would like to render different background for different cameras in project.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Patryk, that's a really good question... As far as adjusting the size and displacement of the background image, that is something I haven't yet considered and off the top of my head I can't think of a straight forward way to do that as the options in the World settings are relatively limited... Curiously I did a tutorial previously using a method of attaching the background image to the camera, (rather than the world settings as shown in this demonstration). I decided that using the World settings was a better method just because it was simpler and did not involve using nodes, however applying the background image to the camera sounds more in line with what you are after, and in theory you may be able to change the scale of the background image via the scaling node. Here is a link to this method: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqmunYN4lseLn8U. Otherwise please keep me posted if this is useful for you, or not.

[@patryk091183]

@@henryegloff , I tried to find some solution And found this: blender.stackexchange.com/questions/81705/how-to-change-world-background-based-on-active-camera?noredirect=1 After few hours I got something similar. Basically I use World settings just to lightning (form hrd image) and I had the same image as in the World for render background, attached in the way you're showing in your video. Instead one node path to alpha over and Composite, I made 8 (all form one background image, same as in the World settings). Every single camera has Transform (-for scale and rotation), Scale (for x and y coordinates) and if needed Flip nodes after background image. When I change camera in scene, I'm attaching the right path to Alpha Over. I tried to do make it working automatically with Pyton and different Values for different cameras. But it worked only for two cameras, the third had wrong background. Maybe after some good analysis and creating correct logic path it would work. But for rendering single images one after another this is enough. The reason I use background image instead World background is scale. I'm making some shots from far with 300 mm lens. And with that settings, the object is really small comparing with background and in camera you just see a small section of it.

[@shawnhollahan590]

Good tutorial but matching perspective is an essential step you left out

[@alin.morosanu]

This is really usefull. Thank you!

[@rinaroychowdhury6590]

Thank uu!! U just saved my worthless life

[@henryegloff]

All good, and glad to hear this helped you. And thanks for the feedback :)

[@SD_Alias]

Interesting, but how can I place the plane that it matches the perspective of the floor in the picture perfectly? That is necessary if I want to place a desk or other furniture in perspective correct order and not just an object without straight corners hovering above the floor.

[@monkeytownfilms6240]

Thanks very much. A great help. :)

[@sub-bot1235]

nice! bro!!

[@petsandmyths]

Yesss thank you!!!

[@henryegloff]

Hi petsandmyths, I'm sorry to hear that. The only thing I think of is to double check the film settings. Otherwise you may even want to check out my simpler method that does not use nodes and includes the background image via the World settings: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqiapaSshrZ2hqc. The step by steps for this tutorial on my website may also help (see link in description)

[@tintacrua1726]

ThanKs!

[@hotbergina]

thanks. how to change the opacity of the pic please

[@rocketman1969]

Where he says change Alpha, it's now called Opacity

[@MrWozOSRS]

i done everything you said, but my background doesn't show up in render..

[@henryegloff]

I know it's a bit of a pain now, but there is a newer and simpler tutorial listed in the description which might help...

[@bryanmiller841]

Thank you you finally solved my issue 🙏

[@ti0n676]

You helped me Thank!

[@sjoerdvisser]

thank you!

[@improfilmimalev]

Thank You, Henry! :)

[@davidroddick91]

Thanks to your video I have now been able to render the background into my scene. But my animation has 3 cameras, each of which uses a different background image. Yet this method puts a single background image on all my cameras. Is there a way I can put a different image on each camera, so the render looks the way it does in the viewport?

[@henryegloff]

Hi David, that is a very question. Using this technique with multiple cameras is something I haven't tried yet so sorry I do not know the solution for you. If by chance you figure it out could you please post it in another comment here.

[@juancarlosaguirre892]

thanks

[@mutedsounds2k]

Great tutorial. Now the question is... What about REFLECTIONS? Say that Suzanne has a mirror finish, such a high gloss metal. The room (walls, ceiling, floor) wouldn't obviously be reflected, since there isn't anything but the background image. So, you'll probably need and HDRI image which matches the background picture. OR a set of images to replicate the walls, ceiling and floor. Some of which with HOLES, to let some light pass through (or use an emission object - or a texture - for that).

[@henryegloff]

Hi Luca, thanks for the feedback. That's a great question, and I'm now inspired try and figure that one out... I'm a bit tied up at the moment but I'll post back here as soon as I find anything...

[@henryegloff]

I had a quick go following on with this tutorial and got quite a good result: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIelnJ2VfpKChM0. - However in this case if you want to have really accurate reflections it would be best if the background was an HDRI image, and this would most likely change other things setup in this tutorial. I found that with a non HDRI image (like the one I used in this demo) I still got a reasonably good result so long as my object was only partially reflective and the reflection did not need to be super accurate. I also found it easier to test all this out with an image that had more colours in it than the one I used in this demo.

[@mutedsounds2k]

@@henryegloff I guess the solution would be using BLAM or a similar add-on for B 2.8x and match the perspective. Then build a cubic room and unwrap by using project from view

[@henryegloff]

@@mutedsounds2k Yes, this sounds like a good solution. Incidentally, a Blender expert told me that apparently a way a lot of people deal with background images is to apply them to empty objects and position them as actual objects in the the scene. I wasn't drawn to this approach because I find it tedious trying to align the objects and it seems non intuitive. I guess at least this way the background image is part of the environment. Another advantage is that you don't have to setup the nodes etc.

[@sonicfan9144]

Okay, it worked, but my background image doesn't cover up the whole frame in the render. My background image covers some of the frame, but the rest of the frame, other than my meshes, is nothing but black.

[@henryegloff]

Hi Sonic, I could be wrong but it sounds like maybe the render dimensions are different to the background image dimensions. That would cause a problem like you describe. If so I would recommended resizing / cropping the background image to match the render dimensions before bringing it into Blender.

[@KilocityYT]

Thank you.

[@ddkell8]

Would this also apply for panoramas? Would there be any changes to the tutorial that type of image?

[@henryegloff]

Hi Justin, I'm not 100% sure about this, but generally I believe you would use a different method if you have a panoramic image, say something like a 360 degree / HDRI image. I haven't checked this just now but I believe you would use a method similar to the method linked to in the description or the comment below, that uses the world settings rather than the camera settings. If you have an HDRI image you also have the advantage of being more easily able to reflect the environment on your objects. You should be able to find tutorials specifically about this. I hope this helps. Henry

[@AstronomicalMike]

Hey! Do you have any tips or direction for doing the opposite? ie taking a photo of a person, cut out and putting them in a rendered space?

[@henryegloff]

Hey thanksmike, I think the best way to do that would be to use the image as plane method. There are lots of demos online for how to do this. I haven't reviewed this particular demo, but here is an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3_YhJKYmbhrr5Y. One thing you have to mindful of is that depending on how you set it up your image plane object may catch shadows and lights etc in the 3D space. Otherwise as far as I know a lot of people apparently prefer this method, even for background images. I hope it works for you.

[@EdgardoPlasencia]

Too many steps ! Still it was the only tutorial that helped me. Thanks !

[@SonictheHedgehogInRealLife]

How do you make the image clear i added a pixel art background and its really blurry?

[@henryegloff]

Hi DarkBehindFlat, sorry if I have this wrong, but perhaps your image is in low resolution and maybe it is appearing blurry when enlarged? If this is the case then I would try to get my hands on a version of the image with higher resolution. I have found that sometimes you can get a higher resolution version of an image by doing an image search and uploading the image. Otherwise I'm not sure what is going here.... If the original image that you have is sharp then something weird is going on... It would be useful to know what it is and again sorry I can't help right now. If you figure it out, or have more info, could you please post a reply. Cheers, Henry

[@burdegg1880]

Thx

[@MisterFishChannel]

thank u

[@chrispaskins5908]

Is there a way to export a glb file with a background? They always come out as transparent

[@henryegloff]

Hi Chris, that is something I haven't tried yet... If you figure it out, please keep us posted. :) Henry

[@tszabon]

Colors of the backround image in the render are much flatter than original image, how to fix that?