blender · HeyBraza shows you
why is my blender render black
HeyBraza watches your screen, spots which black-render cause is yours, and points at the exact setting to flip.
hitting f12 and getting a pure black image is one of blender's most common scares - and it's almost always one of a few fixable causes, not a real bug. usually it's no light, the wrong camera, or a transparency setting. here's how to tell which is yours and fix it fast.
or do it yourself
- 1check you have a light - add one with 'add' menu > light > sun, since cycles and eevee render black without one.
- 2make sure the camera is pointed at your object - press numpad 0 to look through it and confirm the scene is framed.
- 3if only the background is black, open render properties (camera icon) > film and untick 'transparent' unless you actually want a cutout.
- 4if you turned on 'transparent', save as png and view it somewhere that shows alpha - black often just means the viewer ignores transparency.
- 5still black? check the compositor - a leftover node (or 'use nodes' with nothing connected) can override the whole image; disable 'use nodes' to test.
let HeyBraza do this with you
HeyBraza is a tiny on-screen guide that points at the right buttons and talks you through it, on windows and mac.
downloadcommon questions
why is my whole blender render black?
usually no light in the scene, the camera facing the wrong way, or the wrong render engine - add a light and check numpad 0 first.
why is only the background black?
film > transparent is probably on, or a compositor node is overriding it; turn transparent off or check the compositor.