User Guide
Hướng dẫn sử dụng

1. Save the .blend file, then run Project → Check → Scan.
2. Create or select a Camera, set Room and Position, then use Smart Name and Sync Name.
3. Build the shared lighting baseline in the Lighting tab.
4. Finish structure is shared by every Camera: after you add a Composite Layer, build Surface Mix or change a Finish stage, choose Capture Current on the Camera you are looking through before switching. Capture pushes the new structure to every other Camera; their own values and lighting stay untouched.
5. For each Camera, choose Inherit or tune its rig and choose Capture Current.
6. Open Finish, enable Compositing and build Grade if requested.
7. Render from bCycles Boost, then finish the image in Render Result → bCompositeFx.
8. Export from Output using a deliverable preset.

Requirements

• Blender 5.2 LTS on Windows 64-bit.
• Internet access for activation and lease renewal.
• Access to the email address used for the BlenderVN purchase. Each add-on keeps its own Machine ID-bound lease.

Install or update

1. Save your work and close every Blender window.
2. Open Blender → Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions.
3. Open the menu and choose Install from Disk….
4. Select the original signed ZIP. Do not extract it.
5. Enable Blendervn Composite and restart Blender.

Activate

In Preferences, enable Online Access and choose Connect BlenderVN Account or Activate Composite. Keep Blender open. Enter the purchase email on the activation page, click GỬI LINK KÍCH HOẠT, then open the one-use link from your inbox. Confirm Composite, the machine and the eight-character code, and click DUYỆT THIẾT BỊ NÀY. Return to Blender and check that Preferences says Composite is activated. No Google sign-in or license key is required for this flow.

Email links expire after 15 minutes and pairing codes after 10 minutes. If pairing expires, Cancel and Connect again in Blender. Use Open Browser if the browser did not open. Check License, Manage Machines, Test Server and Machine ID / Copy provide account diagnostics. Follow Signed lease valid until in Preferences; Purchase Code (V2 fallback) is only for legacy migration.

To change computers, use Deactivate This Machine on the old computer, then activate on the new one. Manage Machines can help release an inaccessible device. Deactivation releases Composite's slot only; it is not required for an ordinary update.

If the old standalone bCycles Boost is installed, disable it and restart. Composite already includes Boost.

Find the installed version

1. Open Edit → Preferences → Add-ons, search for Composite, enable it if needed and expand its entry.
2. Read Blendervn Composite v… at the top of the add-on preferences. This guide describes version 1.9.269.
3. The separate bCycles Boost Render 3.0.9 integrated in Render Properties line identifies the included Boost component. Its version is independent of Composite and the downloadable AI Pack.

Check for a newer release

Open the Composite Store page, compare its release number with the installed version and read the release notes. Download through your BlenderVN account when an update is available to you.

Check License refreshes the signed license and can report a required update. It does not download or install a ZIP. Version 1.9.269 has no separate automatic update/download button in its preferences.

Update and confirm

Save your project, close Blender, then reopen it and use Preferences → Get Extensions → Install from Disk… to install the new ZIP. Close every Blender window and reopen once more. Return here and confirm both the new Composite version and Composite is activated.

Activate this computer

1. In Composite's add-on preferences, find BlenderVN Account. Enable Blender's Online Access if activation asks for it.
2. Click Connect BlenderVN Account. If the account is already connected, the button reads Activate Composite.
3. Keep Blender open. Under Approve this device in the browser, note Code; use Copy or Open Browser when needed.
4. On the website, enter the purchase email, click GỬI LINK KÍCH HOẠT and open the verification link in your inbox. Check the product, device and eight-character code, then click DUYỆT THIẾT BỊ NÀY.
5. Return to Preferences and wait for Composite is activated. Check the Account email. If the status is stale, click Check License after the pending operation finishes.

The email link lasts 15 minutes; the device pairing code lasts 10 minutes. If either expires, choose Cancel in Blender and connect again to start a fresh request.

Read the account status

Preferences item	Meaning and next step
Composite is activated	Composite is activated on this machine.
Signed lease valid until	Expiry of the current signed validation, not the purchase date or proof that ownership has ended. Connect to the internet and use Check License to refresh it.
Devices in use: … / …	Used and allowed machine slots, displayed when the server provides them.
Working…	An account operation is running. Wait for it to finish.
Trial	Trial access is separate from paid activation. Complete account activation after purchasing.

Tools and changing computers

• Check License: recheck and refresh the license.
• Test Server: diagnose the HTTPS connection. A successful connection test alone does not activate Composite.
• Manage Machines: open your account to review licensed computers. Use it if the old computer is inaccessible or the device limit is reached.
• Machine ID → Copy: copy the computer identifier when support requests it.
• Deactivate This Machine: release this computer's Composite slot before changing computers. Other BlenderVN add-ons keep their own activation.

Purchase Code (V2 fallback) is for legacy migration support. Use email activation for the normal flow. If your older purchase-code license is active, the Upgrade button connects it to the account activation flow.

Main Sidebar

In 3D Viewport press N, open bCompositeFx, then Blendervn Composite. Use Beginner for core actions or Pro for advanced controls. The five work tabs are Model, Camera, Lighting, Finish and Project.

Preferences

• Actual add-on and integrated Boost status.
• Camera Cards shortcut and conflict report.
• Interface Theme: Dark/Product judging surround, Apply Now and Restore Previous.
• Online License and Machine ID tools.
• Global HDRI Library Folder.
• User Guide opens this bundled file without Internet.

Camera Cards shortcut

The add-on chooses the first available candidate: Ctrl+Alt+X, Alt+Shift+X, then F9/F8/F7/F6. It never overwrites a conflicting user shortcut. Read the actual assignment in Preferences or on the Camera Cards button.

Compositor setup

If requested, choose Enable Compositing and Build Grade. Use Interactive/Live Preview to see changes, and Repair Wiring (keep look) when an artist-edited graph is no longer connected correctly. After upgrading an older file, this explicit Repair action also migrates a legacy saved output only when it still belongs to the current Finish graph; automatic Camera switching never guesses or rebinds it.

Current Look

Choose Product, Archviz, Interior or Night, then Apply Look. Treat it as a starting point, not a locked preset.

WB — White Balance

• Eyedropper Balance, Balance from Viewport or Balance from Render.
• Temperature, Tint, Strength, Highlight Warmth and Shadow Coolness.
• Advanced pick radius, midtone and warm/cool split.

Sample a neutral area that is not clipped and not strongly color-reflective.

Grade

• Profile, Balance Strength, Hue, Saturation, Vibrance and Contrast.
• Shadows, Midtones, Highlights and Exposure EV.
• Levels: choose Master, Red, Green or Blue for Input Black, Gamma and Input White; Master also owns Output Black/White. These controls have draggable slider tracks and still accept precise numeric entry. Black/gray/white eyedroppers sample the Viewport or Render Result. Black Influence and White Influence independently blend their own samples from 0-100%; Gray Influence remains separate; a manual RGB Levels edit retires that sample to protect the newer adjustment. Preserve HDR keeps negative values and super-whites; Photoshop Clamp clips outside the chosen input range. Auto Range stretches robust endpoints. Clear Image also balances the median with bounded Gamma at 85% strength for a cleaner result. Both automatic actions use the existing Render Result or Viewer and never start a render. Use Detail Clarity separately for local contrast.
• RGB Curves, Hue Correct and Color Balance.
• Mood, snapshot/restore, reset and Scopes.
• Reference Match with Strength, Luminance, Color Intensity, Neutralize and Protect Highlights.

Legacy Tone Engine is preserved for old looks. Upgrade creates a backup. Do not delete the old chain before approving the new look.

LUT

Choose from 24 documented bundled Looks or a User LUT (.cube). Use Recommended applies the measured starting Mix; Manual Mix remains an unrestricted 0–100% artist control. Only Mix is keyframeable for animation—Look, source profile, input domain and Protect stay static so a shot cannot switch color identity mid-render. Protect is optional and shows both requested and effective Mix when its safety cap is active. Set the correct input domain and review the full shot whenever clipping, cross-channel or animation-caution guidance appears.

Glow

Control style, intensity, soft bloom, threshold, radius, softness, halation, sparkle and optical rays. Preview is for speed; approve the final at full resolution.

Lens

Use Clarity, Sharpen and Chromatic carefully. High sharpening reveals noise and creates halos on straight edges and fine textures.

Quick Camera

• Camera Cards, Lock Camera to View and Transparent.
• Cycles Transparent Glass and roughness threshold when available.
• Previous Camera, + Shot and Next Camera.
• Local Camera, Safe Frame and Refresh View Controls.

Camera list and Cards

Filter by scope, Room and Position. Cards show the active Camera, renderable state, local grade count, lighting status and focal length. A Camera disabled for render is excluded from Batch Shots.

Frame

Click Subject → Aim + DOF, Target, Track, Frame, Focus and composition guides. Set Room and Position. Smart Name proposes an editable local name; Sync Name aligns Camera Object, Camera Data, Shot Profile and add-on-owned markers.

Recommended pattern: BVN_Room_Position_Purpose_01.

Lens and Focus

Set lens type, focal length, shift, clip range, passepartout, DOF target, F-stop and focus distance. A dedicated Empty target is more stable than repeatedly typing distance.

Keys

Key Camera inserts Transform + Lens. Use Move, Lens or Focus for one channel group, and Key All when a deliberate focus pull is required. Previous/Next navigates only this Camera's Action slots; Remove deletes only the chosen group at the current frame. Motion provides Push/Pull, Truck, Pedestal, Orbit and Dolly Zoom. Choose a per-Camera 3s or 5s duration (automatically converted using Scene FPS), or Custom frames, then choose Cinematic, Soft, Linear or artist-owned Custom timing. Enable Track Target to keep any move aimed at the selected subject. Preview Shot Range explicitly maps this Camera's saved timing to Blender's Preview Range. Camera animation never switches Camera Cards or captures a Shot Profile. Background Plates, AI images and screen-space masks stay in image space, so review them across the animation.

Output

Store per-camera resolution, percentage, X/Y, orientation and sensor preset with Store Cam Res / Load Cam Res. Viewport EV (F-stop, shutter, ISO) is Scene-wide; it is not automatically private per Camera.

Advanced

Drone, Portal, Camera Set, nudge/orbit, vertical correction, Mirror, Dolly Zoom, bookmarks, Shot Setup, Product Frame/Turntable and Shot Tools.

Identity

A Shot Profile is keyed by the Camera stable UID and View Layer. Names are for humans; the UID is the identity. Rename and Sync instead of deleting/recreating a Camera just to fix its label.

Lighting states

State	Meaning
Captured	A private lighting setup is stored.
Inherit	The Camera uses the shared Scene baseline.
Recapture	The current rig no longer matches the stored setup.
Unsupported	An external, animated or artist-owned controller cannot be restored safely.
Missing/New	Stored lights disappeared or new lights were added.

What Capture stores

Supported lights store energy, exposure, color, shape, world transform/rotation, supported target transforms and owned Track To state. It stores the light angle, not only its power. Light visibility remains artist-owned and Camera navigation does not change it.

For the native BVN World mixer and the current Multi Library Smart HDRI rig, Capture also stores per-Camera HDRI Lighting on/off where available, rotation/angle, environment intensity and the supported scalar blur, exposure and color controls. Image paths and camera-background sources remain outside Shot ownership. Invalid or incompatible providers fail closed without a partial World write.

Safe Camera switching

Camera Cards are navigation only. They never create or update a Shot Profile, and opening, registering or saving a file never runs Capture. If the current Shot has uncaptured changes, the requested Camera becomes active but the live look, World and lighting stay unchanged; use Capture on the current Shot first. While the lights on screen still belong to another Camera, the Lighting box says so and Capture Current turns into Adopt with a confirmation, so a captured setup is never overwritten by accident. If the target profile is missing or invalid, the Camera still becomes active, no target state is applied, and the existing warning directs you to Repair & Sync Profiles. During rendering, only the latest requested Camera is retained and applied after rendering finishes.

Correct workflow

1. Build the shared baseline.
2. Activate Camera A, tune its lights and Capture Current.
3. Activate Camera B. Choose Inherit, or tune and Capture Current.
4. Switch A → B → A and verify position, rotation, power, color and target.
5. Test-render every Camera before Batch Shots.

Transfer

• Copy Look: global post look only.
• Copy Full: look, selective grades, plate, AI image, lighting and snapshots; confirmation required.
• Copy Layers to Cameras: selective grade layers only.

Repair & Sync Profiles

Preview and repair duplicate UIDs, name drift and missing profiles. Reassign only to a unique valid Camera in the current Scene. Archive invalid or duplicate profiles instead of deleting them silently; archived profiles can be restored.

Lights

• Light Desk: On/Off, Solo, Key/Fill/Rim roles, create Area/role lights and filters.
• Selected Light: intensity, color, Kelvin, exposure, size, softness, spread, Sun angle or Spot cone.
• Physical Falloff (Cycles): Point, Spot and Area lights can use Real/Quadratic inverse-square decay, or explicit Linear/Constant artistic modes. Strength and near-light Smooth remain editable; Camera Lighting Capture retains these managed controls.
• Target, Aim, Track, Move to Camera, diffuse/shadow/specular/falloff controls.
• Light Linking: add/remove/clear/select receiver objects.

BVN Off, All BVN, Orphans, Rename and Organize can affect many objects. Save a backup first.

World

Environment Lighting and Camera Background are separate. Lighting has strength, rotation, exposure, temperature, tint, saturation, contrast, luminance compensation, horizon, clamp and diffuse/glossy blur. Camera Background can use the same environment, a separate image or a solid color with its own grade and blur.

Set the HDRI folder, browse Previous/Next, Refresh World, Auto Lighting and Ground Shadow Catcher.

Sun

Create/select the primary Sun; use Morning/Noon/Sunset/Soft presets or manual azimuth/altitude. Geographic mode supports location, latitude, longitude, timezone, date, time and North. Sky settings include density, haze, ozone and altitude. Detect or mute duplicate Suns.

FX

Use Fill/Spec placement, White BG, Lighting Recipes, IES, Gobo, click-to-place Fill Point, Emissive Mixer and Light Mix snapshots. Replace and Clear operations change the rig broadly; save first.

Presets

• Library: folder, Load, Save New, optional World/Lights/Cycles and pack import/export.
• LUT: export the current grade as a reusable LUT. Glow, masks and lighting are not part of a LUT.
• Farm: Bake for Farm, Load Embedded, Project Default and Auto-load on file open.

Check

Scan the project, read its score and top issues, then use targeted Fix actions. Disconnected nodes are selected and reported; harmless artist nodes are not silently deleted. Rebuild Grade/Glow/Polish and Enable Compositing restore the managed chain.

Prep

Scan Project is read-only. Safe Clean performs limited cleanup. Deep Clean requires confirmation and a backup.

Scene Setup Finish

Review Workflow and Active Camera, then use Prepare Finish, Repair Wiring (keep look), View Result and Original/Finish comparison. Pass Coverage, Role Light Mix and Surface Mix prepare the data needed after rendering.

Boost policy

• Preview, Final or High; Final and High support Auto/Interior/Exterior/Product/Large.
• Choose High to show Protect, Boost and Custom. Still and Animation use separate High baselines. Protect keeps stronger artist quality and Boost applies the measured baseline exactly.
• Custom is fully artist-owned. Boost does not write Sampling, Denoise, Light Paths, animation seed, alpha, or performance values; edit them directly in Blender's native panels.
• Requested device Auto/GPU/CPU/GPU+CPU.
• Apply Profile is used by Protect/Boost. Custom renders the current artist settings and needs no quality Apply step.

GPU+CPU is experimental and can be slower than one strong GPU. It can also disable texture cache.

Rendering

• Boost only: current camera, lighting and output; it does not auto-Capture or reload the Camera Card.
• Boost Animation: animation lane.
• Batch Shots: choose Still, review every eligible Camera and its captured setup, then run the batch. Retry Restore retains recovery data until restoration succeeds.
• Cancel stops after the current shot; Esc in the Render window stops the current shot immediately.
• Resume/Retry Failed uses the saved manifest.
• A missing texture file no longer stops a render. Boost names the object, the material and the path, offers Find Missing Files, and renders that surface magenta — exactly as Blender does. Animation and Batch Shots list every missing file and ask before they start.

Dashboard and local AI

Dashboard lists exact setting changes, memory/noise/scatter risks and expert Sampling & Memory controls. Local AI offers SPAN x2 Fast and Real-ESRGAN x4 Quality with Fidelity/Crisp comparison. Images are processed locally and are not uploaded. Texture Recreate requires the ai8 pack.

Open Image Editor → Render Result, press N, then choose bCompositeFx. The stages are RESULT, LOOK, MIX and OUTPUT.

Result owner lock

A Render Result belongs to one Camera. If the panel shows Result: Camera A · Active: Camera B, post controls lock to prevent editing the wrong shot. Render Camera B or reactivate Camera A.

RESULT

• Background Plate per Camera + View Layer: load, pack, transform, grade, blur and opacity behind a transparent render.
• Composite Layers for Object/Material/Asset/Cryptomatte, with reorder, duplicate, solo, blend modes and HDR Blend If.
• Masks: choose Linear, Circle, Ellipse, Depth, Luma, Sky, Color, Height or Paint directly from the visible icon toolbar; combine Add/Subtract/Intersect.
• Adjustment Recipes: editable eight-range HSL Mixer, camera-local Dodge & Burn paint pair, and Z-pass Depth Dehaze.
• Adjust, RGB Curves, Reflection Follow, Bloom & Glare, Show Mask and Only On.
• Local AI, Denoise Mix, firefly cleanup, clarity, sharpen and chromatic controls.
• Save Session Render, Go Live, Keep Saved, Resume, Unfreeze and Forget.

LOOK

Tone & Color, Reference Match, Creative LUT and Photoreal Finish: Highlight Rolloff, Material Response, Depth Atmosphere, Lens Character and Realism Inspector.

MIX

Surface Mix adjusts Cycles components in scene-linear EV; 0 EV is neutral. Role Light Mix adjusts Key/Fill/Rim EV and tint, with mute, solo and snapshots. Role Light Mix requires Light Groups and a new render.

Pass delivery

Choose a Layers & Passes profile and enable recommended passes before rendering. Use 32-bit ZIP-compressed Multi-Layer EXR for pass delivery.

Deliverable presets

• Client Review: JPEG, long edge 2560, quality 92.
• Print/Archive: 16-bit PNG, full resolution, alpha when transparent.
• Web/Social: JPEG, long edge 2048, quality 88.

If the export folder is blank, the add-on uses a Deliverables folder next to the saved .blend file. Save the project first and open one exported file before handing it over.

Black Camera or models disappear

1. Confirm the Camera belongs to the current Scene.
2. Temporarily disable Local Camera and choose Refresh View Controls.
3. Select the Camera again from the list or Cards.
4. Check Clip Start/End and render/viewport visibility.
5. Run Repair & Sync Profiles. Never reassign to an outside-Scene Camera.

Camera Cards shortcut does nothing

Read the actual assigned shortcut in Preferences. Shift+Alt+X is not guaranteed. The panel button always remains available.

Red Result/Active line

The displayed result is stale for the active Camera. Render the active Camera; do not reset the shot just to remove the message.

Invalid Camera Profiles

Use Repair & Sync Profiles. Reassign to one valid unique Camera in the current Scene, or Archive the unused profile.

Missing Area / Unexpected Sun

The rig changed after Capture. Restore the missing light or use Inherit. Adopt/Capture again only when the current rig is intentional.

Capture does not restore a light angle

Check animation, drivers, external controllers, Track To target and Unsupported status. Capture again for the correct Camera and View Layer, then verify by switching away and back.

Cannot change Scene

Select the target Scene first, then a Camera owned by that Scene. Disable Local Camera and Refresh View Controls. Do not use an Outside current Scene profile.

Finish is missing or unchanged

Enable Compositing, Prepare Finish/Build Grade, Repair Wiring (keep look), enable Live Preview and confirm you are viewing Finish rather than Original. If Repair refuses a legacy output, keep the warning and inspect the artist output nodes instead of repeatedly rebuilding or deleting them.

Missing passes

Enable the recommended pass and render again. A pass cannot be reconstructed from an old result that never contained it.

AI pack or license unavailable

Install the requested ai7/ai8 pack, check disk space and restart when requested. For license issues, Test License Server, verify Windows date/time, copy Machine ID and Manage Machines.

Before batch or delivery

• The .blend file is saved with a clear version.
• Active Scene, Camera and View Layer are correct.
• Every Camera has a unique name; Object/Data/Profile are synchronized.
• Every Camera lighting state is intentionally Captured or Inherit.
• No unexplained Missing/New/Unsupported status remains.
• Per-camera resolution is stored and verified.
• Finish and Original comparison is approved.
• Required passes are enabled and a new render exists.
• Output path exists and has enough free space.
• A small batch test and a 100% image inspection have passed.

Proof of per-camera lighting

1. Create Camera A and B in one Scene.
2. For A, place Key left and Capture.
3. For B, rotate Key right, change power and Capture.
4. Switch A → B → A and verify transform, rotation, power, color and target.
5. Save a copy, reopen it and repeat the switch.
6. Render A and B and confirm Result ownership changes correctly.

• Capture only when the current Camera and rig are correct.
• Adopt is intentional overwrite, not warning cleanup.
• Use Inherit for the shared baseline.
• Repair & Sync before manually deleting Camera profiles.
• Render again after enabling new passes.
• Back up before Deep Clean, Replace Recipe or Copy Full.
• LUT, AI and Boost do not replace correct lighting and materials.