Blender Raster Editor

Blender Raster Editor is a powerful add-on that introduces a non-destructive, layer-based workflow directly into Blender's 3D Viewport.

Designed specifically for hand-painting textures, annotating scenes, and rotoscoping video files, this tool generates a smart, managed material node tree behind the scenes. This gives you Photoshop-like layer control while maintaining all of Blender's native 3D and painting capabilities.

🚀 Key Features

• Non-Destructive Layer System: Create, duplicate, reorder, and remove layers seamlessly. The add-on dynamically builds the underlying shader graph for you.
• Industry-Standard Blending Modes: Full support for 19 blend modes including Multiply, Overlay, Color Burn, Dodge, Screen, and more, alongside per-layer Opacity sliders.
• Layer Masks: Easily add black-and-white mask images to any layer to hide or reveal painted areas non-destructively.
• Video & Sequence Rotoscoping: Load .mp4 files or image sequences directly into a layer. The add-on automatically handles frame refresh rates, allowing you to paint over or annotate playing videos.
• Smart Baking (Merge Visible): Flatten your entire layer stack into a single, clean texture image with a single click using an automated Cycles-based baking process.
• Targeted Painting: Instantly switch your active painting target between the base layer image and its associated mask using intuitive UI toggles.
• Canvas Utilities: Automatically frame a perfect 2D Orthographic Camera around your canvas, and intelligently resize all layers (using Python's numpy) by adding empty space without stretching your artwork.

📋 Requirements

• Blender Version: 4.0.0 or higher.
• Dependencies: Python numpy module (included in standard Blender installations).

🛠️ Installation

1. Click on Code > Download ZIP to download the repository.
2. Open Blender and navigate to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons.
3. Click Install..., locate your downloaded .zip file, and click Install Add-on.
4. Enable the add-on by checking the box next to Paint: Blender Raster Editor.
5. In the 3D Viewport, press N to open the Sidebar and select the Paint Layers tab.

📖 How to Use

Setup & Organization

1. Initialize Canvas: Click Create Canvas to generate a pre-configured 3D plane and the underlying managed material.
2. Add Layers: Click Add Layer to start stacking textures. Use the folder icon to load existing images or videos, or click the "New" icon to create a blank texture for hand-painting.
3. Adjust Layers: Use the arrows to move layers up or down, the duplicate button to copy them, and adjust the Blend Mode and Opacity from the dropdowns below each layer name.

Painting & Masking

1. Select Target: Click the Brush icon next to a layer's name to set it as the active paint target.
2. Using Masks: Click Add Mask on a layer. To paint on the mask (black hides, white reveals), click the Brush icon on the mask row.
3. Paint Settings: At the bottom of the panel, when in Texture Paint mode, you'll find quick access to your brush Radius, Strength, and Color.

Finalizing

• Apply Opacity: If opacity changes don't immediately update in the viewport due to Blender cache, click Apply Opacity to force a refresh.
• Merge Visible: Once you are happy with your artwork, click Merge to bake all visible layers into a new, flattened image. (Note: This process uses the Cycles render engine).

⚠️ Known Limitations

Due to Blender's underlying engine and architecture, keep the following constraints in mind:

• Baking Performance: The Merge Visible operation uses the Cycles rendering engine to bake the texture. Merging many high-resolution layers may take several seconds and temporarily freeze the interface.
• Opacity Update Lag: Slider adjustments for layer Opacity may sometimes require triggering the Apply Opacity button or moving the viewport camera to force a visual update in the EEVEE shader graph.
• Node Tree Management: The material's Shader Editor node tree is fully managed inside a warning frame (LAYER_MANAGER_FRAME). Manual edits to these nodes will be overwritten or cause the system to break.
• Viewport Only: The layer system operates purely through shader nodes. You cannot apply these layered edits to standard images outside the 3D viewport without performing a "Merge Visible" bake first.

📄 License

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). See the LICENSE file for more details.