Viewport Background Dialog

Viewport Background Dialog

Views menu - Viewport Background - Viewport Background - Viewport Background dialog
Click or right-click the Shading viewport label.-Shading viewport label menu - Viewport Background - Viewport Background- Viewport Background dialog
Keyboard - Alt+B

The Viewport Background dialog controls display of an image or animation as the background for one or all viewports. You can use this for modeling, for example, by placing front, top or side view sketches in the corresponding viewports. Or use Viewport background to match 3D elements with digitized camera footage, or for rotoscoping.

You select the image or animation to display in the active viewport, set the frame synchronization between the animated image file and the current scene, and turn the assigned image on and off. These changes do not affect the rendered scene.
To place an image in the background of the rendered scene, use the Environment And Effects dialog-Environment panel, accessed from the Rendering menu.

NoteWhen safe frames are displayed in a viewport, and the Aspect Ratio options are set to either Match Viewport or Match Rendering Output, the assigned viewport background image is confined to the Live area of the safe frames and will correctly match the rendered background bitmap.

TipIf you are using a viewport driver with hardware acceleration (OpenGL or Direct3D), the viewport background might not appear. If this happens, choose Customize - Preferences. In the Viewports preferences, click Configure Driver. Then in the Configure OpenGL dialog or the Configure Direct3D dialog, go to the Background Texture Size group and turn on Match Bitmap Size As Closely As Possible (do not change the numeric setting). Click OK in both dialogs to accept your change.