How to project the actual model geomtry through a camera view into a texture?

Question

I have a building model too detailed for my purposes. I basically have been taking screenshots of the model and using the screenshot as a texture for each side of the building. Is there a less hacky way to accomplish something like this? Is there a way to set up 4 cameras around the building and grab all my screenshot/textures at once?

Answer 1

You can use the following Python script. Copy and paste the script into the Text Editor within the Scripting Tab. Make sure to change this line within the script:

scene.render.filepath = f'/path/to/your/file/{image_name}.png'

to the path where you want to save the generated image files. Select the object from which you want to obtain screenshots from each side and click Run Script.

import bpy
from math import radians

c = bpy.context
scene = c.scene
scene.frame_current = 1
scene.frame_set(1)
scene.render.image_settings.file_format = 'PNG'

def render_camera_at(x,y,z,image_name):
    scene.camera.rotation_euler = radians(x), radians(y), radians(z)
    bpy.ops.view3d.camera_to_view_selected()
    scene.render.filepath = f'/path/to/your/file/{image_name}.png' # change this line, example f'C:/Users/somebody/Desktop/{image_name}.png'
    bpy.ops.render.render(animation=False, write_still=True)

render_camera_at(90,0,0,"front")
render_camera_at(-90,180,0,"back")
render_camera_at(90,0,-90,"left")
render_camera_at(90,0,90,"right")
render_camera_at(0,0,0,"top")

This will automatically position your active camera to each side and render it. It will generate images with names front.png, back.png, left.png, right.png, top.png. Make sure there is a camera in the scene. It doesn't matter where or how it is positioned, the script will take care of that. And also make sure you have selected the house object before running the script.