Camera Aspect Ratio Guides

Professional composition guides with viewport overlays, safe areas, and optional render burn-in for Blender 5.0+

📋 Overview

Camera Composition Guides Pro provides real-time composition overlays in your camera viewport with the ability to burn guides directly into final renders. Perfect for cinematographers, motion graphics artists, and anyone working with multiple aspect ratios or delivery formats.

✨ Key Features

🎯 Composition Guides

• Rule of Thirds - Classic grid composition
• Golden Ratio - Phi-based composition (1:1.618)
• Golden Triangle - Diagonal composition guides
• Diagonals - Corner-to-corner guides
• Center Cross - Horizontal and vertical center lines
• Harmonious Triangles - Advanced triangular composition

📐 Aspect Ratio Presets

• Multiple simultaneous aspect ratios in one view
• Custom width/height settings per preset
• Optional thirds and center line overlays per ratio
• Passepartout (black bars) for accurate framing visualization
• One-click common presets: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3

🛡️ Safe Areas

• Action Safe - 90% default safe zone
• Title Safe - 80% default safe zone
• Custom - Define your own percentages
• Essential for broadcast and streaming deliverables

🎨 Customization Options

• Line Styles: Solid, Dashed, or Dotted
• Adjustable Colors: Per-guide RGBA color control
• Line Width: Customize thickness for each guide
• Independent Controls: Enable viewport display and render burn-in separately

🔥 Render Burn-In

How It Works

1. Enable any composition guide, safe area, or aspect ratio preset
2. Check the "Burn into Render" checkbox for guides you want in your final output
3. Render normally (F12) - guides are automatically composited into the image
4. Uncheck "Burn into Render" when you want clean renders

Smart Compositor Integration

• Non-destructive: Inserts nodes into your existing compositor setup
• Automatic cleanup: Removes guide nodes when you disable "Burn into Render"
• Regenerate button: Manually refresh guides if settings change or resolution updates
• Preserves your existing compositor node tree

⚠️ Important Notes

• Always save your .blend file before rendering with burn-in enabled
• If you render with "Burn into Render" ON, then turn it OFF, press the Regenerate button to ensure compositor is properly updated
• Guide nodes remain in compositor after unchecking until you press Regenerate - this is intentional for render consistency
• The addon does NOT delete your existing compositor setup - it only inserts guide nodes between your current chain and the output

🎬 Perfect For

• Cinematographers planning multi-format deliverables (theatrical, streaming, social media)
• Motion Graphics Artists creating content for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube simultaneously
• Animators working with multiple aspect ratios for different platforms
• Client Presentations with visible framing references for approval
• Film & Video Production pre-visualization and shot planning
• Broadcast Work ensuring content stays within safe areas

🚀 Quick Start Workflow

1. Add Guides: Select your camera → Camera Properties panel → Composition Guides section
2. Viewport Display: Enable the checkbox next to any guide to see it in camera view (Numpad 0)
3. Customize: Adjust colors, line styles, and widths to match your needs
4. Render Burn-In (Optional): Check "Burn into Render" for guides you want in the final image
5. Render: Press F12 - guides are automatically composited if burn-in is enabled
6. Clean Renders: Uncheck "Burn into Render" and press Regenerate for clean renders

📍 Location

Camera Properties Panel → Composition Guides section

Visible only when a camera object is selected.

🔧 Technical Details

Rendering

• Only guides with "Burn into Render" checked are included in F12 renders
• Compositor integration happens at render_init - after scene setup but before rendering
• Cleanup happens when you disable "Burn into Render" (requires clicking Regenerate)
• Guide image is generated at exact render resolution for pixel-perfect accuracy

Regenerate Button

Use this button when:

• Changing render resolution
• Modifying guide colors, widths, or styles
• After disabling "Burn into Render" to clean up compositor
• Switching between different guide configurations
• Things seem out of sync

⚙️ Requirements

• Blender 5.0.0 or higher
• Camera object in scene
• For render burn-in: Compositor enabled (automatically handled by addon)

🛟 Support & Tips

Guides not showing in viewport?

• Press Numpad 0 to enter camera view
• Ensure guide is enabled (checkbox on the left)

Guides not rendering?

• Check "Burn into Render" is enabled for that guide
• Press Regenerate button before rendering
• Verify compositor is enabled in scene

Compositor has extra nodes after render?

• This is normal if you haven't disabled "Burn into Render" yet
• Disable "Burn into Render" and click Regenerate to clean up

Want clean renders after using burn-in?

• Uncheck ALL "Burn into Render" boxes
• Click the Regenerate button
• Now renders will be clean