References Overlays
PureRef for Blender!!!
You can add references in the 3D Viewport Overlays
Features
- Add images or video references directly in the 3D viewport.
- Drag the references directly.
- Enable an option to switch it on or off at your convenience.
- Allow transformations and flipping of the references.
- Set the opacity of the references.
- Change the layer orders of the references.
- Utilize the color picker on the references.
- Set the references depth.
- Multiple media support (Video, GIF, etc).
- Cropping the references.
- Support Grayscale mode.
- Support orthographic alignment display
- Paste the image from the clipboard.
Location
- View 3D > Header
Hotkey
- Toggle References Overlays - 'Alt + Z'
- Toggle References Overlays Locked - 'Ctrl + T'
- Toggle References Overlays Grayscale mode - 'Alt + G'
- Paste from the clipboard - 'Ctrl + Alt + V'
- Global Move References - 'Ctrl + W'
References Moving Hotkey
- Confirm - 'Left-Click'
- Cancel - 'Esc', 'Right-Click'
- Scale Up - 'Scroll Up'
- Scale Down - 'Scroll Down'
- Rotate Right - 'E'
- Rotate Left - 'Q'
- Set Depth Default - '1'
- Set Depth Back - '2'
- Higher Opacity - 'C'
- Reduce Opacity - 'Z'
- Reset Rotation - 'R'
- Reset Size - 'S'
- Remove - 'X' or 'DEL'
- Press 'Ctrl' for snap mode during moving
- Press "Shift" for Precision Mode
Shifting Control Hotkey
- Press 'Alt' while moving the reference
- Zoom in - 'Scroll Up'
- Zoom Out - 'Scroll Down'
- Rest Zoom - 'S
- Rest Anchor - 'R'
Cropping the reference
Video Playing
Utilize the color picker
Notice
- Feature pasting the image from the clipboard requires the Pillow Library, which you can install Pillow from the add-on preferences (Installing Pillow requires to run Blender in administrator mode)
What's New
2.3.0 May 4th, 2026
- Fix install Pillow (Required run Blender In Administrator mode)
- Add relative path location
Great but needs a way to lock scale too
Amazing add-on! No more Image Editor tabs opened on the side. With crop, scale, rotate, etc. tools, it's indeed what would be Pureref as Overlay.
Only downside I see is that activating/deactivating the overlay changes ALL 3D viewports, not just the one mouse is hovering. All overlay and shading options in Blender are per 3D viewport. They can all be different. But those references images appear in all 3D Viewports / Monitors... or none. That's problematic especially for people working on 1 monitor and splitting the view, then images really get in the way ;)
I hope a fix can be coded to make this icon activation behave more like all others do in Blender: per 3D viewport, not all 3D Viewports in 1 click. Thanks.
Excellent. The only problem is that I click on Install Pillow, restart Blender but it says it is not installed. I saved it, but it didn't solve the problem