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Shot Caller

The ultimate productivity tool for any Blender artist

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Shot Caller

Camera Management for Blender

Shot Caller is a comprehensive camera management system for Blender, designed to streamline multi-camera workflows for animation, VFX, architectural visualization, and product rendering. It brings professional production tracking tools directly into your 3D viewport, eliminating the need to jump between external spreadsheets and task managers.

Key Features

Dual-mode operation: Switch between timeline-based sequences and manual still camera workflows

Per-camera scene states: Control visibility and environments uniquely for each camera

Version control: Track camera iterations with automatic version numbering

Production tracking: Built-in action item system with status tracking and annotations

Batch rendering: Render multiple cameras with custom settings and automatic file organization

Shot overview: Generate thumbnails and view all cameras in a spreadsheet-style table

VSE integration: Edit camera timing in Video Sequencer with automatic synchronization

Core Concepts

Shot Caller operates around a few fundamental concepts that drive the entire toolset. Understanding these will help you get the most out of the addon.

Active Camera Principle

The most important concept in Shot Caller: Everything revolves around the active camera.

The active camera determines what you see and controls nearly all of Shot Caller's features:

Visibility states are captured and applied per active camera

Environment overrides switch based on which camera is active

Action items can be organized per camera

Custom resolution is applied when a camera becomes active

Scene states restore automatically when switching cameras

This means you can set up completely different looks, visibility, and settings for each camera—and Shot Caller handles all the switching automatically (in Sequences mode) or on-demand (in Stills mode).

💡 Tip: Think of each camera as a complete "shot setup" rather than just a viewpoint. When you activate a camera, you're loading that entire shot's configuration.

Modes

Shot Caller offers two distinct operating modes to match different production workflows:

Sequences Mode

Timeline-based camera switching

Uses Video Sequencer strips to control active camera

Camera automatically switches based on playhead position

Perfect for animation, motion graphics & sequences

Supports keyframe syncing when moving strips

Stills Mode

Manual camera selection

Direct camera activation via UI

You manually select which camera is active

Perfect for stills, arch-viz & product renders

No timeline dependency

💡 Tip: Switch between modes anytime using the mode toggle in the main Shot Caller panel. Your cameras, settings, and action items persist across both modes—only the control method changes.

When to use Sequences Mode

Use Sequences mode when you're working with animation or multiple shots that need to play in a specific order. The Video Sequencer becomes your editorial timeline, and Shot Caller automatically switches the active camera based on where your playhead is.

When to use Stills Mode

Use Stills mode when you're rendering individual images or working on shots that don't need timeline coordination. Perfect for architectural visualization, product shots, or any workflow where you manually switch between camera angles.

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Features

Cameras

The Cameras panel is your control center for managing all camera objects in your scene. It adapts based on which mode you're in, showing different controls for Sequences vs Stills workflows.

View Modes

(Sequences mode only)

All Cameras / Active Camera Toggle

Switch between viewing all cameras in your scene or just the currently active camera. Use this to reduce clutter when working with many cameras.

💡 Tip: When focusing on timing one specific shot, toggle to "Active Camera" to see only relevant controls.

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Camera List

Each camera displays as a box with the following information and controls:

Camera Name & Version

The camera name shows in the header along with its current version number (e.g. Camera_A (v001)). Active camera names are highlighted in orange.

💡 Use Case: Keep camera objects named clearly—this name appears in filenames when rendering: Camera_A_v001.mp4

Select Button

(Eye icon) Selects the camera object in the viewport and shows its properties. In Stills mode, this also activates the camera.

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Version Control

Version Number

Each camera tracks its own version number independently. Change the version manually or use the +/− buttons.

💡 Workflow: After client feedback requiring changes, increment the version before rendering. Your new files automatically include the updated version number, keeping iterations organized without manual renaming.

Version Increment Buttons

− button: Decrease version (minimum v001)

+ button: Increase version

⚠️ Note: Changing version doesn't create a new camera—it updates the version metadata used in filenames.

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Frame Range Controls

(Sequences mode only)

Start / End / Duration

Control the timing of when this camera is active in your sequence. These values are linked to the camera's strip in the Video Sequencer.

Start: First frame where camera becomes active

End: Last frame where camera is active

Duration: Total number of frames (auto-calculated, but editable)

💡 Tip: Enable "Sync Keys" in the VSE header to automatically move camera keyframes when you adjust these values.

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Custom Resolution

Enable Custom Resolution

Toggle to override the scene's render resolution for this specific camera.

When enabled, three additional controls appear:

Resolution X / Y

Set width and height in pixels for this camera's renders.

Resolution Percentage

Render at a percentage of the specified resolution (1-100%).

💡 Use Case: Set your hero camera to 4K (3840×2160) for final delivery, while keeping previz cameras at 1080p (1920×1080) for faster iteration—all in the same scene without changing global render settings.

⚠️ Note: Custom resolution applies during both playblast and final rendering. The viewport camera frame updates to show the custom aspect ratio.

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Mute Control

(Sequences mode only)

Mute Checkbox

The checkbox at the start of each camera box mutes/unmutes that camera's strip in the sequencer. Muted cameras won't become active during playback.

💡 Workflow: Mute cameras you're not currently working on to test edit timing without those shots interrupting playback.

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Scene States

Scene States let you configure how your scene looks per camera. Each camera can display different objects, collections, and lighting environments—automatically switching when you change cameras.

💡 Core Principle: Scene States are driven by the active camera. When you switch cameras, Shot Caller automatically restores that camera's saved visibility and environment settings.

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Visibility Control

Control which objects and collections are visible for each camera. Instead of manually hiding objects every time you switch shots, Shot Caller remembers the visibility state for each camera.

Enable Visibility Control

Master toggle to activate per-camera visibility management. When disabled, all visibility functions are inactive.

On at Render

Automatically applies visibility overrides during rendering, even if visibility control is disabled in the viewport. Use this to work with all objects visible while ensuring renders respect camera-specific visibility.

💡 Workflow: Keep visibility control off while building your scene to see everything. Enable "On at Render" so your renders still respect per-camera visibility without disrupting your workflow.

Auto-Add New

Automatically adds newly created, imported, or appended objects to all cameras' visibility lists. When enabled, any new object becomes visible to all cameras by default.

⚠️ Note: This only affects cameras that already have visibility control enabled. Disable this if you want manual control over which cameras see new objects.

Capture All Cameras

Saves current viewport visibility to all cameras at once. Quick way to set up a base visibility state across your entire project.

💡 Use Case: Set up your base scene with everything visible as you want it, then click "Capture All Cameras" to apply this as the starting point for all shots. Fine-tune individual cameras afterward.

Capture Current Camera

Saves current viewport visibility (objects and collections) to the active camera only.

Visibility Status

Shows how many objects and collections are in the active camera's visibility list (e.g., "12 objects and 3 collections in visibility list").

Copy From / Copy To

Transfer visibility settings between cameras. "Copy From" pulls settings from another camera into the active camera. "Copy To" opens a dialog to push active camera settings to multiple selected cameras.

Caution: Copy operations overwrite the target camera's visibility data. Use "Copy All" to replace everything, or "Copy Selected" to add only currently selected objects/collections.

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Environment Control

Assign different HDRI environments to different cameras. Perfect for day vs. night lighting, or when different shots require different mood lighting.

Enable Environment Control

Master toggle to activate per-camera environment management.

✅ On at Render

Automatically applies environment overrides during rendering. Required for environment switching to work during actual renders.

⚠️ Important: Enable "On at Render" for environments to switch during rendering. Without this, only viewport preview updates.

Use Current

Captures the current world shader setup and duplicates it for use with cameras. Creates a custom environment from your existing scene lighting.

Load Environment

Opens file browser to load an HDRI image. Automatically creates a standard node setup with controls for rotation, strength, and color correction.

💡 First Time: The first environment you load or capture becomes the default for all cameras. Subsequent environments apply only to the active camera.

Capture Current Camera

Saves current environment specifically to the active camera as an override.

Environment Info

Shows which environment is assigned to the active camera and whether it's an override or using the default.

Standard Controls (for loaded HDRIs)

When you load an HDRI via "Load Environment", quick controls appear:

Rotation: Rotate environment around Z-axis

Strength: Control brightness/intensity

Hue: Shift color hue (shown in degrees)

Saturation: Adjust color intensity

Gamma: Exposure/brightness adjustment

Filter: Color tint overlay

Custom Environment

If you captured or manually set up an environment via "Use Current", the UI shows "Custom Environment" with a note to edit in Shader Editor. No quick controls available for custom setups.

Copy From / Copy To

Transfer environment settings between cameras, similar to visibility controls.

💡 Workflow: Set up your base lighting environment, then use "Copy To" to apply it to multiple cameras at once. Fine-tune individual cameras with overrides as needed.

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Preview

The Preview panel provides fast playblast rendering for quick review of your cameras and sequences. Only available in Sequences mode.

💡 What is Playblast?: A playblast is a quick viewport-quality video render used for timing review, animation checks, and client previews—much faster than final production rendering.

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Render Engine

Engine Selection

Choose between Workbench (fastest) or Eevee (higher quality) for playblast rendering. Workbench uses simplified viewport shading, while Eevee provides real-time ray tracing.

Samples (Eevee only)

Controls render quality when using Eevee. Higher samples = better quality but slower renders. Default is 32 samples.

💡 Performance: Use Workbench for daily review playblasts. Switch to Eevee when you need better lighting/material preview for client reviews.

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Output Settings

Format

Choose output video format: MP4 (most compatible), MOV (high quality), or AVI (uncompressed).

Save Path

Destination folder for playblast files. Must be a valid existing directory.

⚠️ Required: Playblast buttons are disabled until you set a valid save path. Click the folder icon to browse.

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Playblast Operations

Playblast Selected Cameras

Opens a dialog to choose which cameras to render. Each camera renders as a separate video file using its sequencer strip timing.

Playblast All Cameras

Batch renders every camera in your scene as individual video files. No dialog—processes all cameras automatically.

Playblast Full Sequence

Creates one continuous video combining all cameras in sequence order, exactly as they appear in your timeline. Opens a dialog for filename customization.

💡 Workflow: Use "Selected" or "All" for reviewing individual shots. Use "Full Sequence" when you need to review overall edit timing or share a complete animatic.

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