Pyrender

0.1.45 · active · verified Wed Apr 15

Pyrender is a pure Python library (compatible with Python 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, though recent Python versions have known issues) for physically-based rendering and visualization. It adheres to the glTF 2.0 specification and provides both an interactive scene viewer and an offscreen renderer capable of GPU-accelerated rendering on headless servers, making it well-suited for machine learning applications. It is lightweight, easy to install, and designed for simplicity of use. The current version is 0.1.45, with development continuing on GitHub.

Warnings

breaking Pyrender versions on PyPI (including 0.1.45) may be broken on Python 3.12 and 3.13 due to an OpenGL compatibility issue (specifically with OpenGL 3.1.0). A fix exists in the GitHub repository but has not yet been released to PyPI as of late 2025.
Fix: Consider installing directly from the GitHub repository (`pip install git+https://github.com/mmatl/pyrender.git`) to get the latest fixes, or use an older Python version (e.g., 3.11 or lower).
gotcha Offscreen rendering on headless servers often requires specific setup for OpenGL contexts. You might need to install/rebuild Mesa with OSMesa support or ensure EGL 1.5 is available for GPU acceleration.
Fix: Refer to the official Pyrender documentation's 'Installation Guide' and 'Offscreen Rendering' sections for detailed instructions on configuring OSMesa or EGL for your environment.
gotcha MacOS users may encounter issues with OpenGL contexts when using `pyrender` due to an unreleased `pyglet` fix. A specific fork of `pyglet` is required.
Fix: Manually install the compatible `pyglet` fork: `git clone https://github.com/mmatl/pyglet.git && cd pyglet && pip install .` before installing `pyrender`.
gotcha The latest PyPI release (0.1.45) is from February 2021. Important bug fixes and improvements that have landed in the GitHub repository since then are not available via `pip install pyrender`.
Fix: For the most up-to-date and potentially more stable version (especially for newer Python environments), install Pyrender directly from its GitHub repository: `pip install git+https://github.com/mmatl/pyrender.git`.

Install

pip install pyrender Install Pyrender

Imports

pyrender
```
import pyrender
```
Primary import for all Pyrender functionalities.
Mesh
```
import pyrender
mesh = pyrender.Mesh(...)
```
Access classes and functions as attributes of the main 'pyrender' module.
Scene
```
import pyrender
scene = pyrender.Scene(...)
```
Access classes and functions as attributes of the main 'pyrender' module.
Viewer
```
import pyrender
viewer = pyrender.Viewer(...)
```
Access classes and functions as attributes of the main 'pyrender' module.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to load a basic mesh using `trimesh`, add it to a Pyrender scene, set up a camera and lighting, and then display the scene in an interactive viewer. For offscreen rendering, a `pyrender.OffscreenRenderer` would be used instead of `pyrender.Viewer`.

import trimesh
import pyrender

# Load a mesh (e.g., a simple box)
fuze_trimesh = trimesh.creation.icosphere()
mesh = pyrender.Mesh.from_trimesh(fuze_trimesh)

# Create a scene
scene = pyrender.Scene()
scene.add(mesh)

# Add a camera
camera = pyrender.PerspectiveCamera(yfov=0.8, aspectRatio=1.0)
camera_pose = [1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
               0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0,
               0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 3.0,
               0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0]
scene.add(camera, pose=camera_pose)

# Add some lighting
light = pyrender.DirectionalLight(color=[1.0, 1.0, 1.0], intensity=3.0)
light_pose = [0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
              -0.5, 0.8, 0.0, 0.0,
               0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0,
               0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0]
scene.add(light, pose=light_pose)

# View the scene
pyrender.Viewer(scene, use_raymond_lighting=True)

view raw JSON →