Console Viewer Documentation

What is Console Viewer?

Console Viewer captures Blender's Python output and displays it inside Blender's own interface, so you don't need a separate console window open while you work. On Linux and macOS, where Blender has no Toggle System Console menu entry, it is often the only way to see that output without restarting from a terminal.

Installation

Installing the Addon

Requirements: Blender 4.2 or newer.

The installation process is straightforward and identical across all operating systems:

Download the addon ZIP file from your order page. Open Blender and navigate to Edit › Preferences › Add-ons. Click the Install button in the top-right corner. Select the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Add-on. Enable the addon by checking the box next to "Console Viewer". The addon panel will appear in the 3D Viewport sidebar (press N) under the "Console" tab. It can also be shown in the Text Editor sidebar (see Panel Location below).

Important: After enabling the addon, you must go to the addon preferences and toggle Enable Console Capture to start capturing output. The addon is designed to not capture by default, so that installing it never replaces Blender's output streams without an explicit action on your part. You don't have to hunt for that toggle: while capture is off, the panel itself shows an Open Add-on Preferences button that takes you straight there.

Configuring Preferences

After installation, configure the addon's preferences for your workflow:

Open Edit › Preferences › Add-ons. Find Console Viewer in the list and expand its preferences panel. Configure the available options as needed.

Enable Console Capture

This is the master toggle for the capture system. When enabled, Console Viewer intercepts stdout, stderr, Python logging, warnings, and uncaught exceptions. The original output is preserved, everything still reaches the system console as well.

Why it's disabled by default: turning capture on replaces process-wide Python streams and hooks. That is a deliberate action, not something an addon should do to your Blender session just because it was installed. Keeping it off by default also guarantees zero overhead when you're not using the addon.

Show Timestamps

Displays the time each message was captured in HH:MM:SS format. Useful for tracking the sequence of events during debugging or identifying slow operations.

Timestamps appear on the first line of each message; continuation lines of a multi-line message are left bare, so wrapped output still reads as one block.

Update Interval

Controls how often the panel refreshes to show new messages. Values range from 0.1 to 2.0 seconds. Default: 0.15.

Lower values (0.1–0.3): more responsive, good for real-time debugging. Higher values (1.0–2.0): fewer refreshes, good for long-running operations that produce a lot of output.

Panel Rows

The height of the console list, measured in rows (5–40). Default: 12.

This sets how much vertical space the list occupies in the sidebar. The list has its own scrollbar, so a smaller value doesn't limit how much output you can review, only how much is visible at once.

Max Displayed Lines

How many lines the list keeps on screen (200–5000). Default: 2000.

As new output arrives, the oldest lines are dropped from the list. This is a display limit only: the internal buffer still holds its full history, so Copy always exports everything.

Lower values (200–500): lightest on memory, good for very high-volume output. Higher values (2000–5000): more visible history to scroll back through.

Panel Location

Two independent toggles decide where the panel appears:

Show in 3D View: 3D Viewport sidebar (enabled by default). Show in Text Editor: Text Editor sidebar (disabled by default).

You can enable both, or neither if you want the addon capturing quietly in the background.