How to Set a Render Region in Blender Viewport

Setting a render region in the Blender viewport allows you to restrict rendering to a specific area of your 3D scene, significantly speeding up preview times in both the Cycles and Eevee render engines. This guide provides a straightforward walk-through on how to create, adjust, and clear viewport render regions using essential keyboard shortcuts and interface settings.

Setting a Render Region with Shortcuts

  1. Hover your mouse cursor over the 3D Viewport.
  2. Press Ctrl + B on your keyboard.
  3. Click and drag a box around the specific area you want to render.

Once released, Blender will only compute and display the rendered pixels within the selected box, leaving the area outside the box unrendered or drawn as standard wireframe/solid shading.

Setting a Render Region in Camera View

Restricting the render region while looking through the camera ensures you only preview a specific part of your final composition.

  1. Switch to Camera View by pressing Numpad 0 (or selecting View > Viewport > Camera).
  2. Press Ctrl + B and drag a rectangle over the desired section inside the camera frame.

To limit the render region strictly to the active camera border during the final render output:

  1. Open the Properties panel on the right side of the interface.
  2. Go to the Output Properties tab (printer icon).
  3. Under the Format panel, check the box labeled Render Region.

How to Clear a Render Region

To remove the active region and return to rendering the full viewport:

  • Press Ctrl + Alt + B anywhere in the 3D Viewport.

Alternatively, you can toggle the region off via the viewport settings:

  1. Press N to open the 3D Viewport sidebar.
  2. Select the View tab.
  3. Locate the View Lock section and uncheck Render Region.