The Batch Background Importer is used to quickly import and assign many different images to be backgrounds for multiple selected cameras.

Cameras and images will need to share the exact same name during the import process. If the image is called “abc123.jpg” then the camera you want to assign that image to will also need to be called “abc123.jpg”.

Some photogrammetry software names each of its cameras based on the image used to generate it. Once those cameras are brought into blender, since the camera names and image names already match, you will only need to select the cameras and set the folder that the images are stored in and hit the Add Backgrounds button.

The Add-on also has dynamic renaming functions to allow for importing of images that have different names to the selected cameras. The dynamic renaming functions leave your camera and image names intact. To import images that have different names to the cameras, the camera names can be dynamically changed to match the image name. A prefix and suffix can be added to the camera names to match the image names. A prefix and suffix can also be removed from the camera names to match the image names. Removing and adding a suffix means that the file extensions can also be changed.

Sequentially numbered camera names can also be adjusted using math to match sequentially numbered image names. When adjusting the sequential numbers in the camera names, any prefixes and suffixes on the camera names MUST be removed and replaced, using both the Remove Prefix/ Suffix fields and Add Prefix/ Suffix fields. The prefix and suffix must be replaced even if the text will remain the same in the end.

Examples:

If the camera name is “123” but the image name is “abc123.jpg” these can be matched by typing “abc” into the Add Prefix field and typing “.jpg” into the Add Suffix field.

If the camera name is “123A.jpg” but the image name is “123B.png” these can be matched by typing “A.jpg” into the Remove Suffix field and typing “B.png” into the Add Suffix field.

If the camera names are “camera.001”, “camera.002”, “camera.003” and the image names are “abc101.jpg”, “abc102.jpg” “abc103.jpg”. Then to match these, type “camera.” into the Remove Prefix filed and type “abc” into the Add Prefix filed as well as typing “.jpg” into the Add Suffix field. Once the Prefix’s and Suffix’s have been assigned, enable the Cam Math checkbox and leave the Add/ Subtract option set to Add, then type in the numerical difference between the sequential number in the camera name and the sequential number in the image name. In this example the camera number is “001” and the image number is “101” so the difference is “100”.