BRef — Minimalistic Reference Addon for Blender 4.4

BRef is a clean and lightweight addon for managing reference images directly inside the 3D viewport or the scene itself.
Simple, fast, and built for Blender 4.4+.

Features

Viewport Overlay Images

• Add any image into the 3D Viewport, floating on top of everything else.
• Drag images freely with mouse in "Drag Mode."
• Resize easily while dragging (Drag Green Top Right Corner or Press K while Dragging ).
• Lock aspect ratio if needed.
• Organize images by layers. Choose to view only the active layer or all layers.
• Adjust each image's opacity.
• Flip images horizontally or vertically.
• Quickly center images with one click.
• Manage images through a clean list inside the Sidebar.

Orthographic Scene References

• Load images into the 3D scene using Blender Empties.
• Automatically place references for Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, and Bottom views.
• Adjust size, distance from origin, and transparency per view.
• Update or clear all ortho references with one button.
• No manual positioning needed — BRef handles rotation and placement automatically.

UI

• Fully integrated into the Sidebar under the "BRef" tab.
• Minimal and clean panels, easy to understand at a glance.
• "Drag Mode" toggle with helpful instructions at the bottom.

Experimental Features 

Note: BRef Experimental is currently on development. You can download and use it but it's currently unstable. It will have a lot of new features!

• Viewport anchoring: Images can anchor and scale with the viewport.
• Changing Layer Numbers: Changing layer numbers and transition to Interactive Mode without going into N Panel.
• Resizing With Mouse Wheel: You can now easily resize the images with mouse wheel in Interactive mode.
• Advanced image arrangement: New layout modes (horizontal, vertical, grid), alignment options, spacing, margins, and sizing controls.
• Addon preferences: Set default alpha, auto-arrange, and customize colors/sizes for frames and handles.
• UI overhaul: Panels reorganized into Main, Images, Transform, Arrange, Settings, and Ortho for better usability.
• Interactive mode updates: Resize from any corner, distinct visual feedback for selected image, and improved help text.
• Drawing optimizations: Faster rendering with shader caching and optimized drawing routines.
• Image visibility: Toggle individual image visibility in the list.
• Clear all: New operator to remove all reference images at once.
• Enhanced grid: Option to show/hide grid overlay in interactive mode.
• Improved stability: Internal changes for better performance and update handling.

Controls

To exit Drag / Interactive mode, Press Right Click of your Mouse or ESC

Scaling Images: MouseWheel or Dragging the corners of images

Installation

1. Download the .zip file.
2. Open Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons.
3. Click Install, select the downloaded file.
4. Enable "BRef" in the Add-ons list.
5. Open the Sidebar (press N in 3D Viewport), and find the BRef tab.

Notes

• All references will be saved with your project file.
• Viewport overlays are temporary and meant mainly for workflow, not final renders.
• Works best with Image Editor-friendly formats like PNG or JPEG.