How To Install Blender on Debian 12

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Blender on Debian 12. If you’re a 3D graphics enthusiast, artist, or professional, Blender is a name that holds great significance in your world. Blender, an open-source 3D computer graphics software, is renowned for its robust capabilities in 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and more.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Blender’s free and open-source 3D creation suite on a Debian 12 (Bookworm).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 12 (Bookworm).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• Make sure your Debian 12 system is connected to the internet. An active connection is essential for downloading the required packages and updates during the installation.
• You may need administrative privileges to execute some of the commands during the installation process. Ensure that you have root or sudo privileges to proceed smoothly.

Install Blender on Debian 12 Bookworm

Step 1. Before installing Blender, ensure that your Debian 12 system is up-to-date. To do this, open your terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This command will update your package list and upgrade your system if there are any available updates.

Step 2. Installing essential dependencies for Blender.

Blender requires certain libraries and dependencies to function correctly. You can install them with this command:

sudo apt install libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libtiff-dev libopenal-dev libsndfile1

Check whether the dependencies were installed correctly:

sudo apt list --installed | grep 'libpng\|libjpeg\|libtiff\|libopenal\|libsndfile'

This command will list the installed packages and search for the dependencies we just installed.

Step 3. Installing Blender on Debian 12.

To get the latest version of Blender, head over to the official Blender website:

wget https://mirror.freedif.org/blender/release/Blender3.6/blender-3.6.5-linux-x64.tar.xz

Change your working directory to the location where the Blender archive was downloaded. Typically, it’s the Downloads folder:

cd ~/Downloads

To extract the Blender archive, use the ‘tar’ command:

tar xvf blender-3.6.5-linux-x64.tar.xz

You can verify the successful extraction by listing the contents of the directory:

ls ~/Downloads/blender-3.6.5-linux-x64/

Now that the Blender archive is extracted, let’s proceed with the installation. First, move the extracted Blender folder to your desired installation location. If you want to install Blender system-wide, you can use this command:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/blender-3.6.5-linux-x64 /opt/

To easily access Blender, create a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /opt/blender-3.6.5-linux-x64/blender /usr/local/bin/blender

This command creates a symbolic link, allowing you to run Blender from any directory.

To ensure that Blender is installed correctly, run the following command:

blender --version

Step 4. Setting up Environment Variables.

To make Blender easily accessible system-wide, you can add it to the system’s PATH. This step is optional but recommended for a more convenient workflow. To add Blender to the system’s PATH, open the .bashrc file for editing:

nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following line at the end of the file:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

This line appends Blender’s directory to the PATH, making it globally accessible. Save and exit the file by pressing Ctrl + O, then Enter, and Ctrl + X.

Step 5. Launching Blender.

Now that Blender is installed and set up, you can launch it. To open Blender, simply type ‘blender‘ in the terminal:

blender

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Blender. Thanks for using this tutorial to install the latest version of Blender’s free and open-source 3D creation suite on Debian 12 Bookworm. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Blender website.