Welcome

MinecraftRender is a free 3D scene studio and render API for Minecraft skins — Java and Bedrock in one place, with full support for Bedrock Persona and Character Creator characters.

What is MinecraftRender?

MinecraftRender does two things:

• The Studio — a browser-based 3D editor where you pose players bone-by-bone, add props, set up lighting, frame the camera, and export a finished render. No install, no account.
• The API — an HTTP endpoint that takes a player identifier and a scene shortcode and returns a rendered image. Useful for websites, bots, overlays, and Discord integrations.

The two are connected: every scene you save in the Studio becomes a shortcode that the API can render with any player's skin dropped in. That means your custom poses become reusable templates anyone can hit via URL.

Who it's for

• Server owners rendering leaderboard portraits, welcome banners, or player cards.
• Content creators building thumbnails and promo art with specific poses, props, and lighting.
• Bot & tool authors needing per-player avatars that go beyond static face icons.
• Bedrock players with Persona / Marketplace content — Character Creator models load with their real geometry, so hair, outfits, capes, and accessories render as they appear in-game rather than being flattened onto a classic skin.
• Anyone who just wants a cool render of their skin. No sign-up, no paywall.

Getting started

Pick whichever route matches what you're trying to do — they're not mutually exclusive.

1. Render a skin in 10 seconds (no coding)

The fastest path is a public shortcode. Every published scene in the gallery has a 6-character ID; drop any player into it via URL:

https://minecraftrender.com/api/render/Dinnerbone/abc123

Replace Dinnerbone with any Java username, UUID, Bedrock gamertag (prefix with .), or XUID. Replace abc123 with a shortcode from the gallery. That's the whole integration — paste it in an <img> tag, a Discord embed, a markdown file, wherever.

2. Build your own scene

Open the Studio. From there you can:

• Load any player (or several) by username, UUID, gamertag, or XUID.
• Apply a preset pose in one click, or rotate individual bones with a 3D gizmo.
• Add props — built-in items (swords, tools, blocks) or your own GLBs via drag-and-drop.
• Light the scene with up to 4 lights, or pick a lighting preset for a one-click mood.
• Set the environment — lighting, scenery backdrop, and skybox panorama — from a single picker.
• Frame the camera, enable depth-of-field, and export at up to 1080p.
• Browse community scenes from the gallery, or publish your own scene so the API can render it for anyone.

The Studio documentation walks through every panel in detail.

3. Integrate the API

If you're embedding renders at scale, the API reference covers endpoints for listing templates, fetching metadata, pulling thumbnails, and the caching headers you'll want to respect. A minimal integration looks like this:

<img
  src="https://minecraftrender.com/api/render/.MyGen/abc123"
  alt="Rendered skin"
  loading="lazy">

Renders are cached on disk per (template, player, format), so repeated requests are near-instant.

What's in these docs

The rest of the documentation is organised by area rather than by task, so you can dive straight into whichever part matters to you:

• Studio — a full tour of the editor: players, posing, bones, props, environment (lighting / scenery / skybox), camera, depth of field, export, browsing and publishing to the gallery, keyboard shortcuts, settings. This is the longest section and the most visual.
• API Reference — every public endpoint with parameters, response formats, headers, and caching behaviour.
• Embedding & Shortcodes — how shortcodes work, how to share scenes publicly, and patterns for common integrations (forum avatars, Discord, streaming overlays).
• FAQ — platform detection quirks, licensing, rate limits, and how to report bugs.