Generate an image from 3d model (server side) I'm working on an application that needs to quickly render simple top view of 3D model on the server, and then return them as a JPEG via HTTP. Basically, I want to be able to simply include a dynamic 3D scene in an HTML page

Can Blender do that?
Yes, independed from the web technology stack you're using on the server side you can invoke Blender from the command line.

Something like:

blender -b file.blend -a -x 1 --render-output &lt;path&gt;


should do the job. See the link above for a complete description of all available parameters. Note that Blender itself doesn't provide a HTTP server therefore you would need to make the rendered image available to your server (probably by simply copying the file or direct rendering into the web server's image resources directory).