Chapter 11: Rendering Images

The images in any node can be rendered to disk as a series of image files in the format and location you specify. Once you have designated the node imagery to render, you can initiate the actual rendering from within the RAYZ interface or from the command line.

In This Chapter

Adding Images to the Render List

Rendering from the RAYZ Interface

Rendering from the Command Line

You can render images in most popular file formats. For a complete list, see Appendix B: Image File Formats Supported by RAYZ.

Adding Images to the Render List

You can designate the imagery in any node for rendering by connecting the node to an Image Out node.

The Image Out Node Panel provides parameters for specifying the name, filepath, and format RAYZ should use when writing the image files to disk. It also provides conversion options, if applicable, and format-specific compression options. For detailed information about these parameters, refer to the description of the Image Out Node in chapter 14.

RAYZ automatically lists every Image Out node you create in the Render Control view. This means that you can control rendering of all Image Out nodes in one place.

The parameters in the Image Out Node Panel are identical to the corresponding parameter group in the Render Control. In fact, they are the same set of parameters, presented in different panels. When you make a change in an Image Out Node Panel, the change is reflected in the Render panel, where the corresponding parameter for that particular Image Out node will update automatically to match.

Multiple Render Entries for a Single Node

You can add the same node to the render list multiple times (which is the same as saying that you can connect a node to multiple Image Out nodes).

This enables you to specify different render parameters for each entry. For example, you might want to render the same imagery at different resolutions or quality levels, in different file formats, or render a different range of frames.

Be sure to give each entry a representative name, as illustrated by the first two entries to the Render Control panel shown in Fig. 11.1.

Using Drag-and-Drop

You can drag-and-drop any node in the Worksheet into the Render Control view. This creates an Image Out node that is automatically connected to the node you dropped into the Render Control.

You can select as many nodes as you want and drag them all into the Render Control as a unit, which makes this method a great shortcut for adding multiple images to the render list at one time.

Rendering from the RAYZ Interface

There are several ways to render images in RAYZ:

During a render, a dialog box will appear to inform you of the progress of the render and let you know when rendering is complete.

Render Button in Image Out Node

To render the image sequence in a specific Image Out node, press the Render button in the Node Panel.

Using the Render Control Panel

You can press the Render button in the Render Control view to render every enabled entry in the render list.

To access the Render Control view, which is not displayed in the default layout, select Open Render Panel from the Render menu. This creates a new floating window with the Render Control view in it.

You can also add the Render Control view to the current layout by selecting it from the Views menu, or by replacing another view with it (press the F7 hotkey while the cursor is over a view and that view type will be replaced by the Render view).

Working With Render List Entries

You can modify render parameters for any entry before rendering. Expand the entry, if necessary, to access the parameters, which are identical to those in the corresponding Image Out Node in chapter 14.

Tip:

 

Double-click the label for each entry to turn it into an editable text field, and give it a distinctive name. (The name of the corresponding Image Out node will update automatically to reflect the change.) This makes it easy to distinguish among multiple entries.

Disabling Entries

When you press the Render button, only those entries that are enabled will be rendered. You can disable any entry to exclude it from the next render by unchecking the box to the left of the entry name.

A red "x" icon will appear over the corresponding Image Out node to indicate that it has been disabled.

 Image showing the Render Control view.

Fig. 11.1 Render Control View: the "full_rez_comp" entry has been disabled, as checkbox next to entry name indicates; "low_rez_comp" is selected, as indicated by shading.

Removing Images from the Render List

To remove an image from the Render Control list, click the entry in the render list to select it first and then select Delete from the Layer Actions menu (right-hold on the selected entry to access). All currently selected entries will disappear from the list and their corresponding Image Out nodes will also be deleted.

Alternatively, you can delete the Image Out node directly. This will also remove the corresponding entry in the Render Control.

Render All Command

To render all images currently specified in the Render Control without opening the Render Control view, select the Render All command from the Render menu located in the Main Menu strip.

Rendering from the Command Line

To render imagery in a RAYZ file from a shell or Windows Command Prompt, without using the interface, type the following at the prompt:

rayz -render filename.rayz

In this example, "rayz -render" is the command that runs the render script and "filename.rayz" represents the actual name of the file that contains the imagery you want to render.

Note:

 

If you are not in the directory in which the RAYZ file is located, you must either change directories before typing the command or include the absolute pathname of the RAYZ file in the command.

This command is the equivalent of clicking the Render button in the Render Control view in the RAYZ application. All node imagery that has been added to the render list in that file will be written to disk in the file format and pathname specified therein (see also Adding Images to the Render List).

Render Options

Several options are available to modify the render using this syntax:

rayz -render [options] filename.rayz

You can specify that multiple processors or tiling be used, and override some of the render settings in the RAYZ file.

Command Option

Description

-h or -help

print a help screen of these options

-p or -processors <number>

specify number of processors to use for the render

-log-directory <dirname>

location of license log file (graild.log)

-license-directory <dirname>

where to search for license files (*.lic)

-s or -start <number>

specify start frame (applies to all image sequences rendered)

-e or -end <number>

specify end frame (applies to all image sequences rendered)

-i or -incr <number>

specify increment (applies to all image sequences rendered)

-L or -layer <name> <s> <e> <i>

render specified sequence only

-G or -global <name> <value>

redefine global variable to use during render

The following command, for example, would render every other frame of every image sequence in the render list of a file named "my_comp.rayz":

rayz -render -i 2 my_comp.rayz

The short ( -i ) or the verbose ( --incr ) version of each command can be used interchangeably, but you must type a space between the option and the option value. For example, type " -i 2 " or " --incr 2 " to set the increment to 2.

Rendering a Specific Node Sequence (-L)

The -L option is used to render a single sequence, when more than one image sequence in the RAYZ file has been specified for rendering.

This option should be followed by the name of the Image Out node (or the name of the entry in the Render Control list, which will be identical), along with values representing the start, end, and increment values.

To render an Image Out node named "full_rez_comp" in a file named "my_comp.rayz," you would type:

rayz -render -layer full_rez_comp 1 100 1 my_comp.rayz

Overriding Global Variable Definitions (-G)

You can override the definition of any global variable specified in a project file by using the following syntax with the -G option:

rayz -render -G <global name> <global value> filename.rayz

This option applies to the render only, it does not change the global value permanently. To change $JOB to a different filepath, for example, you might specify the following (note that you do not type the "dollar sign" in front of the variable):

rayz -render -G JOB /images/finals/shot1 my_comp.rayz

Tiling Option (-T)

Use this option to reduce memory requirements during rendering. When the -tile option is invoked for a render, RAYZ will slice each image frame into tiles for processing, with the exact number of tiles being based on the available memory.