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The Composite output operator renders the image(s) produced in the Compositing Editor.
Arguments may be passed to the scripts and variable expansion is done before calling the script.
Parameters
Render
Begins the render with the last render control settings.
Render Control
Opens the render control dialog to allow adjustments of the render parameters before rendering.
Render with Take
Uses the settings in a particular take while rendering. Choose Current to use the current take when rendering.
Set Valid Frame Range
If on, the render is only valid between the start and end frames, at the specified frame increment. If a frame is outside the range, or falls on a frame that isn’t included by the frame increment, the frame will not be rendered.
If off, the render is valid at any frame.
Note
If you want to temporarily set a sub-range to render, use the 'Frame Range' parameter in the Render Control dialog (click the 'Render Control…' button at the top of this dialog).
Composite
COP Name
Path to the COP to render.
Override Default Res
Allows specification of the rendered resolution.
Resolution
Resolution of rendered images.
Output Picture
Selects where the output is sent.
Image Format
The format to write the image in.
Color Plane
Plane to use as the RGB channels.
Alpha Plane
Plane to use as the A channel (in RGBA image).
Convert to Image Format’s Colorspace
Image data in COPs is always linear. When writing to image formats that are not linear (sRGB, for example), this will convert the colorspace to preserve the look of the image. An 8bit format that has an unspecified colorspace is assumed to be sRGB.
Output Gamma
Gamma correction that is applied to saved images.
Output Frames Reused in Composite
When on, this tells the compositor that output frames may be read back in during the same composite. This disables threaded file writes and batch frame cooking. By default, this is off.
Batch Cook Frames
If on, the compositor cooks frames in groups, rather than individually. This can improve output performance on multi-processor platforms (there is generally no difference for single processor machines). Groups of two frames are recommended when using this option, as the performance gain drops off quickly for larger groups. This option generally uses a bit more memory (instead of a buffer for one file, several are allocated).
Batch cooking speeds up processing of small to medium sized networks, which spend a higher percentage of their time preparing to cook a frame and writing the output image.
Reload All Files
If on, any composite nodes referencing files (such as a File COP) will reload their files. Enable this option if files are being replaced on disk between renders.
Image Area
Output Area
Defines the area to be written to the file. Some file formats support data windows and crop areas (TIFF, Open EXR, pic), which allow you to write portions of an image or extra bordering information. In all cases, the image is written at the resolution specified, but the data window written may be different.
If a format does not support a data window or crop region, the image area requested will be clipped against the image frame. Any data outside the crop region will be black.
Frame
The normal image frame area is used, which is what you normally see in the viewport. No data window or crop region is written.
Crop Region
Only data in the crop region is written. All other pixels are set to black. For image formats supporting crop regions, a crop region is set in the file (so it takes up less disk space).
Frame + Surrounding Canvas
This option allows you to write extra image data outside the frame area, so that you can use it when compositing. If the canvas size is less than or equal to the frame area, the frame area is written. In other words, this only differs from the "Frame" option if the COP has a large canvas.
Pixel / UV Crop
Specifies the crop region, in either pixels or UV coords. The fields represent the lower and upper corners of the region (left, bottom, right, top).
Limit Canvas Pixels
If on, the extra canvas information written to the file is limited to this many pixels beyond the frame area. This prevents very large files from being written, and generally gives you the most useful data.
Limit Canvas Percent
If on, the extra canvas information written to the file is limited to a percentage of the horizontal or vertical resolution. So, for a 640×480 image, limiting to 10% will write a maximum of 64 pixels on the left and right, and 48 pixels on the top and bottom.
Auxiliary File 1-5
Overview
Save additional images which allows separation of planes into multiple files.
Script
Pre-Render Script
Execute this script before any rendering.
Pre-Frame Script
Execute this script before each frame
Post-Frame Script
Execute this script after each frame
Post-Render Script
Execute this script after all rendering
Locals
N
Frame being rendered.
NRENDER
Total number of frames being rendered.
