Command line render

Command line render

You can render from a command line if you want to render an animation or single frame. Advantages include the following:

works with single images and animation
uses less memory than having all of Maya (UI) running
can be scripted
can be integrated into a rendering pipeline (render farms)
for Maya software rendering, you can override render settings using command flags (for other renderers, you must also write a MEL script)

For more information, see Command line renderer .

mental ray for Maya command line options

The following mental ray for Maya command line options are supported during IPR:

-rg/region: Update the IPR region to the selected one.
-rr/regionRect: Set a new IPR region explicitly (works together with -region).
-pt/pauseTuning: Controls actual rendering of IPR requests, shader changes are always recognized in all cases.
-q -imr: Returns true (1) if IPR is active.