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.