Scene Render Options Property Editor

| Scene Globals | Available Channels

Defines global render options for the scene. These options are saved with every new scene you create. If you choose, many of these options can be overridden for the pass.

To display (do one of the following):

The Render Manager > Scene Render Options
Choose Render Render Scene Options... from the Render toolbar.

Scene Globals

Scene Renderer

Specifies which rendering engine to use when outputting your scene:

mental ray: renders the scene using the mental ray renderer, according to the settings defined in the mental ray Render Options Property Editor.

Hardware Renderer: renders the scene using a hardware renderer specified in the Hardware Renderer Property Editor.

Scene Output

[output directory]

Specifies the default output directory for the rendered sequence.

You can build the output directory path using Tokens and Templates.

You can enter an explicit path in the text box. Use the Browse (...) button to choose a location.

[resolved path]

Displays the fully resolved output path built from the path templates. This is a read-only field.

Scene Frame Settings

[frame source]	Frame Range: Renders a specified frame range in the sequence as defined by the Start, End, and Step options. Frame Set: Renders a specified set of frames in the sequence as defined by the Set option. Timeline: Renders all frames in the sequence as defined by the scene's timeline.
Frame Start	When the frame source is set to Frame Range, this option sets the first frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Frame End	When the frame source is set to Frame Range, this option sets the last frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Frame Step	When the frame source is set to Frame Range, this option sets the increment between rendered frames. This allows you to skip frames. For example, if you select 4, every fourth frame is rendered.
Frame Set	When the frame source is set to Frame Set, this option defines a specific set of frames to be rendered.

Frame Padding

[frame padding options]

Sets the leading zeros to use with the resulting frame number for all rendered sequences. See Setting the Frame Padding [Rendering] for the scene.

Scene Output Resolution

Sets the frame resolution in pixels. A higher resolution produces a more detailed image. The higher the resolution, the longer it takes to render. There is no limit for image resolution, but for large images, the render window will automatically scale the image (in halves such as 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, etc.) to fit it on screen. The output resolution is not affected.

Preset	Lists output format presets. Custom format: Allows you to define your own custom resolution.
Output Formats	Opens the Output Format Preferences [Preference Reference] property editor.
Width	Sets the image width (X resolution) independently of the Y resolution.
Height	Sets the image height (Y resolution) independently of the X resolution.
Aspect Ratio	Sets the aspect ratio of the output camera. This parameter can be edited only if Lock Aspect Ratio is off.
Pixel Ratio	Sets the pixel ratio. This ensures compatibility of images with devices that use rectangular or square pixels.
Lock Aspect Ratio	Locks the Width and Height Aspect Ratio regardless of the chosen resolution values. For example, editing the Width will automatically change the Height to maintain the same aspect ratio.

Scene Field Rendering

Field rendering consists of rendering to two alternating fields of horizontal scanlines (odd and even) instead of rendering to frames. This reduces the strobing effect that results from fast-moving objects when rendering for video.

The even field of one frame is rendered, then the odd field of the next frame is rendered. This effectively doubles the frame rate. Note that, because of the dependence on frame numbers, sequences should start with an odd frame and end with an even one.

Note that you can set field rendering options in several places:

The settings in the Output Format preferences control the default for new scenes.
The settings in the Scene Render Options control an individual scene.
The Pass settings can override the scene's settings for that individual pass.

Enable Fields

Enables field rendering.

Interleave

Enables interleaving of fields.

Field Order

Specifies the field order for scenes rendered in field mode.

Lower Field First/Even (NTSC): Renders to fields using even dominance. This means that odd frame numbers contain the even fields. This is the dominance used by the NTSC and DV video standards.
Upper Field First /Odd (PAL and HD): Renders to fields using odd dominance. This means that odd frame numbers contain the odd fields. This is the dominance used by the PAL and HD video standards.

If you are using video clips in your scene, they should be de-interlaced unless they're being used as background images that match the output resolution exactly.

Scene Motion Blur Settings

Speed	Defines the shutter speed for the camera. This is the length of time for which the shutter stays open from one point in a frame to another. The blur is evaluated and rendered according to the on-frame options. A speed of zero (0) turns motion blur off, regardless of the presence of motion transformations or motion vectors in the scene. The shutter opens at time 0 + Offset and closes when the shutter Speed time has elapsed. Larger values means a slower shutter speed, and a greater amount of motion blur. The motion blur trail is shorter for shutter values less than 1.0, and longer for shutter values greater than 1.0. If you're using motion blur with particles, Speed must be set to less than 1.0, unless caching has been enabled. For details about working with shutter speed and offset, see Specifying the Shutter Interval [Cameras and Motion Blur].
Offset	Sets the time when the shutter opens. The shutter opens at time 0 + Offset and closes when the shutter Speed time has elapsed.
[on-frame options]	End on Frame: The blur starts prior to current frame and ends on the current frame. For example, if Speed is set to 0.5, the shutter opens half-way between the current frame and the previous frame, and closes on the current frame. Start on Frame: The blur starts on current frame and ends after the current frame. For example, if Speed is set to 0.5, the shutter opens at the current frame and closes half-way between the current frame and the next frame. Center on Frame: The blur is centered on the current frame such that the shutter opens before the current frame and closes at exactly the same distance after the current frame. For example, if Speed is set to 0.5, the shutter opens three-quarters of the way between the previous frame and the current frame, and closes one-quarter of the way between the current frame and the next frame. For details, see Scene Motion Blur Settings [Cameras and Motion Blur].
Deformation Blur	Controls whether deformation motion blur is enabled. This option should only be enabled when objects in the scene change shape quickly enough to cause a motion blur. Motion blur will be computed for each animated vertex. This greatly increases rendering time. You can set motion steps when calculating deformation motion blur from the mental ray Render Options Property Editor.

Available Channels

Available Render Channels

Built-in render channels provided internally by the renderer are displayed as grey rows in the render channels grid. Preset and custom (user-defined) channels are displayed as green rows in the grid.

For information on how to set up and output render channels, see Render Channels & Framebuffers [Rendering].

Name

Main	The beauty pass, that is, the final effect of all shaders.
Depth	The distance of objects from the camera. Zero represents infinity (or no sampled point) and positive values represent increasing distance from the sampled point to the camera.
Motion	The movement of elements in world space. Motion data written out in this way is mostly intended for use by output shaders, like the mental ray 2D Motion Blur (mip_Motion_Blur) output shader [Shader Reference].
Normal	The surface normals of the sampled points. If no sampled point, then the vector is all zeros.
Object Labels	A unique integer for each object. This allows you to isolate objects in a compositing program.
Pixel Coverage	The fraction of each pixel covered by the most samples in that pixel. Where two or more objects contribute to a pixel, this is the portion contributed by the dominant object.
Raster Motion	The movement of elements in screen (raster) space. Raster Motion data written out in this way (from the point of view of the camera) is intended for use by post-processing tools. In addition: If there is any motion in a pixel, the Z value of the motion will be 1.0; otherwise, it will be 0.0. If you output the motion buffer to a color file format, this allows you to process the Blue channel to create a matte for compositing. If the contents of the raster motion render channel is output in an RGBA format (for example TIFF Float), it will grab the alpha from the Main render channel. This helps with post-processing tools that require alpha in order to determine which areas to blur.
Ambient	The color contribution of ambient light.
Diffuse	The color contribution of diffuse light.
Specular	The color contribution of specular light.
Irradiance	The color contribution of indirect illumination (photons, final gathering, and irradiance particles results).
Reflection	The color contribution of reflected light.
Refraction	The color contribution of refracted light.
[custom render channel name]	Custom (user-defined) render channels are also displayed by name as green rows in the grid.

Type

Color	A red, green and blue image with an alpha channel.
Grayscale	A single channel grayscale image. No alpha.
Depth	32-bit floating-point values.
Normal Vector	32-bit floating-point triplets, normalized to the range [-1,1]. When saving to a color file format, 1 is added and the sum is divided by 2 to yield a value in the range [0,1]. This is then converted to an integer value in the range [0,255] or [0,65535].
Vector	32-bit floating-point triplets. When saving to a color file format, the same formula is used as for normal vectors. Values above 1.0 and below -1.0 are clamped.
Object Label	32-bit integer values.

Add

Opens the Create Render Channel Dialog Box where you can define a new render channel.

Remove

Lets you remove custom render channels.