Rendering to RAM for Real-Time Playback

combustion provides two ways to render your work using your system RAM. The first method is to simply use the playback controls to preview your work in a viewport. Once combustion has buffered every frame in its memory once, the clip will play at real-time playback speed, depending on the performance of your graphics display card. You can continue to work on your projects, and the results of your changes will dynamically update as the clip plays in the viewport.

The second method is to use the Render to RAM dialog. Using this dialog, you can customize the output options, such as frame size and quality, for real-time RAM playback of your clip. You can also choose to render two different operators to compare the results or you can save the results to disk.

The time bar in the Render to RAM dialog indicates whether your system has enough RAM to play back the entire clip. If the time bar extends for the full duration of the clip, then your system can sustain real-time playback for the entire clip. If you cannot play your entire clip, then you do not have enough RAM.

To render to RAM:

1. In the Workspace panel, double-click the operator that you want to render.
2. Choose File | Render to RAM, or press Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Command+Shift+R (Macintosh).
3. Play the clip (Spacebar).

The clip is played back in the viewport.

For more information on rendering to RAM, see Rendering.