Working with Operators and Outputs

By default, when you open the Render Queue dialog, combustion adds an output for the farthest-downstream operator of each branch in the process tree. Use the Render Queue to add and remove operators and outputs.

Note: You can also add, remove, rename, and turn off outputs in the Schematic view. For information, see Adding Output Nodes.

You set the output settings for each output. Output settings include image format, frame size, rendering quality, and many others. Use different outputs to render an operator with different settings.

When you select an output in the output queue, the settings appear in the Output Settings panel. Output settings are saved with the workspace file.

To turn off an operator or output:

Click the on/off box (yellow box) next to the operator or output.

You need to turn off outputs that you do not want to render right away. For example, if you only want to render one of several branches in the workspace, you need to turn off the outputs for the other operators.

When you click Process, operators and outputs that are off are not rendered. Also, Quick Setup ignores outputs that are off.

To add a new operator:

1. Do one of the following:
• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) in the output queue and choose Add Operator from the context menu.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Command+Shift+N (Macintosh).

The Operator Picker dialog appears.

2. Select the operator that you want to render, and then click OK.

The selected operator is added in the queue.

To remove an operator:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the operator in the output queue and choose Remove Operator.
• Select the operator and press Shift+Delete or Shift+Backspace.

A warning appears indicating that all outputs will also be deleted. Click OK.

To add a new output:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) an operator or one of its outputs in the output queue and choose Add Output.
• Select an operator or one of its outputs and press Ctrl+N (Windows) or Command+N (Macintosh).

An output is added after the last output for the operator and the settings from the default preset are applied automatically.

To remove an output:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the output in the output queue and choose Remove Output.
• Select the output and press Delete or Backspace.

Note: You cannot remove the only output for an operator in the output queue. Instead, remove the operator.

To duplicate an output:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) an output in the output queue and choose Duplicate Output.
• Select an output and press Ctrl+Alt+D (Windows) or Command+Option+D (Macintosh).

A new output, with the same output settings as the original, is added after the last output for the operator.

To rename an output:

1. Do one of the following:
• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) an output in the output queue and choose Rename Output.
• Double-click the output in the queue.
• Select the output and press Ctrl+M (Windows) or Command+M (Macintosh).

The Enter New Output Name dialog appears.

2. Type a new name and click OK.

Moving Operators and Outputs

Move operators and outputs in the queue to set the rendering order. Since outputs are rendered from first (top of queue) to last (bottom of queue), you may want to move outputs to render them earlier or later. When you move an operator, all its outputs are moved with it.

To move an operator or output up or down in the queue:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the operator or output in the output queue and choose Move Up or Move Down.
• Select the operator or output and press Up Arrow or Down Arrow.

You can reset the operators to the default rendering order, which is the order in which they appear in the Workspace panel.

To reset the rendering order in the queue:

Do one of the following:

• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) in the output queue and choose Optimize Render Order from the context menu.
• Press Shift+Up Arrow or Shift+Down Arrow.

Note: The outputs for each operator are not rearranged.