Rendering to RAM

combustion provides two ways to render your work using the system RAM: cache the frames as you play a clip in the viewport or render the clip to RAM.

You can simply use the playback controls to preview your work in a viewport. After combustion has buffered (cached) every frame into memory, the clip plays at near real-time playback speed. You can continue to work on the operators, and the results of any changes update dynamically as the clip plays in the viewport.

Use the Render to RAM dialog to customize the output options, such as frame size and quality, for real-time playback of the clip. You can choose to render two different operators to compare the results, and you can save the results to disk.

The status area at the top of the Render to RAM dialog indicates the number of frames to render and the total number that the system is capable of playing back. If you cannot play the entire clip, you do not have enough RAM. For information on increasing available RAM, see Allocating More RAM to combustion.

To render to RAM:

1. Display the operator that you want to render in a viewport.

It is now the current operator.

2. Choose File | Render to RAM, or press Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Command+Shift+R (Macintosh).

The Render to RAM dialog appears.

3. To compare the current operator with another operator in the workspace, click the Compare With button and select an operator from the Operator Picker that appears. For more information, see Comparing Rendered Clips.
4. Select the rendering quality from the Quality list. For information, see Setting Rendering Quality.
5. Select the size of the rendered image from the Frame Size list. For information, see Choosing a Frame Size.
6. Set the channels to render. For information, see Choosing Which Channels to Render.
7. Set field dominance using the Fields list, if required. For information, see Setting Field Dominance.
8. Enter the first frame to render in the Start field. Enter the last frame to render in the End field. Otherwise, the entire operator is rendered by default.
9. Click Process.

The RAM Player appears in the active viewport. To play the clip, press Spacebar or use the playback controls.

Note: Rendering to RAM does not automatically save the results to a file on the hard drive. However, you can choose to do so.

To save the rendered clip:

1. Do one of the following:
• Choose File | Save RAM Player As.
• Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the RAM Player viewport and choose Save RAM Player As.

The Save RAM Player As dialog appears.

2. To save the video portion of the clip, enable Video Output and set the following options as required:
• File format (and related options)
• Filename
• Frame size

For information, see Specifying Video Output Settings.

3. Enter the path and name for the file(s) in the Filename field. Or click the Filename button to use the file browser.
4. To save the audio portion of the clip, enable Audio Output and set the options as required. For more information, see Audio Rendering.
5. Click Process.