Output Settings Panel

Use the Output Settings panel to set the output options. The four sections of the Output Settings panel are Presets Options, Video Output Options, Add to edit Bin Options, and Audio Output Options.

Presets Options

Use these options to save your commonly used output settings as presets. For more information, see Using Presets.

Preset List

Applies a preset to the selected output. Use presets to save a combination of your output settings for quick application.

Make Default

Makes the preset selected in the Preset list the default. When you create an output, this preset is used initially. An asterisk (*) after the name indicates the default preset.

Save

Stores the current output settings to the selected preset.

New

Creates a preset that stores the current output settings under the specified name.

Rename

Changes the name of the selected preset.

Delete

Removes the selected preset. A confirmation dialog appears when you delete a preset.

Video Output Options

Use these options to select the format and image quality of the rendered files.

Video Output

Enable to set the options for rendering video.

Format

Specifies which format to use for the selected output.

Options

Sets the options related to the selected format. The options available vary depending on the format you select.

Note: If you do not set the options before processing, you are prompted to set them when you click the Process button. However, this does not apply when using the stand-alone Render Queue.

Quality

Sets the level of image quality.

Settings

Sets anti-aliasing, supersampling, and render effects options, as well as which view to render from. These settings are only available for 3D composites.

The Use Current option is enabled by default, so the options in the Settings controls of the composite will be used for rendering. Disable Use Current to change the settings.

For information on the anti-aliasing and supersampling options, see Changing Display Quality. For information on the render effects options, see Displaying Lighting and Surface Effects. For information on the available views, see Changing View Modes.

Frame Size

Controls the pixel resolution at which an image is rendered. Select an option from the list, or select Custom and enter a custom width and height in the fields. Use the Lock button to constrain the aspect ratio when setting a custom size.

Bit Depth

Sets the bit depth of the rendered files. Only a few formats support higher bit depth. The Original Depth shows the bit depth of the output's operator.

Filename

Specifies the path and name for the rendered file(s). Click the Filename button to use the file browser to select a directory and filename, or type the information directly.

The filename can contain spaces and all alphanumeric characters, except the following:

/ \ ! * ? " < > |

If you do not enter a file extension, the file extension corresponding to the video format is used. The file extension and selected video format must always correspond. If you change the output format in the Format list, the file extension is updated in the Filename field.

Force Starting Frame Number

Controls the output filenames used for sequences. Enter the required number for the first frame in the field.

For example, if you render a JPEG sequence, the following files are created: myfile0001.jpg, myfile0002.jpg, myfile0003.jpg, and so on. If you enable Force Starting Frame Number and type 55 in the field, the output files will be: myfile0055, myfile0056, myfile0057, and so on.

Note: You can pad the number in filenames as required. For example, you can enter File[#####].tga to make TARGA images with five numbers, for example, File00012.tga.

Skip Existing Files

Prevents re-rendering of existing frames. This option is useful when you want to use several computers to render one sequence (network rendering). For information, see Network and Batch Rendering.

Channels

Controls which channels are rendered. For information, see Choosing Which Channels to Render.

Fields

Controls the field dominance for the rendered file. For information, see Setting Field Dominance.

3:2 Pulldown

Sets 3:2 Pulldown and controls the placement of the whole and split frames. This option is only available if you choose either Upper or Lower field dominance. For information, see Setting Field Dominance.

FTP

Specifies if image files are sent to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site after they are rendered. After you enable FTP, click Settings to set the FTP options.

Import into Workspace

Imports the rendered footage into the Footage Library in the workspace.

Once the output is imported into the Footage Library, you can turn off the old layers and link the new footage to the operator instead. This is the idea behind caching an operator to disk. You can switch between the rendered and original output quickly using a Switcher operator. For more information, see Committing Frames to Disk.

Attach Output to Email

Automatically attaches the selected output to the e-mail notification sent when rendering is complete. To use this feature, you must first set the related options in the Global Settings panel and Render Queue preferences. For information, see Sending E-mail after Rendering.

Add to edit Bin Options

If combustion is installed on an edit system, use these options to render files from combustion into edit Bins. For more information, see Accessing edit Bins from combustion.

Audio Output Options

Use these options to control the rendering of an audio scratch track, including the audio file format and sampling rate. Enable the Audio Output checkbox to render the audio track, then set the appropriate Audio Output options. For detailed information, see Audio Rendering.