Batch Rendering: Batch Render Dialog

The Batch Render tool offers you an efficient, visual approach to setting up a sequence of different tasks or scene states to render automatically. From the Batch Render dialog, you control the following:

Standard menu: Rendering menu > Batch Render
Enhanced menu: Rendering menu > Tools (Rendering Set) > Batch Render

Image resolution, pixel aspect ratio or time sequence if it differs from the default rendering settings found on the Render Setup dialog.
Whether to render a specific camera view or the active viewport.
Which camera view to render.
The output path where rendered images get stored.
Which scene state is restored prior to rendering.
Which rendering preset is used per rendered view.
Whether all the batch rendering tasks should be sent to Backburner for Network Rendering by multiple systems for even faster rendering.
Exporting the batch rendering tasks and all parameters set in the Batch Render dialog to a BAT file for later command line rendering.

Note: The Batch Rendering dialog is for rendering different aspects of the same scene, such as views from different cameras. To batch-render a number of different scenes, use Backburner or command-line rendering.

Batch Render Completed

If a problem is encountered by the Batch Renderer, you will be notified by means of the Batch Render Completed dialog. This is an error dialog that appears and notifies you about which batch renders did not complete and, if possible, provides a description of why the failure occurred.

If the cause of the error cannot be identified, then the error entry will simply state Failed. The most common causes for failure are:

Missing texture maps for materials that are assigned to objects in the scene. This shows up as Failed. Missing External File. Once the texture map is found or map paths are properly set, this error will not occur.
Missing UVW coordinates for objects that have texture mapped materials assigned to them. This is reported as Failed. Missing Map Coordinates on Object and can be alleviated by making sure new objects are created with the Generate Mapping Coords switch turned on and by assigning a UVW Map modifier to the object that is not displaying its texture mapping.

Procedures

To use the Batch Render tool:

Open or create a MAX scene.
Choose Rendering menu Batch Render.
The Batch Render dialog opens.
On the Batch Render dialog, click the Add button.
This adds your first rendering task to the batch render queue.

By default, the Camera parameter is set to Viewport, which means that the task will render the active viewport. To change to a set view, make sure the scene contains at least one camera, and then choose the camera view to render from the Camera drop-down list.
Review the Selected Batch Render Parameters settings and, if necessary, turn on Override Preset and then change the Frame Start, Frame End, Width, Height, and Pixel Aspect settings.
Click the Output Path button to set a drive location, file name and file format for the rendered image.
If you've saved any scene states with the model, you can choose which one is loaded during the rendering operation by opening the Scene State drop list.
Repeat steps 3 through 6 to continue adding rendering tasks to the batch render queue, as necessary.
When all your tasks are set, click the Render button.

To use the Batch Render tool with Backburner:

Before attempting to use the Batch Render tool with Backburner for network rendering, make sure the Backburner Manager is running on your managing workstation and that Backburner Server is running on all the other workstations that will receive the rendering assignments. For more information on setting up Backburner Network Rendering, refer to Network Rendering.

Set up a series of rendering tasks in the Batch Render queue as documented in the previous procedure.
Turn on Net Render and then click the Render button.
The Network Job Assignment dialog opens.
Enter a subnet mask, or, with Automatic Search off, enter the Manager name or IP address, and then click Connect.
The available rendering servers show up in the list on the right side of the Network Job Assignment dialog.
Click the Submit button to send all the Batch Render camera tasks to Backburner for network rendering to all the workstations that are running Backburner Server.
If you are running the Backburner Queue Monitor, you'll see all the camera tasks listed as rendering jobs in the Job section of the Queue Monitor.

Interface

Add: Adds a new rendering task to the queue, using the default settings. By default, a new task is set to render the active viewport. To set it to render a particular camera, choose the camera from the Camera drop-down list.
Duplicate: Adds a copy of the highlighted rendering task to the queue.
All rendering parameters that were part of the original task are duplicated for the new task.
Delete: Deletes the highlighted rendering task.
No warning appears to confirm deletion and you cannot undo a deletion.
[task queue]: Lists all the camera tasks that have been chosen for batch rendering. The task queue consists of eight columns that show all the parameters that have been set for a particular camera task. You can control which tasks are rendered by toggling the checkboxes in the list.

Selected Batch Render Parameter group

By default, any tasks you've designated for batch rendering use the current Time Output and Output Size parameters from the Render Setup dialog.

For example, if the Output Size settings on the Render Setup dialog shows that you have a Time Output settings of Single and an of 800 width and 600 height, when you add a camera, its Selected Batch Render Parameters will mimic those settings. Likewise, if the Render Setup dialog has a Time Output set to Range and frame 0 to 25, the Frame Start and Frame End settings on the Batch Render dialog will default to those Time Output settings.

This group gives you access to changing those default parameters.

Override Preset

When on, you can override any of the default settings for the highlighted task via the Frame Start, Frame End, Width, Height, and Pixel Aspect settings. Default=off.

Frame Start

The first frame to be rendered for the highlighted task. The default setting for this parameter matches the Time Output group settings on the Common panel of the Render Setup dialog.

Frame End

The last frame to be rendered for the highlighted task. Its default state also matches the Time Output group settings on the Common panel of the Render Setup dialog.

The default Frame Start and Frame End parameters correspond to the Render Setup dialog parameters as follows:

Render Setup dialog >Time Output	Batch Render dialog Frame Start/End
Single	Defaults to the frame set by the time slider.
Active Time Segment	Defaults to 0 (zero) and the last frame of the animation as set in the Time Configuration dialog.
Range	Defaults to the range of frames specified, such as 0 (zero) To 14 or 6 To 11.

The Frame Start and End settings also conform to the current time configuration format; i.e. Frames, SMPTE, Frame:Ticks, or MM:SS:Ticks.

Width

Allows you to specify a new image width setting if Override Preset is on. If Override Preset is off, this value matches the width set on the Render Setup dialog.

Height

Allows you to specify a new image height setting if the Override Preset is on. If Override Preset is off, this value matches the height set on the Render Setup dialog.

Pixel Aspect

Sets the aspect ratio of the pixels for display on another device. The image might look squashed on your display but will display correctly on the device with differently shaped pixels. By default, this mimics the value set on the Render Setup dialog.

Name

Lets you change the default name of the highlighted task. The default naming structure for camera tasks uses “View” plus an incremented view number, such as View01 or View02. If you want, you can change the task's name to something more descriptive.

Note: After changing the name, you must press

for the change to register.

Note: If you're rendering elements as part of the batch, the task name is appended to each rendered element's specified file name. For example, if the task name is View01 and the render element output file name is Test_Diffuse.tga , then the batch-rendered element output becomes Test_Diffuse_View01.tga .

If you're rendering an element without specifying a file name for the element, the batch renderer appends the element type to the batch output file name. For example, if the batch output file name is MyBatch.png, and you're rendering an Atmosphere element, then the element output name becomes MyBatch_Atmosphere.png.

Output Path

Opens the Render Output File dialog, where you can specify the output path, file name, and file format for the rendered image of the selected camera task.

Once set, the output path and file name appears in the output path field and the file name appears in the Output Path column of the task queue.

Clear Output Path

Removes the output path and file name from the Output Path field and task queue.

Camera drop-down list

Shows any cameras in the scene.

By default, a task is set to render the active viewport, as indicated by the “Viewport” entry in the Camera column of the task queue. You can use this list choose a camera from any in the scene for the highlighted task. The new camera is shown in the Camera column of the task queue.

To set the highlighted task to render the active viewport, choose the dashed line (-------------------------) from the top of the drop-down list.

Choose the dashed line to render the active viewport.

Note: Choosing a camera changes only the camera the task uses. It does not change the name of the task.

Scene State

This drop-down list displays the scene states, if any, that you can assign to the highlighted task. If no scene state is active then current scene settings are used.

Preset

Lets you choose a render preset for the highlighted task. If no render preset is active and there is no override, then the current render settings are used.

If you choose Load Preset from the drop-down list, the Render Presets Load dialog opens.

Net Render: When on, opens the Network Job Assignment dialog when you click the Render button.
Each camera task in the Batch Render dialog is passed to the Network Job Assignment dialog as an individual rendering job instead of a single job. By default, the Network Job Assignment dialog uses the name of the MAX file as its job name, and it then appends the name of the camera task. For example, if you have a scene named Athena_High_Rise and camera tasks for three cameras, the jobs will look like this in the monitor: Athena_High_Rise Camera02 View01,Athena_High_Rise Camera01 View02, and Athena_High_Rise Camera01 View03.
Export to .bat: Creates a batch file for command line rendering. This button opens the Batch Render Export To Batch File dialog where you can specify a drive location and name for the batch file that is saved.
Render: Starts the batch rendering process or opens the Network Job Assignment dialog if Net Render is turned on.