If you want to get a feel for the final rendered look quickly, you can render of an entire animation (or a few selected frames) at a lower resolution.
Typically, a resolution half to a quarter of the size lets you get a good feel for the software rendered look. (As you get closer to achieving the final look during an animation, test render a few specific frames at the final resolution too.)
To test render an animation with command line rendering
Render -r <renderer> <options> <scene>
using the following options:
| -s <start_frame> | The first frame of the animation to render. |
| -e <end_frame> | The last frame of the animation to render. |
| -b <by_frame> | The increment between frames to render. |
| -x <image_x_resolution> | The horizontal resolution of the rendered images. |
| -y <image_y_resolution> | The vertical resolution of the rendered images. |
For example, if an animation begins at frame 1 and ends at frame 100, and the final image resolution is 640 x 480, and you want to test render with Maya software the animation by rendering every ten frames, type:
Render -r sw -s 1 -e 100 -b 10
If you want to test render the animation by rendering with mental ray for Maya every frame at half the final resolution, type:
Render -r mr -s 1 -e 100 -b 1 -x 320 -y 240
Render -r mr -s 1 -e 100 -b 1 -x 320 -y 240
For a complete list of Render options, in a shell or command line, type:
Render -r <renderer> -help