The Render Element Output File dialog lets you assign a name to a file that saves one element of the rendering. You can also determine the type of file to render, and set up options such as compression, color depth, and quality, depending on the file type.
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Main toolbar >
(Render Setup) > Render Setup dialog > Render Elements panel > Render Elements Rollout > Selected Element Parameters group > Browse ([...]) button
- History drop-down list
- Displays a list of the most recent directories searched. Whenever an image is selected, the path used is added to the top of the history list as the most recently used path.
The history information is saved in the 3dsmax.ini file.
- Save In drop-down list
- Lets you browse other directories or drives.
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Up One Level - Moves to the next-highest level in the directory structure.
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Create New Folder - Lets you create a new folder while in this dialog.
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View Menu - Provides several options for how information is displayed in the list window:
- Thumbnails: Displays the contents of a directory as thumbnails, without the details.
- Tiles: Displays the contents of a directory as large icons, without the details. If you widen the dialog, these tile across the width.
- Small Icons: Displays the contents of a directory as small icons, tiled across the width, without the details.
- List: Displays the contents of a directory without the details.
- Details: Displays the contents of a directory with full details such as size and date.
- [list of files]
- Lists the contents of the directory, in the format specified by the View menu. Tip: When the active display format is Details, the contents of the directory are displayed with Name, Size, Type, Date Modified, and Attributes. You can sort the list according to a column's contents by clicking that column's label.
- File Name
- Displays the file name of the file selected in the list.
- Save as type drop-down list
- Displays all the file types that can be saved. This serves as a filter for the file list window. Note: The choice in this field determines the file type saved, regardless of the file name extension you enter in the File Name field.
- Name template
- The drop-down list lets you choose a file name based on the 3ds Max scene and system settings.
- <scene> The root name of the MAX scene file
- <camera/view> The name of the active camera or viewport
- <mm> The month
- <dd> The day
- <yyyy> The year
For example, choosing the next-to-last template from the list might give you the file name car_rig_final_Camera_Driver_01-28-2014.
The text field lets you create new templates. For example, you might change <scene>_ <dd>_<mm> to <dd>_<mm>_<scene>. Any text you enter becomes part of the name template. 3ds Max can save up to 10 custom templates (not counting the default ones, which always appear on the list). Once the maximum number of custom templates has been saved, entering a new template causes the first custom template saved to drop off the list.
- Save
- Sets the file information for saving upon rendering. Closes the dialog if you haven't changed the output file type.
If you've changed the file type, clicking Save opens the Setup dialog for the specified file type. Change the settings as necessary, and then click OK to close both the Setup and the Output dialogs, or click Cancel to return to the Output dialog.
- Cancel
- Cancels the selection and closes the dialog.
- Devices
- Lets you choose the hardware output device, for example, a digital video recorder. To use this function, the device, its driver, and its 3ds Max plug-in must all be installed on your system.
- Setup
- Click to open a dialog with controls for the output file type. These vary with each different file format. Note: The Setup button becomes available after you specify a file name or type. If you first choose a type from the Save As Type drop-down list, click anywhere on the dialog to activate Setup. If you first enter a file name and extension (such as test.png), press Tab to activate Setup. Also, clicking Setup uses the filename extension, even if it doesn't agree with the Save As Type setting.
- Info
- Displays expanded information about a highlighted file such as frame rate, compression quality, file size, and resolution. The information available depends on the file type.
If the file has an embedded value, this dialog displays that value. Otherwise, it displays "N/A".
- View
- Displays the file at full resolution. If the file is a movie, Windows Media Player opens to play the file.
Gamma group
To set up gamma options for the output file, Enable Gamma Correction must be on in the Gamma panel of the Preferences dialog (Customize 
Preferences Gamma). Otherwise, the Gamma controls are unavailable on the Render Element Output File dialog.
- Gamma
- Specifies how to handle gamma with the bitmap image.
- Automatic (Recommended) (The default.) Uses the gamma value embedded in the incoming bitmap. If there is no embedded gamma value, 3ds Max makes an intelligent decision based on the image's bit depth. Low-dynamic-range images (8- or 16-bit) are assumed to have the standard sRGB gamma of 2.2, and high-dynamic-range (floating-point or logarithmic) images are assumed to be linear and use a gamma of 1.0 (no correction).
For most scenes, you should leave the gamma-handling set to Automatic.
- Override Sets a user-defined gamma value as an override. Note: Use override only if your scene uses bitmaps created (or edited) by a variety of other programs, and you need to adjust the gamma differently for each program.
- Automatic (Recommended) (The default.) Uses the gamma value embedded in the incoming bitmap. If there is no embedded gamma value, 3ds Max makes an intelligent decision based on the image's bit depth. Low-dynamic-range images (8- or 16-bit) are assumed to have the standard sRGB gamma of 2.2, and high-dynamic-range (floating-point or logarithmic) images are assumed to be linear and use a gamma of 1.0 (no correction).
[sequence and preview]
- Sequence
- This is not available in the Render Element Output File dialog. Note: To render a sequence of still images, choose the Active Time Segment or define a range of frames on the Common Parameters rollout of the Render Setup dialog. If you are rendering to a still-image file type, 3ds Max appends a four-digit frame number to the file name, incremented with each frame.
- Preview
- When on, enables display of the image as a thumbnail in the preview window.
- [preview window]
- When Preview is on, displays a thumbnail of the selected file.
- Statistics
- Displays the resolution, color depth, file type, and number of frames of the highlighted file.
- Location
- Displays the full path and name of the highlighted file.