Rendering the Animation

Rendering multiple frames for a complete animation can be time consuming, even on a fast machine, because each frame is individually processed. Realistic materials, shadow casting, and other factors can slow the process as well. This scene is relatively simple however, so it doesn’t take long to render.

Set up the scene:

• Open your saved animation, my_battlefield attack.max, or open battlefield_attack.max, located in the \scenes\startup\battlefield folder.
  Note: If you saved your completed files to a folder other than \scenes\startup, when you open one of your files you might encounter messages about missing files. If you run into this problem, click the Browse button on the Missing External Files dialog. This opens the Configure External File Paths dialog. Click the Add button. Use the Choose New External Files Path dialog to navigate to the folder where you loaded the original file, and then click Use Path. Click OK, and then click Continue.

Render your animation:

To complete this tutorial, render the animation you made earlier. The rendering time is probably about 6 minutes, depending on the speed of your machine.

1. On the main toolbar, click (Render Setup).

   3ds Max opens the Render Setup dialog.

2. At the top of the Render Setup window, set Renderer to Arnold.

   

3. In the Time Output group, choose Active Time Segment. (If you left the setting at Single, just the currently displayed frame would render.)
   
   Tip: If your computer is fast, you can skip the next step.
4. In the Output Size group, change the default (640 x 480) to 320 x 240.
   

   This smaller size has only one-quarter the area of the default, making it much faster to render.

5. In the Render Output group, click the Files button. (You might have to scroll down in order to see this control.)
   
6. On the Render Output File dialog, name your animation mybattlefield_attack.avi. Click Save to save the animation to the default folder (usually \renderoutput).
   Warning: You must either add the extension .avi in the file name, or else select AVI as the file type. If you don't tell the program what type of animation format to save in, the rendering won't work.

   3ds Max opens a AVI File Compression Setup dialog.

   
7. Click OK to choose the default settings.
   Note: You can use the Compressor drop-down list to choose a particular video compressor, or codec. The available choices depend on your system setup. Many codecs let you use the Quality slider to adjust the quality of the output (primarily the output resolution). For the default DV Video Encoder, this control is not available.

   On the Render Setup dialog, Save File is now selected and the output field shows the location of mybattlefield_attack.avi.

8. At the top of the Render Setup dialog, set the View to Render option to Camera01.

   

   Always check to be sure you’re rendering the right viewport.

   Tip: In most cases, you will render the camera viewport.
9. Click Render to begin the rendering process.

   Watch a few frames to make sure that the rendering gets off to a good start. In the Rendering dialog, the Total Animation progress bar gives you an idea of how long the rendering will take.

Play the rendered animation:

1. When your animation is finished rendering, choose Rendering menu View Image File.
2. In the View File dialog, double-click mybattlefield_attack.avi to open the Media Player and start the playback.

Summary

You have learned how to find your way around the 3ds Max user interface while creating an animated scene. You now know how to navigate the viewports, create simple objects using primitives, and assign materials to them. You've also learned how to move objects as well as animate and render your animation.