DS Render button - help prevent rendering the wrong thing

Inkubo

Because the Render button makes a decision about what to render, there is always the possibility of rendering the wrong thing. And because Iray takes a while to show the first results, this means you have to click the button and wait... wait... wait... to see if you're getting the render you intended.

I suggest adding render camera selection to the Render Settings pane so the renderer always knows which camera you intend for the "real" image--and of course default it to the first camera you create. Then split the Render toolbar button into three: Render from Camera, Render from Main Viewport, and Render from Aux Viewport. Gray out the appropriate buttons when there is no camera or when the main or aux viewports are closed.

I would love to have a button to click to do a preview render based on whatever viewport I'm interested in at the moment, and one button to click to absolutely for sure get the real image from my main camera.

Daywalker Designs

Don't do renders without a camera; you don't have control of the headlamp and the image may or may not look its best.

Richard Haseltine

The render will always use the current active viewport, so make sure that that is the one you wish to render.

Griffin Avid

Don't do renders without a camera; you don't have control of the headlamp and the image may or may not look its best.

 

Is this true? I sometimes go straight to render from the perspective view - and I know the viewport changes to the shape and settings in my render menu....

But the headlamp thing....please explain further. Never heard anything about this before....please...

I'm testing this theory now by converting my active perspective to camera and rendering the same image again. It's an outdoor shot.

Inkubo

Richard Haseltine said:

The render will always use the current active viewport, so make sure that that is the one you wish to render.

Yes, and that's exactly the problem I hope DAZ will solve by splitting the buttons up.

Right now if you have (a) a camera you want to render from, (b) a main viewport set to Perspective View, and (c) an aux viewport you set up to look at some different angle, then before rendering you have to remember to click in the main viewport and switch back to the camera before clicking Render. Then wait. And if problems show up early and you need the Perspective View again to make adjustments and maybe the aux viewport to swing around and see something better from a second angle, you have to switch everything back, make the adjustments, and then remember once again to switch everything back for rendering. It's error-prone extra clicking followed by a potentially significant wait to see if you really did what you thought you did.

If there were one button to say "Render from Selected Camera" and another for "Render from Main Viewport" the process would be easier and more foolproof. Three buttons would be best, but even two--"Render from Selected Camera" and "Render from Active Viewport"--would be a vast improvement.

I'm not the only one frustrated by this behavior of the Render button that invites mistakes. I watched a training video from one of you PA's, and she said in the video she tries to avoid using the aux viewport because when it's open she so often accidentally renders from it.

 

Richard Haseltine

You could make a feature request - though I suspect it would be more easily done (if it was done at all) by adding an option to the General group of render Settings, for renderinmg through the current viewport or a specified camera. http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-contact-us

Inkubo

Richard Haseltine said:

You could make a feature request - though I suspect it would be more easily done (if it was done at all) by adding an option to the General group of render Settings, for renderinmg through the current viewport or a specified camera. http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-contact-us

Oh! Sorry! Because of the name of this thread, I thought this was the place to make DAZ product suggestions! I guess this is for PA requests or something. I'll repost my suggestions to tech support team. Thanks!

Richard Haseltine

It was originally thought of as a forum for people to suggest things that PAs could then make, but over the years it has broadened to include searching for suggestions for existing products.

There's nothing wrong with making DS suggestions/requests in the forum - that way, if the feature (or soemthing close) already exists people can point it out and even if not it offers a chnace to refine the request before submitting it via a support ticket.

Inkubo

Makes sense! Thanks!