Render an Animation

You can render the entire scene or selected objects (with materials) as one image file, render the desired animation frames (with materials) as .png files, or render the entire animation (without materials) as a .mp4 file.

Render One Image

You can render the entire scene or selected objects in the scene (with materials) to produce one image file.

First, you need to define the rendering settings.
  1. Do one of the following:
    To Do this
    Render the current view
    • Press Ctrl+R.
    • On the Rendering tab, click the Render Image icon.
    Render selected objects
    1. Select the objects you'd like to render.
    2. On the Rendering tab, click the Render Image icon.
    The Darkroom window is displayed:
    • To the bottom left of the current rendering, the status is displayed, including information about the rendering engine, number of samples, remaining time, and elapsed time.
  2. To save the rendering as an image file, click Save As. You can save the rendering in the following formats: .jpg, .png, .hdr, .exr, .tiff, .tga, and .bmp.

Render the Animation

Use the Render tool to render an ainimation, with materials, as an .mp4 file. This method produces a high-quality rendering, but can take a long time to process.

The Render tool allows you to stop and restart rendering at any time and modify the Start Animation time to export only the frames you want.
  1. On the Animation tab, select the Render tool.
    The Render Animation window opens.
  2. Choose the folder where you'd like to save the animation.
  3. By default, the animation is saved as both an .mp4 and .png files, but you can disable the creation of the .png files by deselecting Saves frames as PNG.
  4. If you want to render more quicky, select Skip frames that are already rendered.
  5. Click OK to start the rendering.

The mp4 file is saved into the same folder of the .iStudio/.iRender scene file. The .png files are saved in a subfolder named <scene filename>.frames. Each file takes the same name as your model and is appended with the frame number (for example, Model_fr_1.png).

To view the animation, open the .mp4 file in a video player, or open the first frame in an animation application.

Render the Animation in Real Time

Use the Render in Real Time tool to quickly render an animation, without materials, as an .mp4 file. This produces a lower-quality animation than regular rendering, but much more quickly.

Real-time rendering uses the current display mode for the rendering, which means that if the current mode is Shaded it will be rendered in shaded mode, if it is MatCap it will render in that mode, etc.
  1. On the Animation tab, select the Render in Real Time tool.
    The Render Animation window opens.
  2. Choose the folder where you'd like to save the animation.
    You can see the progress of the rendering as the Current Time marker moves on the animation timeline.
  3. By default, the animation is saved only as an .mp4 and, but you can enable the creation of the .png files as well by selecting Saves frames as PNG.
  4. If you want to render more quicky, select Skip frames that are already rendered.
  5. Choose a setting for the Motion Blur Quality.
  6. Click OK.
The mp4 file is saved into the same folder of the .iStudio/.iRender scene file. The .png files are saved in a subfolder named <scene file name>.realtime.frames. Each file takes the same name as your model and is appended with the frame number (for example, Model_fr_1.png).
To view the animation, open the .mp4 file in a video player.