This is a very short tutorial on how to use File Output nodes to save multiple versions of the same rendering as image sequences, while performing the rendering only once, thus saving a good amount of time.
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! This is a very short tutorial on how to use File Output nodes to save multiple versions of the same rendering as image sequences, while performing the rendering only once, thus saving a good amount of time.
I used these nodes to create the three animations shown in succession at the beginning of my tutorial on Crypto Matte, published a few days ago. In that case, the original rendering, the Crypto Matte mask, and finally the rendering with Compositing applied were visible.
What I’m showing now is the node setup used to render the image sequences of the three animations by launching the rendering only once. For readability, I placed all the nodes that implement the Compositing effects inside a Node Group. The only exception is the Crypto Matte node, which cannot be included in a group.
As you can see, the result from the node group is sent to a Composite node, meaning that rendering is saved in the path and with the settings specified in the Output tab of the Properties editor. In this case, specifically, the final rendering is saved directly as a video file.
At the same time, the raw rendering result is sent directly from the Image output of Render Layers to a File Output node.
Similarly, the Matte output of the Crypto Matte node is sent to another File Output node.
In these nodes, you can specify the file path where the renderings will be saved. The other saving settings, particularly the file format, can be modified by selecting one of these nodes and opening the Sidebar of the editor using the N key.
As you can see, the choice of output formats is limited to image files, meaning it is not possible to save a video file directly, as can be done with the Composite node. This means that the image sequence will need to be compiled into a video later, using the Video Sequence Editor or an external video editing program.
The rendering process is started, as with any animation in Blender, by selecting Render Animation, which has the shortcut CTRL F12.
Unlike most of my video tutorials, the PDF version of this tutorial is not currently available for download. However, you can find the link in the description to a page containing the PDF versions of many of my other video tutorials. In any case, this is a great time to subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications!
Alright, that’s all for this very short tutorial! I hope you found it useful! See you soon!