I’m new to blender and ran into a simple inconsequential problem that i kind of need help with. I wanted to export a mist pass with my render, and connected it all up with a output node that directed it to my desktop folder. I thought it would all render nicely but i noticed that i was getting duplicate files in my blender source folder along with my mist/beauty files on my desktop. After some annoying troubleshooting I discovered it was from my cleared output tab in my properties. Apparently when that is empty it renders directly to my Blender folder in local programs. I solved this by removing the beauty pass and just put that destination into the properties output tab. And now everything goes where it should, but i’m still annoyed. I want to be able to disable that output tab completely and render everything from my Output node. Is that possible?
You have to tick the 3 tick boxes at the bottom of Composite Nodes for this to work.
If you’re rendering animation, you can use a file output node to save all the images as you go along.
doing still images, have a look at the dropdowns on the image viewer. Setting to RenderLayer , Combined you can view, (and then save) the image you rendered, and you can set to Renderlayer, Mist to see and save the mist pass.
Incidentally, you should use MultiLayer OpenEXR files for all “intermediates.” These create one file per frame (so, put them in a folder/directory), and they are specifically designed to capture digital data.
All of the various numeric outputs of the renderer will each be captured (as separate “layers”) within a single file, such that they can be retrieved exactly when you use the file as subsequent inputs. The file does no correction or normalizing of any kind – it is literally a self-describing file of floating-point numbers. (Yeah, they’re big. So what.)
“Regular” OpenEXR files, as originally conceived by Industrial Light & Magic Company – (yes, those guys) – capture only a single “layer” of information. The “MultiLayer” enhancement was developed by … Blender! (Yes, us!) Of course it was very-quickly adopted by the industry. OpenEXR is expressly intended as an intermediate, process-file format, not a delivery file.
Use “movie files” or “image files” only for your final deliverable outputs, creating each of them from an OpenEXR master, such that only in this step is information encoded, corrected, or discarded to suit the requirements of a particular display device. (And, since you’re working from a master that contains the untouched data in all its glory, it doesn’t matter. Each deliverable originates separately from the same master source.)
