I use Blender on both my work PC and my home PC. I use Dropbox to save my .blend files, so that when I move between PCs I’ve got my .blend files right there waiting for me. However, I don’t use Dropbox to save all the files that Blender writes to the Temp directories. If I did, I’d run out of Dropbox space really quick.
The problem I have is this:
I’ll work on a scene while at work, and render it, do some compositing, and save the .blend file before I head home. But, of course, when I get home, I have to open the .blend file again and re-render the whole scene in order to continue working on it within the compositor. This causes me to waste tons of time waiting for a scene to re-render just so I can work on it at home.
Is there a way to save the render output (I’m currently rendering to PNG format) with the .blend file, so that when I get home and open it I can see the render results and compositing results? That way I can keep working on the project without having to re-render the whole scene and save myself a butt-load of time.
There’s probably a way to do this, but I’m a total newb, so, please, help a brotha out if you can. It would be much appreciated.
I guess it would be possible if you reloaded the saved image in the uv image editor and then used "save as"for the file, then used file>External Data>Pack into .blend file. Then when you open the file at home, the image would appear already there, and it should work for multiples as well. File size might climb, and you might have to unpack to local directory as well and repack again.
i believe openexr lets you save the z buffer, alpha, rbg and all that good stuff, all in the one file, BUT, i may have misquoted that. I would take a look at the exr option like ndigit stated, and research about it.
This is an open-standard variation of the OpenEXR file format which stores many different “layers” of data in the same file.
Both of these file formats were designed (originally, by Industrial Light & Magic) specifically for the purpose of capturing digital rendering work-products for subsequent re-use in a multi-stage “production line.” Data is captured in a high-resolution floating point format, in a “loss-less” way. The files may be large, but that’s not the point. The files are not intended to be “displayable” or directly “playable.” They are “computer outputs, which are specifically intended to become computer inputs.”
What you get are the actual numbers that were generated by the render engine. All of the various layers of data that you have designated are captured, and each one is distinct. Definitely the way to go.
When you finish “your final movie,” you should have a MultiLayer (or OpenEXR) file, which you then, separately, use to produce your “prints,” in whatever “movie format” you prefer. Only then is any information “lost in translation,” and of course, it isn’t really “lost” at all. You should arrange things so that all of the digital data that you so-laboriously produced, every step of the way, is right there on your hard drive, along with the blend-files you used to produce them.
