Hey all,
Whenever I have worked on Blender on my PC I have had no problems changing and locating the location where renders and animations are saved. I’ve started working on a Mac more and more now, and I can’t locate the default “/tmp/” folder. Changing the output location makes no difference either. Any help?
that’s a really good question
I have just bought my first mac and having the same problem
I can see the /tmp folder in Blender file tree
but I cannot see it in finder at all
What’s weird is that even changing the output doesn’t make a difference. It’s like the saved images and temporary file are hidden or something
The default folder on Mac is invisible - no, seriously - it’s a hidden folder. You can search for it by setting your search app (CMD-F) to find invisibles. You’ll find a bunch of hidden files with “tmp” in the filename but the one you want is a folder just called “tmp” (which is probably in “private” but systems may vary?) Double click any “tmp” folders to take a look inside them. Just look for your renders and ignore everything else.
When you double-click the folder you can drag your Blender render(s) into a visible folder and make them visible. It’s probably best not to mess with other stuff in the tmp folders unless you know why it’s there.
For future reference, start a fresh Blender session and set the output path to somewhere useful (like /documents/blender/renders or something) then CTRL-U to save this as your default setup. Things should never end up in tmp again.
Not sure why Mac Blender is coded to use an invisible folder but it seems it’s been that way for a long time.
**Interestingly, as Waylow noticed, Blender can see invisible files.
Changing the output location makes no difference either.
Not sure why that would be, hopefully the above steps solve the problem though.
I got Blender to render an image to the path I specified once, but whenever I try the same again, no rendered image shows up in the path I specify.
Also, I can’t find the “tmp” folder in my mac. How do I set the search to look for hidden folders?
this command will let you see hidden folders
type this in the terminal and then reboot
<code>
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES</code>
to change back change the YES to NO
but I don’t know why they aren’t showing up when you change the file path
I have created a folder that I want the renders to end up and then press Ctrl+U
You shouldn’t need to change any system setting in Terminal. In older OS X (10.3.9 and earlier) you CMD-F then use the +/- buttons to add extra search fields.
Enter your search criteria in the top one using something like “Name>contains>tmp” or “Name>is>tmp” then set the second scroll option to Visibility>visible and invisible items"
(Note that the last setting is remembered next time you use Find so be careful to set it back to “visible” only to save embarrassment.)
I’m certain the same functionality is there in Tiger (10.4) though it operates differently. I don’t have Tiger here but I’m sure it had the invisible option available if you click “more options” or something like that. I imagine Leopard (10.5) would have something similar.
If all else fails, try Googling info on hidden/invisible files for your OS version.
cool
it’s there in Leopard but you have to add it like you said
but it still doesn’t find the tmp folder - not that I’m looking anymore cos I changed my render path
I can now locate my tmp folder, but when set to the default /tmp/ render location, no renders appear in the folder.
There were no settings in the search options that would allow me to specify visible/invisible files, but I fould the tmp folder through Waylow’s tip.
Setting different output paths yields the same result-no renders to be found
your tmp folder is cleared every time you reboot
but I’m not sure why you can;t see the renders when you change the file path
I created a folder in my Home directory called render
so the path is /Users/Waylow/render
I can see all my files fine
what format are you saving them in
This may sound dumb but are you actually saving your renders?
As far as I know the default installation of blender does not save anything to the default folder unless you do a animation or you are saving your backbuffers. (This is at least the case on windows) For stills you have to explicitly tell blender to save or change the default settings.
This may sound dumb but are you actually saving your renders?
Not a dumb question at all. Thinking back to when I first started with Blender, it was quite some time before I discovered F3>Save Image. Animations on the other hand, save themselves.
Hopefully this is the answer. I love it when seemingly dumb questions solve the most frustrating problems.
cool
it’s there in Leopard but you have to add it like you said
but it still doesn’t find the tmp folder - not that I’m looking anymore cos I changed my render path
I’ll try Tiger if I remember and see if there’s any reason for it not to find the hidden folder.
As an aside, those “add” fields can give you some seriously targeted search options to limit the amount of crap that usually turns up in a simple search.
your tmp folder is cleared every time you reboot
Hmmm? Not “this” tmp folder - well, not in Panther (10.3) - at least, not my tmp folder :). Maybe it’s changed.
The same hidden folder also houses your “quit.blend” file so it can be handy to have access to it if you forget to save before quitting.
@ Musk,
Yes, I’ve tried saving with F3. I’m directed to chose a directory to save in, file name, etc, and-here’s where it gets interesting-when I click “Save JPEG”, Blender prompts me to accept saving over another .jpg with the same name. All the renders I have been doing to troubleshoot my problems have been of the default scene, all in my “Documents” folder. I have the feeling that the files I save may be hidden, for why wouldn’t Blender prompt me to save over a file I have rendered several times, but just not seen?
@ Waylow,
I’ve been only trusting the knowledge that my renders have been saved in /tmp/ just by rendering (as was the case when I worked on PC). I have tried Musk’s suggestion, where I have saved the image as .jpg
EDIT: I have just tried saving animations and it has worked successfully in the path I specify.
still no image luck though
I’ve just checked on Tiger and it doesn’t show the hidden tmp file in a search - weird.
This looks like a bug that no one’s bothered to fix. It seems kinda dopey to offer the option of finding invisible files then refuse to show any.
So it looks like users of supposedly advanced OS’s like Tiger and Leopard are without the simple functionality of Mac OS’s as far back as I can remember. So, it seem sthat the command line is the only option for these users. Apple strikes again (they seem to be going out of their way to make computing as much fun as it was in 1975).
Edit:
Further investigation suggests thing went kapput in Tiger at some point. Mac Help advises that using File>Find from the Finder menu will bring up the old-style “Find” dialog - it doesn’t, it brings up the new window-style Finder that doesn’t work as advertised. Bummer. Maybe the “File>Find” option will work in Leopard? Doubtful but you never know until you try.
Thanks for the info Andy
Saving with F3 has finally worked for me!
I doubt I will need to ever again locate my /tmp/ file, but thanks for tips in search
Thanks for the help guys
I just found this thread via Google, and found a solution to the problem as well - just in case someone’s still wondering.
In Finder in Leopard, just press SHIFT+CMD+G and type /tmp/, if you’re in the root of your User in OSX.
That trick worked for me, but I have changed my output folder as well. It’s a bit easier afterall.
Thank you 1000 times! I could not find my 26 hours rendered animation. Men, you have just saved me 1 day of life)))) I am so happy! Thanks
Isn’t it crazy how this STILL isn’t fixed? This Threat from 2008 is still relevant in 2022
