Houdini 12 HScript commands

Cause an output driver (ROP node) to render.

Usages

  1. render [-V] [-f start end] [-i inc] [-o filename] [-d format] [-r Xscale Yscale] [-q quality] [-s] [-I] [-b] [-l] [-k] [-p [-c] [-F]] output_name [output_name...]

This command renders an output driver and optionally any of its inputs. Inputs are recursively processed, unless -s is specified, so that all descendants are rendered in the proper order before the output node is rendered.

The render command can be used with the -p option to show which frames would be rendered instead of rendering. An ordered list is printed out, showing the first frame(s) that would be rendered to the last, along with the ROPs rendering them. The output format is:

order ROPname frame [frames...]
The 'order' is a number which can be used to sequence the renders properly. Entries with the same order can be rendered at the same time (in parallel).

The ROPname is the name of the ROP to be rendered. If -F is specified, the full path to the ROP will be printed.

The 'frame' entry can be printed multiple times, each representing a frame. If -c is specified, and more than one frame is rendered, the frame list will be condensed to a sequence representation, if possible (in the form “( start end step )”).

Upon success, this command will set the 'status' variable to 0. Otherwise, 'status' is set to a non-zero value.

Options

-V

(Verbose) Print a message when each frame starts rendering.

-f

Override the frame range to render. This range will be trimmed to the ROP’s frame range (if set). If 'Use Frame Range' is off, this range will be used.

-i

Override the frame increment to render. The ROP’s frame increment is ignored.

-o

Override the file(s) or device to render to. The ROP’s output field is ignored.

-d

Override the device name or image format to render to for ROPs that support this feature. If rendering to a flipbook, see the -k option.

-k

Render to a flipbook for ROPs that support this feature. This flag can be used instead of explicitly specifying the device to use with the -d option.

-r

Scale the output resolution in X and Y. Good for producing faster renders or proxy images.

-q

Sets the image quality for renderers. Values between 0 (low quality) and 2 (normal quality) are used. This can be used to speed up rendering.

-s

Only render this ROP; do not render input ROPs. This option is only valid when rendering ROPs in a dependency network.

-I

Render ROPs frame by frame instead of ROP by ROP. If a sequence is rendered, all ROPs will render the first frame, then the second, etc. If -I is not specified, each ROP will render its entire sequence before proceeding to the next ROP. This option is only valid when rendering ROPs in a dependency network.

-b

Ignore bypass flags; Render any bypassed ROPs.

-l

Ignore lock flags; Render any locked ROPs and their children.

-p

Print out what frames would be rendered. Does not render anything. The output has the following format:

<<id>> [ <<dependencies>> ] <<node>> <<frames>>.
Where...

  • id is a unique id for the line.

  • dependencies is a list of lines (identified by their id) that must be rendered before this line.

  • node is the name of the node to be rendered. Can be the full path to the node with the -F flag.

  • frames is the list of frames to be rendered. This list can depend on the -c and -I flags.

-c

Condense frame lists into a sequence description (“( start end step )”) if possible. Only valid with the -p flag.

-C

Consolidate frame lists from work items that are the same ROP and have the same dependencies into one work item, where possible. This is an optimization step for workstation renders. Farm renders should not use this, as they need the extra parallism gained from separate work items. Only valid with the -p flag; actual renders are always consolidated.

-F

Print the full path to the ROP when printing a render list. Only valid with the -p flag.

-a

Outputs Alfred style progress when used in conjunction with the -V option. For example:

render -Va mantra1
render -V -a dop1

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