Rendering from the command line

Overview

Starting with mantra 9, most command-line options are overrides for properties. This means you can set these properties on the scene camera, and then override them on the command line if necessary.

Saving an IFD or RIB file

IFD is the scene description format produced by Houdini and consumed by mantra to produce a rendered image or animation sequence. The IFD file contains a complete description of the scene and how to render it.

RIB is the equivalent of IFD for RenderMan and RenderMan-compatible renderers.

You can set up a render output node to save a file instead of rendering an image directly. This gives you the flexibility of rendering at another time, from another machine, or on a render farm. See network rendering.

To... Do this

Save an IFD file from Houdini

Turn on the Disk File checkbox on the Main tab of the render node and click the file chooser icon to set a file path.
Click the Render button to save the file.

Render a scene description file from the command line

Use the following commands to render IFD or RIB.

IFD	`mantra -f filename.ifd`
RIB	`prman filename.rib`

Save an IFD file from a .hip file on the command line

Use the hbatch command line program to load the .hip file and trigger the render node.

Set up a render node to output IFD, as above.
Load the .hip file into hbatch.
```
        hbatch myjob.hip
        
```

On the hbatch command line, use the render command to trigger the render node.

        hbatch-> render my_render_node
        hbatch-> quit

Render a .hip file directly from the command line

Use the provided hrender script in $HFS/bin. This script is written in csh. To use this script on Windows, you will need to use a UNIX-like environment such as Cygwin.

Note

On Windows, use Start > All Programs > Side Effects Software > Houdini x.x.x > Command Line Tools to open a command line shell with environment variables defined and Houdini programs in the path.

Mantra command line options

Control options

`-H hostlist`	Specify a comma separated list of hosts to perform rendering. For example -H chili,cayenne.
`-n val`	Number of processes to render using network rendering (deprecated in favor of -j).
`-N maj.min(.ren)`	When network rendering, ensure that remote hosts will run at least this version of mantra.
`-j numthreads`	Specify the number of threads (`-j 0` uses maximum threads).
`-f file`	Read the IFD from the file given instead of from stdin.
`-F`	Indicates that the first argument after all options specifies the name of the IFD file to render (instead of the output image).
`-o file`	Send verbose output to the file given. On Windows, you can use `consolewait` or `consolenowait` instead of a file name. `consolewait` opens a console window for the output, and you must close the window before the next frame will render. It lets you read fast-moving output but requires you to babysit the window. `consolenowait` opens a console window and closes it as soon as the frame is done. For slow renders you might still be able to read the output, and it doesn’t require you to click to close the window at every frame.
`-p file`	Append verbose output to the file given.
`-P pyfilter`	Specifies a python filter program (see Python Filtering).
`-V string`	If the string contains 0-9 - Set the `renderer:verbose` IFD property a - Set the `renderer:alfprogress` IFD property p - Set the `renderer:vexprofile` IFD property to 1 P - Set the `renderer:vexprofile` IFD property to 2 On Windows, if the output appears in a pop-up console window, use `-o consolewait` to keep the window open so you can read the verbose output.

Rendering options

`-r`	Set renderer:renderengine to `raytrace`.
`-q`	Set render quality (deprecated in favor of -Q).
`-Q arg`	Set render quality. If the argument contains Example: `-Q Bd`
`-s factor`	Set the renderer:shadingfactor property.
`-L factor`	Set the renderer:rayshadingfactor property.
`-M memory`	Set the renderer:geocachesize property.
`-S splits`	Specify the maximum splits for a single primitive (default 10).
`-v variance`	Set the image:variance to the value specified.
`-A`	Set image:samples to (1,1).
`-B size`	Set the image:bucket property.
`-J jitter`	Set the image:jitter property.
`-c coving`	Set the object:coving property.

Image options

`-i`	Force interactive rendering (into MPlay).
`-I`	Set various imager options (using a comma separated list). `resolution=WxH` - set image:resolution `jitter=V` - set image:jitter `subpixel=0\|1` - set image:subpixel `sample=WxH` - set image:samples `sample=N` - equivalent to `sample=NxN` Example: `-I resolution=100x80,bucket=16,sample=4,subpixel=1`
`-w width, -h height`	Specify width/height of image (deprecated in favor of -I).
`-b depth`	Specify default quantization for image planes.
`-z`	Render a depth image, use average depth value for each pixel.
`-Z`	Render a depth image, use closest depth value for each pixel.
`-u object[:attrib]`	Set the renderer:uvobject and optionally renderer:uvattribute properties.

Rendering Rendering from the command line