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Possible to 'resume' rendering from a specific frame?

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Message 1 of 6
dparks
2370 Views, 5 Replies

Possible to 'resume' rendering from a specific frame?

In the middle of a long render sequence which is taking a bit longer than expected (don't they always?), but as I deliberated interrupting the process it occurred to me that unlike other animation apps, I'm not sure that Navis Simulate (2012) allows Users to 'pick-up' an animation from any specific frame - or even go back and re-render a specific frame(s) which may have been dropped or are otherwise unusable.

 

That said - Does Navis' Simulate 2012 allow Users to re-initiate an animation render pass from a specific point, frame(s), or animation segment?

 

The render pass was produced in Animator by creating a Camera by importing and editing a series of saved viewpoints which were compiled into an animation in the Saved Viewpoints panel.

 

Look forward to the input!..

dp

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
lee.mullin
in reply to: dparks

There's not currently a way to do this if you export directly to an AVI file, however if you do render lots of longer animations then you may be better to export the animation as a series of images then join these together in post processing. Just change the output on this dialog.

 

animation export.png

 

There's lots of free and cheap applications which can convert images to an AVI. And this also means you can create  smaller parts of an animation and render them on multiple machines, reducing render time.


Lee Mullin
Construction Technical Specialist
Autodesk Ltd.

Message 3 of 6
dparks
in reply to: lee.mullin

Thanks for the info, Lee - but I do currently output to single images and compile later; I'll explain.

 

Scenario 1.  Let's say I have a 1000 frame animation in Animator - I init individual frame output to a common directory - at frame 302 (of the 1000), a network issue pops up and I have a system failure.  I get the system back up, and preview the last rendered still/frame, 302, it looks good and I'm ready to continue outputting the remaining frames, from 303 to 1000.  Is that possible?

 

Scenario 2.  I output all 1000 frames to completion without issues.  On reviewing the frames, I notice a single frame, 303, was somehow corrupted during output and needs to be re-rendered.  Is it possible to re-output just the needed frame, number 303?

 

For an even more practical example - I'm currently outputting a several thousand-frame long animation, and recevied a call earlier asking if the client could come up to quickly review the model - I explained that that would ential me having to interrupt the NAvis' output and that I was unaware of a way to re-start an ongoing render pass from a specific frame; that they should seek an alternative review method.  Not exactly what they wanted to hear.

 

Thanks again, Lee - your assist is greatly appreciated.

dp

Message 4 of 6
lee.mullin
in reply to: dparks

How do you create your animations?

 

If this is a regular issue then it may be worth reconsidering the way you create the animations?

 

Can you create smaller animations based on key Viewpoints? (i.e. 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4)

 

Or do you create this as a viewpoint animation, in which case you could create a copy of the animationa and delete the frames already rendered.

 

If this is a Timeliner Animation you can use the settings on the Simulate Tab to only show between certain dates.


Lee Mullin
Construction Technical Specialist
Autodesk Ltd.

Message 5 of 6
dparks
in reply to: lee.mullin

I do typically create my anims through keyframes..

I'll generally add a new Animation in the Saved Viewpoints panel, and then sit with a client who will 'direct' the camera path to specific points of interest he wants to view - during this review sessison, I'll save any number of views in sequence to that Animation.  Once the general path is agreed on - I'll create a new Scene in Animator, and Add Camera from the Current Viewpoint Animation.  I'll then edit the animation timing, add/remove additional keys as needed, add anim sets, etc. and basically keep all animating operations in the Animator until ready to render.

 

For example -

Let's say I have a 1min (60secs) long animation ready ot render.

The Scene in Animator consists of 4 keyframes;

1st key at 0:00:00

2nd key at 0:20:00

3rd key at 0:40:00

4th key at 1:00:00

.. if my output as stills is set to 29FPS, that's a total of 1740 individually rendered frames for a 1min anim.

 

The issue encountered is - Once all setup is complete, and I hit the [OK] button on the Animation Export dialogue - IF, for any reason I'm forced to stop the stills rendering; say at the half-way point at still number '870' (of 1740), is it possible to resume rendering from a specific frame, in this case '871' without having to re-start from frame '1'?

 

I currently produce animations from Autodesk Navisworks, 3DSMax, Intergraph SmartPlant Review, Bentley Microstation, and have previous/similar experience with McNeel Rhino (Flamingo/Bongo) and Newtek Lightwave - and every one of those apps, except Navis (so far) allows Users to render a specific frame, set of frames, or start/stop/resume rendering at a User specified point in the animation.

 

I prefer to use the Navis apps for their speed, intutive GUI, and ability to read/display multiple engineering file formats - but as it stands, it seems that once I set an animation for output (as individual stills) the process cannot be interrupted due to a lack of a 'Render from frame ____ to ____', or 'Start animation from _____ to____' type of feature, as is the case with all the other animatoin capable apps with which I'm familiar.

 

Thanks again for your time and attention with this issue, Lee - it's greatly appreciated and I look forward to any repsonses.

 

dp

Message 6 of 6
DavidMettler1819
in reply to: dparks

Was DParks question ever answered here? I'm running into the same issue. My render keeps stopping at about the halfway point using the presenter renderer. I'm rendering out individual frames as png's and using adobe premiere to put them back together. I can't see any way of telling the renderer to start rendering from a frame number. I've even looked at the command line options. Many programs allow you to render from the command line. I can't see any rendering options from the command line. Please help. I only have a 24 GB machine and need to complete a nice timeline rendering for a ground breaking ceremony 🙂

 

My only options from here will be to compromise render quality and settle for something less...

David Mettler
Haydon Building Corp
dmettler@haydonbc.com

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