The Raw rendering phase

Previously, we have seen how to render an image in Cycles. It is quite different for an animation. It's best to first do a raw render of the shots with the following settings:

1. We will start by adjusting the device. If you have a good graphics card, remember to check the GPU device option.
2. Let's now adjust the samples in the Render panel (Properties | Render | Sampling). The skin needs enough samples to reduce a noisy effect. 100 or 150 samples are enough to have an idea, but consider setting a higher value for the final render.
3. Still in the Sampling tab, we will put 1.00 to Clamp Direct and 1.00 to Clamp Indirect. It allows us to reduce the noise, but you may lose a little bit of the bright colors.
4. We should remember to check the Cache BVH and the Static BVH options in the Performance tab. It allows us to optimize the render time.
5. You can make a test by just rendering a frame (F12). Pay attention to the time it takes to complete the rendering process for only one frame. Thus, you can calculate the time needed for a shot.
6. In the Passes tab (Properties | Render Layers | Passes), we will verify whether Combined and Z passes are checked.

   Note

   Passes in Cycles

   Passes are a decomposition of the 3D image rendered in Cycles. We can also render passes with Blender Internal but in a different way. Once the rendering calculation is over, we can combine these passes and combine each pass together to create the final image with directly compositing in Blender or another software. The passes allow us to get a control to considerably improve an image and make changes even after the image is rendered. So, it gives more fine-tuning opportunities and saves us a lot of render time.

   If you want to explore all the passes of Cycles, visit this link:

   http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:UK/2.6/Manual/Render/Cycles/Passes

7. Now that the image quality parameters are set, we must choose an output format of our animation. In the Output tab, we will choose the OpenEXR MultiLayer format.

   This format has the advantage of containing all active passes with a lossless compression. The passes are a decomposition of the rendered picture (Diffuse, Shadows, Ambient Occlusion, and so on). In our case, we are going to save some time by only rendering the combined and the Z passes. The combined pass corresponds to the final image with all the different passes already combined, and the Z pass gives us a black and white image corresponding to the depth of the scene.

8. In the Output tab, we must choose an Output path. We will write the following address: //Render\01\. We will press Enter to validate the address. The // symbols create a file just next to the blend file.
9. It is a raw render, so we uncheck the Compositing option in the Post Processing tab (Properties|Processing).

   Note

   OpenEXR

   This is a high dynamic-range (HDR) image file format created and used for special effects in the VFX industry. It is now a standard format supported by most of 3D and compositing softwares. The OpenEXR Multilayer format is a variation. It can hold unlimited layers and passes.

   If you want more information about OpenEXR in Blender, visit this link:

   http://blender.org/manual/data_system/files/image_formats.html#openexr

You are now ready to render the animation. You can press the Animation button to start rendering. We must repeat this process for each shot.