Doubled Animation Render Output using only File Output Nodes #57699

New Issue

G. Krause · 2018-11-08T14:50:10+01:00

G. Krause commented

2018-11-08 14:50:10 +01:00

System Information
Windows 7

Blender Version
Broken: 2.79. 5bd8ac9,
Worked: presumably never?

Short Explanation
When rendering an animation while using compositing output nodes, you get doubled output because of the "write_still=True", when the ".base_path" of the output nodes and "bpy.data.scenes["Scene"].render.filepath" differ.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
In a new scene, go into the node editor, tick on "use nodes" and switch to the "compositing nodes" view.
Replace the "Composite" node with a "File Output" node.
Change its base path to "[...]\folder1"

Go into the "properties" area, into the render tab.
Under "output", change the folder to "[...]\folder2"

Render an animation, you will get an output in both folders.

I would suggest turning off the properties panel output path when "use nodes" is True and output nodes are present?

**System Information** Windows 7 **Blender Version** Broken: 2.79. 5bd8ac9, Worked: presumably never? **Short Explanation** When rendering an animation while using compositing output nodes, you get doubled output because of the "write_still=True", when the ".base_path" of the output nodes and "bpy.data.scenes["Scene"].render.filepath" differ. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** In a new scene, go into the node editor, tick on "use nodes" and switch to the "compositing nodes" view. Replace the "Composite" node with a "File Output" node. Change its base path to "[...]\folder1" Go into the "properties" area, into the render tab. Under "output", change the folder to "[...]\folder2" Render an animation, you will get an output in both folders. I would suggest turning off the properties panel output path when "use nodes" is True and output nodes are present?

G. Krause commented

2018-11-08 14:50:10 +01:00

Added subscriber: @morph3us

blender-admin commented

2018-11-08 14:50:10 +01:00

#102447 was marked as duplicate of this issue

blender-admin commented

2018-11-08 14:50:10 +01:00

#96767 was marked as duplicate of this issue

blender-admin commented

2018-11-08 14:50:10 +01:00

#79645 was marked as duplicate of this issue

Philipp Oeser commented

2018-11-09 13:27:29 +01:00

Added subscribers: @brecht, @lichtwerk

Philipp Oeser commented

2018-11-09 13:27:29 +01:00

Agree this is a little weak.
It is not a bug though, it is still working as intended.
Not having a Compositing output Node used to complain and refuse to render, but that rule was softened in the fix for #35269.

Maybe we can keep this as TODO? (would kindly ask @brecht for his opinion though).
If we do, then I dont think it is a good idea to not write to the output panel output path if File Output nodes are present though (these can be meant as extra outputs next to the regular render).
Instead I would suggest to only skip writing there if no Compositing output node is present...

I'll put this as a normal prio TODO (@brecht: please close this if this is not such a good idea...)

Agree this is a little weak. It is not a bug though, it is still working as intended. Not having a Compositing output Node used to complain and refuse to render, but that rule was softened in the fix for #35269. Maybe we can keep this as TODO? (would kindly ask @brecht for his opinion though). If we do, then I dont think it is a good idea to **not** write to the output panel output path if File Output nodes are present though (these can be meant as extra outputs next to the regular render). Instead I would suggest to only skip writing there if no Compositing output node is present... I'll put this as a normal prio TODO (@brecht: please close this if this is not such a good idea...)

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2018-11-09 13:34:35 +01:00

Agree it could skip writing if the Composite node is removed (or has nothing linked), and that making it do that would be a To Do.

Kalyan commented

2019-07-09 21:03:40 +02:00

Added subscriber: @KalyanS

Kalyan commented

2019-07-09 21:03:40 +02:00

Is this open to be worked on? If so, a few questions since I'm somewhat new to the code base:

Should I disable the output panel output path, and how do I do this?
Where is the code that writes image output?
Where would I actually place the code that implements this issue?

Is this open to be worked on? If so, a few questions since I'm somewhat new to the code base: 1) Should I disable the output panel output path, and how do I do this? 2) Where is the code that writes image output? 3) Where would I actually place the code that implements this issue?

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2019-07-11 18:13:40 +02:00

We haven't agreed on an exact UI design for this yet, it's not really ready to be picked up by someone.

Pablo commented

2020-03-07 06:19:51 +01:00

Added subscriber: @OtherRealms

Pablo commented

2020-03-07 06:19:51 +01:00

Hi, I'm the author of an add-on called Shot Manager (free and paid) which deals specifically with complex render path setups. However I've had a number of customers who have complained about the extra file outputs which results in unnecessary memory consumption and awkward file management. Just hoping this issues is a priority. Thanks.

Evan Wilson commented

2020-08-08 22:53:12 +02:00

Added subscriber: @dawidwizor

Nicolas Macilvoy commented

2021-10-05 03:47:13 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Macilvoy

Philipp Oeser commented

2022-03-25 09:55:59 +01:00

Added subscribers: @Benjamin-Round, @OmarEmaraDev

Philipp Oeser changed title from ~~Doubled Animation Render Output using Output Nodes~~ to Doubled Animation Render Output using only File Output Nodes

2022-03-25 10:02:51 +01:00

Asger Langhoff commented

2022-05-24 17:01:41 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Asger

Asger Langhoff commented

2022-05-25 08:59:54 +02:00

This would make it a lot easier to implement blender into a pipeline, and getting renders to compers working in other software like Nuke, fusion etc.

Jonas Bruckner commented

2022-10-05 22:23:05 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Jones-B

Jonas Bruckner commented

2022-10-05 22:46:05 +02:00

Hi, here is also a Right-Click Select Feature request to this Issue: https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/5xgbbc/?sorting=hot#

Philipp Oeser commented

2022-11-14 14:19:57 +01:00

Added subscriber: @L0Lock

Nick Masterton commented

2022-11-16 12:19:11 +01:00

Added subscriber: @VupliDerts-2

Elijah G. commented

2023-02-06 13:12:46 +01:00

Added subscriber: @ElijahG

Henrique Corrêa commented

2023-02-23 02:42:17 +01:00

This is indeed a very desired feature and I was surprised it hasn't been implemented yet.

The most sensible workaround if you're saving into multiple files is to use the normal output as one of them, but that doesn't work for OpenEXR Multilayer, and using that for normal renders (without File Output) with Cycles includes the Noisy Image pass, which is not always desirable and can make the files considerably larger.

This is indeed a very desired feature and I was surprised it hasn't been implemented yet. The most sensible workaround if you're saving into multiple files is to use the normal output as one of them, but that doesn't work for OpenEXR Multilayer, and using that for normal renders (without File Output) with Cycles includes the Noisy Image pass, which is not always desirable and can make the files considerably larger.

👍 3

Philipp Oeser referenced this issue

2023-07-18 15:05:46 +02:00

File Output nodes output gets overwritten by "standard" output (if the same filename is used) #109794

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-07-19 10:30:59 +02:00

I wonder if a solution to this could be to only rely on File Output nodes here (and basically ditch the concept of the Composite node)?

would need a bunch of rewrite (making sure some things are in sync with the Output tab Output panel if desired)
this way we never get duplicate/additional/unwanted outputs
would need to make sure everything gets properly written in File Output nodes (investigating #109956 as we speak)

I wonder if a solution to this could be to **only** rely on `File Output` nodes here (and basically ditch the concept of the `Composite` node)? - would need a bunch of rewrite (making sure some things are in sync with the `Output` tab `Output` panel if desired) - this way we never get duplicate/additional/unwanted outputs - would need to make sure everything gets properly written in `File Output` nodes (investigating #109956 as we speak)

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-07-19 10:49:38 +02:00

That wouldn't work for the viewport compositor or when the compositor feeds into the sequencer.. The compositor is not the endpoint for file output, it's one step in a bigger pipeline.

Philipp Oeser commented

2023-07-19 11:00:39 +02:00

That wouldn't work for the viewport compositor or when the compositor feeds into the sequencer.. The compositor is not the endpoint for file output, it's one step in a bigger pipeline.

Ah, OK, lost the overall picture, thx for the input!

> That wouldn't work for the viewport compositor or when the compositor feeds into the sequencer.. The compositor is not the endpoint for file output, it's one step in a bigger pipeline. Ah, OK, lost the overall picture, thx for the input!

Pablo commented

2023-07-19 12:50:51 +02:00

As far as I can tell there is no issue disabling compositor file output, this is unrelated to the pipeline. If the issue is UI, why not just make the main output save path optional? Keeping the settings for output node defaults.

MainOutput.jpg

35 KiB

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-07-19 13:40:59 +02:00

As far as I can tell there is no issue disabling compositor file output, this is unrelated to the pipeline.

It's not the compositor that outputs that file. It is the render pipeline that does.

If the issue is UI, why not just make the main output save path optional? Keeping the settings for output node defaults.

Yes such an option is possible. It's pretty confusing what happens then when not using the compositor, using the sequencer, doing a viewport render, doing rendered animation playback, opening a cached render in the image editor, etc. These issues could be worked through, or a more elegant solution could be found. It just hasn't been a priority so far.

> As far as I can tell there is no issue disabling compositor file output, this is unrelated to the pipeline. It's not the compositor that outputs that file. It is the render pipeline that does. > If the issue is UI, why not just make the main output save path optional? Keeping the settings for output node defaults. Yes such an option is possible. It's pretty confusing what happens then when not using the compositor, using the sequencer, doing a viewport render, doing rendered animation playback, opening a cached render in the image editor, etc. These issues could be worked through, or a more elegant solution could be found. It just hasn't been a priority so far.

Pablo commented

2023-07-19 14:07:47 +02:00

As far as I can tell there is no issue disabling compositor file output, this is unrelated to the pipeline.

It's not the compositor that outputs that file. It is the render pipeline that does.

What I mean to say is the pipeline doesn't depend on file output

If the issue is UI, why not just make the main output save path optional? Keeping the settings for output node defaults.

Yes such an option is possible. It's pretty confusing what happens then when not using the compositor, using the sequencer, doing a viewport render, doing rendered animation playback, opening a cached render in the image editor, etc. These issues could be worked through, or a more elegant solution could be found. It just hasn't been a priority so far.

I think its not so different to saying for example, disabling all Render Layers or not having Render Layer nodes will result in a black image. Not elegant if someone is unfamiliar with software and changes random settings. I add a warnings in my render tools for this. Besides not being elegant, its importance as a function still takes priority. So if the compositor isn't enabled or doesn't have have output nodes, I wouldn't expect any files to output with this option also disabled. It could even be useful for benchmarking/pre-render tests.

Currently we have to export the smallest possible file format from main output and cleanup after every render, when we really want a custom Multi-layered EXR for example. If Blender is to prioritize the compact size of distributions, why not extend this philosophy to output disk space?

> > As far as I can tell there is no issue disabling compositor file output, this is unrelated to the pipeline. > > It's not the compositor that outputs that file. It is the render pipeline that does. What I mean to say is the pipeline doesn't depend on file output > > If the issue is UI, why not just make the main output save path optional? Keeping the settings for output node defaults. > > Yes such an option is possible. It's pretty confusing what happens then when not using the compositor, using the sequencer, doing a viewport render, doing rendered animation playback, opening a cached render in the image editor, etc. These issues could be worked through, or a more elegant solution could be found. It just hasn't been a priority so far. I think its not so different to saying for example, disabling all Render Layers or not having Render Layer nodes will result in a black image. Not elegant if someone is unfamiliar with software and changes random settings. I add a warnings in my render tools for this. Besides not being elegant, its importance as a function still takes priority. So if the compositor isn't enabled or doesn't have have output nodes, I wouldn't expect any files to output with this option also disabled. It could even be useful for benchmarking/pre-render tests. Currently we have to export the smallest possible file format from main output and cleanup after every render, when we really want a custom Multi-layered EXR for example. If Blender is to prioritize the compact size of distributions, why not extend this philosophy to output disk space?

Guido commented

2023-07-19 14:17:33 +02:00

Just for info:
Not only have to clean up the second part of output files after rendering, but the medium to store get's used twice (read/write).
This cut's down the lifetime for the storage medium if HDD or SSD. Not a problem for hobbyists but for studios and renderfarms, if I'm not wrong.

Just for info: Not only have to clean up the second part of output files after rendering, but the medium to store get's used twice (read/write). This cut's down the lifetime for the storage medium if HDD or SSD. Not a problem for hobbyists but for studios and renderfarms, if I'm not wrong.

Loïc DAUTRY commented

2023-08-31 23:20:43 +02:00

Wouldn't be possible to have a checkbox in the File Output node to basically make it override the scene's output? Or have a "master" file output node that acts as such and can be present only once in the node tree?
And if enabled, grey out the scene's output panel with a red message explaining why.

Wouldn't be possible to have a checkbox in the File Output node to basically make it override the scene's output? Or have a "master" file output node that acts as such and can be present only once in the node tree? And if enabled, grey out the scene's output panel with a red message explaining why.

~~Omar Emara referenced this issue 2024-01-15 12:55:14 +01:00~~

Render: Skip writing output if no Composite node exists #117129

Brecht Van Lommel referenced this issue

2024-01-15 13:32:53 +01:00

Render: Skip writing output if no Composite node exists #117129

Brecht Van Lommel referenced a pull request that will close this issue

2024-01-15 15:41:21 +01:00

Render: Skip writing output if no Composite node exists #117129

Omar Emara closed this issue

2024-01-24 12:01:03 +01:00

Blender Bot added

Status