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Render a Still Image

Rendering a still captures a single frame from the active camera to an image file at full quality. This walkthrough takes you from an open scene to a finished image.

Before you start​

  • A VIZid document must be open with at least one object in the scene.
  • The active camera should be positioned at the angle you want to capture. See Cameras and composition for camera setup.
  • Materials and lighting should be set to your satisfaction.

Tip: If panel options in the View menu appear greyed out, choose View › Unlock Advanced UI first to make all panels available.

Steps​

  1. Check interactive quality. Open the Render Settings panel (View › Render Settings). Select the While Editing scope tab and review your sampling settings. The viewport shows what this scope produces.

  2. Set final quality. Select the Final Render scope tab. Adjust Noise threshold and Min samples for the quality level you need. A lower noise threshold produces a cleaner image but takes longer to render. You can also adjust Samples and Denoise final image in the Render Output panel's Quality summary once you open it in the next step.

  3. Open Render Output. Click Open Render Output at the bottom of the Render Settings panel, or open it from View › Render Output.

  4. Select the Still tab. Select the first tab (Still) at the top of the panel.

  5. Check the output folder. The Folder field starts with the document's render folder (<document name>_renders/anim beside a saved document). Render… writes the still straight into it, named from the Animation tab's File name with the current frame number (for example frame_0001.png), and opens the file when it finishes. Type a path or click the folder icon to change it. Save the document first: an unsaved document renders into a temporary session folder that is cleared when VIZid starts. To choose a file name for one image, use Render › Render Current View As… instead.

  6. Choose a format. Select PNG, JPEG, or OpenEXR (linear) from the Format dropdown. PNG is the standard choice for stills. JPEG produces smaller files with lossy compression. OpenEXR provides floating-point channels for compositing.

  7. Set bit depth. For PNG, choose 8-bit per channel (24/32-bit) (standard screens) or 16-bit per channel (48/64-bit) (colour grading and compositing). Bit depth is fixed at 8-bit for JPEG and is not applicable for OpenEXR (floating-point).

  8. Set resolution. Pick a resolution preset (HD 1920 x 1080, 4K UHD 3840 x 2160, Square 2048 x 2048, Portrait 1080 x 1920) or select Custom and enter the width and height.

  9. Render. Click Render…. The dialog shows the output frame, resolution, sample count, destination path and any warnings. Click Render 1 frame to start.

The image is written to the folder shown. To queue jobs to run later, use Add to Queue in the Render Output panel instead; see Render Queue.

Quick output and render regions​

The Render menu provides these routes for a review image or a fresh final render:

CommandResult
Save Image… — Ctrl+ESaves the current ray-traced viewport frame as PNG or JPEG. It does not start a new final render. Wait for the frame to settle before saving.
Copy Image — Ctrl+CCopies that ray-traced frame to the clipboard for pasting into another application.
Render Current View As… — Ctrl+Shift+EAsks for a destination, then renders the active camera using Final Render settings. Choose PNG, JPEG or OpenEXR.
Render View + AOV Passes As…Asks for an OpenEXR destination and renders the image with AOV sidecar EXRs. See Render Passes for the pass workflow and restrictions.

Save Image… and Copy Image use the ray-traced frame even when a different preview rung is visible. The status bar identifies that difference. If no frame is available yet, it reads No frame to save yet or No frame to copy yet. These commands do not capture the app interface.

The two Render … As… commands render at the active comp's output size (the Width and Height in Render Output) and restore overview navigation to the render camera first. The save dialog chooses a destination for that render; it does not rewrite the Render Output panel's Folder field.

Render a detail region​

Use a region to inspect a material edge, small lettering or a highlight at final quality.

  1. Wait until an image is available in the viewport.
  2. Choose Render › Set Render Region (drag).
  3. Drag a rectangle around the detail you want to render.
  4. Choose Render › Render Current View As… and choose an output file. Only the region is rendered: the file contains the cropped area at final resolution. A region also crops a still started with Render… in Render Output; sequences and queued jobs ignore it.
  5. Choose Render › Clear Render Region before returning to a full-frame render.

If there is no viewport frame yet, the status bar asks you to render something first. A region entirely outside the composition frame is refused; draw a region inside the camera composition instead.

Cancel a render​

Choose Render › Cancel Render to stop the running final or batch render. Cancellation also stops the animation or queue from advancing. If no render is running, the status bar reads No render in progress. Check the destination folder before reusing any partially written output.

If the render does not start​

  • Check the Render Queue (View › Render Queue) for any queued jobs in an error state. Jobs that show Cancelled, Crashed, Failed, or other non-Ok states can be retried; see ./queue for outcome details.
  • VIZid creates the destination folder if it does not already exist.

Undoing a render​

Renders write files to disk and cannot be undone from within VIZid. To discard the result, delete the output file from the destination folder.