Rendering Group Folders Separately in a File

amanandink · Post by **amanandink** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:25 am

Hi All

I would like to ask if anyone knows of a script that will render each main group folder in a scene separately as a png sequence.

For example if we have a set up of a scene as follows

CHARACTER 01 (GROUP FOLDER)
- Character Animation (BONE LAYER)
- Character Shadow (FOLDER LAYER)

CHARACTER 02 (GROUP FOLDER)
- Character Animation (BONE LAYER)

I would like to be able to render just CHARACTER 01 FOLDER and CHARACTER 02 FOLDER as separate png sequences but without having to save the scene as the separate characters.

It would be great to be able to run this through a batch render and if there is someone who is proficient enough and is able to code this it is something we would be will to hire someone to do. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thanks
Jeremy

ponysmasher · Post by **ponysmasher** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:50 am

Here's a quick script for Anime Studio Pro 8* i just made: http://animestudioscripts.com/ds_layerstofiles.zip

It will save a file for every top layer in the document and then you can use the batch renderer to render them to any format.

I'll probably improve the script some more when I have the time, but it works for now.

Notes:

-The files saved still have all the layers in them but every layer but one will be set to "don't render this layer".

-The files will be saved in the same folder as the original file and they will be named like this: "original file name"_"number of the layer"_"name of layer".anme.

-The original file will be saved when running this script, please keep that in mind if you've made any changes that you don't want.

*File functions were just introduced in version 8, that's why it will only work for that version.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:55 pm

Great, thanks!

amanandink · Post by **amanandink** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:29 pm

That script looks like a good compromise but we are running version 6.2, do you think we can do the same thing in 6 or will we have to upgrade to 8?

Jeremy

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:01 pm

amanandink wrote:That script looks like a good compromise but we are running version 6.2, do you think we can do the same thing in 6 or will we have to upgrade to 8?

Jeremy

It's not free, but I have a script that could do what you want and it would work for version 6.2:
http://www.contentparadise.com/productD ... x?id=17468

Let me know if you are interested in buying it and I can write another Python script to run ASPWrap for once for each top-level group layer.

amanandink · Post by **amanandink** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:10 pm

Hi Rudiger

I have bought that script but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work, would you be open to doing a tutorial for mac?

J

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:24 am

I should have time to write the batch Python script tonight. That should be easier to drive since it won't take any parameters, but simply go though the file and render the top-level group layers.

If the problem is in installing Python on a Mac, I can possibly help with that as well. Just send me a PM with your questions.

EDIT:
Actually, I just had a thought. Instead of writing a batch Python script, it might make more sense to write it as an Anime Studio script, which would then automatically call "python ASPWrap.py" for each group layer in the current document. It all depends on how you intend to use it, I guess.

amanandink · Post by **amanandink** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:00 am

Hi Rudiger

the biggest issue I had was getting the ASPWrap script to work across a network, I'm sure its possible I'm just not the most technical minded with that sort of thing.

the AS script sounds like its what we need. the way we have the files setup is with each scene element in a different main folder and the compositor needs to be able to render each element separately but without having to save multiple versions of the file himself and it would be great to be able to render all this through a batch render so that we can leave it rendering overnight. Does this explain our needs better?

J

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:35 am

I think if you're mainly going to use it in batch mode, a Python script would be a better solution. That way you can just run a single command like "python render_layers.py <path>" and don't have to worry about opening AS. However, it's likely that this Python script would have the same issues running over a network that ASPWrap.py has. It's probably just a Python path issue or something. If you PM me the details of the error you're seeing, I can try and help you resolve the issue.

ulrik · Post by **ulrik** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 7:19 pm

Hi Rudiger.

Will you make a tutorial how to use this script? I bought it a long time ago but now I really would have use of it.

Cheers // Ulrik

Breinmeester · Post by **Breinmeester** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:24 am

Hi Jeremy,

We worked together on Brendan when I did my internship there. I'm very curious to know what you're using Moho on. Are you working on Song?

If you get this to work, could you guys post here what your setup is? I'm doing a big project in the near future where I might need a similair setup.

Thanks in Advance,
Daan.

amanandink · Post by **amanandink** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:41 pm

Hi Daan

Good to see your still in animation and the internship didn't put you of it. I'm not working on Song, just yet anyway, we are doing a pre-shoold series in ASP. In terns of the render group folders, we couldn't get it to work great and it ended up that our comp guy had to open the anime files anyway to access them before rendering so it negated the need for the script some what, the best thing we could do for him is set him up with a couple spare computers for half the week to clear all the rendering in batches on different computers. It seems to work for him pretty well.

good luck with the new project
J

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 4:53 am

Seems like this forum forgot which forum posts I was subscribed to as I never seem to get informed about replies to older threads any more

.

Unfortunately, Smith Micro took ASPWrap off of Content Paradise as it hadn't earned them enough money in the required amount of time

. It's a pity as there's virtually nothing you can't do with it in terms of rendering your files, especially since it can run custom python scripts. For example, you could easily read in a list of anme files from a text file and render them all with different or the same render settings.

Since it's not available any more a tutorial might not be worth it, but I've been using TeamViewer a lot lately for giving people personal training in my tools. PM me if interested.