Onion Skinning
Reference Stroke
To demonstrate the procedure for Rendering you must have a Scene created for a still image or
an animation sequence for a video file.
For simplicity the Bouncing Ball Perpetual Motion sequence created in Chapter 11 – 11.10 will be
used.
14.2 Render Preview
Render Preview: As previously seen, a Render Preview of the Camera View in the 2D Viewport
Editor may be viewed by pressing the F12 Key. Pressing F12 displays the Blender Render panel
showing a Render Result.
Note: What you see in Blender Render is a preview only. It is NOT a Rendered Image.
Figure 14.2
2D Viewport Editor – Camera View
Blender Render (F12)
In Figure 14.2 Camera View and Blender Render show one Frame of the animation sequence
where the orange ball bounces around inside a circle (Chapter 11 – 11.10). The Camera View
shows Onion Skinning which does not display in a Rendered View unless View in Render is
checked in the Properties Editor, Object Data Properties, Onion Skinning, Display Tab. The
circle opposite the orange ball is a reference Stroke for the start of the animation.
14.3 Rendering an Image
The first step in Rendering an Image is to set the Sampling required (Reference 14.1).
In this demonstration the default values will be used but, the thing to bear in mind is; the more
samples, the better the output with regard to clarity and definition of the image but more samples
incurs more computer power and more time. This is not a concern when rendering a single image
but with many Frames in an animation the increase in time can be considerable.
The second step in rendering is to go to the Properties Editor, Output Properties Tab where
you configure the Resolution and Aspect Ratio for the Image in the Dimensions Tab and set
the Output File Format. You can leave the default settings for the Resolution and Aspect Ratio
for the time being unless you want to get into the serious business of Photographic production.
On the other hand Output File Format should be given consideration,
146