Render Queue or GUI for batch render
I know that you can do this in the command line but why not allow the artist (who doesn't like command line) to build a queue in Blender to execute? Even if it is just a break down of VSE scene strips (although access to passes would be better) so that they are exported one after the other (however that wouldn't respect the source scene's dimensions).Batching shots or versions is very important to many animation workflows where scene render settings can vary widely.
3 Comments
As you've described, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to overload the VSE with batch rendering capability (though I think you can use File Output nodes in the source scenes to get around the resize problem). So that being the case, how else would you set up a queuing system in Blender.
On a personal note, I'm not so much a big fan of this proposal. When you get into batch processing and automation, it's almost always better for that to be handled by an external tool. The basis is there with Blender's command line options. That's sufficient for a start... and it's a decent foundation for an external queuing system (with a GUI) that would have more flexibility and features than trying to shoehorn it within Blender.
Why would it be "shoe horned", what makes this an unreasonable proposal? What makes an external tool more attractive? I would like a simple GUI that deals with variables or presets (like path, frame count, scene dimensions scale and CODEC). You could construct a queue then unit from the start up splash? Perhaps Blender could revert to a render instance from there?
Its just that command line requires understanding of OS quirks and you may have limited access to a console or command line in a networked environment. For example my employer restricts access on our terminals to a command line.
When batch processing, you're typically handling multiple files at once. Blender only works on one file at a time. So to get around this, you'd need to append scenes from a bunch of different files into a single "render queue" .blend file. It's a bit kludgy, IMHO.
Contrast that with an external tool with its own GUI (though perhaps one familiar to Blender users). You can batch multiple scenes from multiple Blend files and give each of them custom output locations. You can even scale it up to render them on different machines (or specify different GPUs on the same machine).
Yes, Blender is meant to be a single-pipe kind of tool... so perhaps this does in fact fit Blender's design and purpose. It just feels that so much more would need to be added to Blender to make a queuing system that has feature parity with one that could be built faster and more easily outside of Blender.