File naming is very restrictive
When outputting an image through rendering, like in the compositor, the frame number is always appended, no matter what you do.
Additionally, Houdini like possibilities for adding parameters to the output name would be very handy, like here in their documentation: sidefx.com/docs/houdini/render/expressions
2 Comments
actually you can prevent the frame number to be added in your filename just by writing your file filename with extension in your output. Though it makes sense only if rendering a single image, not a sequence.
Alternatively, if you want the frame number but control how many digits and where, do the same thing and use
#characters in your filename to indicate where to put the frame number. Each # represents the minimal digits number, meaning if you put ### it will output 001 002 003 etc.Agreed! The output node really need an extension of file naming functions with multiple place holders like base filename, scene name, view layer name, camera name etc.
If you have lot of scenes and stacks of viewlayers you need to recognize the output via their filenames, and they need more meaningful descriptions other than frame numbers. It's double work if you change any of scene you need to update the output node every time.
Frame numbers are only good for videos, it cannot describe the purpose of each scene.