Batch Exporting
The process of rendering and exporting animations can take a long time, depending on the complexity of your project and the number of frames to render, but you probably don’t want to sit around while your computer crunches away at the final images. Anime Studio includes a batch export feature that lets you select several projects to render one after another while you’re away from your computer.
The File, Batch Export menu command (Ctrl/Cmd+B) opens the Batch Export dialog box shown in Figure 33.11. This dialog box includes the same options as the Export Animation dialog box except that it also includes a text area that can hold several Anime Studio files. By dragging all the files that you want to render into the Batch Export dialog box and clicking the Start button, you can initiate a sequence that renders each specified file in turn. The rendered files are saved to the same folder as the original ANME file.
Figure 33.11. Batch Export dialog box.
Note
The Batch Export feature is only available in Anime Studio Pro.
Caution
To fill the Batch Export dialog box list, you’ll need to drag the files from a file manager interface such as Windows Explorer or Mac’s Finder. This can be a problem on some Linux systems that don’t allow files to be dragged from a file manager.
Note
Before starting the batch export process, you can remove files from the list by selecting them and pressing the Delete key.
Each file in the Batch Export dialog box can have different rendering settings. To change the settings, simply select the project and its settings appear at the top of the dialog box.
After the Start button is pressed, a percentage value appears next to the file in the list that is currently being rendered. This value slowly counts up to 100%, indicating the progress of the current file. During the rendering phase, the Start button changes to a Pause button so that you can pause the batch export process if you wish.
Note
If you press the close window button in the upper-right corner of the Batch Export dialog box, a warning box appears asking if you want to quit the rendering process. If you choose to quit, then all rendered progress is deleted.
Using MoRen
As an alternative to the Batch Export dialog box, one Anime Studio user created a simple application called MoRen, shown in Figure 33.12, which runs external to Anime Studio. This application can be downloaded for free from www.flashpulse.com. The MoRen application is available for Windows and Linux. You can find more information on this tool on the Anime Studio forum at www.lostmarble.com/forum.
Figure 33.12. MoRen dialog box.
