How To Render Blender Animations And Export As Video Files

Setting Up The Render Properties

The render properties menu in Blender allows you to configure how your final render will look. This includes settings like output resolution, file formats, encoding, and more. To access the render properties menu, navigate to the Render tab in the Properties editor.

The most important setting here is the Render Engine dropdown. Blender supports multiple render engines like Cycles, Eevee, and Workbench. Cycles offers photorealistic results using ray tracing technology while Eevee is optimized for real-time renders. For animations, Cycles is generally the best choice.

Other key settings here include the output resolution, render file formats, encoding options, output locations, frame ranges to render, and animation length. We will explore each of these settings in detail in the following sections.

Table of Contents

Choosing The Output Resolution

The render resolution determines how large or detailed your final rendered animation frames will be. Resolution is measured by the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in each rendered frame.

Higher resolutions like 1920×1080 (full HD) or 2560×1440 (2K QHD) will show more detail at the cost of longer render times. Lower resolutions like 1280×720 (720p) will have shorter render times but less visible detail in the final export.

For most projects, 1920×1080 is a good middle ground. You can find the resolution settings under Dimensions in the Properties > Render tab. Ensure your camera angle and scene composition matches your selected resolution.

Selecting The File Format

Blender allows exporting animations in common video and image formats. Each format has its benefits and drawbacks.

Image formats like PNG, OpenEXR, and TIFF export each animation frame as a separate image file. The advantage is higher quality frames. The disadvantage is these files need to be compiled into videos later in software like ffmpeg.

Video formats like MP4, AVI, and MKV generate the full video outright but may have lower per-frame quality. However, they require less effort as the video encoding is handled in Blender.

For quick previews, PNG is a good image format. For final animation exports, h.264 or HEVC encoded MP4 is recommended. Configure output formats in Output > Output section.

Encoding and Compression Options

Encoding refers to algorithms used to compress and optimize video and image data for smaller files with minimal perceivable quality loss.

Key encoding options available under the Encoding section include:

Containers: Sets output file format (MP4, AVI etc.)
Codes: Specifies actual video codec used (H.264, HEVC etc.)
Quality: Value between 0-100% determining level of compression
Keyframe interval: Determines intra-frame frequency
Audio sample rate: Sets output audio sample rate in Hz

Finding the optimal encoding balance is key between quality and file size. Try starting at 90% quality first. Also use optimal keyframe intervals aligned to animation lengths.

Output Path and File Name

You can specify where rendered image sequences or video files are exported and their naming formats under the Output section.

Output folders are recommended to cleanly separate renders from source files. Numbered file sequences help differentiate output frames from one another.

For videos, naming by animation and date aids organization. Files should be named logically for easier usage and recall later.

Rendering Animations Frame-By-Frame

Rendering animations frame-by-frame generates individual image files per frame. This method provides finer control over pausing/resuming renders and quality checks.

To enable, navigate to Output > Output section and set file format to a desired image type like PNG or OpenEXR. Ensure color depth, compression, and other settings fit your needs.

With settings configured, use the Animation > Render Animation menu. A prompt to select an output folder will appear before the frame-by-frame render begins.

As files render sequentially, you can pause, resume, adjust settings on the fly. Each frame becomes available for preview as images usable even without compilation.

Compiling Image Sequences

To compile rendered image sequences into videos, external software is needed. We recommend using ffmpeg, a free command line tool.

Example syntax is:

ffmpeg -r 60 -i filename_%05d.png -c:v libx264 -r 60 video.mp4

This captures all numbered files starting “filename” at 60 fps using h.264 codec into video.mp4. Additional encoding options are available.

Rendering To Video File Directly

Blender can handle video encoding directly saving the external compilation step. Simply set an appropriate video format like MPEG-4 or AVI in the output properties.

Ensure correct video codec, quality limits, keyframe intervals and other encoding parameters are set under the Encoding section.

With output properties configured, use Animation > Render Animation to select output path and initiate rendering. Blender will now encode and export the animation as a complete video file.

This approach has the benefit of exporting without needing additional software. However, quality control and editing changes become less flexible once encoding begins.

Accelerating Render Times With GPU/CPU

Complex scenes with large frame counts can take hours to render fully. Luckily there are ways to speed up this process significantly.

The most impactful hardware upgrade is investing in a dedicated graphics card like an Nvidia RTX 30-series GPU. GPU-optimized rendering harnesses immense parallel processing power.

Enabling CUDA support under System Preferences allows Cycles to tap into this GPU power for 5-10x faster renders in many cases.

Upgrading CPU cores and RAM capacity also helps. More system memory allows loading larger scenes while background tasks like physics bake faster.

Finally, optimizing scene geometry, textures, lighting minimizes redundant render load. Simplify details not visible on camera, use proxy models where possible.

Common Rendering Errors and Fixes

At times render jobs may fail with errors like memory limits exceeded or lost frames. Here are potential fixes for common issues:

Memory overload – Simplify scene complexity, raise RAM limits in preferences
Lost frames – Lower thread counts, check drive space, restart unstable renders
Encoder stalled – Adjust codec settings, lower quality limits, update GPU drivers
Failed compositing – Disable nodes causing issues, pre-render layers separately

Isolating and troubleshooting errors may require patience and trial-and-error. Refer to Blender forums if unable to resolve.