90. We're done with the project and ready to render. We'll create two Render Jobs. The MainTest Render Job will be a fast rendering version to check for mistakes. The MainFinal Render Job will be the final frame sequence.

91. Go to the Render Task Mode. Right-click the Render Jobs category and Add Component of this type.

92. Name the job MainFinal. This Render Job will use the Main camera and new Render Options, so select New Render Options. Edit to open the Render Options Editor.

93. Name the options MainFinal to match the Render Job. The Pixel Aspect is 0.9, which is appropriate for NTSC M-JPEG tape output. Images viewed on a computer have square pixels, so change the Pixel Aspect to 1. To render the entire animation, change the End Time to 20 seconds.

94. Go to the File Output page and Add Output Event. I'll use QuickTimePro to assemble the animation and it doesn't read IFFs. Change the Format to Targa this time. AVI and QuickTime output does not require frame assembly after rendering, but these formats have several limitations. AVIs and MOVs cannot be rendered across a several machines and may lose all rendered output if the computer crashes before the Render Job is complete. These formats are best used for tests, as we will set up shortly. Enter MainFinal as the Image File name and the job is ready for rendering.

95. Select the MainFinal Render Job in the Scene-At-A-Glance and clone it.

96. Name the job MainTest.

97. Expand the Render Options and clone MainFinal.

98. Name the clone MainTest. To reduce the frame size, select Scale and enter h for half size. Reduce the Frame Rate to 6 frames per second.

99. On the File Output page, change the Format to QuickTimeMOV. Rename the Image File MainTest.

100. Go to the Scene-At-A-Glance and click and drag the MainTest Render Options to the MainTest Render Job. Confirm the operation.

101. We're ready to render the test animation, so open Render Control. We don't need the Island or No Tower Render Jobs so disable them .

102. We'll render the MainTest Render Job only first time around, so select MainFinal and disable it. Double-check the settings under Selected Job and Go to start rendering.

103. VNS warns us that the Terrain Parameters are currently set to render using Variable Fractal Depth, which is the default method and appropriate for rendering single images. It is not appropriate for terrain animation, which we'll talk about in the next tutorial. For now, take my word for it and select Depth Maps.

104. Answer Yes to generate Fractal Depth Maps.

105. Start with frame 0.

106. End with frame 600.

107. Generate maps every 5 frames. In a nutshell, VNS will go through the animation and keep track of which terrain polygons pass near the camera and which ones stay distant. The rendering engine will use the resulting map to subdivide terrain polygons, which optimizes rendering time and terrain detail.

108. We're rendering to a movie format, so QuickTime wants to know what codec to use. Let's go with Animation, Thousands of Colors, Best Quality, 6 frames per second, and a keyframe every 6 frames.

109. The MainTest.mov animation can be found in the animation folder on the Tutorial 1 CD.

110. Everything looks good in the test animation, so it's back to Render Control for MainFinal rendering. Disable the MainTest Render Job and enable MainFinal. Make a last check of the render settings and start rendering. This will take many hours, so take the rest of the day off and we'll check back tomorrow.

111. It took more than 10 hours to render the 600 frames. The assembled MainFinal.mov can be found in the animation folder on the Tutorial 1 CD.

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