# render image sequence Maya can render individual images but can also render out animated sequences made up of many images. Here are a few approaches to rendering out your animation. ## playblast A Playblast is a quick render that serves as a preview sketch version of your animation. It is a good way to test out your animation at a low resolution to see if things are working correctly before you commit to the time it takes to make a full render. Use the pulldown menus for **Window > Playblast** > ![[4f8ad8d0fcab77d05e25900bddfb6559_MD5.png]]. ![[Pasted image 20221211174230.png]] ![[Pasted image 20221211174358.png]] There are several options you can adjust here to control quality and speed of your quick render. - adjust the **start** and **end** range to test a portion of the render - set to render **offscreen** to not tie up Maya while you are working - adjust **quality** lower to get a quicker render to test motion and higher quality to test visuals - adjust **scale** to get a lower resolution render, again higher scale looks better but takes longer to render Hit the Playblast button and Maya will render out your animation and save the file in your defined project folder. --- ## render sequence When creating the more finished final animation, you will want to render the frames as a sequence of images. Each frame will become an individual image file. You can use a program such as Adobe After Effects to combine those images into a movie. ### adjust render settings You will first need to adjust your Render Settings. As always, there are several ways to do get there. You can change the **Menu Set** to **Rendering** and then use the pulldown menu for **Render > Render Settings…** or just use the Render Settings icon (the clapper icon with a blue gear). ![[Pasted image 20221211175633.png]] There are several things to adjust in the settings menu. ![[Pasted image 20221211180554.png]] Change the **Image format** to something like **jpg** or **png**. A **tif** format is really good too. By default, the **Frame/Animation ext** is set to a single fixed image option. Change this to a different setting to turn on animation options. Use the**name.#.ext** option. This will save each image in a numbered sequence. ![[Pasted image 20221211181109.png]] Scroll down to the **Frame Range** section. Adjust the **Start frame** and **End frame** options to control how much of your animation to render out. ![[Pasted image 20221211181458.png]] Just like with a single image rendering, make sure to adjust your **Image Size** options. The **Presets** have the standard screen sizes already programmed in for you. ### render the sequence Change the **Menu Set** to **Rendering** and then use the pulldown menu for **Render > Render Sequence > ![[4f8ad8d0fcab77d05e25900bddfb6559_MD5.png]]. ![[Pasted image 20221211181733.png]] ![[Pasted image 20221211181957.png]] By default, there isn’t much to change in the settings. You can set an Alternate Output File Location if you want to save somewhere other than the default in your project folder. Press the **Render Sequence** button to get Maya working. You can also press the **Render Sequence and Close** button to tell Maya turn itself off when done rendering. Take a look at the **Images** folder of your project folder and you’ll soon see those rendered images appearing. --- Once you have the image sequence rendered, you can [[convert image sequence to movie]].