Procedural Compositing with Batch > Batch Overview >

# Setting Batch Preferences

Click the Setup button to access the Batch Setup menu to customize rendering, preferences, and adaptive degradation settings.

Rendering Tab

Free Frames field
  This locked field displays the space remaining on the framestore.
Use Proxies button
  Enable to replace clips with proxies when working in Batch and all associated modules. When enabled, the image window is outlined in amber. See Adding Clips to the Schematic.
Hardware Anti-aliasing Sample box
  Select a hardware anti-aliasing sampling level to accelerate edge anti-aliasing with no performance penalty. The graphics hardware automatically renders the image at full speed with approximately the equivalent of up to 32 samples of anti-aliasing (depending on your graphics card and project graphic bit depth). Hardware anti-aliasing also gives anti-aliasing during normal interaction instead of only while rendering.
On Render button
  Manages the cache of frames rendered in Batch. See Caching Frames.
Current Frame Cache field
  This locked field displays the current number of cached frames.
Read/Write button
  Sets cache to read and write status.
Read Only button
  Sets cache to read-only status.
Render button and From and To fields
  Renders the cache of selected nodes for the frames defined in the From and To fields.
Disable button
  Turns off caching for selected nodes.
Fill with Intermediates button
  Fills each node's cache with the intermediate clips contained in the history. If you render a clip in proxy mode, the history is not cached.

Preferences Tab

Batch Audio Source box
  Select the audio context you want to hear when working with another clip.
  NoteIt is possible that you lose precision when replacing your clips with proxies. Because they are converted to 8 bits, images may degrade.
Backup butto
  Create a backup copy of your current Batch setup automatically. When enabled, a backup copy of the current setup is saved in the _session.batch file in the batch directory.
Backup Frequency field
  Displays the number of minutes between backups.
Text Log button
  Saves Batch processing status information in a text file called batch_log. These files are located in /usr/discreet/project/<project home>/batch/log. Information is appended on a continuous basis to this file and serves as a permanent log file as long as Text Log is enabled.
Status Webpage button
  Creates three HTML files called batch_log.html, batch_log_status.html, and index.html, when enabled. These files are located in /usr/discreet/html.

  The batch_log.html file describes the user, project, and date of the current job.

  The batch_log_status.html file is the actual status of the Output or Export node being processed and includes information such as remaining processing time, the frame currently being processed, and the number of frames to process.

  The index.html file combines the contents of both the batch_log and the batch_log_status files into a single file.

  A message is displayed if an Output node is skipped at process time. This node will be skipped if the host where the output is wired is unreachable or if the library is read-only.

  The contents of the HTML file are cleared after each Batch process.

Confirm on Exit button
  Prompts for a confirmation before exiting Batch.
Selection Marks box
  Displays the cue marks and in and out points of either the selected clip, source clip only, or record clip only. Source and record clips must be set for the options in this box to be active. See Setting Record and Source Clips.
Update Numerics button
  Enable to update numerics in fields as the timebar is scrubbed.
Set to BFX In/Out button (not shown)
  In the timebar, displays frames as defined by the in and out points set on the clip’s timeline one level up.
Set to Media Range button (not shown)
  In the timebar, displays the head and tail frames brought in from the clip’s timeline one level up.
Clip Info box
  Display resolution, frame rate, size, or any combination of clip information in the schematic.
Transparency field
  Sets the transparency of currently unselected nodes in the schematic.
Auto Parent
  Enables the Parent and Cut options in the schematic while using the Move edit mode.
Highlight Path button
  Highlights the path of the currently selected node in the schematic.
Auto Update button
  Updates a node's result proxy automatically. When you change the current frame, the result proxies are updated for all clips or selected clips, depending on what is defined in the Update Clip box.
Update Clip box
  Defines whether you interactively update all clips or only selected clips in Batch. Update Sel Clips increases performance.
  TipIt is recommended you update selected clips when editing with the timeline.
Undo Levels field
  Sets an upper limit for the number of undo or redo operations, which applies throughout the Batch module, including tasks performed in the schematic. Tasks completed with the various nodes in Batch also support multiple undo and redo operations.
Clear Buffer button
  Clears the Undo buffer of all previous undo operations.
Snapshot Library box
  Select the library to which you want clips associated with Batch setups saved. See Saving Sources and Setups.
Send Selected Clips To Library button
  Copies selected clips to the Snapshot library.
Send Selected Clips To Desk button
  Copies clips to the EditDesk. See Managing Clips in a BFX Level.
Check for Updated Versions button (not shown)
  Checks each imported Gateway .clip file to see if it is the latest version, and updates it if that is not the case. Asks for confirmation before updating the version. Only available when a Gateway Import node is used to import Gateway .clip files in the Batch schematic.

Adaptive Degradation Tab

Use these settings to temporarily deactivate taxing operations during interactive manipulations on supported nodes. These settings do not affect the final renders. You can activate particular degradation settings for supported Batch nodes (such as Action) in the NodeSetup menu for the node.

Degrade Mode box
  Select how to propagate display degradation in the image, according to settings for supported nodes. Nodes in the Batch pipeline respect this degraded image. In this case, press Preview to see your results with full settings on. Press Ctrl+Shift+D to toggle Batch degrade propagation on or off.

  An icon is displayed at the bottom right corner of the Batch image window when propagation is active. The same icon is also displayed above supported Batch nodes in the schematic that have degradation activated from the NodeSetup menu.

Change Node Degradation box
  Select whether to enable or disable adaptive degradation before clicking Apply To Selected.
Apply To Selected button
  Click to set the selected nodes to the chosen option in the Change Node Degradation box.