Render viewport option

[zedeneye1]

I'm not sure if it already exists. What I want to do is render the current view in the viewport(the one my mouse is in when I press F12). This function is there in 3ds max by default, when ever u press the render button in 3ds max, it always renders what ever u have in the viewport, if its side view port, it will render side view, if its a camera viewport, it will render camera view and so on. So is this feature available in blender? cuz if I have no camera and press F12, it gives an error that there is no camera.

If its not there, add this to the long list of feature requests...

[brasshat]

It seems to me that one way to implement this behavior is to add a camera to the scene for each viewport you use regularly. Then, when you are in a particular viewport, make the camera for that viewport the active camera, and you will see a render of that view. This would have the added flexibiltiy to give you more control over the rendered view, by changing the characteristics of the camera: one camera could be panoramic, while another one is orthographic, and the camera assigned to yet a third view could be perspective view. And each camera, too, could have the focal length best suited to what you want to see in that viewport.

ns

[zedeneye1]

the concept is that its much easier to move the viewport than to move/rotate the camera. The continuous rendering option is good but its not the same thing...is there an addon to do this? that would be helpful.

[stiv]

Another way to implement this is to click on the little Render Active Viewport button.

[brasshat]

the concept is that its much easier to move the viewport than to move/rotate the camera.

Hmmmm. I didn't consider either movement of the viewport, or movement of the camera. I was assuming use of multiple viewports, as, for example, one dedicated to top, one to side, one to end, &c., and separate cameras dedicated to each viewport, so that, if you were working on the back end of a car, when you had the back view selected, you'd select the camera assigned to back view, and use that camera to render the image.

Second "Hmmmm"... If you've enabled "Lock camera to view" in the view section of the properties panel, how is this behavior different from what you want?

[zedeneye1]

Another way to implement this is to click on the little Render Active Viewport button.

yes thats what I want, render viewport. where's the button?

@brasshat : I already use 4 viewports, and setting up cameras every time is time consuming and I'm lazy

[brasshat]

Z~.

You seem to have missed the "second hmmm" in my earlier message.

Another way to implement this is to click on the little Render Active Viewport button.

yes thats what I want, render viewport. where's the button?

The two buttons furthest to the right in the viewport header.

@brasshat : I already use 4 viewports, and setting up cameras every time is time consuming and I'm lazy

Well, you would actually only have to set up cameras once; after you set up the cameras, create a blender file containing the cameras and lights, and use that as the basis file when you start a new project.

ns

[zedeneye1]

Z~.

You seem to have missed the "second hmmm" in my earlier message.

Another way to implement this is to click on the little Render Active Viewport button.

yes thats what I want, render viewport. where's the button?

The two buttons furthest to the right in the viewport header.

@brasshat : I already use 4 viewports, and setting up cameras every time is time consuming and I'm lazy

Well, you would actually only have to set up cameras once; after you set up the cameras, create a blender file containing the cameras and lights, and use that as the basis file when you start a new project.

ns

what ur telling makes sense and works...but render active viewport button makes more sense cuz its simpler...I couldn't find a hot key for it. How do I make a hot key? when I hover over the button it views the name of the function, I tried copy/pasting after creating a new hotkey, it doesn't work that way...how do I do it?

[brasshat]

Can't help you with creating a new hotkey. Sorry.

ns