About Rendering Write Nodes

When you render a scene in Harmony, what is actually rendered is what is connected to your scene's Write node. Rendering a scene's Write nodes is the main way to export a scene into image and movie files for post production.

The Node view allows you to branch out and merge elements of your scene in specific ways. By default, a scene has a Write node connected to its main composite, meaning all of the scene's elements are rendered. However, a Write node can be connected to any node in your scene that outputs image information, even a drawing or an effect. A scene's renders are based on the image information that is sent to its Write node, and nothing else. Hence, you can control exactly what gets rendered, which is especially useful if you want to have elements in your scene that are only visible in the Camera view, such as a storyboard overlay or a camera guide, without having them appear in the renders.

You can also set up a scene to create multiple renders by connecting several Write nodes to it. Your Write nodes can be connected to different elements of your scene, which allows you to create separate renders for different parts of your Node view every time your scene is rendered. For example, a scene can have a Write node for rendering the scene without any annotations, so that render can be used in post production, and another one for rendering the scene with its storyboard and annotations for reviewing. A scene can also have multiple Write Nodes connected to the same composite, which can allow you to render the same image in multiple file formats or locations at the same time.

Each Write node can be configured to export individual frames as image files, a video file, or both simultaneously.