Write Node

The Write node is the node that is used by Harmony to render a scene. When rendering a scene, Harmony renders the image information sent to the Write node, and outputs it using the parameters in the Write node's layer properties.

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.

NOTE To learn how to use the Write node, see About Rendering Write Nodes.

Layer Properties

Output Tab

The output tab can be used to configure whether the Write node creates individual frame images, a movie file, or both. Further more, you can configure the path, file naming pattern and file type of frames exported by the Write node, as well as the path, file name and encoding options of the movie file created by the Write node.

Parameter Description

Image Sequence

Select this option to create an image sequence.

Image Folder

The path to the folder in which to save the rendered frames. This path can be absolute or relative to the scene's folder. For example, the default path for rendered frames is frames, which means the images are saved in the frames subfolder of the scene folder. If you want to select an absolute path, you can click on the Choose button at the right of the text field and select the folder in which your scenes should export their frames. You can also click on the Default button to set the export path to the default value.

Image Filename

The prefix for the file name of each exported frame. Frames will be named with this value, followed by the frame number and their image type extension. It is recommended to leave the hyphen (-) at the end of the prefix to separate the prefix from the frame number.

Start

Select the starting number for the image sequence.

Leading Zeros

Allows you to select the number of digits in the number used to identify each frame.

Image Format

The image format in which the exported frames will be saved. The following formats are supported:

Format Specification Description
TGA Full colour

Truevision TGA/TARGA (*.tga)

A standard image format with lossless compression and support for transparency.

TGA files use more disk space than PNG files, but rendering in TGA is faster.

TGA1 Greyscale
TGA3 Full colour
TGA4 Full colour with transparency
SGI Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Silicon Graphics Image (*.sgi)

A highly capable format with lossless compression as well as support for double precision and transparency.
SGI1 Greyscale / 8 bits per channel
SGI3 Full colour / 8 bits per channel
SGI4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
SGIDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
SGIDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
SGIDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
PSD Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Photoshop Document (*.psd)

An Adobe Photoshop proprietary format used for image editing.

PSD files exported by Harmony contain a single background layer with the rasterized image.

NOTE PSD files exported from Harmony are tagged with their colour space information in their metadata, except for PSD files exported in greyscale.
PSD1 Greyscale / 8 bits per channel
PSD3 Full colour / 8 bits per channel
PSD4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
PSDDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP1 Greyscale / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
YUV

Y'UV frame (*.yuv)

A legacy format optimized for NTSC television. The image information is encoded in the Y'UV color space, which means Luma (Y') and Chrominance (UV).

NOTE YUV images must be exported in NTSC resolution (720 x 540), or they will not be legible.
PAL

PAL frame (*.pal)

A legacy format optimized for PAL television.

NOTE PAL images must be exported in PAL resolution (768 x 576), or they will not be legible.
SCAN

Toon Boom Scan Files (*.scan)

A Toon Boom proprietary format used by Scan to store scanned image information along with its registration (peg), resolution and field chart metadata. SCAN files are in gresycale.

PNG Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Portable Network Graphics (*.png)

A highly portable image format with high lossless compression as well as support for transparency and double-precision. PNG is typically used for Web applications, graphical user interfaces and image sharing.

Rendering in PNG takes more time than rendering in TGA or in uncompressed image formats, but saves a lot of disk space.

NOTE PNG files exported from Harmony are tagged with their colour space information in their metadata.
PNG4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
PNGDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PNGDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PNGDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
JPG

Jpeg (*.jpg)

A very compact image format with lossy compression. It is typically used for Web pages and photo sharing. Because it does not preserve image quality, it is recommended to never render in Jpeg format unless you are exporting stills for a Web page or are making quick render tests.

BMP Full colour

Bitmap (*.bmp)

A standard uncompressed image format commonly used on Microsoft operating systems.

BMP4 Full colour with transparency
OPT Full colour

Toon Boom Optimized image (*.opt)

A legacy Toon Boom proprietary format that stores bitmap image data with lossless compression. It supports transparency.
OPT1 Greyscale
OPT3 Full colour
OPT4 Full colour with transparency
VAR

Toon Boom Variable Header image (*.var)

A legacy Toon Boom proprietary format that stores greyscale bitmap image data with lossless compression.
TIF

Tagged Image File Format (*.tiff)

An image format with many compression and encoding settings. It is often used for image exchange in visual arts and publishing.

TIFF images exported by Harmony are uncompressed, encoded on a per-pixel (interleaved) basis in PC byte order.

DPX 8 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order

Digital Picture Exchange (*.dpx)

A professional photo format that supports various different approaches to storing colour information, which can be used for storing, exchanging and editing raw information recorded by cameras. It is commonly used in film production.

DPX3_8 8 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_10 10 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_12 12 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_16 16 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_10_INVERTED_CHANNELS 10 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
DPX3_12_INVERTED_CHANNELS 12 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
DPX3_16_INVERTED_CHANNELS 16 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
EXR 16 lines Zip compression

OpenEXR (*.exr)

A highly capable deep image format. Each pixel in an EXR file is exported with its Z-depth information. Additionally, if a pixel is semi-transparent, the color and depth information of pixels further back is stored along with it. If your scene has multiplane or 3D elements, this format can be used for compositing your animation with other graphical elements in 3D animation software.

NOTES
  • OpenEXR files exported from Harmony are tagged with the white point and primaries coordinates for their colour space.
  • OpenEXR files are always exported by Harmony always have 1 line Zip compression if they contain a 3D image.
EXR_ZIP_1LINE 1 line Zip compression
PDF

Portable Document File (*.pdf)

Typically, PDF files are used to store, archive, share and print documents. However, Harmony uses the PDF format for its capability to store bitmap images and vector graphics.

If the write node is connected to a vector drawing layer or to a vector composite, the exported PDF files will contain the image as a vector graphic. It will ignore bitmap layers, effects and deformations. Otherwise, the PDF files will contain the rendered image as a bitmap.
DTEX

Deep Texture (*.dtex)

A commonly used deep image format. Each pixel in an DTEX file is exported with its Z-depth information. Additionally, if a pixel is semi-transparent, the color and depth information of pixels further back is stored along with it. If your scene has multiplane or 3D elements, this format can be used for compositing your animation with other graphical elements in 3D animation software.

NOTE Exporting in Deep Texture requires RenderMan to be installed on the machine and the path to RenderMan properly configured in Harmony—see Setting 3D Renderer Paths.
Colours

Drop list with colour modes. Available modes depend on the selected file type.

  • Greyscale

  • Colour
  • Colour + Alpha
Depth (bits/channel)

Drop list with bit depth value and a label next to it "bits/channel". Available bit depth depends on the selected file type.

  • 8

  • 10
  • 12
  • 16
Movie

Select this option to create a QuickTime movie. When enabled, the Movie Folder and the Movie Filename fields appear among the Image Folder and Image Filename fields.

Movie Folder

Only available when the Movie option is enabled. The folder in which to export the movie file. You can click Choose to the right of the text field to browse for the directory where you want the movie to be exported, or click Default to set the export path to the default value. You can also type a path relative to the scene's directory. For example, the default value is frames, which exports the movie to the scene's frames subdirectory.

Movie Filename

Only available when the Movie option is enabled. The name of the movie file to export. Do not enter the file's extension.

Movie Options

Opens the movie settings dialog box for your selected video format, in which you can set the video and audio compression settings for your video file:

NOTE This button is available on Windows and macOS only.
Colour Space

The colour space in which to render your scene’s frames. When a specific colour space is selected for a Write node, frames rendered by this Write node will be converted from the project’s working colour space to the Write node’s colour space.

The following colour spaces are supported in Harmony:

  • Scene Working Colour Space: The same colour space as the one selected in the Colour Space tab of the Scene Settings dialog.
  • Linear: The same primaries and white point as sRGB and Rec. 709, but with no gamma transfer curve applied to the colour values. This colour space is useful for compositing intermediary images that are meant to be rendered in sRGB or Rec. 709.
  • Display P3: A colour space commonly used for digital projection. It has the same primaries as DCI-P3, the same white point as sRGB and the same gamma transfer curve as sRGB.
  • Display P3 Linear: The same as Display P3, except with no gamma transfer curve. This colour space is useful for compositing intermediary images that are meant to be rendered in Display P3.
  • Rec. 709: The colour space used for HDTV. It has the same primaries and white point as sRGB, but has a different gamma transfer curve.
  • Rec. 709 2.4: The same colour space as Rec. 709 or sRGB, except with a gamma transfer curve of 2.4 (per ITU-R BT.1886). This colour space exists because some editing systems use a gamma transfer curve of 2.4 instead of the standard gamma curve for Rec. 709.
  • Rec. 2020: A colour space used for Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV). It has a complex gamma transfer curve and primaries that cover more of the human-perceivable colour space than other colour spaces, especially in the area of human-perceivable greens.
  • Rec. 2020 2.4: The same colour space as Rec. 2020, except with a simple gamma transfer curve of 2.4 (per ITU-R BT.1886). This colour space exists because some editing systems use a gamma transfer curve of 2.4 instead of the standard gamma curve for Rec. 2020.
  • Rec. 2020 Linear: The same colour space as Rec. 2020, except with no gamma transfer curve. This colour space is useful for compositing intermediary images that are meant to be rendered in Rec. 2020.
  • sRGB: A colour space typically used for standard computer monitors. It has the same primaries and white point as Rec. 709, but has a different gamma transfer curve.
NOTES

  • When rendering a movie in a specific colour space in QuickTime Movie (*.mov) format on macOS, the movie buffer data will be tagged with the corresponding ICC colour profile.

  • When rendering a movie in a specific colour space in QuickTime Prores Movie (*mov) format, the movie colour space ‘nclc’ tag will be only set as:

    • HD (1-1-1) if using “Rec. 709” colour space

    • BT.2020 (9-1-9) if using “Rec. 2020” colour space

    • P3 D65 (12-1-1) if using “Display P3” colour space

  • When rendering frames in a specific colour space, the following file formats will be tagged with their colour space information:

    • Portable Network Graphic (.png)

    • Photoshop Document (.psd)

    • OpenEXR (.exr)

    OpenEXR files are only tagged with the coordinates for their white point and primaries.
Compression

Drop list that appears for EXR and TIF formats only.

  • Zip (per scanline)
  • Zip (16 scanlines)
Inverted Channels A checkbox that appears for DPX only in 10, 12, 16 bit depths.

Video Format

The drop down list to the right of the Movie option. Allows you to select one of the following formats:

  • QuickTime ProRes Movie (*.mov): The Apple QuickTime format. This is the default export format and is recommended for its portability, and also because it allows you to choose among several video codecs.

    NOTES
    • On Windows, Apple QuickTime must be installed to allow Harmony to export QuickTime movies. You can configure the export of QuickTime movies to use any codec that is compatible with QuickTime, including H.264, MPEG-4 and Animation.
    • On macOS, Harmony uses Apple AVFoundation to export QuickTime movies, which allows you to export using codecs such as H.264, Apple ProRes 422 and Apple ProRes 4444, among others.
    • If you are looking to export a QuickTime movie with transparency, be sure to choose a codec that supports encoding with an alpha channel.
    • On GNU/Linux, Harmony uses the OpenQuickTime library to export QuickTime movies. This only allows you to export videos in non-proprietary formats such as Motion-JPEG, Photo JPEG, PNG or Uncompressed (RGB).

  • H.264/MPEG-4 (*.mov) : A simple movie format that uses the H.264 codec, which is supported by most web browsers.

    NOTES
    • Using this format does not require additional software. However, if this is the first time you export a movie in H.264/MPEG-4 format, you will be prompted to download the OpenH264 library from Cisco. Simply click Yes when prompted, and Harmony will automatically download the library, then export the movie.
    • There are no encoding options for this format.
    • This format supports resolutions of up to 4096×2304. Each dimension must be a multiple of 16 pixels.
    • Audio exported in this format is encoded in PCM 16-bit stereo, 22.05 kHz.

  • Windows Media Video (*.wmv): The native format for Windows Media Player.

    NOTES
    • Windows Media Video (.wmv) files can only be exported on Windows.
    • Video players and editors on non-Windows systems can generally not open Windows Media Video (.wmv) files.

Video Options

Opens the video settings dialog box, which allows you to set the video compression settings for your video file—see OpenQuickTime Video Options Dialog Box (GNU/Linux).

NOTE This button is available on GNU/Linux only.

Sound Option

Opens the audio settings dialog box, which allows you to set the audio compression settings for your video file—see OpenQuickTime Sound Options Dialog Box (GNU/Linux).

NOTE This button is available on GNU/Linux only.

Enabling Tab

You can create several Write nodes for a single scene and, by default, when a scene is rendered, all of its Write nodes will perform their render. However, using the options in the Enabling tab, you can set up some Write nodes to only perform their render if the scene is rendered at a specific resolution. This is mostly useful on Harmony Server, as Harmony Server allows you select the resolution at which to render a scene when sending a scene for rendering by the Harmony database's render farm.

A good example of how this can be useful is if your scene has storyboard thumbnails in the corner, and a Write node connected to a composite that crops the picture to only include the storyboard thumbnail, so that your scene can export both the final animation and the animated storyboard when rendered. You can set up your scene's main Write node to only work when exporting the scene at the scene's original resolution, and the storyboard thumbnails Write node to only work when exporting at the desired resolution for an animated storyboard.

This option allows you to filter with either resolution presets, or by specifying the width and height of the chosen resolution in pixels. You can hence create custom resolution presets named after their Write node's purpose, to make it easier to choose the resolution when rendering a scene.

Parameter Description

Always Enabled

 Makes this Write node render every time the scene is rendered. This is the default option.

Enabled when Resolution Name is

 Makes this Write node render only when the scene is rendered at the specified resolution preset.

Filter Name

 Select the resolution preset at which to render the scene to activate this Write node.

Enabled when Resolution is

 Make this Write node render only when the scene is rendered at the resolution with the specified width and height, in pixels.

X Resolution

 The width (in pixels) of the resolution at which to render the scene to activate this Write node.

Y Resolution

 The height (in pixels) of the resolution at which to render the scene to activate this Write node.