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I am doing a video project in blender, consisting of one title animation (sceneTitle), a main animation (sceneMain) and a end animation (sceneEnd). I put those animations in different scenes.

Now I want to use the Video Sequence Editor to render the whole project. Therefore, i am basically adding the 3 scenes in the VSE, with some transitions etc.

The content of the VSE seems to be "part" of a scene, so when I arrange the 3 scenes in the VSE and then change the current scene, the VSE is empty again.

Should I use a separate scene (sceneVSE) with no 3D objects to arrange the other scenes in the VSE?

And: Which render settings apply in this case? Say I would use different resolutions for every scene...? Example:

sceneTitle has a resolution of 400x400
sceneMain has a resolution of 800x800
sceneEnd has a resultion of 400x400
sceneVSE has a resolution of 800x800

Rendering (while sceneVSE is the active scene) should then give me a 800x800 result, with small title and end scenes (only covering half of the screen).

The FPS setting must be the same accross all scenes, right?

render(sceneTitle)---|
render(sceneMain)----|->VSE->render(sceneVSE)
render(sceneEnd)-----|

Is this "timing" diagramm correct?

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  • $\begingroup$ Absolutely always keep your 3D objects in a separate scene from your VSE strips. Mixing the two will cause you nothing but pain and confusion. $\endgroup$
    – Mutant Bob
    Feb 6, 2016 at 19:34

2 Answers 2

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Let me explain you a workflow for video editing based on my experience. As every aspect of 3d, everybody has their methods, but the following has worked pretty well for me after trying out a lot of different workflows.

(First of all do not "render" (from actually 3d scenes) from the VSE, unless you are doing animatics, layout or something that are not final renders)

  1. Start off by rendering your three scenes into single image sequences without any compositing and organized into separate folders (OpenEXR is a recommended format).
  2. Do the compositing using your image sequences and render (again) into single image sequences.
  3. Then, using a new blender scene, render the sequences into single movie files.
  4. In your case you should have three movie files to do the final editing in a blender file used only for editing.

Render image sequences > Compositing image sequences > Movie files > Editing has given me great results. Using image sequences lets you fixed any problems in the renders without rendering the whole thing again, and editing with movie files will let you have a waaay faster playback and editing.

Now, be careful with resolution, FPS and other settings. Every new scene that you use will overwrite the settings. So you have to be very organized in that matter. I recommend you to establish some settings before working on your project. Preferably all your scenes must have the same resolution, or you'll have some weirdly scaled result.

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  • $\begingroup$ This closely mirrors an offline post production pipeline, and it would be wise to follow something akin to it. I would add that you should be evaluating your edit based on offline / proxy versions. Once your picture is locked, do your post production compositing on the range as per your offline template. Assemble it back together, and do your final grade on a per shot basis. $\endgroup$
    – troy_s
    Jun 17, 2013 at 15:50
  • $\begingroup$ So, you render the 3D scenes without compositor / sequence editor enabled, but how do you apply the compositing afterwards? (I guess there is a input node for image sequences) Why do you render to image sequences after compositing AGAIN? Why not just render to a movie file directly? $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Jour
    Jun 19, 2013 at 19:11
  • $\begingroup$ - Multilayer OpenEXR files storage the different layers and channels for compositing (that you enabled when rendering). Hope this helps you. - The Image input node gives you the option for "image sequence" once you open an image (the first frame of the sequence). - Rendering to image sequences again lets you fix any problems on a per frame basis. If you have a movie file you have to render the whole thing again. Hope this helps you. $\endgroup$
    – sekce
    Jun 19, 2013 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ By the way I forgot to mention that if you render the composite to image files you also get them without (much) compression in case of using openEXR or PNG. So you have a full quality sequence from which you render the compressed video file depending on the codec you use. $\endgroup$
    – sekce
    Jul 3, 2013 at 17:20
  • $\begingroup$ "Why not just render to a movie file directly?" Because to maintain image fidelity, you would never keep dumping to a typically lower bit depth integer based codec. Sort out your edit and lock it, then commence post production effects on the precise frame ranges from your edit, then grade it as the final step. $\endgroup$
    – troy_s
    Feb 10, 2014 at 19:25
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Sequence strips are stored per scene, so in your case they appear to vanish when you switch scenes.

Its better to add the sequence strips in a new scene. The final render output size is controlled by the scene which has the sequence strips. Although, each scene will be rendered with its own render settings.

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  • $\begingroup$ Does this apply to the render resolution, too? When I set resolution in sceneMain AND sceneVSE to the same (with 50%), and then increase sceneVSE to 100%, sceneMain seems to be rendered with 100%,too. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Jour
    Jun 16, 2013 at 16:22
  • $\begingroup$ I think so. I am typing this from my tablet and cannot double check by launching blender. $\endgroup$
    – satishgoda
    Jun 16, 2013 at 16:24
  • $\begingroup$ Aw, too slow, i edited my comment above. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Jour
    Jun 16, 2013 at 16:26

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