Realtime Render keeps going after render is finished

[azonicbruce]

Wondering if maybe I don't have a setting correct or whether there is a bug. When I pause the realtime render and then actually render using the render button, after the render is finished, the realtime render will start back up again. This is really annoying since many times I render overnight, only to find that my workstation is still going full speed in the morning, even though the render was finished long before.

Any ideas?

[JeffM]

Try the "render in background" option in the render menu. The realtime window will stay paused, or you can even close it and the offline render will go on its own.

[guest84672]

Alternatively you can set the realtime render time in Preferences. E.g. set it to 10s, and it will stop rendering after 10s.

[azonicbruce]

@JeffM, so exactly what does this setting do? Does it use less CPU and other resources?
@Thomas, I just now put a setting of 300s, I think 5min is a pretty good time.

So, let me see if I understand this correctly, even while doing an "offline" render, the realtime render (if still opened) will keep going as well? So will this slow down the "offline" render times?

Also, what is the difference between using the "use realtime render" vs just using the regular render settings. Is there an advantage to using one or the other?

[JeffM]

The "render in background" option just launches the "offline" render into a separate process so that you can choose to continue working in the realtime window, leave it paused, or close it. When you don't use this option, the realtime is paused and the CPU is dedicated only to the offline render.

The "use realtime render" is new for v2.1 and is actually pretty useful. It uses the exact same rendering method as the realtime window so you do not need to set any render settings other than how long you want it to render. You'll see the "quality" tab only contains "frame" and "time" settings when "use realtime..." is enabled.