Blender Playblast Tool

Hi,

This allows playblast of certain frames in blender while filling in the gaps automatically
The goal is to allow animator to work in spline yet make a playblast on two's (Tip from Joan Marc Fuentes)
TODO: put this in blender addon form.
TODO: allow it to use a keyed object to find frames to playblast ...

#Use and Modify at your own risk

#example usage it assumes first frame in list is starting frame:
#naPlayblast( frames = [1,3,5], imageDir = "/Users/Nathaniel/Desktop/SINGLE_BLENDER_FACE_RIG/intro_blender_pipe/output/tmpPlayblast", fill = True)

#this example playblasts on twos
#frames = range( bpy.context.scene.frame_start, bpy.context.scene.frame_end, 2)
#naPlayblast( frames = frames, imageDir = "/Users/Nathaniel/Desktop/SINGLE_BLENDER_FACE_RIG/intro_blender_pipe/output/tmpPlayblast", fill = True)
##

import shutil
import os
import bpy

def naPlayblast( frames = [1,3,5], imageDir = "/Users/Nathaniel/Desktop/SINGLE_BLENDER_FACE_RIG/intro_blender_pipe/output/tmpPlayblast", fill = True):
    if not os.path.exists( imageDir ):
        print('cannot find output directory')
        return
    
    if frames[0] != bpy.context.scene.frame_start:
        print('only works with starting frame given matches with timeline')
        return
    
    setImageExt()
    #playblast chosen frames
    for frame in frames:
        bpy.context.scene.frame_set(frame)
        imageName = getImageNameFromNumber(frame)
        imagePath = os.path.join( imageDir, imageName )
        bpy.data.scenes["Scene"].render.filepath = imagePath
        bpy.ops.render.opengl(write_still=True)
    
    #fill in missing frames
    if fill:
        missingInfoDict = getFillMissingFramesDictionary( frames )
        fillMissingFrames( missingInfoDict, imageDir )

def setImageExt():
    """can change this for different image extension
    """
    bpy.context.scene.render.image_settings.file_format = 'TIFF'
def getImageExt():
    return 'tif'
    
def getImageNameFromNumber( frame = 1 ):
    """can change this to any image name formatting
    """
    return 'img_%d.%s' %(frame, getImageExt() )
    
def getFillMissingFramesDictionary( sourceFrames = [1,3,5] ):
    """keys are source image name values list of destination image names needed to fill
    #this gives info for filling in images
    #ex result given [1,3,5] it assumes always beginning with start frame:  
    #{ 'img_1':['img_2'], 'img_3':[img_4] }
    """
    startFrame = bpy.context.scene.frame_start
    endFrame = bpy.context.scene.frame_end
    if sourceFrames[0] != startFrame:
        print( 'cannot handle source frames not starting at %d.' %startFrame)
        return
        
    result = {}
    for i in range(0,len(sourceFrames)-1):
        #print sourceFrames[i], range( sourceFrames[i]+1, sourceFrames[i+1] )
        sImage = getImageNameFromNumber( sourceFrames[i] )
        dImages = [ getImageNameFromNumber(x) for x in range( sourceFrames[i]+1, sourceFrames[i+1] ) ] 
        result[ sImage ] = dImages
    
    #fill in up to total frames if needed
    if sourceFrames[ len(sourceFrames) - 1 ] != endFrame:
        sImage = getImageNameFromNumber( sourceFrames[len(sourceFrames)-1] )
        dImages = [ getImageNameFromNumber(x) for x in range( sourceFrames[ len(sourceFrames)-1 ]+1, endFrame+1 ) ]     
        result[ sImage ] = dImages
    return result
    

def fillMissingFrames( imgDict = { 'img_1':['img_2'], 'img_3':['img_4'] }, imgDir = '/Users/Nathaniel/Desktop/SINGLE_BLENDER_FACE_RIG/intro_blender_pipe/output/tmpPlayblast' ):
    """
    this does actual copy of images
    #given ex: { 'img_1':['img_2'], 'img_3':[img_4] }, imgDir = '/Users/Nathaniel/Desktop/SINGLE_BLENDER_FACE_RIG/intro_blender_pipe/output/tmpPlayblast' 
    """
    for sourceImage in imgDict.keys():
        destinationImages = imgDict[sourceImage]
        for dImage in destinationImages:
            dImageFull = os.path.join( imgDir, dImage )
            sImageFull = os.path.join( imgDir, sourceImage )
            if not os.path.exists( sImageFull ):
                print('could not find source image %s, skipping' %sImageFull)
                continue
            shutil.copy( sImageFull, dImageFull ) 

Happy Sketching!
Nate

#inspired by:
#Joan Marc Fuentes  https://vimeo.com/88955189
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14982836/rendering-and-saving-images-through-blender-python
#https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1101/blender-rendering-automation-build-script
#https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/27579/render-specific-frames-with-opengl-via-python/27640
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27515913/create-a-copy-of-an-image-python
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27678156/how-to-count-by-twos-with-pythons-range