Editing Rendering (computer graphics) (section)

== Outputs ==
The output of rendering may be displayed immediately on the screen (many times a second, in the case of real-time rendering such as games) or saved in a [[raster graphics]] file format such as [[JPEG]] or [[PNG]]. High-end rendering applications commonly use the [[OpenEXR]] file format, which can represent finer gradations of colors and [[high dynamic range]] lighting, allowing [[tone mapping]] or other adjustments to be applied afterwards without loss of quality.{{r|n=pbrt4UG}}{{r|n=Brinkmann2008|loc=Ch. 14, Ap. B}}

Quickly rendered animations can be saved directly as video files, but for high-quality rendering, individual frames (which may be rendered by different computers in a [[Computer cluster|cluster]] or ''[[render farm]]'' and may take hours or even days to render) are output as separate files and combined later into a video clip.{{r|n=BlenderRenderingAnimations}}{{r|n=Dunlop2014|loc=1.5, 3.11, 8.11}}

The output of a renderer sometimes includes more than just [[RGB color model#Numeric representations|RGB color values]]. For example, the spectrum can be sampled using multiple wavelengths of light, or additional information such as depth (distance from camera) or the material of each point in the image can be included (this data can be used during compositing or when generating [[Texture mapping|texture maps]] for real-time rendering, or used to assist in [[Noise reduction#In images|removing noise]] from a path-traced image). Transparency information can be included, allowing rendered foreground objects to be composited with photographs or video. It is also sometimes useful to store the contributions of different lights, or of specular and diffuse lighting, as separate channels, so lighting can be adjusted after rendering. The [[OpenEXR]] format allows storing many channels of data in a single file. Renderers such as [[Blender (software)|Blender]] and [[Pixar RenderMan]] support a large variety of configurable values called Arbitrary Output Variables (AOVs).{{r|n=pbrt4UG}}{{r|n=Brinkmann2008|loc=Ch. 14, Ap. B}}{{r|n=RM26AOV}}