The Iray "Standalone Render" must continue rendering even when you close the iClone session.

If that rendering is inseparably bound to the iClone session, it's not really "standalone," is it? (See Figure #1)


DESIRED BEHAVIOR:
After all the .mi files have been written and the rendering has begun, it should continue rendering even if you close the iClone session.

The "Standalone Render" session should be spawned to be SEPARATE FROM THE iCLONE SESSION.


DETAILS:
1) You might decide to close iClone while rendering... For example, to conserve system resources
2) Or you simply might not know that closing iClone will kill your "Standalone" rendering session
3) When you close iClone, it does not warn you that you will also kill your rendering session
4) It is called "standalone," which implies it does not require iClone to be open
5) If you do close iClone and therefore kill the render session, when you restart the rendering via the "Standalone Renderer" tool, it does not prompt you to "continue" the render, it starts over again at Frame #1, so any rendering work you've already done gets repeated, which could represent several hours of render time.


NOTES:
a) The VALUE that I see to the "Standalone" render option is that it will automatically start the rendering process when it is done exporting the .mi files
b) That is a GOOD VALUE because you can walk away from a long export process and not have to wonder when you should return to begin the render process
c) But when you do get back to your computer, you should be able to safely close iClone and continue rendering


EXPANDED REQUEST:
I think it should be renamed to "Save MI files and start Standalone Renderer" (See Figure #2)



P.S.
I do not like the "iClone Render" terminology. That really gets confusing. When people are talking to each other, are they talking about the iClone native renderer, or an Iray render?

I suggest changing that to something like, "In-session Iray render" which communicates to the user that it is tied to your iClone session. And when people communicate, it will be clear they are talking about an "Iray" render, not an "iClone native" render session. (See Figure #3)