Hello! I am an old compositor but a newbie 3D (someday)artist. I want to render some tests out of Blender with all passes separated for compositing in Shake. It seems Multipass setting is the only way.
I’m reading Fweeb’s book “Blender for Dummies” and I think most of what I need is in there, just want to make sure I have all of my buttons pressed and settings right. Any tips form the pros are much appreciated!
C
It’s not the only way.
You can use file output nodes in the compositor to output discreet passes.
Thanks! I’m learning this all at once so obvious answers are often missed. Can you output Z-depth info that way? I’m having a tough time getting my head around how to do that. Z pass is data not image right?
If you’re going to output z info this way, you may want to put it through a normalise node first. Careful, 'cause this may cause some unpredictable results.
I would suggest that the best way to get Z out would be to make your main output (the one that goes out through the composite node) an OpenEXR with “Zbuf” enabled.
I’m playing with that now! The Normalize worked great. I added an invert node because Black was the FG color and white was BG. I am going to render both ways you suggested as well as a full blown Multilayer file with the works. I’ll let ya know how each works.
C
Cool. The problem you will find with the normalise node is that it sets the closest object as black and the furthest as white, so as objects and/or the camera move around, the zspace changes. It becomes particularly annoying when something flies past the camera.
Good luck!
I’ll keep an eye on that. This move will be fairly simple. I’ll also try the EXR with Zbuf. My actual composite is in After Effects, but I could us shake for the DOF if I need to.:eyebrowlift: