I can't not ask this.... - Simply Maya User Community

# 1 29-01-2008 , 04:30 PM

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I need an up-to-date answer on rendering in layers....

Hi people,

i've lost 2 days over this.... i have no idea how to render an image so that i can get it into after effects and and do what i was told i would be able to do, and that is have control over the things like specular highlights, shadows, etc

when i render in layers and use the presets (all tutorials i find about rendering in layers is out dated and maya 2008 is too different in that area for me to figure out ) i get some .tga files (as i've come to believe they are the uncompressed form of a picture)

but lets say i render colour and specular. i now get two tga files in some tmp folder of the images folder, and then i import them into after effects and put them one on top of the other. and now specular totally covers up colour....

so this to me tells me that i can only composite fully rendered pictures and not control lighting and stuff in post...

am i right? i thought that was the whole point of rendering in layers

Last edited by Chirone; 29-01-2008 at 09:40 PM.

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# 2 29-01-2008 , 10:29 PM

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turn the spec layer into light or overlay

"If Less is more then think how much more more would be..."

Winner June 2009 Spaceship Challenge

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# 3 29-01-2008 , 11:29 PM

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and use grey values so the transparency can be taken advantage of. make sue you import in 32 bit mode (alpha.., 'best guess' in after effects)

shadows and highlights do not inhabit the exact same place.., a highlight might be surrounded by shadow and/or reflected light, ect.., but your values should dictate what is shown where. the question doesnt make sense unless you are attempting this using RGB hues and values??

'specular totally covers up the colour' [quote]

specular DOES cover the colour.., its a highlight??

im trying to figure what you mean but i cant get my head around the question??? must be getting late in the day.

any examples??

i might be over complicating this??!!

take it easy and life will be easy

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# 4 30-01-2008 , 12:08 AM

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Some Guy: i'm not sure which app you're refering to, but changing the blend mode in maya didn't seem to do anything user added image

so i went to AE and changed the blend mode there and now specular is see-through-able

mirek03: apologies... i mean that i can't see through the specular layer to see what it does on the colour layer
i'll attach a small screenshot of AE

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# 5 30-01-2008 , 01:56 AM

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i'll just fiddle with the blend layers in AE and it works better, although it comes out a lot darker with occlusion :\

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# 6 30-01-2008 , 10:21 AM

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mate, sorry if im teaching to the converted.., but is this layer on top of the scene.., has it an alpha channel (best guess' on 'import file'

i dont see why this shouldnt work except maybe the grey values for the hightlights are too low.., bring them up to a 'specular' value (high' and check your alpha.., dont know why its not working.

another thing.., im not sure how many layers the alpha worked through.., is it just the top one.., or on all layers??

i did film not CGI, i taught that to myself.., so i hope people just try what i suggest and see if it works.., im no expert but i try to help is all.., really!!

take it easy and life will be easy

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# 7 30-01-2008 , 11:57 AM

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yeah it does have an alpha channel, because if i move it around you can see the underlying layer

that screenshot was of just two layers, diffuse and specular, with specular on top of diffuse. if i use AE to make its layer blend mode add it seems to work alright...

i started rendering again in maya with the layers, and each layer is devoted to one of the presets. the shadow preset does nothing... it just gives a black picture, and the alpha channel shows no white at all so that must mean that its not rendering shadows...

i got maya to render all layers and composite them, but the composition never looks like the master layer...
what blend modes get the presets to look like the master layer after composition?

and alpha should go through all layers underneath it

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# 8 30-01-2008 , 12:10 PM

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that spec looks too grey to be seen in a scene??? its near black??? specular is much brighter, unless you are overdriving it somehow with an effect??

the only time i have used blend modes in AE is for SPX?? it seems a problem in the render
im lazy and im not sure i know what you mean.., shadow preset?? never heard of it and i imagine it to not be automatic anyway. i use alphsa and PS to craete shadow maps.., best learn about rendering images into PS, converting to alpha, and mapping them appropriately to the compositor??

this might help, im lost here as i think what you are asking for is a complete lesson in maya rendering from near scatch and thats too labour intensive for me.

go forth, research, the answers are ther.., and you will feel good when you find them.., good luck

check this; https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tut...es_layers.html

and this

https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tut...ader_glow.html

far better put than i could do

M user added image

are you using maya software??? theres a gotcha with mental ray, one of those, 'check this or it wont work things' but i forget.., im still learning too, it never stops, there is always more ?? user added image

take it easy and life will be easy

Last edited by mirek03; 30-01-2008 at 12:12 PM.

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# 9 30-01-2008 , 12:16 PM

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hehe, thanks dude, i think i didn't have the directional lights in the render layers, and that might help as well.....

i may have to do more research into this stuff

... so much research to do... my origins are with programing (since graphics isn't a big thing in NZ) and theres always new stuff to learn...but playing with these things is much more fun than spending hours over stupid little bugs....

it never ends...

again... thanks dude! those gnome workshop pages are the first thing that google gives me when i search for this stuff too user added image

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I need an up-to-date answer on rendering in layers....

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