need help with z channel

# 1 03-03-2007 , 02:01 PM

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hi, actually I've posted this question in the basic questions forum before, buuut it's not that basic.
Basically what I want to do is render images with depth channel from Maya for use in aftereffects7.0. Well, I've ticked the appropriate box in render globals. But whenever I put my footage into AEF it doesn't work -nothing happens. I've tried .png; .jpg; .iff (whose z channel is aparently not recognized by AEF, as I found out later) .psd; .rla; and 16bit tiff. Upon taking any of these files into Photosop and checking the channels tab the only thing they have is the normal RGBA.... soo I don't know were the mistake is. I've tried maya help, google - tutorials, creative cow etc and searched this forum.
I know what a lot of people will say, get a depth shader and do it as a separate pass, -you'll have more control. I've done that and it kinda works, the thing is I'm fairly beginner with all this stuff and I don't need a lot of control which confuses me even more.
So, after all this text my simple question is: How do you add the Z-channel to your frames by simply checking the Z box in render globals, and then use it in AEF?

thanks a lot guys

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# 2 06-03-2007 , 04:51 AM

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farbtopf,

Good question.....
I was wondering the same darn thing.
And yes, I've done the same mission as you, searching tons of threads & tutorials.
Its times like this when I wished I learned 3dsMax.

Anyway, if I yield a answer, I'll post it here. user added image

Goodluck
Fess

Trini For Life

Last edited by Fess; 06-03-2007 at 06:26 AM.

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# 3 06-03-2007 , 05:47 AM

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yeas, its just like uhhhhhhhhf, why does it have to be so complicated? Anyway, good to see I am not alone.

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# 4 10-03-2007 , 12:51 AM

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I'm on Maya 8 unlimited......so this is how I got a Zdepth channel (might be different for 7 or 6)

As a simple test just create a sphere, & duplicate it in a line of around 20 spheres.
Create your camera. Position it infront of the 1st sphere but also be able to see the rest of the spheres.

-Set your project for the scene.
-Go to RenderGlobals>Renderable Cameras>enable "Depth channel (Z depth)"
-Also set the "Renderable Camera" to the camera you will be rendering.
-Go to RenderGlobals>Mental Ray Tab>Custom Entities> Enable "Pass custom depth channel"
-Go Render>Batch Render options>(set the # of threads) & click "Batch Render".
-Open the "Script Editor".
-Look at the script editor for the progress of the render & also note where the file has been rendered to.
-Open Fcheck>Load the image
-Hit "Z" to view the Z depth channel. (it should show a gradient of white to gray values.) Hit "C" to view color, Hit "A" to view alpha.

Hope this helps....
Fess

Trini For Life

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# 5 10-03-2007 , 12:50 PM

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wow, thanks I'll check it out user added image

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# 6 10-03-2007 , 03:40 PM

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Yeah, I was pretty happy to see my "Z Depth" channel......

but then i said to myself "What the hell do I do with this thing". user added image

I'm using AfterEffects, if you've got any info on how a Zdepth channel can be useful in AE, share please...... user added image

Fess

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# 7 12-03-2007 , 05:37 AM

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hmm, that didn't quite work for me. Not sure why as I've done exactly what you did. However when I import my z .iff sequence into fcheck it only imports one image rather than the whole sequence. And this image seems to have no information in it at all. After effects tells me that it is an unsupported file format...
Anyway, since I didn't get it to work my experience is only theoretical. Yo will need after effects pro to do anything with the z channel. Under effects you will find 3d channel and various options. Like 3d channel extract which I think allows you to split your layer and have other layers slide into your 3d images at various depths.
You can also apply depth of field, fog etc. AEF basically uses the black and white image as a matte to apply effects.

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# 8 13-03-2007 , 02:08 AM

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Seems AfterEffects has a problem with mentelray format .rla because AE crashes when I try to import the .rla rendered with mentalray.

If I render out .rla in the software render, I can import it into AE without any problem.

See if you can get the ZDepth using maya software render:

-Set your project for the scene.
-Go to RenderGlobals>Renderable Cameras>enable "Depth channel (Z depth)"
-Also set the "Renderable Camera" to the camera you will be rendering.
-Go to RenderGlobals>Image Format> use "RLA" format.
-Go Render>Batch Render options>click "Batch Render".
-Open the "Script Editor".
-Look at the script editor for the progress of the render & also where the file has been rendered to.
-Open Fcheck>Load the image
-Hit "Z" to view the Z depth channel. (it should show a gradient of white to gray values.) Hit "C" to view color, Hit "A" to view alpha.

Use the ZDepth in After Effect:

-Import into After Effects.
- You'll need to use the Effects>3D Channel Extract to extract the "Zdepth" channel.
-Place the Z-depth .rla frame/s in a layer above the background.
-Apply the “3D Channel Extract” effect (Effect>3D Channel), and in the Effects Control window, make sure Z-Depth is active in the pull-down menu.
-You now need to insert values here for the white and black points. I found that these values were way too sensitive for the slider controls here to be of any use, so I entered values manually – TINY values! For instance Black Point 0.4, and White Point 0.9. (Watch the response in the Comp & you'll see the z-depth information (black and white information) change.)
-You want a situation where distant objects are dark and foreground objects are white, with a nice gradation between the two. Once you’re happy with the settings, you now use these black and white values to influence any effect you want to apply to the layer below (the Background).

Fess

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# 9 13-03-2007 , 02:27 AM

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wow, cheers mate.
here's a way of ding it without the custom depth pass, haven't tried it yet, but i'll give it a go when I find time

https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...threadid=25411

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need help with z channel

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