Compositing VRay Render Elements Putting Beauty Back Together

Compositing V-Ray Render Elements: Putting Beauty Back Together

Lesson Introduction – Orientation • This presentation will discuss the process of composting essential V-Ray Render Elements • This information centers around compositing Render Elements in what is called a “Back to Beauty” comp • The lesson topic is approximately 20 minutes in length • Presentation covers all 3 Learning Cycles for the Lesson Topic – Lecture, Demonstration, and Activity

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Objective – We will composite several Render Elements and use them to create final composite in Adobe After Effects • Outcome – You will understand how to composite multiple render passes/elements back together to produce a professionally composited final image

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Basic compositing of Render Elements • The EXR sequence is split into its component Render Elements • These are then stacked on top of each other using Add or Multiply blend modes to recreate the Beauty render • Each Render element contributes to the overall look • Each layer containing a Render Element can then be controlled and changed at the composite level • Compositing in After Effects • Ensure Adobe After Effects is set up correctly to composite 32 bit floating point images • Make sure the rendered EXR image contains all the Render Elements needed (multi-channel EXR), or you have each render element as a separate sequence of images • Composite Render Elements in After Effects • • Multi-channel EXR files opens as layers The combined Render Elements result in a final image Render Elements can be adjusted to create different effects Render beauty comp as final image

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Start from the back (or bottom) and move forward • Extract the Background Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Splitting it into a separate render element means it can be color corrected and post work done on it at composite level • When compositing with pre-multiplied renders, make sure to enable the Un. Mult option within the EXtracto. R effect • It’s good practice to name your After Effects layer Background to help keep things straight later when there’s more copies of the EXR in the Composition → EXR render as beauty Background Render Element

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Adding Light to the Background • Extract the Lighting Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes all the direct lighting in the scene • By setting its blend mode to Add this Render Element is added to the Background layer’s result • If the Direct lighting is slightly higher than required this can give far more head room in composite for post work • So changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) or its color can be done far more easily at composite level + Background Render Element = Lighting Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Adding Indirect Light on Top of the Direct • Extract the GI Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes all the Global Illumination in the scene • Its blend mode is set to Add to contribute the GI to the previous render elements • If the Global Illumination is set slightly higher than required, then this can give far more head room in composite for post work. • Changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) or its color can be done far more easily at composite level. • A clean (not noisy) GI render element is always preferred as it has such a huge affect on the overall look of a scene + Composite up to this point = GI Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Time for some Reflection • Extract the Reflection Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes all the surface Reflections in the scene to the composite • Its blend mode is set to Add to contribute the Reflectivity to the previous Render Elements in the composite • If the Reflection is set slightly higher than required, then this can give far more head room in composite for post work. Although this is best on a case by case basis • Changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) or its color can be done far more easily at composite level + Composite up to this point = Reflection Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Next comes some Refraction • Extract the Refraction Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes all the surface Refractions in the scene to the composite • Its blend mode is set to Add to contribute the Refractions to the previous render elements in the composite • Allows us to fine tune the refractions in post production • Changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) or its color can be done far more easily at composite level + Composite up to this point = Refraction Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Time to make the composite Specular • Extract the Specular Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes all the Specularity in the scene to the composite • Its blend mode is set to Add to contribute the Specularity to the previous render elements in the composite • Changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) or its color can be done far more easily at composite level • So a colored specular layer could be changed to another color or saturation increased or decreased for example • A clean (not noisy) Specular render element is always preferred as it has such a huge affect on the overall look of any scene with shiny objects + Composite up to this point = Specular Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Almost there when you add Atmosphere • Extract the Atmosphere Render Element from the Render_Elements. exr • Contributes the Atmosphere in the scene to the composite (including any particulate) • Its blend mode is set to Add to contribute the Environment Atmosphere to the previous render elements in the composite • Changes in both intensity (by changing the layers opacity) can be done to affect how much dense the atmosphere is visible in the composite • Changes to the color of the atmosphere can be done at composite level which can vastly change the look of a scene • While a noisy Atmosphere render element can still be used, it is a good idea to render it out as clean as possible + Composite up to this point = Atmosphere Render Element Combined Render Elements

Lesson Topic: : Compositing Beauty • The Basic Composite • Each Render Element stacks on top of the other starting with the Background layer at the bottom • An Add blend mode is used in each case to add each render element to the result of the layers / render elements below it • Then come the Lighting and GI render elements to contribute the scenes lighting to the composite • On top of these are placed the Reflection, Refraction and Specular render elements to contribute all the reflective, refractive and shiny parts of the image • Finally in our basic composite the environment fog is places to provide the atmospheric effects that contribute to the overall look for the scene

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Your first Beauty Composite • You have now created a very basic composite from the most common Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Compositing Beauty • Tips • The effect of any layer can be lowered by turning down its opacity • For example: we could reduce the effect of the specular by reducing the Specular layers opacity • Each Render Element layer can be color corrected independently • For example: The color of the Specularity could be changed from yellow to red • Try turning the opacity of the GI layer down to 26% and changing its color slightly using a color correction curve Original Render with tweaks to GI layer

Time to see it work! • Demonstration Cycle! • Watch while I demonstrate how to composite the Render Elements together to create our Beauty pass

Time to do it yourself! • Activity Cycle! • Now it’s your turn!! • Use the provided EXR render to build our composite in After Effects • The next slide some specific values I used for your reference

Dialing in the right settings • Set your After Effects Project’s Color Settings • Depth: 32 bits per channel (float) • Working Space: s. RGB • Enable Linearize Working Space • Check EXR file’s Color Management • Assign Profile: s. RGB • Interpret As Linear Light: On for 32 bpc • Use EXtracto. R effect to select Render Element for layer’s channel • Enable Un. Mult to compensate for premultipled renders from Maya • All layers comped on top of the BG need to be set to Add Mode