Shade 10 MultiPass Rendering

Shade can let you separately render discreet properties of your image into separate layers- this is called MultiPass rendering. You can apply transformations after you render your project by allowing each layer or pass of your render to be altered in a 2D compositing application such as Adobe Photoshop or Piranesi through the epix format.

To enable MultiPass Rendering, go to Rendering > Render Settings and MultiPass Tab and select the MultiPass Rendering checkbox.

Some file formats can include multiple, separate layers in a single file. Some file formats include: OpenEXR (. exr), TIFF (. tif) and EPix (. epx).

EPix support is only available in Shade Professional.

The specific channels that can be rendered vary depending on the renderer you select for your rendering. The Toon Renderer, for example, allows toon style edges and manga style half tones to be rendered into separate channels.

MultiPass rendering is a rendering option from Shade 10.5 Standard and Professional Editions.

How to Set Up MultiPass Rendering

You can use MultiPass rendering with both still images and animation.

Still Image MultiPass Rendering

To see what channels are available for each renderer, select the Method option.

Go to Rendering > Render Settings and select the MultiPass Tab.

Check to ensure that the MultiPass Rendering checkbox is selected.

From the active list, select the paths that you would like to render.

The total size of the rendered file, number of channels and number of layers appear below.

To render a single image, select Render from the Image Window.

MultiPass Animation Rendering

Rendering an animation requires all the same steps as rendering a still image. Each pass can have its own pixel depth: 8 bit, 16 bit or 32 bit, depending on the type of path.

To render an animation, go to the menu Rendering and select from Create Animation…, Create Animation (Multi-Layer)… or Creation Animation (Division File)…. Rendering an animation produces an image sequence.

To view each rendered layer, at the bottom of the Image Window, select the Channel menu.

TIP: To select multiple items, hold the Ctrl key on Windows or Command key on Mac OS X.

MultiPass Rendering Types

Color

Color is a category of pass found in MultiPass rendering in Shade and incorporates color values of the render.

Fog

Creates an alpha channel based pass based on fog parameters.

Caustics

Creates a photon-mapped caustics render.

Not available in Toon Render, Callisto or Wireframe.

Global Illumination

Creates a photon mapping or pass tracing based pass capturing global illumination information.

Reflection

Generates a pass based solely on the reflection value of surfaces and the reflections of objects.

Refraction

This creates a pass based on transparency values based on the Surface materials.

Environment

This creates a pass based on the environment map properties of the render. The information represents the result of reflections of each of the cardinal directions on the visible objects in the rendered scene.

Glow

Glow creates a pass that captures only the effects of light emitting surfaces of materials.

Ambient

Ambient creates a pass that captures on the effects of ambient, environmental light.

Shadow

Shadow creates a pass that captures shadows rendered in a scene, including those that result from Diffuse, Specular and Background settings.

Shadow has no effect on Global Lighting.

Specular

Specular creates a pass that captures the shiny highlights of materials rendered in a scene.

Diffuse

Diffuse creates a pass that captures the effects of diffuse (non-environmental) based light, such as light that originates from light source objects.

Background

Background creates a pass that captures only the rendered background of a rendered scene, and not the objects appearing in the scene.

Parameter

Parameter is a pass type found in Shade MultiPass rendering that is based on information that isn't specifically tied to a color layer.

Pre-Effect

Pre-Effect, or Effector Processing, creates a pass that captures only the result of Effectors without any color correction or other processing.

Position

Position creates a pass that captures information based on the global location of objects within a rendered scene. Coordinate values are based on the distances relative to the value of the bounding box. X, Y and Z axis value are represented by red, green and blue elements with ranges between 0.0 and 1.0.

XY Normals

XY Normals create a pass that captures information based on the direction of the normal vector of the camera. Using 0.5 as a starting point, X, Y, Z axis values are rendered as red, green and blue. Ranges are between 0.0 and 1.0.

Normals

Normals create a pass that captures information based on global coordinates rather than camera based coordinates. Using 0.5 as a starting point, X, Y, Z axis values are rendered as red, green and blue. Ranges are between 0.0 and 1.0.

UV1

UV1 creates a pass that captures information based on texturing coordinates of a rendered object based on distance information.

UV2

UV2 creates a pass that captures information based on texturing coordinates of a rendered object based on the actual texturing of the object.

Light: Diffuse

Light sources present in the target scene (such as infinite lights) produce diffuse lighting that is unaffected by object color.

Light: Specular

Light sources present in the target scene (such as infinite lights) produce effects that result in specular lighting on objects; this is otherwise unaffected by object color.

Light: Global Illumination

Global Illumination information is saved in this pass if either Path Tracing, Photo Mapping or Radiosity are selected from the Global Illumination Tab options.

Surface: Diffuse

Diffuse color information from objects is saved in this pass.

Transparency

Objects that include transparency information are saved in this pass.

Z-Depth

The Z-Depth pass includes information about the distance between the camera and objects in a scene. Z-Depth calculates the z value distance with only one ray and ignores the object transparency and reflectivity.

You can control the maximum distance calculated using the Z-Depth options.

Z-Depth (n-ray)

The Z-Depth (n-ray) pass includes information about the distance of objects and the effects of transparency calculations and reflectivity; this is saved as an RGB based channels. Z-Depth (n-ray) calculates the z value distance with multiple rays, resulting in a smoother, more detailed render.

Object ID

This generates an image that indicates the ID of objects in each region of the final image. This is not automatically anti-aliased.

Surface ID

This generates an image that assigns specific identifying colors to shapes according to the surface materials.

Marker Color

This generates an image based on the label colors found in the Shade Browser.

Object

Object is a pass type found in Shade MultiPass Rendering.

Object Mask

In Shade Browser, you can select the MultiPass: Mask option for any object in your scene. This adds an Object Mask Object named after the object in the MultiPass render pass list.

There isn’t a limit to the number of objects you can designate as an Object Mask.

The three shapes in the scene are used as separate masks.

Surface

Surface is a pass type found in Shade MultiPass Rendering.

Surface Mask

In Shade Browser, you can select the MultiPass: Mask option for any surface in your scene. This adds a Surface Mask Object named after the surface in the MultiPass render pass list.

If a material is designated as a mask, then the rendered pass will be in the shape of the mask.

Custom

A plugin may add an additional Custom type parameter to MultiPass rendering. The Shade Toon renderer provides custom type parameters.

MultiPass Rendering Reference

MultiPass Rendering Checkbox

To enable MultiPass Rendering, select the MultiPass Rendering checkbox option on the MultiPass Tab.

MultiPass Tab

The MultiPass Tab is a part of Shade 10 and later. Here, you can enable MultiPass Rendering, select the number and type of render passes and set other options.

Enable Pass Box

Each pass option can be enabled or disabled easily. Select the pass option checkbox. For each pass option you select, the Total Size, Layers and number of Channels can increase, increasing the amount of information that Shade has to process on and after rendering all of the passes.

Type

Indicates the category type of each pass in the list. These include: Color, Parameter, Object, Surface and Custom types.

Pass

Indicates either the kind of pass or the specific, named object or surface used for the pass.

ID

This indicates both the pass type and also a referential name used when rendering to a specific pass or layer.

Channel

This indicates the type of information stored within each individual channel.

Z-Depth Options

These are related to the Z-Depth and Z-Depth (n-ray) pass types.

Maximum Distance Auto Option

When you select this option, Shade automatically calculates and applies the maximum distance as a parameter for rendering the Z-Depth information.

Maximum Distance Option Box

You can manually enter a custom, maximum distance as a parameter for rendering Z-Depth information.

Disable Anti-aliasing in Data Passes Option

Allows you to select if anti-aliasing is applied to XY Normals, Normals, UV1, UV2, Z-Depth, Object ID, Surface ID and Marker passes.

Total Size/Layers/Channels

This information is automatically updated as you enable each pass.

MultiPass rendering options can greatly increase the memory requirements of your scene, far beyond the capacity of your operating system. You can increase or decrease performance if you change the size of the current Rendering Image Cache through the Preferences dialog.