Using Render Layers

Video captions: Activate Raytracing in the toolbar. Render Layer enables you to define how single geometries should be displayed. Open the module, Render Layer, which you can find in the Rendering menu. Create a new layer with the context menu or click on the icon. Rename the layer, Car. Now, you can assign geometries to this layer. Open the Scenegraph and drag the vehicle’s geometry to the layer. Create another layer and name it, Wheels. Drag the four wheel groups to this layer. Please note that the wheel groups are dependent on the vehicle. In the Car layer, change the attribute Visible, by double left-clicking, to Off. In order to see these changes, you need to activate the layer with the context menu or by using the icon. All the vehicle’s geometries will not influence the rendering. Activate the render layer, Wheels. Here, all values are set to visible. This means that now only the wheels will be rendered. Click on the icon, Reset. All settings will be deactivated. Change the attribute, Visible, in the layer, Car, by double left-clicking, to On and the Primary Visibility to Off, then activate the render layer. The geometry of the car, itself, is not visible anymore, but still casts a shadow and can be seen in the reflections. Change the attribute, Primary Visibility, in the layer, Car, by double left-clicking to On and the attribute, Visible In Alpha, to Off, then activate the render layer. Now, your geometry will be punched out in the alpha channel. All parts that are covered by this geometry are no longer visible. Activate the render layer, Wheels. Even though the wheel’s geometry is dependent on the vehicle’s geometry, they now will be rendered. The thing will still be punched apart from the rest of the vehicle’s geometry. You can use Render Layer to render single components of your vehicle. You can also influence other settings. Should your geometry be visible in reflections and refractions, or should it cast shadows? You can define these parameters in the render layers. Please note, the order in which render layers are executed is important. If in doubt, reset and then activate the render layer in the correct order. A tip, if you don’t want to double-click each setting of the nodes of a layer, you can render all the settings of a layer at once. Right-click on the layer and choose Apply Attributes to Selected. Use render layers to achieve stunning results.