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Rendering

Render Layer editor window

From the Render Layer editor, you can create, manage, and delete layers, layer blends, and layer overrides.

You can open the Render Layer editor in a separate window or view it in the same docked area as the Channel Box. You can change this setting in the Preferences. For more information, see Interface preferences.

The general workflow for using the Render Layer editor is as follows:

Create layers:

• Click the icons at the top to create a new layer , or create a layer and assign selected objects .

Per layer overrides:

• On any previously rendered layer, toggle this icon between red and green to re-render the layer or to recycle the previously rendered image. To reuse the last rendered image for this layer, toggle this icon to green . To re-render the selected layer, toggle this icon to red .

Notes This feature is applicable only if the selected layer has been rendered at least once. The recycle icon remains grey until a recyclable image is available. Render output is only held in memory for your current session of Maya. Any render output is lost after you quit and restart Maya.

• On any layer, click the second icon (shader ball) to open the hypershade and select an overriding shader for objects assigned to that layer. From the Hypershade you can also create a new shader or edit the attributes of a shader for that layer. If there’s a render layer shader override, the icon shows a blue shader ball.
• Click the third icon (flag) to create a member override for that layer. If there’s a member attribute layer override already, the third icon shows a red flag.
• Click the fourth icon (controls) to display render settings (including which renderer is selected) for that layer. If there’s a renderer override, the fourth icon shows an active controls icon.

Note Individual, per object overrides are not shown in this interface.

Previewing layers:

• Select a blend mode for each layer from the drop-down list.
• The Render All Layers option (Option > Render All Layers) selects whether all layers are composited and rendered to the Render View, or whether just the selected layer is rendered. In the options for this command (Option > Render All Layers > ), you can further select whether to show the composite image, the composite image and the individual rendered layers, or just the individual rendered layers.
• Click the ‘R’ next to each layer to set whether a layer is renderable or not.

Render Layer editor menus

Layers menu

Create Empty Layer

Creates a new render layer, depending on the selection in the pull-down menu, with a default name, for example layer1.

Create Layer from Selected

Creates a new render and populates it with the selected objects.

Copy Layer >

Duplicates the selected layer.

There are two options available with this feature:

With Membership and Overrides

Select this option to copy both the objects and render layer properties to the new layer.

With Membership

Select this option to copy only the objects to the new layer and create new overrides for the duplicated layer.

Select Objects in Selected Layers

Selects the objects contained in the selected layer(s).

Remove Selected Objects from Selected Layers

Removes selected objects from the selected layer(s)

Membership

Opens the Relationship Editor for removing or adding objects to layers.

Attributes

Opens the Attribute Editor for the selected layer(s). There are some attributes in the Attribute Editor not available through the Edit Layer window.

Delete Selected Layers

Deletes the selected layer(s), but not the objects in the layer.

Delete Unused Layers

Delete layers if they have no content.

Sort Layers Alphabetically

Sorts layers by name.

Sort Layers Chronologically

Sorts layers by time of creation.

Options menu

You can set the following binary options:

• Make New Layers Current
• Add New Objects to Current Layer
• Auto Overrides
• Show Namespace

Render All Layers

Renders all the layers in the scene based on the default Render All Layers Options.

Render All Layers >

Composite Layers

Renders a composited result of all layers and displays it in the Render View. This is the default for Render All Layers.

Composite and keep layers

Renders all your layers as individual images, but displays a composited result. For example, if you have a first layer set as an occlusion pass and a second layer set as a beauty pass, selecting this option will provide you with three images: one of the occlusion pass only, one of the beauty pass only, and one with the two passes composited into one image.

Keep layers

Renders all your layers as individual images. For example, if you have a first layer set as an occlusion pass and a second layer set as a beauty pass, selecting this option will provide you with two images: one of the occlusion pass only, and one with the beauty pass only.

Note Using Keep Layers significantly increases memory usage in Maya. Consecutive use populates the Render View with more and more images. You must clear out images manually as needed.

Auto Overrides

The Auto Overrides option simplifies the workflow for creating layer overrides for attributes such as Casts Shadows, Receive Shadows, and Visible in Reflections.

The Auto Overrides option is applicable to the following attributes:

• Under the Render Stats section (of the Attribute Editor) of the object's shape node:
• Casts Shadows
• Receive Shadows
• Motion Blur
• Primary Visibility
• Visible In Reflections
• Visible In Refractions
• Under the Display section (of the Attribute Editor) of the object's transform node:
• Visibility

When the Auto Overrides option is on, you can simply click on each of these attributes and an override will be created for the selected layer. Upon being unchecked, the attribute name immediately turns orange to indicate that a layer override has been created. This eliminates the need to right-click the attribute and select Create Layer Override.

Tip If your scene contains a lot of surfaces, you can also use the Attribute Spread Sheet to create a layer override. As in the case of the Attribute Editor, when the Auto Overrides option is on, you can simply change the setting for each of the attributes and a layer override is automatically created.

This feature is most useful when there are multiple objects/layers in the scene for which overrides need to be created. This feature simplifies the workflow by eliminating the need to select Create Layer Override.

Show Namespace

When using namespaces, object names can sometimes get very long. This can make it difficult to differentiate objects by name. Turning off the display of namespaces replaces the namespace portion of a node’s name (if any) with “...:”. The shortened name makes it easier to distinguish between different objects in your scene.

Note Namespaces are the preferred method for managing naming when working with file references in Maya. It is not recommended that you employ Maya's renaming prefix convention when using file referencing. While the DAG path or long name of a node may make it unique when using renaming prefixes, they do not work consistently within file referencing and complicate the hierarchical DAG changes, which may cause problems later on.

Render Layer editor context-sensitive menus

Context-sensitive menu

The following commands are available when you right-click a layer:

Add Selected Objects
Remove Selected Objects
Select Objects

Add or remove objects from a display layer. You can also select all objects in the current display layer.

Presets

Allows you to assign existing presets and create your own. For more information, see Work with layer presets.

Create New Material Override

Allows you to select a new material override for the current layer. For more information, see Work with layer overrides.

Assign Existing Material Override

Allows you to select an existing material override for the current layer. For more information, see Work with layer overrides.

Remove Material Override

Removes the current material override for the select object(s) on the current layer. For more information, see Work with layer overrides.

Remove Render Flag Overrides

Removes any render flag (layer attributes) overrides for the current layer. For more information, see Work with layer overrides.

Remove Render Setting Overrides

Removes any render setting overrides for the current layer. For more information, see Work with layer overrides.

Empty the Layer

Removes all objects from a layer, leaving it empty.

Delete Layer

Deletes the layer.

Membership Attributes

See above.