When you create a scene, it has a single pass named Default_Pass. This is a “beauty” pass that is set to render every element of the scene as is. It is also selected as the current pass for the scene and its name appears in the pass text box on the Render toolbar.
You will most likely want to create more passes as your scene grows in size and complexity. You can create a variety of pass types from the Render toolbar.
• From the Render toolbar, choose Pass > Edit > New Pass and select a type of pass to create. Your choices are as follows:
Pass |
Description |
Empty |
Empty pass with empty object and light partitions. Use this option to build a pass from “scratch.” |
Based on Layers |
Pass with a partition for every defined layer. |
Matte pass of the selected objects. This type of pass is regularly used to composite overlapping objects. Background objects and lights are not rendered but matte objects are rendered with their original RGB settings. |
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White Matte |
Matte pass with a constant white RGBA channel of selected objects. This type of pass is regularly used to composite overlapping objects. The white matte pass renders matte objects in white, while background objects and lights are rendered black. |
Isolate Matte |
Matte pass of the selected objects. Each matte object is isolated from non-matte objects, meaning that a matte is generated for areas of matte objects that are overlapped by non-matte objects. |
Pass of the entire scene’s depth information. Also called a Z-pass, this type of pass contains depth information for objects based on the distance from the camera. |
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Shadow pass of the entire scene. Rendering a shadow on its own and being able to composite it back in the final render allows you to edit a shadow’s blur, intensity, and color without any additional rendering. |
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Selective Shadow |
Shadow pass that includes only shadows projected on the selected objects. |
Pass containing every selected object’s reflections. |
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Refraction |
Pass containing every selected object’s refractions. |
Ambient |
Pass containing all of a scene’s ambient color. |
Ambient/Diffuse |
Pass containing all of a scene’s ambient and diffuse information. |
Diffuse |
Pass containing all of a scene’s diffuse color. |
Pass containing the highlight of the entire scene. A highlight pass (sometimes called specular) contains all of a scene’s specular highlights or hotspots. |
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Image Based Lighting (HDRI) |
Pass that lights the scene using a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) compatible environment shader and final gathering. For more information about creating an HDRI pass, see Using Environment Maps to Light a Scene in the Texturing guide. |
Caustics |
Pass of all of the scene’s caustic effects. |
Global illumination |
Pass of all of the scene’s global illumination effects. |
Glow |
Pass of every selected objects’ glow property. |
Lens flare |
Flare pass for the selected camera or light. A lens flare partition is created for the light(s) that create the flare. Flare properties are applied to the partition and the render pass camera. |
Volumic |
Volume pass for each selected object in your scene. |
Toon |
Pass in which scene objects are rendered using the Toon Paint and Host material shader. If additional inking is needed, you can apply the Toon Ink Lens shader to the camera. |
More... |
Opens a browser offering more pass presets. |
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• A new pass is created for every imported SOFTIMAGE|3D scene in addition to the Default Pass (beauty pass) in XSI. • The Reflection, Ambient, Ambient/Diffuse, Diffuse, Highlight, Caustics, and Global Illumination pass presets work only with XSI native shaders, not with imported SOFTIMAGE|3D scenes. • Imported shaders cannot be extended with XSI shaders in the render tree. |
There are many more types of passes you can create from scratch by selecting the empty option and custom-defining the pass. In addition, you can edit the preset passes to create your own variations. For more information about creating custom passes, see Creating Custom Render Passes.
The current pass is the pass to which all pass and partition properties are applied. The current pass is also the pass displayed in 3D views when the Render Pass Camera view is chosen from the view’s View menu.
To set the current pass
1. Click the arrowhead beside the Pass Selection menu on the Render toolbar to display the pass list. The list contains all available passes defined for the scene.
2. Choose the render pass you want to set as current — all work is then applied to the current pass. To make a change to another pass, set it as the current pass.
Use the Pass commands on the Render toolbar to set the camera for the pass, add a partition, or delete the current pass — see Creating Custom Render Passes.
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• The Pass Selection menu also appears in the main menu bar. • Every time you create a new pass, it immediately becomes the current pass. • The order of passes on the Pass Selection menu is determined by the general sort order set in the explorer, for example, Alphabetical, None (creation), and so on. You can modify the creation order using the Reorder tool in the explorer. See Sorting and Reordering Elements in the Explorer. |
To edit the render options for the current pass
• From the Render toolbar, choose Pass > Edit > Current Pass. This opens the render pass property editor for the pass named in the current pass text box.
Controlling the Active Camera in the Render Pass
You can specify the camera you want to use for each render pass. The active camera provides the viewpoint from which the pass is rendered. You can add new cameras to your scene and set them as active if needed.
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In the explorer, a Pass Camera node appears as a sub-node of each render pass. This doesn’t signify that a new camera is created with each pass: the Camera node represents the camera for that pass only. |
To set the active camera for a render pass
1. Choose the current pass from the Render toolbar.
To do this, click the arrow button beside the pass text box to display the pass list. The list contains all available passes defined for the scene. Choose the render pass you want to set as current.
2. Choose Render > Render > Options to open the Render Options property editor for the current pass.
3. Click the Format tab and select from the Output Camera menu which camera you want to be active for your render pass. The menu lists all of a scene’s cameras.
To set the active camera by dragging and dropping
• In the explorer, you can also drag-and-drop the camera icon onto a pass to set the active camera for that pass.
To view the current pass from the viewpoint of the active camera
• Choose Camera > Render Pass from any 3D view’s Views menu (on the left side of its title bar).
Predictably, you set the render options for a given pass from the Render Options property editor.
To edit the current pass’ render options
1. Choose the current pass from the Render toolbar.
To do this, click the arrow button beside the pass text box to display the pass list. The list contains all available passes defined for the scene. Choose the render pass you want to set as current.
2. Click Render > Render > Options to open the Render Options property editor for the current pass.
3. Set the options as desired. For more information about setting render pass options, see Pass Rendering Options.
To edit any pass’ render options
1. Open an explorer and set the scope to Passes (press p).
2. Expand the node for the pass whose render options you want to edit. The Render Options icon is displayed directly beneath the render pass node.
3. Click the Render Options icon to open the pass’ Render Options property editor.
4. Set the options as desired. For more information about setting render pass options, see Pass Rendering Options.
When saving a pass preset, you are actually saving its render options and any shaders applied to the pass’s shader stack.
To save a pass preset
1. Open an explorer and set the scope to Passes.
2. Click the icon of the pass that you want to save to open its property editor.
3. Click the Save icon at the top of the property editor to save the pass’s render options and the shaders applied to its shader stack.
4. The Save Pass Preset browser is displayed. Enter a file name for the preset and click OK.
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By default, the pass preset is saved to the User path in the \Data\DSPresets\Groups directory. You can, however, save it to any other directory. |
If you do not want to use any of the predefined pass presets, you can easily load your own.
1. Choose Pass > Edit > New Pass > More from the Render toolbar.
2. In the browser, navigate to a folder in which you have a saved preset pass.
3. Click OK to load the preset.
You can also drag a preset pass from the browser or custom toolbar and drop it directly on the Render Passes root in the explorer. The preset pass appears as a subnode under the Passes node.
As you add passes to your scene, you may find that many of them use a similar structure or have partitions that contain mostly the same objects or lights.
In cases like these, it’s often easier to duplicate a render pass and modify the duplicate than it is to create several similar passes from scratch (or by modifying presets).
To duplicate a pass
1. Open an explorer and set the scope to Passes (press p).
2. Select the pass that you want to duplicate.
3. From the edit panel in the main command panel, choose Edit > Duplicate Single duplicate the pass.
The duplicate pass is added to the pass list, but does not become the current pass.
Deleting an unwanted pass is a simple operation accomplished from the render toolbar.
To delete a render pass
1. Make the render pass you want to delete the current pass.
To do this, click the arrow button beside the pass text box to display the list containing all the passes defined for the scene. Choose the render pass you want to delete.
2. Choose Pass > Edit > Delete Current Pass from the Render toolbar to delete the current pass.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01