Mastering Maya® 2009

Chapter 12. Rendering for Compositing

Maya offers a number of options for separating the individual elements of a render into separate passes. These passes can then be reassembled and processed with additional effects using compositing software, such as Adobe After Effects or Autodesk Toxic. In this chapter, you'll learn how to use Maya's Render Layers and mental ray's Render Passes features to split rendered images into elements that can then be used in your compositing software.

In this chapter you will learn to:

• Use render layers

• Use render passes

• Perform batch renders

• Use mental ray quality settings

Render Layers

The Render Layers feature is best used to isolate geometry, shaders, and lighting to create different versions of the same animation. Render ...