VFX Seminar - Maya Render Passes / Refresher

Our first real seminar back was having a refresher in Maya while combining that with a quick introduction on composting from Maya to after effects; which involved the explanation of certain render passes. We discussed them last year but as stated, this was a refresher. This was all just to ensure we got our bearings again just in case it was something we neglected over the summer.

Firstly, we were given a pre-made scene on which to composite. After a full demonstration in front of us, a link was provided to follow an video tutorial which would explain the use and application of each pass. Consisting of 4, we would be given the ability to change reflection, colour, speciality and texture. To ensure that we were not just cheating and taking the already rendered 'final example', we had to apply our own texture to a 3D cube.

In order of the tutorial I will screen shot and demonstrate each pass, starting with colour. I am just showing the what was shown on that actually layer and the render settings used.

After colour came shadow, there is no need for explanation. The light that was pre-made would cast the shadows as the box jumps around the lamp. We don't want to cast shadows on the lamp it's self and the image also shows it's own light source so there is no need. So all that is visible is our box and the small step it jumps on to.

Next up was reflection, the only reason we are using reflections is because in the image the mat that the cube jumps onto appears to have a shiny surface; we want it to look as realistic as possible so why not. Reminding our self that making a separate render out for this is important because it's something we are going to want to make adjustments to in AE.

Finally we are including our occlusion pass. This is in simple terms 'self shadowing', where objects meet each other there is definitely going to be a loss of light and in turn a small area of darkness; this adds massively to realism of the image. We want occlusion in most places, the image does some of it for us however the cube, table and place mat would benefit from the extra occlusion.

After our image sequences were rendered out, imported into after effects where in theory they would sit perfectly on top of each other and work almost instantly. After a few adjustments we were ready to render our the final piece, I have uploaded it to YouTube where you can take a look below. A great refresher.

http://youtu.be/lZCA1aJDMfY