Sending specific data to another layer

How-To
1

Hey

Is it or could it be possible to send specific data to another layer
taking all nodes into consideration in that layer before sending the data
Could be lights, shadows, materials, or just one effect to tune it further?
Would be really cool to be able to use EXR for comping/sending data around?

All the best.

Toke

2

You can use the Layer Precomp to take a rendered scene and pass it into a different layer, is that what you are referring to?

If you want meshes, specific images, or modifiers, then i think you might be going about something the wrong way. Could you expand on wat you mean a bit?

– Ryan

3

I don’t mean to take over the thread, but I have run into a similar issue. I was making an installation pre-visualization where I first made the projection video in one layer, and then used it as a texture on a screen in a realistic looking scene I built in a second layer. The problem was that the video content was supposed to be motion responsive, and I couldn’t use the location data from the animated human models in the scene layer to influence the fx in the video layer. I ended up just using math modifiers in the video layer to sync up the fx with the animated human models as much as possible.

1 Like
4

So I would do one of two things:

  • Copy the location data nodes from the scene layer to the video layer, so you can use the same tracking data in the video layer.
  • Place the content under a render to texture, and use all the video layer content in the same layer as the scene content.

Its up to you which is easier, but without seeing the scene I can’t give much more advice than that.

– Ryan

5

Ah, yes using a render to texture node would have been the way to go for sure. Luckily it was just a pre-visualization, so a little hack here and there didn’t matter too much. But I’ll keep this in mind for the future as that is definitely the way to go. Thank you!

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6

Hey, Ryan just came home from holiday with the kids :slight_smile:
been using layer Precomp a bit I was thinking more about specific attributes like lights, data and getting access to layers in EXR

also being able to export Geo with attributes for working further in Houdini

All the best

Toke

7

Theres a little to unpack here.

  • Lights are a node, or a combination of lots of attributes, so I’m not sure what you mean there. If you just want to take nodes from one scene and include them in another scene, we have some ideas for the next release but nothing concrete yet.

  • EXR is an image format, so what your describing sounds like converting the rendered frame to EXR before passing it into a new layer - which seems a bit pointless. If you just want access to the render passes (depth, normal, etc) in other layers, that might be possible but it would require some huge changes to the node I expect.

  • Exporting geo with attributes is a separate topic, so I’ll let you pick this up in another thread instead of getting too off topic with this one.

Most of what you are asking for is best covered by a Render To Texture system at the moment. In future, some of those can/ will be catered for, but for now I would go with the current workflow.

– Ryan

1 Like
8

Sound great Ryan, sorry to bombard the forum with too much of my scatter brain :slight_smile:
Would really love to be able to record, send and store data, like if you have 4 nulls attach to a cam with a tweening null and a mix of random and timed modifiers, being able to render out a heavy scene and replace the layer with a video and work in layer 2 with the recorded data, and the keep stacking could be a killer workflow + looping random modifiers would be much easier

Can’t wait for what the future holds regarding Notch

All the best

Toke