Best Practice For HQ Render Passes + Compositing

[Playdo]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for the best method for rendering out passes for compositing high quality work. I don't know much about .exr but, from what I've read, this seems to be the common format. I'll be compositing in either PS or A.Effects.

 

So what passes do you usually render out? What format do you use? How do you do your masking? What do you do about AA? What other good tips can you give?

 

Thanks

[sdds]

Well you can use exr, I do for stills and convert into 8 bit when possble. I like adjusting colour/exposure in 32bit. you dont have to though, many use tga, png tiff etc..

 

32bit float offers a lot of control in animation and is a better output if you intend to do loads of colour correcting! but the amount of disk spcae isnt always worth it. I use tga for animation, rendering out for vray I mostly use - zdepth, multimat, raw specular, velocity, AO, sometimes a wire colour pass

[Playdo]

Can I ask why you use .tga for animation? Can those passes that you mentioned not be rendered out in a single file with a .exr or .rpf, rather than having them as separate files with a .tga?

[divanovic]

Hi there,

 

Can I ask why you use .tga for animation? Can those passes that you mentioned not be rendered out in a single file with a .exr or .rpf, rather than having them as separate files with a .tga?

 

yes, as he said, sometime you use .tga's cause you don't have a need for a format like .exr or any 32-float compatible, it becomes an overkill.

As far as my practice goes, we use .png (for 16-int output), or .rpf for 32-float when using max. In maya, .iff is the choice always (.rla is great in both also). Exr we don't because it's to large, .hdr because it doesn't have alpha. So, if you really have a need for 2^32 colors and using Max, then I guess .rpf would be a way to go(smaller size, kind of exr functionality), but mind if your compositing software supports it!

 

So it all depends on what you need and how much corrections do you need to make in post.

Targa's and tiff's I use solely for textures for couple of years now,

 

cheers

Dejan

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I believe 16bit EXR's are the smallest 16bit file size you can get.

[divanovic]

I believe 16bit EXR's are the smallest 16bit file size you can get.

 

If compressed on some of the ways max offers, yes, they are the same as .png.

If uncompressed, they are about 10 times bigger than the same .png for example.

I guess you can't lose anything noticeable with compression within output, so in that way you are correct travis.

 

anyway, playdo, it wouldn't take you long to make a simple test project and see what works best for you