Is there a way to render out ONLY a z depth pass?

[AubreyM]

Hi guys,

Might be a n00b question but I came across a problem I have not run into before. I was doing a long render (25 hours), when it was over I realized I had screwed up on the z depth pass. Is there a way I can render ONLY the zdepth pass without having to re render the whole image?

If not I'll take my lumps and re render it but I'd rather not tie up my computer for another 25 hours if I can do something else.

I am using Max 2011 and Vray 2.0.

[danb4026]

I don't think so. I would turn off all of your lights and put in a simple override material so there are no reflections, refraction etc and render out the zdepth pass with the rgb channel. This should save you almost all of the time. You could also proportionally reduce your render size and upsize in PS, because I dont think the resolution is all that critical.

[AubreyM]

Yes, that is what I thought. Oh well, thanks for the response

[John Dollus]

turn off Gi as well - that will save you the most time. depending on your scene you may want to turn off any clear glass objects as well.

[AubreyM]

I did what Dan suggested and it rendered in 13 minutes. Working on it in PS now. Way better than 25 hours

Thanks guys for the help.

[danb4026]

Glad it worked out

[Fooch]

Sometimes, if shit happens, especially for an animation (and boy it casually does)

I save the file + switch it to scanline. plus whack a generic material on it

Voila, super fast renders for zdepth

Btw, make sure your camera doesnt have camera correction etc to it.