Render Outputs Guide

Introduction

The RenderOutput object is used to specify any output the renderer produces.

Setup

Generally, when setting up a RenderOutput object, you want to specify at least two attributes: the result, or type of RenderOutput, and file_name, which is where you want the result saved. Certain AOVs will require other attributes to be set, like primitive_attribute to specify the attribute to visualize, or material_aov, which specifies the material expression. You can refer to the RenderOutput Scene Class which contains a full attribute reference. There are also guides on specific RenderOutput types linked under the Types section below.

Example: World Position

-- output position in world space  
RenderOutput("/output/result/worldPos") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 3, -- state variable  
    ["state variable"] = 10, -- "WP"  
    ["channel format"] = 0  
}

Types

General

Type	Description
Beauty	Full render (RGB)
Alpha	Full render alpha channel (A)
Depth	z-distance away from camera (Z)
DisplayFilter	Outputs the results from a DisplayFilter

AOVs

Type	Description
State Variable	Visualize a built-in state variable (pos, nor, texture coords, etc)
Primitive Attribute	Visualize procedural-provided attributes
Material AOV	AOV generated using a material expression
Light AOV	AOV generated using a light path expression
Visibility AOV	Fraction of light samples that hit the light source
Weight	Pixel sample count, normalized between 0 and 1
Cryptomatte	Generate .exr layers containing pixel coverages by specified geometry(ies)
Alpha Aux	Alpha auxiliary sample data for adaptive sampling
Beauty Aux	Beauty auxiliary sample data for adaptive sampling

Diagnostic Results

Type	Description
Time Per Pixel	Time per pixel heat map metric
Wireframe	Render as wireframe

Examples

RGBAZ

-- build a reasonably standard default RGBAZ result  
RenderOutput("/output/result0/rgb") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
}

RenderOutput("/output/result0/alpha") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 1 -- alpha  
}

RenderOutput("/output/result0/depth") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 2, -- depth  
    ["channel format"] = 0, -- 32 bit float  
    ["math filter"] = "min"
}

Ref_P

-- output the "ref_P" primitive attribute  
RenderOutput("/output/result/ref_P") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 4, -- primitive attribute  
    ["primitive attribute"] = "ref_P",  
    ["primitive attribute type"] = 2 -- Vec3f  
}

Glossy Lobe Material Color

-- output the color of all glossy lobes hit by primary rays  
RenderOutput("/output/glossy_color") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 7, -- material aov  
    ["material aov"] = "G.color",  
}

Matte of the Geometry Objects with the “curly” and “gizmo1’ Labels

-- output a matte for the geometry objects with the  
-- gizmo1 and curly labels  
RenderOutput("/output/gizmo1AndCurlyMatte") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 7, -- material aov  
    ["material aov"] = "'gizmo1''curly'...matte",  
    ["channel name"] = "A"  
}

Direct Lighting on Glossy Lobes

-- output the direct lighting on diffuse lobes  
    RenderOutput("/output/glossy_direct") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 8, -- light aov  
    ["light aov"] = "CGL",  
    ["channel format"] = 0,  
}

Diffuse Key Lighting (assumes light has label ‘key’)

-- output diffuse lighting from lights with the key label  
RenderOutput("/output/diffuse_key") {  
    ["file name"] = "result0.exr",  
    ["result"] = 8, -- light aov  
    ["light aov"] = "CD'key'",  
}