Layers

The Layers panel in V-Ray Frame Buffer provides a new powerful workflow for making adjustments to your rendered image. You can bring out render elements and compose them together with individual color corrections in the panel's Composite mode, or deconstruct light contribution in the scene and fine-tune each light individually in the completed render using the VRayLightMix mode. You can also color correct the final render just like you were able to do in the previous version of VFB.

The Composite layer options allow you to specify how the selected render element blends with the result from all render elements below it, as well as to control render elements' intensity.

Name field – Specifies the name of the chosen render element. It can be adjusted.

Blending – Specifies how the layer blends with the result from all layers below it.

Opacity – Controls the weight of the layer. A value of 0 means no effect and a value of 1.0 means full effect.

Element – Indicates the selected render element.

Multiplier – Multiplies the pixel values by a number.

Color slot – Multiplies the pixel values by a color

Blend modes are available for all Color correction layers, Composite layers, folders, and multiple masks applied on a single layer or folder.

Blending – Specifies how the layer blends with the result from all layers below it.

Opacity – Controls the weight of the layer. A value of 0 means no effect and a value of 1.0 means full effect.

The Proportion Guide layer allows for a number of composition guides to be overlaid on the image. The available guides are Rule of Thirds, Diagonals, Golden Ratio, Center Cross, and Custom Grid.

Rule of Thirds – Overlays the Rule of Thirds guidelines.

Diagonals – Overlays diagonal guidelines.

Golden Ratio – Overlays the Golden Ratio guidelines

Center Cross – Overlays a center cross guideline.

Custom Grid – Overlays custom grid guidelines. You can specify up to 10 columns and rows of the grid.

For all the guides there is a Line Width option, which can be controlled via a slider or spinners, as well as a Color Swatch to control the color of the lines.

For the Custom Grid Rows guides, there are Rows and Columns options to control the rows/columns of the grid.

The Stamp layer is always placed on top at the layers tree by design. When enabled, it contains info regarding V-Ray version, frame, number of primitives, as well as the time elapsed.

Alignment – Aligns stamp options. You can choose from Left alignment, Right alignment or Center alignment, as well as from Bottom and Top.

Color – Changes the stamp color.

Font – Opens the Select Font window to change font, its style and size.

Variables – Stamp variables can be typed directly into the stamp textbox with a % symbol before and separated with a | symbol. Example: %rendertime | %frame | %camera

The V-Ray Masks are used to refine only selected parts of the rendered image in the VFB. They can be applied to Color correction layers, the Lens Effects layer, the Denoiser layer and also to Folders in the VFB layers tree.

When one or more masks are applied to the same layer or folder, a mask icon is placed in front of it in the layer tree to signify its presence. The parameters of each mask are available in their own separate tabs to the Properties of the masked layer or folder.

When a folder or a layer has mask(s), the Show masks' preview option is available in the Parameters Tab of the respective folder/layer. This option shows a preview of the masks elements when selected.

For more information on masks, see the Masks page.

The Display Correction layer specifies the color space, in which the image is displayed. You can choose between sRGB, Gamma 2.2, OCIO and ICC or select None to return to a linear display.

The ICC correction allows you to apply an ICC profile to the image, so that (for example) it matches the appearance of the image in Adobe Photoshop. This is a display correction that is only applied when the image is viewed in the frame buffer. It is not applied when the image is saved to a file.

The OCIO correction allows you to apply color corrections from an .ocio color profile to image colors. When this correction is enabled and no specific .ocio profile is specified, it attempts to read the OCIO environment variable and apply the profile specified in it.

Save RGB primaries conversion to image – When enabled, V-Ray saves the color space (RGB primaries conversion) set in the Color management to the image. 

Input Colorspace – Specifies the input color space for the image; normally this is a linear color space as V-Ray internally works in that space.

Display Device – Specifies the device on which the VFB with the image is displayed.

View Transform – Specifies the viewing transformation.

Save in image – Saves/bakes the OCIO effect along with the image. This does not affect multi-channel images (such as multi-channel .exr).

Profile cached – When loading an ICC file, this checkbox indicates whether the file is smaller or bigger than a given threshold of 64k. If the file is smaller than 64k, the checkbox is ticked to indicate that the ICC file is directly embedded in the scene. If the loaded file is bigger than 64k, the checkbox is inactive which indicates that you must either put the ICC file in the Max project folder, or set the correct path to load it.

Rendering Intent – Specifies an ICC color replacement scheme. You can choose from Perpetual, Relative colorimetric, Absolute colorimetric, and Saturation.

Black point compensation – Enables black point compensation. This is a method of creating adjustments between the maximum black levels of digital files and the black capabilities of various digital devices.

The ICC profile layer provides all options of the Display Correction ICC mode. On top of that, as a layer it can be blended with the other layers.

Profile cached – When loading an ICC file, this checkbox indicates whether the file is smaller or bigger than a given threshold of 64k. If the file is smaller than 64k, the checkbox is ticked to indicate that the ICC file is directly embedded in the scene. If the loaded file is bigger than 64k, the checkbox is inactive which indicates that you must either put the ICC file in the Max project folder, or set the correct path to load it.

Rendering Intent – Specifies an ICC color replacement scheme. You can choose from Perpetual, Relative colorimetric, Absolute colorimetric, and Saturation.

Black point compensation – Enables black point compensation. This is a method of creating adjustments between the maximum black levels of digital files and the black capabilities of various digital devices.

The Source layer determines the input of the layers stack. It specifies if you work on your rendered image, composite or light mix.

RGB - The rendered image is the source.

Composite - You can add Render element layers in this mode and start compositing your image from the render elements rendered with it. For example, you can do a simple Back to Beauty compositing of your image in this mode.

LightMix - This mode allows you to adjust the intensity and color of your lights during and after the render. Changes can be transferred back to the lights in the scene. To use the LightMix, add a VRayLightMix render element before rendering.

Add LightMix to the render elements to make this mode available. Alternatively, add LightMix from inside the VFB. Click on the Add LightMix to the scene option. Start a new render to apply the changes.

When the Source is set to LightMix, you can enable/disable lights and adjust light intensity and color during and after the render. The modifications can be saved as light mix presets and reused. Start a new render and VRayLightMix automatically creates Environment and Self Illumination render elements. Find out more about how VRayLightMix work here: www.chaosgroup.com

Reset – Resets all changes made to default values.

Save – Saves the changes as light mix preset.

Load – Loads a light mix preset.

To Scene – Applies the current VRayLightMix changes to the scene. This sends all changes to colors/intensities back to the scene items (except the items which were left out in Rest). This option is only available when the render has stopped.

To Composite – Sends the Light Selects from LightMix to Composite for additional post adjustments.

Recent – Shows a list of recent light mix presets.

Checkbox – Enables/Disables the selected light.

Multiplier – Specifies an intensity multiplier.

Color Slot – Specifies a color multiplier for the selected light.

A context menu is available when you right-click on a light's name/label in the LightMix properties. The same menu is also available when you right-click on a listed material. The menu also respects the LightMix grouping modes selected in the VRayLightMix render element's settings, and can be used with instancing, groups, or layers.

When you right-click on a light:

Select lights in scene – Selects the lights.

Add lights to the selection – Adds the lights to the current selection.

Remove lights from selection – Removes the lights from the current selection.

When you right-click on a material:

Select lights in scene – Shows the material in an additional Slate Material Editor view named VRayPickMtlView and loads the parameters of the material.

Add lights to the selection – Adds the material in the current active Slate Material Editor view (if not already there) and loads the parameters of the material.

The Lens Effects layer simulates real-world camera lens effects such as bloom and glare. The plug-in uses a fast multi-threaded technique to compute the result and provide immediate update in V-Ray VFB. V-Ray Lens Effects are applied in the effectsResult channel together with other post effects executed over the RGB rendered image. See the Lens Effects page for more information on the individual parameters of this layer.

Calculate Sharpen/Blur – Enables computation on the sharpen/blur post effect and automatically sets it visible when computed.

Sharpen amount – Applies sharpening to the image. Increasing the amount leads to a sharper image, while setting the amount to 0 switches off this filter.

Sharpen radius – Determines the radius in pixels used for sharpening. Higher values lead to more extensive sharpening.

Blur radius - Determines the radius in pixels used for blurring. Higher values lead to greater blurring effect.

This layer provides access to the VRayDenoiser render element (if available) from inside the VFB. To enable the layer, add a VRayDenoiser before rendering.

Alternatively, add a VRayDenoiser inside the VFB. Click on the Add Denoiser to the scene option. This option is active only when no VRayDenoiser has been added to the render elements list. Start a new render to apply the changes.

Calculate denoiser – Enables/disables the denoiser calculation. This can be useful sometimes while adjusting your render. Disabling the denoiser layer visibility instead still calculates the denoiser in the background. Read more about this working with the denoiser on the V-Ray Denoiser page.

Update – Updates the Denoiser layer manually and also initiates a Lens Effects update.

This layer allows you add a background to your rendering.

Opacity – Controls the layer opacity.

Color – Picks a solid color to be used as background.

File – Loads a file that is going to be used as a background. Image sequences can be loaded as well using the <frameNum> tag.

Recent – Lists recently used files.

Stretch – Controls the aspect ratio of the image by stretching the image to fit the VFB.

Fit – Keeps the aspect ratio of the image. Enlarges or shrinks the VFB to fit the image.

Fill – Keeps the aspect ratio of the image and cuts some parts of the picture to fill the VFB.

Horizontal offset – Controls the background image position by the X axis.

Vertical offset – Controls the background image position by the Y axis.

As foreground – When enabled, the image loaded in the field above is used as a foreground. This means that the image is on top of the rendering and you are able to see the rendering only if the image has an alpha channel.

Save in image – When enabled, saves the layer to the image.

Color Transformation – This dropdown allows display corrections to be applied to the Background layer independently.

Auto – Recognizes what the desired transformation would be based on the image suffix (_srgb, _lin_srgb, _acescg...) and sets those settings automatically.

Manual – Allows manual setup of the color transformation options. The options can be left at Auto and be determined automatically by V-Ray. The options can be set to None and apply no transformations.

RGB color space – Choose which color space to use for the color transformations. sRGB is the color space for most monitors and computer displays. ACEScg allows for greater range of color transformations in post. It has a wider gamut of colors than the sRGB linear gamut.

Transfer function – Alters the pixel values to a new range. Gamma 2.2 is the standard for most monitors.

OCIO – Allows an Input color space to be selected when an OCIO profile is already loaded. OCIO profiles can be loaded either through the Display Correction layer or through the OCIO environment variable.

Input color space – Determines the input color space for the background image; normally this is a linear color space as V-Ray internally works in that space.

This color correction applies a solid color that can be used as a constant to achieve an effect on another layer. For example, it can be multiplied by another layer.

This color correction applies exposure and contrast to the image. An Exposure value of 0.0 leaves the original image brightness, +1.0 makes it twice as bright, and -1.0 makes it twice as dark. Highlight Burn selectively applies exposure corrections to highlights in the image. Positive Contrast values push the colors away from the medium gray value to increase image contrast, while negative values push the colors closer to medium grey.

The White Balance sliders correct the colors in the image so that objects that are white appear as pure white (and not tinted blue, yellow, red, etc.) in the final image.

Temperature - Adjusts the white balance of the image by specifying the color temperature in Kelvin. Lower values make the image bluer, higher ones make it more amber.

Magenta - Green tint – Adjusts the white balance of the image to make it greener (positive values) or more purple (negative values).

Color tint – Picks or chooses a color to be the new "white point" for the image, adjusting all colors. Use it to pick a neutral color from the image (e.g. one that should be white or gray).

Render view color picker – Picks a color from the render window. Left-click to choose a new "white point" or a tint to neutralize. Right-click to pick a tint to boost.

This correction applies HSL transformation on the image colors. Moving the Hue slider changes the overall hue of the image colors (grey colors remain intact). Lower Saturation values move the image towards greyscale while higher values increase the colors' intensities. Higher Lightness values add white to the image, whereas lower values subtract white from the image.

This correction adjusts the overall color tone of the image, as well as the tone of the dark (shadow), medium, and bright (highlight) colors. The color corrections are additive in that the All correction affects all colors of the image, and the Shadows/Midtones/Highlights options adjust the individual components in the image on top of the All correction.

This correction allows you to remap the image colors with a Bezier curve. The control also allows you to save and load .acv curve files from Adobe PhotoShop.

Master – Controls all image channels.

Red/Green/Blue – Control the respective image channels.

Color Picker – Creates and modifies points directly from the render view. Once enabled and with the mouse in the render view, use Ctrl + Mouse Scroll to change the picker size.

Context Menu

Right-clicking in the curve view brings up a context menu with additional options:

Controlling the Compositing Theme View

Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the curve view by both axes. Alternatively, use Alt + Right-mouse button to zoom in/out by the axis in which the first mouse movement is detected. Moving right or left locks the vertical axis and allows zooming in/out only the horizontal axis. Moving up or down locks the horizontal axis and allows zooming in/out only the vertical axis.

Drag with the middle mouse button or Hold Shift + Mouse Left button + mouse move to pan.

Controlling the Bezier Points

Color grading theme (default)

Compositing theme

This correction allows you to remap the image colors based on an IRIDAS .cube LUT (Look-Up Table) file.

Work in linear – The image is considered in linear color space.

Work in log – The image is converted to a logarithmic color space before applying the look-up table. Then it is converted back to linear color space.

Work in sRGB – The image is converted to a sRGB space before applying the look-up table. Then it is converted back to linear color space.

Save in Image – Saves/bakes the LUT effect along with the image. This does not affect multi-channel images (such as multi-channel .exr).

This correction allows you to control different types of mapping curves, make gamma correction and select a color space. Note that color values are mapped per channel.

Tone mapping space – Specifies the color space where the operator is applied. Converts the image to the selected space and back, if needed. You can choose between Linear sRGB and ACEScg. For more information about ACEScg, visit the ACEScg Workflow Setup page.

Type – Specifies the type of curves used for the tone mapping. You can choose between Linear, Hejl-Dawson, AMPAS (ACEScg), Hable, and Power Curve.

Log space – Converts the image to log space before applying the tone mapping.

Gamma – Specifies the gamma correction. It is applied before the operator.

Use blue fix – Applies an additional transformation to ACEScg primitives that results in pure blues burning out through cyan instead of magenta. Available when Tone mapping is ACEScg.

AMPAS (ACEScg)

AMPAS mode applies an approximate ACES standard curve.

Hejl-Dawson Type

Shadows – Shadow compression. Higher values darken the shadows, while also brightening the mid tones.

Highlights – Highlight compression. Higher values reduce burnout.

Hable Type

Shoulder strength – Determines how sharp the shoulder is. Higher values sharpen the shoulder, which results in an overall brighter image.

Linear strength – Determines the strength of the effect from changing Linear angle.

Linear angle – Determines the angle of the curve at the base. Higher values increase the angle.

Toe strength – Low to mid tone compression. Higher values darken the low and mid tones.

White point – The intensity, which gets mapped to 1. This parameter scales the whole curve evenly.

Power Curve Type

Toe length – Determines the range of low to mid tones that are compressed.

Toe strength – Low to mid tone compression. Higher values darken the low and mid tones.

Contrast – Higher values increase the contrast between low and high tones.

Shoulder length – Determines the range of mid to high tones that are compressed.

Shoulder strength – Mid to high tone compression. Higher values darken the mid and high tones.

White point – The intensity, which gets mapped to 1. This parameter scales the whole curve evenly.

This layer adds a vignetting effect to the image. Its settings can be controlled through the layer's parameters or directly from the overlay handles visible in the VFB.

Preview as mask – Shows a preview of the mask applied for the vignette effect.

Size – Determines how much of the image's edge is affected by the vignette effect.

Feather – Controls the sharpness of the vignette's edge. Lower values create a sharper transition, while higher values produce a softer, more gradual effect.

Inverted – Inverts the Vignette effect.

Smoothness – Controls the smoothness of the Feather effect.

Aspect ratio – Provides manual control over the aspect ratio when the Match image aspect is disabled.

Match image aspect – Corresponds to the currently loaded image aspect ratio. This option is enabled by default.

Horizontal center offset – Offsets the vignette effect horizontally.

Vertical center offset – Offsets the vignette effect vertically.

Color – Changes the color of the vignette effect.

Show handles – Controls the preview of the UI handles.

Always – Always displays the handles.
Auto – Display the handles only on image hover.
Never – Never displays the handles.