This page gives information about the Sampler Info Render Element.
Overview
The Sampler Info Render Element is a color image that provides information about the scene, with the choice to show any of various aspects as color blocks. This render element provides information about various aspects of the shaded points such as position, normal, bump normal, reflection/refraction vectors and UVW coordinates, which previously were only available through the Extra Texture Render Element. This render element can be used either for world position passes or normal passes. It extracts particular information about the scene, converting the gathered information into RGB data for use in compositing.
Attributes
The parameters for this render element appear in the Attribute Editor under Extra V-Ray Attributes.
Enabled – The render element is generated.
Deep output – Specifies whether to include this render element in deep images.
Filename suffix – The text added to the end of the rendered file, when saved as a separate file (e.g. myrender.samplerInfo.vrimg).
Type – Controls the type of render element produced by vrayRE_Sampler_Info:
Point – The X, Y, and Z coordinates of the point are converted to RGB data according to the Coordinate system that is set. This outputs a Position Pass for use in compositing.
Normal vector – The direction of the normal at the particular shaded point according to which Coordinate system is set (Object, World, Camera or Relative space)
Reflection vector – Commonly used for adjusting reflections in the composite.
Refraction vector – Commonly used for adjusting refractions in the composite.
UVW coordinates – Extracts the UVW coordinates of the object at the particular shaded point. This can be used to apply another texture at a composite level.
Normal vector with bump mapping – Produces the bump normal according to the Coordinate system that is set.
Backward occlusion – The red and green components of this render element represent the screen position of the shaded point at the beginning of the motion-blurred frame, while the blue component represents camera occlusion at the beginning of the motion-blurred frame. Together with the Forward occlusion render element, this can be used for denoising and/or post-process motion blur.
Forward occlusion – The red and green components of this render element represent the screen position of the shaded point at the end of the motion-blurred frame, while the blue component represents camera occlusion at the end of the motion-blurred frame. Together with the Backward occlusion render element, this can be used for denoising and/or post-process motion blur.
Integer ID from node user attribute – Extracts any integer node user property into an integer render element. Can be used as an extended Object ID.
Float number from node user attribute – Extracts any floating-point node user property into a single-channel floating-point render element. Can be used to extract additional masks.
Face index in mesh – Correlates points between separate bakings of the same mesh.
Barycentric coordinates from face – Displays the Barycentric coordinates of the rendered objects.
Tangent vector in object space – Displays tangent vector according to the Object space.
Bitangent vector in object space – Displays bitangent vector according to the Object space
Point multiplier – Acts as a multiplier when Type is set to Point.
Refraction IOR – Sets the index of refraction when Refraction vector is set as the Type.
UVW Channel – The UVW mapping channel used when the Type is set to UVW coordinates, if no UVW Channel Name is specified.
UVW Channel Name – The default UVW mapping channel used when the Type is set to UVW coordinates. Specifies the UVW Channel to render by the name of the UV set.
UVW Mode – Specifies what happens to UVW values outside the 0.0-1.0 range of the unit texture square:
Normal – Stores the UVW coordinates without modification.
Clamp – UVW coordinates above 1.0 are clamped to 1.0, and values below 0.0 are clamped to 0.0.
Tile – Wraps the UVW coordinates to the unit texture square.
Coordinate system – Controls the coordinate system used:
World – X, Y, and Z coordinates (in world space) of the point are converted to RGB data.
Object – X, Y, and Z coordinates (in object space) of the point are converted to RGB data.
Camera – X, Y, and Z coordinates (in camera space) of the point are converted to RGB data.
Relative – X, Y, and Z coordinates in the object space of the Relative node are converted to RGB data.
Relative node – When Coordinate system is set to Relative, this specifies the scene node relative to which the point/vector data is stored.
Output – Controls the way data is stored in the render element when the Type is a Normal vector, or a Reflection/Refraction direction:
Vector (signed) – Values are stored directly without modification, including negative components.
Color (unsigned) – Values are scaled down by 0.5 and offset by 0.5 so that (0, 0, 0) maps to (0.5, 0.5, 0.5), (-1, -1, -1) maps to (0, 0, 0) and (1,1,1) maps to (1,1,1). This avoids negative values which might be necessary for some compositing packages.
User attribute – Determines which user attribute to connect to when Integer ID from node user attribute or Float number from node user attribute is selected as Type.
Occlusion Bias – Controls the positional bias of the Backward occlusion and Forward occlusion types in order to prevent incorrect self-occlusion.
Filtering – Applies the image filter to this channel. Image filter settings are in the Image Sampler rollout in the VRay tab of the Render Settings.
Denoise – Enables the render element's denoising, provided the Denoiser render element is present.
The Denoise option is not available if the Type is set to Integer ID from node user attribute or Float number from node user attribute.
Render Samples
The following images are examples of passes generated by the vrayRE_Sampler_Info.
World Space
These renders use the World space coordinate system.
Point Type
Normal vector Type
Reflection vector Type
Refraction vector Type
UVW coordinates Type
Normal vector with bump mapping Type
Object Space
These renders use the Object space coordinate system.
Point Type
Normal vector Type
Reflection vector Type
Refraction vector Type
Camera Space
These renders use the Camera space coordinate system.
Point Type
Reflection vector Type
Refraction vector Type
Relative Space
These renders use the Relative space coordinate system.
Point Type
Reflection vector Type
Refraction vector Type
Supported UVW Coordinate Types
The table below provides some details on the supported UVW coordinate types within the Sampler Info Render Element. Pass types such as Normal vector, Normal vector with bump mapping, World coordinates, and Point can be used to relight a scene at a composite stage. While UVW coordinates and Object coordinates can be used to re-texture items in a scene while compositing. The Reflection vector type can be used to adjust or remap reflections, similarly the Refraction vector can do the same in a composite for refractions. Some types such as the Forward occlusion and Backwards occlusion can be used together for denoising and/or post-process motion blur. The Integer ID from node user attribute can be used as an extended Object ID.
Pass Type | Coord. System | UVW Mode | Output | V-Ray CPU | V-Ray GPU |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Point | World | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Point | Object | ✓ | – | ||
Point | Camera | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Point | Relative | ✓ | – | ||
Normal vector | World | Vector (signed) | ✓ | ✓ | |
Normal vector | World | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector | Object | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector | Object | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector | Camera | Vector (signed) | ✓ | ✓ | |
Normal vector | Camera | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector | Relative | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector | Relative | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | World | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | World | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Object | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Object | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Camera | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Camera | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Relative | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Reflection vector | Relative | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | World | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | World | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Object | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Object | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Camera | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Camera | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Relative | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Refraction vector | Relative | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
UVW coordinates | Normal | ✓ | ✓ | ||
UVW coordinates | Clamp | ✓ | – | ||
UVW coordinates | Tile | ✓ | – | ||
Normal vector with bump mapping | World | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | World | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Object | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Object | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Camera | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Camera | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Relative | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | |
Normal vector with bump mapping | Relative | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | |
Backwards occlusion | ✓ | – | |||
Forward occlusion | ✓ | – | |||
Integer ID from node user attribute | ✓ | – | |||
Float number from node user attribute | ✓ | – | |||
Face index in mesh | Vector (signed) | ✓ | – | ||
Barycentric coordinates from face | Vector (signed) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Barycentric coordinates from face | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | ||
Tangent vector in object space | Vector (signed) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Tangent vector in object space | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – | ||
Bitangent vector in object space | Vector (signed) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Bitangent vector in object space | Color (unsigned) | ✓ | – |
Notes
- When included in a multichannel EXR, Sampler Info render element is always saved with lossless compression.