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The Z-Depth Render Element provides information about each object's distance from the camera in the current view. Each pixel representing the object is evaluated for distance individually; different pixels for the same object can have different grayscale values. In this render element, objects (or portions of objects) closest to the camera appear as black, while those furthest away appear white. Objects between the furthest and nearest points are rendered in varying shades of gray. The darker the gray, the closer an object pixel is to the camera.

The most common usage of the Z-Depth Render Element is as a control for depth of field in the composite. Depth of field can be challenging to do correctly within Maya, requiring many tweaks and re-renders; using the Z-Depth Render Element in a composite is usually much faster, and allows easier and faster adjustment than trying to get it exactly right within the render from Maya.

Enabled – When checked, the Z-Depth pass appears in the V-Ray Frame Buffer.

Deep Output – Specifies whether to include this render element in deep images.

Use Depth From The Camera – – Specifies whether to use to the camera clip boundaries as the minimum and maximum Z-Depth distance. Enabling this option disables the Depth Black and Depth White parameters.

Depth Black – Objects up to this distance from the camera render as black. This option is available only when Use Depth From The Camera is disabled.

Depth White – Objects further than this distance from the camera render as white. This option is available only when Use Depth From The Camera is disabled.

Depth Clamp – Clamps the Z-Depth colors to a linear 0-1 range.

Filename Suffix – The text added to the end of the rendered file, when saved as a separate file (e.g. myrender.zDepth.vrimg).

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.

Don't Filter Environment – When enabled, only outlines of overlaying objects are filtered. When Filtering is enabled and Don't Filter Environment is enabled, pixels bordering scene objects and the environment remain unfiltered, while pixels bordering different objects are still filtered.

Force Black At Infinity - When enabled, overrides the infinity color, turning it black. Everything beyond the Depth White amount (if not using Depth From The Camera) is the infinity color.