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This page provides information on V-Ray render elements (rendervars) in Solaris.

Overview

V-Ray render elements are added in Solaris through a Render Var LOP. Each render element requires a unique LOP and specific Source Name that determines the type of V-Ray render element used.

Once a render element is added, its parameters appear under a designated rollout in the V-Ray tab of the Render Var LOP. The parameters are similar to those of the various V-Ray render element nodes in the out network.

Specific render elements such as the Beauty pass have a designated V-Ray LOP – V-Ray Standard Render Vars LOP. For more information, see the V-Ray Standard Render Vars page.

Workflow

Create a Render Var LOP by right-clicking > Rendering > Render Var, and then navigate to its Standard tab.
Type the name of the render element in the Source Name. Note that you need to use a special naming convention. To find the proper name of each V-Ray render element, see the table below.
Keep the Source Type as Raw. This determines how the renderer interprets the source name.
Set the Data Type and Format to color4f.
The Data Type defines what type of data is necessary for the V-Ray render element and determines the channel names in the output image.
The Format defines the format of the data when saving the image.
The V-Ray render element parameters appear in the LOP’s V-Ray tab. There you can enable Deep Output, Filtering, or other settings that are available for the render element.
By default, the parameters are set to do nothing and you need to override them in order to use them with the corresponding render element. See the Creating and Setting Attributes section below.
All existing Render Var LOPs are collected with a Render Product LOP before output. Create a Render Product LOP with a right-click > Rendering > Render Product.
In the Ordered Render Vars, set the path to the Render Var that will be used in the final rendering. If there are multiple Render Vars and you want to include them all, use a * wildcard.
The Render Product LOP is then used in combination with the Render Settings LOP for the final render.

V-Ray for Houdini > Render Elements in Solaris > Hou20_VRay6.2_RenderElements_Workflow.png

Click the image to enlarge it.

Creating and Setting Attributes

The parameters that correspond to a USD attribute have a pop-up menu that controls how the LOP node authors the attribute.

Set or Create – Sets the attribute to a given value, regardless of whether the attribute previously existed or not.

Set if Exists – Sets an attribute to the given value only if it previously existed. Use this option to make sure the attribute is set on primitives of the correct type.

Block – Makes the attribute appear to not exist so it takes on its default value.

Do Nothing – Does not affect the attribute, i.e. does not create or change the attribute in any way.

V-Ray for Houdini > Render Elements in Solaris > Hou20_VRay6.2_RenderElement_Attributes.png

Naming

Render Element	Source Name
V-Ray Albedo Render Element	albedo
V-Ray Alpha Render Element	alpha
V-Ray Atmosphere Render Element	atmosphere
V-Ray Background Render Element	background
V-Ray Bump Normals Render Element	sampler:bumpNormal
V-Ray Caustics Render Element	caustics
V-Ray Coat Render Element	coat
V-Ray Coat Glossiness Render Element	coatGlossiness
V-Ray Coat Reflection Render Element	coatReflection
V-Ray DR Bucket Render Element	drBucket
V-Ray Defocus Amount Render Element	defocusAmount
V-Ray Denoiser Render Element	denoiser
V-Ray Diffue Render Element	diffuse
V-Ray Diffuse Filter Render Element	diffuseFilter
V-Ray Direct Light Render Element	directLighting
V-Ray GI Render Element	gi
V-Ray Material ID Render Element	materialID
V-Ray Matte Shadow Render Element	matteShadow
V-Ray Metalness Render Element	metalness
V-Ray Multi Matte Render Element	multiMatte
V-Ray Noise Level Render Element	noiseLevel
V-Ray Normals Render Element	sampler:normal
V-Ray Object ID Render Element	nodeID
V-Ray Object Slect Render Element	objectSelect
V-Ray Raw Diffuse Filter Render Element	rawDiffuseFilter
V-Ray Raw Direct Light Render Element	rawDirectLighting
V-Ray Raw GI Render Element	rawGI
V-Ray Raw Reflection Render Element	rawReflection
V-Ray Raw Reflection Filter Render Element	rawReflectionFilter
V-Ray Raw Refraction Render Element	rawRefraction
V-Ray Raw Refraction Filter Render Element	rawRefractionFilter
V-Ray Raw Shadow Render Element	rawShadow
V-Ray Raw Total Light Render Element	rawTotalLighting
V-Ray Refflection Render Element	reflection
V-Ray Reflection Filter Render Element	reflectionFilter
V-Ray Reflection Glossiness Render Element	reflectionGlossiness
V-Ray Reflection IOR Render Element	reflectionIOR
V-Ray Refraction Render Element	refraction
V-Ray Refraction Filter Render Element	refractionFilter
V-Ray Refraction Glossiness Render Element	refractionGlossiness
V-Ray Render ID Render Element	renderID
V-Ray SSS Render Element	sss
V-Ray Sample Rate Render Element	sampleRate
V-Ray Self Illumination Render Element	selfIllumination
V-Ray Shadow Render Element	shadow
V-Ray Sheen Render Element	sheen
V-Ray Sheen Glossiness Render Element	sheenGlossiness
V-Ray Sheen Reflection Render Element	sheenReflection
V-Ray Specular Render Element	specular
V-Ray Toon Render Element	toon
V-Ray Total Lighting Render Element	totalLighting
V-Ray Unclamped Color Render Element	unclampedColor
V-Ray Velocity Render Element	velocity
V-Ray World Normals Render Element	worldNormal
V-Ray World Positions Render Element	worldPositions
V-Ray ZDepth Render Element	zDepth

Next:

V-Ray Standard Render Vars