A Render Var is an arbitrary output computed by the renderer. When rendering with Arnold, the primary use is to define AOVs for the viewport or rendering to file. A Render Var can be set up by creating a Render Var LOP at the stage level (TAB -> Rendering -> Render Var).
Common Parameters
These properties are shared across all renderers.
Data Type
Sets the Data Type of the AOV. Arnold matches the native USD when possible and falls back to RGB AOVs otherwise.
Source Name
The source of the AOV. Its interpretation depends on the Source Type of the Render Var for a detailed explanation, see below.
Source Type
The type of source. Currently, Raw, Primvar, and LPE are supported.
- In the case of Raw Render Vars, the Source Name value is interpreted as the Arnold AOV name, either a built-in AOV (like P or diffuse_direct) or a user-defined one.
- In the case of Primvar Render Vars, Arnold writes the primvar named Source Name present on Primitives to the AOV, and black if the primvar is not available.
- In the case of LPE Render Vars, Arnold uses Source Name as a light path expression. More information about using light path expressions in Arnold can be found here.
Name
The name under which the AOV gets stored. For example, when rendering to a file, this equals to the layer name in an EXR file. This also makes it possible to render the same AOV, with different filtering settings, to different layers.
Format
Overwrites the Data Type when rendering to file.
Multi Sampled
This parameter has no effect when using Arnold. Every buffer is multi-sampled, using the anti-aliasing settings from the Render Settings LOP.
Clear Value
This parameter has no effect when using Arnold.
A ticket for supporting this in the Render Delegate can be found here.
These properties can be found under the Arnold tab on a Render Var, and their primary use is to set up a filter for the AOV.
Filter
Sets the type of the Arnold filter used for the AOV. When Filter changes, attributes will be dynamically added and removed, as required for each Arnold filter. Setting these dynamic attributes will set the equivalent attribute on the Arnold filter.