Blender 2.8 Tutorial: View Layers and Render Layers as separate images

Having the ability of a layer system in a 3D application greatly increases productivity and production workflows, but what if you also want to render out these layers as a separate image, this tutorial will cover some basic principles and a few tricks to get you started.

Renders can be separated into layers, to composite them back together afterwards.

Some example usages are applying compositing effects to characters separately, blurring the background and foreground layers separately for depth of field, or rendering different lighting variations of the same scene.

Using View Layers can also save you from having to re-render your entire image each time you change something, allowing you to instead re-render only the layer(s) that you need.

Blender Docs:

#Blender #Tutorial #Rendering

[MattBixler]

This was something I had conceptualized in my head and I KNEW Blender should be able to do it, but I had no idea where to look. This is going to be a miracle for compositing, thank you so much!

[robertgrey]

Sounded like I was being taught how to use Blender by Peregrin Took. Thanks for the tutorial. This really cleared up a rendering challenge I was having!

[yoshiYoish]

I love your accent, I find it rare to hear tutorials that uses their native accent! It actually makes me continue watching

[Dustywitch]

a damned simple explanation on something I knew was able to be done but no one else seems to be able to just put it in a concise video like this; thank you!

[zackrobat]

Very clever and creative! I like the clever and creative videos that show how to do something useful that's not obvious. Well done!

[ross_codes]

Came for the tutorial, stayed for the Glesga accent :D Great quick description mate, cheers.

[GeoffCoope]

Interesting method. Thanks for posting. Also note, If you ONLY want to mask objects (and materials) for colour correction then it would be faster to render to EXR and include Blenders Cryptomatte pass instead. Think of the cryptomatte pass as a built in alpha matte for every object or material that is created automatically for you. It does not however allow you to hide or turn off an object like the above video provides, although you can combine the two methods.

[damiexe]

Life safer. The best type of tutorials, to the point with no nonsense, thank you!

[Glasichor]

Thank you for making this so clear and concise!

[IrocZIV]

Good primer to view layers. Didn't know about being able to output each layer to its own file, this will save me a ton of time.

Alternatively, if you are rendering on different layers, to compensate for lower Vram, you can use AlphaOver nodes to combine the layers within Blender (you will need to enable Transparent, under Film in the Render tab)

[renderpeach]

10/10 tutorial! Clearly spoken too. Cheers! It's nice to render my grass simulation and clouds as separate layers, it's almost vital for post-production later and colour grading.

[YoIomaster]

WOW, after searching the entire web i finally find a guy who actually explains it plain and Thanks a WHOLE lot! I am new to blender and the main problem that slows my learning curve drastically down is that the interface and nodes and everything else gets changes so extremely that its not possible to simply follow 70% of the tutorials... I have a scene with a bezier which i bevels and i am trying to create a lightning, but the edges are too sharp so i want to blur the lightning just by 2 pixels but i cannot find a way. Now this might work... One question though, will i see the blur in my 3d preview?

Liked and subscribed!

[RicoHolmes]

Hey, thanks for making me look like a dummy right up until now! (why was THAT so hard for me to grasp ?). Life saver ! Cheers Steven

[TheBratscin]

Thank you so much for this tutorial extremely game changing!

[Myzelfa]

Render layers is something I need to learn, but it's such a headache to try to understand. Thanks for the video.

[AnouarBrissel]

As always! amazing tutos!! Clear and proooo
Thanks dude!!

[AfesoFranklyn]

I had no idea you could add more sockets to the file output node. I usually just duplicate the node

[MaxHancockCo]

This is close to what I need, but the individual renders don't include the effects of the full scene, such as reflections and shadows.

[darthnegativehunter]

a lot of few extra steps. you got me there

[matbrady]

Nice vid. I've subscribed because you showed me a work flow, which is more valuable than a simple how-to. Work flow vids are the way of the future. Thanks again!