Hello.
I’ve built a project so that each scene is on a different layer in the same .mb file. In this way I can switch off the scenes I don’t want when I render. However, I’m wondering if this imposes extra processing loads at render time. The layers might not be visible, but do they have an effect on the processing time?
Is there a better way of doing this? Thanks for any help!
Sarah.
Render layers are basically just a list of edits to the master layer, so there is little overhead when you do not actually use them. However the more renderlayers you have the more unstable your maya scene gets particularly if you use referencing. If you are careful and save versions often then this is a great way to keep everything in one place.
Thanks Willanie, but I’m not talking about render layers here. These are ordinary layers containing different sets (as in the movie usage) which I make visible and invisible as I need them. I then render from just that layer. I’m not talking about using render layers for multipass rendering. This enables me to have just one .MB file for multiple scenes.
No, they don’t add anything extra. Generally, ways of “making things invisible” can be broken down into two categories:
-Adding a transparent shader to the object, so it is still rendered, but the result of the shader is that you can’t see it at all. Slower (often more so than a solid object!), but allows partial or animated transparency.
-Not exporting the object to the renderer at all, or at least removing it from certain calculations (ex, shadows). Obviously, NOT performing calculations for an object is faster than performing those calculations.
Hiding layers (and the “hide” command) are the latter type.