Understanding View and Render Layers in Blender

Understanding View and Render Layers in Blender
Beware! I call Holdout "Hideout" a too many times during this tutorial 😅 I'm sorry
Background Music
Miscél - String Along chll.to/019663b6

[@everydaydigital]

You really didn't *hold out* on this one :) Really well explained cheers

[@terr20114]

Thanks! I appreciate that. I feel like I did something good here 😁

[@jeremyleonbarlow]

The holdout comes in handy when you have a layer that is sandwiched in between another layer. For example you have a dust layer with dust in front of and behind a moving object for example. Say you have a helicopter kicking up dust when it lands. You have some dust in front of the helicopter you want to see, and some behind the helicopter you want to obscure, but that dust layer is alpha over the helicopter.

[@mvo9856]

So hold out turned out to be exactly what I needed, for anyone curious when it's useful: I am using geometry nodes to add a bunch of lines all over my object, then I am using the "Line Art" grease pencil modifier to turn those lines into grease pencil strokes. Covers my object in cool little hatch marks like it was sketched. The problem is, some of the lines go off the "edges" of my object making it look fuzzy. So I gave my object it's own collection set to "Hold Out" on a layer that doesn't render my Grease Pencil strokes. Now I just Z-Combine that layer on top and all the fuzz gets covered up.

[@aytacg26]

After watching 3 or 4 tutors about Render Layers, I have to say that this the best one

[@terr20114]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the response.

[@kevinhouse7143]

Playing it at .75 speed, you sound drunk but it's easier to follow. ;-) Thanks.

[@univisiumpictures8473]

Use Holdout if you're not gonna use the layer to bounce light, it just makes everything transparent on the layer so faster render times less calculations. Indirect sets everything as transparent and also bounces the light of everything that you set to the indirect layer.

[@terr20114]

You know I never thought about that. That should save some valuable render time on bigger projects. Thank you.

[@ishanghosh5923]

@@terr20114 I am making a really big scene with foreground and background put into two different collections. I want the lights and shadows to interact with the background but want to render them on two separate layers. Should I use indirect or holdout. I got confused. Also, I have a big 'glass+glossy+transparent' shader used for a "window" from where I can see the background. Will it be any problem If I render using indirect/holdout? Thanks!

[@sebbosebbo9794]

hope he creat a tut about this topic...He is to fast for me,the light think tip your tip I didnt grasp... english is not my nativ.. sry...but really thx for the help ..p.s. the hold out option now make much more sens, I have a glimps why is so important for alot of user.. for simple compositing color object change without mask id stuff but with intact light&color interacting .. your tip Sets all to transparent is this uswfull to have a id color mask layer...hmm🤔

[@DellAnderson]

Best Layers tutorial I have watched so far today! I like how you contrast intuition with actual - for example, I also wondered why the alpha over node bottom image was actually on top, or why collections are the only useful way to use layers. I mean, couldn't an object be in a layer all by itself? Why force user to create collections for a single object? But kudos for clarity and brevity. Often missing from other tutorials. You are a very good instructor. Thanks!

[@terr20114]

I'm glad you liked the video! 😁 I agree. The way it all works is kinda weird but blender is always growing and evolving so who knows. A better implementation might come in the future. Really glad I was able to help, Thanks, Dell!

[@allcaps3584]

The lighting trick at the end was really cool!

[@ShadedVertex]

On Blender 3.4, I couldn't find the same options by right-clicking on my collections. To do the same thing, you'll have to open the filter tab on the top/right of the Outliner, and enable the last 2 Restriction Toggles (Holdout and Indirect Only) to see the options on the side of each collections.

[@kjetilmyhren358]

Thanks for a nice and straight to the point explanation of this Terrence!

[@jacobjfrey]

i'm stilll learning but i just noticed that if you rrender backgrounds that have a transparent object on top of it like a glass with Indirect, it will create a harsh dark shadow underneath it. With Hideout you can successfully cut that glass out and then composite them back together without those dark shadows underneath it.

[@terr20114]

I noticed this too. I started using holdout to avoid some compositing error.

[@danmusiceasy]

I understood it for the most part, though it's still very high paced. It wasn't clear at the end, how to make it all come together and render it, especially if you have an animation. But I figured it out eventually. Question: any idea why, when I have a view layer with a landscape object and a background image, Blender renders the landscape object as a separate image and the combined image or the landscpae plus background image separately? They are both in a single collection on a single view layer.

[@liambuffat3731]

Thanks, one simple thing solved my mornings wasted effort.

[@terr20114]

You're welcome. Glad I was able to help.

[@evgenyprodaction]

Great job man I'm russian so... I'm not so good in english, but U know I like that kind of short but still informative tutorials like yours. I like ur fusion + blender tutorials it's realy interesting

[@terr20114]

Thanks a lot! I happy to hear that you enjoy the tutorials. I know I've been missing for a while but it was just a lot of work related December crunching stuff. I'm back now and I plan to put out a tutorial today. Your English doesn't seem bad at all 😁 I understand you perfectly, keep it up!

[@pinilandok]

prime example of blender feeling like driving a manual car

[@matiasguisado3714]

Great stuff. Thanks! Do have one question: how would you output it? Meaning: in your example how would you render and end up with 2 pngs (or 1 exr) saved into your hd?

[@WolfMediaProductions]

Wondering that too rn, I think output nodes can be set to save to different folders

[@Pixel.Dystopia]

Actually pretty easy, you just go in the compositor and connect the different layers to different "output" nodes and specify in each output node where you want to save the file.

[@jwills8822]

You did something good here! Thank you.

[@oguve278]

Thanks so much, this was exactly what I was looking for :)

[@vhaekayfilms]

Your really good at what you do, but you move so fast. For people who are trying to learn, it's too much to keep up.

[@terr20114]

Sorry, These days I speak a whole lot slower. Back then I was on some super speed stuff. Dunno what I was up to.

[@Leukick]

Great video, covered it all. Even as a more advanced user this tutorial is still too fast to process what you said lol, so I'll have to pause after each time you say something and think about it, then proceed to the next thing lmao

[@terr20114]

lol Sorry I was so fast. I'm trying to slow down in my new videos. I appreciate the feedback

[@orbinary_works]

wooahh, awesome video and great explanation

[@terr20114]

Thanks, I appreciate the comment

[@sadksirin4144]

great one !

[@NealjanYT]

amazing video thank you so much

[@blacklotus432]

you my guy are a genius

[@rhashadcarter2051]

maybe it’s because i’m using the neeest version of blender but that set holdout method doesn’t do anything

[@terr20114]

Hi there, I plan to update this video. it still holds valuable information but it's a little bit outdated with some recent changes to Blender.

[@jedioutcastfanremastervr6700]

You are the best ;)

[@villanosamtonostone]

Thank you soo much!!!

[@atique2545]

Excellent explanation

[@basiccomponents]

Thank you this was really useful !

[@TheMULTIcanal]

Thanks a lot! :)

[@terr20114]

You’re welcome

[@filmowaniezprofitem]

very helpfull. i will use holdout to render only fire for vfx ;)

[@TygerTwo]

Awesome tutorial. I have one problem: In newer versions of blender (3.4), the option for "indirect only" seems to have disappeared. Any idea where it's gone? Or how to achieve the effect now?

[@TygerTwo]

Never mind I think it's because I was using Eevee. I switched to Cycles and it's there now.

[@ShadedVertex]

It doesn't seem to be an option available with LuxCore either. It really sucks :/ *Edit* : Nevermind. If you open the filter tab on the top/right of the Outliner, enable the last 2 Restriction Toggles (Holdout and Indirect Only) to see the options on the side of each collections.

[@arthurdsjrjbr]

when I create a new View Layer and assign it to the "Render Layers" Node a message in the viewport says "Node setup not fully supported" even if I didn't connect any nodes and go straight from the Render Layers node into the Composite Node and It won't render anything at all, If I change to the old view layer it renders tho but not for any new ones, if I delete the old layer it starts rendering the new one instead, Know what could be?

[@_CDDVD_]

so hard to understang can somebody recommend more clear tut? to render separate objects?

[@npcrookeface]

Ah thank you so much! This clears up alot

[@terr20114]

You're welcome

[@afrodailytv4335]

if i do animation, and i put one object in holdout.the interaction btn two objects will continue to exist ?

[@jarredcannon]

Thank -GOD- for this video

[@terr20114]

I’ll let God know you said thanks 😄

[@KelseyNecowitz]

Is there a window that allows you to see what is in each view layer or does everything need to be in the same collection including lights? Can you material override or override different attributes?

[@Cpl.Cadaver]

You go way to fast and you don't allow for a good follow along.

[@rhashadcarter2051]

this doesn’t explain how you made them visible in each render. how does it become a layer in the first place

[@alejomiranda95]

does this technique improve ram and vram management? this is my main problem with blender currently

[@terr20114]

I haven't tested that to be honest. I can run some test and let you know how it goes for me. I never really had a ram issue with blender before so I never looked into that.

[@gopaladas]

Super great tutorial!!! Can you please explain how all these different render layers you create are then used in compositing? like you did in your other tutorial.

[@terr20114]

I'm a bit late here but you can connect the render layer to a file output node and output each render layer as a separate file (jpg, png, exr etc.). Edit: Lemme know if you have any other questions.

[@bebelbegein9175]

excellent ! thank you verry much.

[@Sussybakaongong]

I cant add nodes to the composite tab. It literally just says "Brokeh Image" and yes, the h is in place of the n

[@Losjo4093]

my background casts light,how do i make the light show on the object?

[@DageLV]

mate, pick a line. First you say disable in layers, then you say holdout, then you say nah indirrect is actually the best. Like mate, pick a lane, which do i use? im running out of vram and id appriciate if you picked a line and sticked to it. What about volumetrics? What about the enviroment hdri?

[@Chillspotmedia]

I like your accent sounds Jamaican.

[@terr20114]

Thank you. You're 100% correct. I am.

[@geoffreyhoffman2739]

I feel like an idiot but I've tried 15 different ways and cannot get shadows from objects on my object layer to cast onto the background layer. I've tried every combination of indirect but seems like it's not working in Mac v3.4.1

[@geoffreyhoffman2739]

The reason is I switched to Evee! D'oh!

[@Losjo4093]

the Background is space in my render but if i put it on transparent then it doesnt show ofcourse, is there a way to still make it show even if it is transparent? edit:i found out how, make a giant sphere and make in for the background layer then make the sky transparent

[@renderuthis]

jumping from 2.69 to 2.9, I say, all that the developers did was to put clutter on my screen and hide the important stuff. I can't find the name of my object but the tools I use shortcuts for are everywhere! And the old icons looked better, they were cooler and represented their function better. Why can they not just fix the performance, ad tools,...whatever, just stop changing the interface. Now I have to relearn all these icons. The old camera was better looking and the 2 chain links for constraints looked better they all looked better.

[@terr20114]

I understand. Many of the pre 2.8 Blender users like the old interface a lot more. For most it worked very well (and very fast) with the shortcuts and all. It looked a bit odd though. Almost like Softimage XSI. It turned away many would be new blender users. It almost turned me away when I first started. I was coming from Maya (maybe a year of training). I did eventually go back to Maya but when I learned about 2.8 I had to come back. I think it's more inviting now, so other 3D application users are more likely to give it a shot without being overwhelmed by all the shortcuts, right click selecting and the weird wat the camera operated compared to other 3d applications.

[@HarryMcKenzieTV]

volume is waaaay too low

[@seantayengwa4803]

Can this method work with a moving camera render ?

[@renderuthis]

I never saw a reason to keep outliner open I could do what I needed from 3d view now I can not.

[@alexeyb8237]

less giggle and memes would play better imao. still thanks for the vid.

[@gamerforever1750]

The new video were fast, osm btw

[@terr20114]

Thanks bro. Do you think it was too fast to follow?

[@gamerforever1750]

@@terr20114 no, very fair

[@terr20114]

@@gamerforever1750 I'm trying to hit a good pace. A balance, where the tutorials aren't too long and get boring and aren't too short and hard to follow.

[@gamerforever1750]

@@terr20114 this is already good

[@gamerforever1750]

@@terr20114 i meant it came fast not the tut were fast

[@AMF83]

How does someone learn how to use these programs?

[@terr20114]

I use to ask the same thing but just continue to learn the bits and pieces. You’ll find that it all falls into place in time. You will find yourself going back to tutorial over and over again and might even wonder if you’re learning anything but just stick it out. Eventually you’ll put it all together. It’s a never ending process too. Even the best of the best faces challenges and learns to solve them. Keep pushing.

[@marcusanimation100]

That's an odd comment to make on a tutorial video...

[@PiterTraceurFA]

damn could you possibly go any faster at 4:50

[@xDaShaanx]

Thanks. Subbed you. :)

[@terr20114]

Glad I could help. Thanks for the sub

[@ArthurChauvin]

Still way too fast but very useful thanks haha

[@terr20114]

😅 True! I have slowed down in future tutorials,

[@bruhwhat7863]

this tutorial couldve been only over a minute long if you just showed us what to do and didnt include what not to do. thanks anyway appreciate it

[@ATAVMJPRO]

The first thing is that you have to SLOW DOWN, it's bad enough that there are many details but then to lump them altogether in a flurry of speeding scenes is most annoying and painful. Say blah, blah, blah, a couple of hundred times - AS FAST as you can and then ask - GOT IT? That's what these type videos are like.

[@inoyashakitbu1178]

Still to fast not easy to follow what you really doing

[@terr20114]

Sorry I use to talk so fast in these. Plus I had a crappy mic 😅

[@macronchampion]

The guy speak as fast as the rtx 3080

[@terr20114]

Fun fact. Talking this fast makes my renders faster too 😄

[@BenoitBarbagli]

very insteresting, little bit to fast for a french guy

[@terr20114]

Lol, sorry. I have gotten similar comments so I've slowed things down a bit. My latest video should attest to that.