Blender OpenEXR multilayer showing black in After Effects CC 17

[lrman]

Hello,

I just recently downloaded the ProEXR add-on for After Effects CC 17. When I import my EXR sequence (rendered in blender) into After Effects and use ProExr to set up a comp. The sequence is blank (everything black), but the combined pass looks perfect. The only problem with the combined layer is that I cannot edit the layers independent of each other. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to fix this so I can use ProEXR properly. I have looked for hours online and tried everything that people have said but nothing works.

Thanks!

[Mylenium]

Show us screenshots of the passes contained in the file as they are arranged in the timeline. Seems to me something is off with the channel assignments in the actual extraction effect. Did you change the naming of your passes?

Mylenium

[lrman]

The comp "Exp[0000-0030] assemble" after I have told after effects to create a comp using ProEXR.

When only the combined layer is visible.

When you say change the naming what do you mean? I haven't changed any file names or layer names. Is that something you need to do?

Thanks!

[Mylenium]

I'm not clear what you are hoping for. Your layers have no blending modes set, so naturally the topmost layer will simply obscure everything. this isn't even an error. You seem to not understand how multipass rendering and compositing works. You know, passes are combined using blending modes like Add, Multiply and so on, because individual passes have no separate Alpha.

Mylenium

[lrman]

Yes I understand that, and I do understand compositing I was just showing you what it looks like right after I have created the comp useing ProEXR. I was hoping for someone to let me know the order they need to be in and which layers need to be multiply and which need to be add. I will send another screenshot later today of what I have set it up as in the past but the way I have set it up in the past always makes it look like there is no color, no alpha, and the smoke simulation I have made ends up looking like all black (smoke is black and the shadow catcher plane under I have used is white) and no alpha.

[Mylenium]

There's no specific order or default blending modes and chances are half of your layers can be eliminated, anyway, because they contain no data. Rendering a volumetric particle effect would not contain any "gloss", nor direct or indirect, and conversely you would not have otehr pases. I would also assume that this volume stuff would require to set up dedicated outputs in the Blender render/ compositing tree, but I haven't looked at any of this new stuff in recent versions. Presumably the combined RGBA is all there is, a limitation with most volumetric renderers in 3D programs. I also see no volumetric shadow pass in your stack, so you may need to set this up as well plus there isn's even the default surface shadow. All that aside, you probably will get better results by extracting all the info from the RGB pass and coloring duplicates accordingly - a bright one in Add mode heavily blurred to simulate how it illuminates the floor and other environment parts, a darkened one using Multiply with cranked up contrast to intensify the smoke effect and get fake ambient occlusion/ internal shadows. again, start by checking what data your passes actually contain and throw out the empty ones. Once it's clear what is actually available it's easier to make a decision how to proceed.

Mylenium

[lrman]

It seems like these are the only layers with any data. I have tried to arrange them but this is the best I can do, there always seems to be that black part there and the smoke doesnt have the light brown color I rendered it with. Any suggestions? Also yes I was thinking of just using the editor in blender to save all the diffrent passes seperatly but I just dont know enough about the compositor in blender yet. I will try what you said and just use the RGB with different blending modes, it's just a shame I cant use each pass separately.

[lrman]

[lrman]

This is the shadow layer, I'm not sure why it has that black rectangle there, could it be something wrong with my render in blender?

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

This is the shadow color and it's multiplied with teh environment/ background color. You need a separate shadow density/ matte pass to isolate the actual shadows and/ or exclude the background for a palin black shadow. Depending on what look you're after you may even need to construct a separate pass based on a white "clay" render.

Mylenium

[lrman]

Okay I see so basically I just haven't rendered out the right layers/ I am missing some? I will do some more research on render passes cause I haven't really done them in the past that much, still learning.