11
$\begingroup$

I made an animation with an environment texture in the background and I would like to have one render layer with only the background image and another render layer with all the objects on a transparent background.

I tried to uncheck the "Use Environment" on the objects render layer, but this rendered the objects on a black background (not transparent). On the other side if I set the film to transparent in the render settings, then the objects are on a transparent background (as I want), but the background layer is empty.

I use Cycles for rendering.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ This is usually achieved by enabling "Transparency" in Film panel (to get the foreground) as you did and "Environment" in Passes panel (to store the background). See related questions: Sky-only pass with the foreground knocked out? and How can I combine two render layers? $\endgroup$
    – Carlo
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 1:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Carlo Thank you, it works! (I didn't notice that there is another environment option in the passes) $\endgroup$
    – WannaKnow
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 1:47
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Good! "Use Environment" is an option that merely control the influence of the background on the scene (reflections, lighting...). $\endgroup$
    – Carlo
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 1:52

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
21
$\begingroup$

Enable Transparent on the Film section and enable environment on your render passes. The background environment will be avalible by connecting the environment socket.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you! (Carlo was faster, but he only commented, so I will accept this...) $\endgroup$
    – WannaKnow
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 1:53
1
$\begingroup$

One thing to keep in mind: if you render the Environment pass on the same layer as your foreground object, the shadow catcher plane will cut a hole in the Environment pass. This is bad if you want to then composite your foreground over the Environment as a background, as the area covered by the shadow catcher will be missing!

Same Layer Env Pass

In this scenario, instead render the Env pass on a 2nd render layer and composite as shown above by Cegaton:

Blender shadow catcher - render background separate

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .