Render Layers

This section covers only the Render Layer settings appropriate for the Blender Render engine. For the engine-independent settings, see this section.

Light Override

Enter the name of a light group, and the scene will be lit with only those lights.

Examples of where this might be used:

  • Using multiple Render Layers with different light group overrides adds the possibility to tweak light intensity and color in the compositor, i.e. to avoid re-renders.
  • Speed up a draft render by using only a few lights instead of all of them.

Include Options

Each render layer has its own set of features which can be enabled/disabled for the whole layer. This could be used to save render time and gives control over the passes:

Zmask

Actives masking with the selected Mask Layers. Only render what is in front of the solid Z values.

Negate
Only render what is behind the solid Z values.
All Z
Z-values are computed for everything in view, not just those things that are rendered. When disabled, objects not included in the render have no (“infinite”) z value.
Solid
Solid faces are rendered. All normal meshes are solid faced.
Halo
Halo materials are rendered.
ZTransp
Transparency may be Z-based or Ray-traced. If Z-based, enabling Ztransp renders transparent areas with the z-value of what is behind the transparent area.
Sky
Turning on Sky renders the sky, as defined in your material world settings. Otherwise, a black alpha transparent background is rendered.
Edge
If Edge is enable in the Post Processing panel, objects in this Render Layer are given an outline edge. Turning on Edge pulls in the Edge settings from the Render tab, and adds an outline to the objects. Edges also have to be enabled on the Render tab.
Strand
Strands are strings of static particles that are colored as part of the material settings; they look like strands of hair or grass.
Freestyle
Render the Freestyle strokes on this layer.