How to set up AOV's to render passes with Arnold in Maya + Compositing in Photoshop

In this video, I show how to set up AOV’s like Z depth and ambient occlusion passes, as well as how to create light groups to create useful render passes with Arnold in Maya. After that, I show how you can combine these render passes in Photoshop and use some filters and adjustment layers to make your 3d renders shine, as they should!


Timestamps:
0:00 Light setup
0:25 adding AOVs
1:33 adding custom AOVs
3:32 Creating light groups
5:14 How to make Z depth visible
7:30 adding AOV’s for individual lights using the light groups
8:19 export options for the z pass
8:25 Blending the render passes in Photoshop
10:50 Using the HDR toning feature to adjust z pass
11:45 adding Depth of field
13:27 Using Camera Raw filter
21:50 final result

Render passes used:
Z depth
AmbientOcclusion (using Arnold’s AiAmbient Occlusion material)
Mask (using AiFlat)
ID
-Beauty (one for each light)
Diffuse (direct/indirect)

Specular (direct/indirect)


Creating these render passes gives you a lot of control in Photoshop and allows you to get the most out of your 3d models. Especially the Camera Raw filter is a fantastic tool to experiment with. There are a ton of cool presets to try out for inspiration and then there is a ton of other settings to experiment with. There are a lot of basic functions like level and HSV adjustments, as well as sharpen, texture, and vibrance to name a few. I find especially the Split-toning super fun to experiment with different color schemes. If you watch Transformers or the Island (2007) you will see this effect and I think if used properly it makes for stunning, very cinematic visuals.
I hope this video was helpful and you create some awesome renders. Feel free to reach out on my artstation (artstation.com/lukaskut/) or youtube if you would like to share results or leave a comment if you have a question, as I usually try to get back to every question.
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