HELP- Render Layer Output Issue

[Will Gibbons]

Hi, I'm curious to find out what's causing me trouble. Maybe somebody here can catch the issue.

I've got a model and have created new render layers for each part I want to separate. After activating render layer pass on my render output dialogue, I render and I'm provided with a png for each render layer, appropriately named, but they're all black with no rendered pixels.

Maybe I'm not creating the render layers appropriately? I'm using the Keyshot webinar where the watch was rendered out and render layers was discussed. Are the render layers not created 100% correct in the webinar?

When I select a render layer, the entire model is outlined in orange... not the individual part/s I've assigned to each render layer. Is there some way for me to see if my render layers are assigned properly before render output?

Thanks for any help.

[Will Gibbons]

Okay, so I've made progress, I've gotten some of the render layers to work correctly, however, the feature seems buggy/finicky. I'm unable to delete a render layer after creating it. When a render layer is selected/activated from the drop-down menu, the 'Remove From Render Layer' option does nothing.

This isn't the end of the world, but it's creating extra work for me and slowing the workflow.

Anybody else run into this?

Thanks. 

[Will Gibbons]

Update: I'm unable to get certain parts of my model to add to render layers resulting in making the feature useless for my need.

Not trying to simply complain, just checking to see if this is something that's a known issue or if it's being addressed. I don't know how often people use render layers, so I'm curious. For now, I'm left to assume I'm going to need to use clown pass output, then manually slice up the renderings in Photoshop, which might become a timely process.

[Will Gibbons]

Alright. Ended up doing the job manually. Not as clean and ideal of a result, but what I have should work.

Would love to see improved render layers functionality.

[Rex]

Hey Will,

A Render Layer will output all black if a) there are no parts assigned to that layer, or b) a piece of geometry, not assigned to that layer, is in between the part and your camera.

Using the watch webinar as an example, if I added the hour, minute, and second hands to a layer and had the "glass" visible during render, the hands layer would output all black because the glass was blocking it.

Is this what you were encountering?

Unfortunately, as of now there is no way to visually identify which parts are on a layer other than selecting each model/part in the scene tree and referencing the layer drop down box.

Rex