The main menu for selecting AOVs is:
Each item allows to select an AOV. The menu is devided into sections (by the separators). Here is a description of each section and individual AOV:
| AOV | Description |
|---|---|
| RGBA | This variable outputs the color and transparency information of the complete image. This is also called the Beauty. This is the default. |
Diffuse | This group of AOVs can be used to deconstruct the Beauty image into several components that can be easily re-assembled using a simple additive combination. They each output to a RGB layer and they are all defined for objects that are shaded by a Hypershade shading network. Diffuse (Full Contribution) — No full contribution option listed yet. Ambient, Diffuse and Translucence listed in the next table must be selected. Specular — Specular shading component of the image. Global Illumination (Full Contribution) — The "global illumination" contribution, which is (Indirect Diffuse + Environment Diffuse). It requires the Enable Indirect Illumination attribute turned on in the Indirect Illumination group of rendering attributes. Reflections (Full Contribution) — All reflections contribution, which is (Object Reflections + Environment Reflections). It requires the Enable Reflections and Refractions attribute turned on in the Reflections and Refractions group of rendering attributes. Refractions — All refractions contribution. Also requires the Enable Reflections and Refractions attribute turned on. Incandescence — The incandescence contribution controlled by the 'Incandescence' shading attribute in many Maya shaders. Subsurface Scattering — The diffuse shading contribution caused by subsurface scattering. |
| Auxiliary Deprecated | The AOVs in the Auxiliary and Deprecated sub-menus are described in the pages: Auxiliary AOVs and Deprecated AOVs. |
A few of the AOVs that makes the Beauty can be further decomposed for even more individual control when re-assembling the final image. Here is a description of each of these AOVs:
| AOV – Diffuse component | |
|---|---|
| Ambient_____________ | This variable outputs the ambient shading contribution from ambient lighting to a RGB layer. |
| Diffuse | This variable outputs the diffuse shading contribution from direct lighting to a RGB layer. |
| Translucence | This variable outputs the translucence shading contribution to a RGB layer. |
| AOV – Global Illumination component | |
| Indirect Diffuse | This variable outputs the diffuse shading contribution from indirect lighting (light bouncing off surrounding objects) to a RGB layer. |
| Environment Diffuse | This variable outputs the diffuse shading contribution from the environment lighting to a RGB layer; it requires a properly configured Environment Shape (with a texture) to be selected in the Environment Light attribute in the Scene Elements group of rendering attributes. |
| AOV – Reflections component | |
| Object Reflections | This variable outputs the shading contribution from the reflections of surrounding objects to a RGB layer. |
| Environment Reflections | This variable outputs the shading contribution from the default reflections when the reflection sees no surrounding object. The default reflections is controlled by the 'Reflected Color' attribute of the shader and the environment if there is a properly configured Environment Shape (with a texture) selected in the Environment Light attribute. This variable outputs a RGB layer. |
The layers produced by these AOVs can be composited together to re-create the Beauty image in the following manner (a simple additive process):
*Full Contribution