Click that and you'll see a new layer appear in the list. The latter section has an icon for creating a new layer. Notice that it is split into a 'Property Editor' section and then a layer list section. You can do this by opening up the 'Render Setup' window. The first step for utilising this system is to create a render setup layer. Step 2: Creating a new render setup layer The Render Setup gives you greater flexibility over how and what you want to render. The types of overrides that can be created include shaders or even specific attributes of objects. This system is quick, reliable and hugely helpful for either rendering multiple iterations of a shot or for rendering multiple passes for compositing. The new render setup (2016 Ext 2) lets you break down your scene into layers and collections which can then either be rendered or overridden with a series of property overrides.
In this article we're going to delve into the 'Render Setup' workflow for Maya which was introduced in the 2nd Extension of 2016. You might wonder what the benefit of this is! In short it gives you a huge amount of flexibility for making adjustments to the images after the rendering has taken place. Know the Basics: Maya Part 1: Interface Know the Basics: Maya Part 2: Viewports and Navigation Know the Basics: Maya Part 3: Modelling Know the Basics: Maya Part 4: Organisation Know the Basics: Maya Part 5: Animating Know the Basics: Maya Part 6: Motion Graphics Know the Basics: Maya Part 7: Shaders & Textures Know the Basics: Maya Part 8: Arnold Lighting Know the Basics: Maya Part 9: Arnold Rendering Compositing in a visualisation workflow is usually considered as the process of rendering out your scene into a set of individual elements in such a way that it can easily be brought back together in a compositing application such as After Effects.
In part ten of the Know the Basics: Maya 2017 series, Paul Hatton explains how to successfully composite and render a scene.