Table of Contents

This page gives some basic details about the Raw Refraction Render Element and how it is used in compositing.


Overview

The Raw Refraction Render Channel is a color image that stores refraction information calculated from materials' refraction values in the scene. Surfaces with no refraction values set in their materials will contain no information in the render element and therefore will render as black.

In comparison, the Refraction Filter Render Element is a render element that indicates varying degrees of refraction in the scene through brightness values in the image. Multiplying these two render elements together produces the Refraction Channel.

 

UI Path

||Node Editor|| > Add > Render Channels > Color Channel > Type > Raw Refraction



Common Uses

The Raw Refraction is useful for changing the appearance of refractive elements after rendering in a compositing or image editing application. Below are examples of possible uses.

 

 

Raw Refraction Render Element

Original Beauty Composite

Raw Refraction Render Element with added contrast

Tinted Raw Refraction Render Element with added contrast

Refractions with more contrast

Tinted Refractions with more contrast

 

 

Underlying Compositing Equation

Raw Refraction x Refraction Filter = Refraction

 

 

 

Notes

  • To properly calculate the refraction information in the Raw Refraction and Refraction Filter, the Refraction channel must also be rendered at the same time, even if it's not going to be used in the compositing process. Doing so enables all the refraction information to be included in the rendering calculations.

  • This render element is not supported with V-Ray GPU rendering.