V-Ray for Blender
Render Channels
This page provides information about the Render Channel nodes in V-Ray for Blender.
Last updated 12 June 2026
This page provides information about the Render Channel nodes in V-Ray for Blender.
Overview
Render Channels are a way to break out renders into their component parts, such as diffuse color, reflections, shadows, mattes, etc. This gives fine control over the final image when using compositing or image editing applications to reassemble the component channels. Render channels are also sometimes known as render passes.
Render channels appear in the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB) and can be viewed from the drop-down at the upper left corner of the VFB. They can also be saved out of the VFB as many common file formats.
Render channels are generated at render time based on the user's selection before rendering. Most render channels have parameters that can be customized to further assist the composting process. These parameters are described on each render channel's individual page.
UI Paths:
||V-Ray Node Editor|| > World > Add menu > Render Channels
||Properties Editor|| > View Layer > Render Channels
Properties
When enabled from the View Layer tab, the render channel becomes visible in the V-Ray Node Editor World Tree and is automatically connected to the Render Channels Container, if there is one. If there is no Channels Container in the editor, one must be created so the render channels are applied to the scene. If a render channel is deleted from the Node Editor, it is automatically disabled in the View Layer tab and vice versa.
You can then view the render channel's properties either in the Node submenu of the V-Ray Node Editor or in the World tab.
To view a specific render channel's properties, see its respective page.
Categories
All render channels are grouped into the following categories: Beauty, Advanced, Matte, Geometry, Utility, and Raw.
Beauty – Contains all the needed render channels for "Back to Beauty" compositing inside the V-Ray Frame Buffer.
Advanced – Contains render channels for an advanced beautification of the light, coat, and sheen.
Matte – Contains all the needed render channels for matte compositing in the V-Ray Frame Buffer.
Geometry – Contains all the render channels responsible for editing geometries from the scene, such as Object ID, Normals etc.
Utility – Contains render channels that assist your work in the V-Ray Frame Buffer.
Raw – Contains render channels that concern RAW layers.
The applied render channels are found in the VFB's dropdown menu. The new render channels become visible in this list after a new render is started.
Render Channels
V-Ray supports the following render channels. All render channels support native V-Ray materials.
Beauty
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
16bit/32bit | Image background, such as any Background Texture specified in the Globals Rollout. | |
16bit/32bit | Diffuse direct surface lighting. | |
GI (Global Illumination) | 16bit/32bit | The diffuse surface global illumination. Only present if Global illumination is enabled. |
16bit/32bit | All indirect reflections from a surface. | |
16bit/32bit | Refractions through a surface. | |
16bit/32bit | All direct specular highlights coming from a surface. | |
16bit/32bit | Renders just the subsurface part of the VRaySSS2 material on a separate layer. | |
16bit/32bit | Self-illumination of the surface. | |
16bit/32bit | The caustics on the material. These caustics are present only when the Caustics option of V-Ray is enabled. This channel does not include GI caustics. | |
16bit/32bit | Atmospheric effects, such as Environment Fog. |
Advanced
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
16bit/32bit | Isolates the reflected light in the scene. | |
16bit/32bit | Indirect reflections coming from the Coat layers of the V-Ray Material used in the scene. | |
16bit/32bit | Extracts the contribution of a user-defined light or a set of lights in the scene as a separate render channel. | |
16bit/32bit | Isolates the reflected light in the scene. | |
16bit/32bit | Indirect reflections coming from the Sheen layer(s) of the V-Ray Material(s) used in the scene. | |
16bit/32bit | Creates a toon-like effect on the render. | |
16bit/32bit | Pure diffuse surface color. | |
16bit/32bit | Diffuse light that is blocked by other objects. | |
16bit/32bit | Total lighting in the scene, both direct and indirect. | |
16bit/32bit | Reflection filter (the color by which the raw reflections are multiplied to give the final surface reflection). This may be considered an alpha channel for reflections. | |
16bit/32bit | The refraction filter mitigates the raw refraction layer. This render channel returns the color by which the raw refractions are multiplied to give the final surface refraction. This may be considered an alpha channel for refractions. | |
Used to enhance or reduce Fresnel IOR effects in the final composite. | ||
16bit/32bit | Returns a float value that corresponds with the Reflection Glossiness value of an object's material. | |
Returns a grayscale image that corresponds to the value in the Highlight Glossiness of the materials in the scene. | ||
16bit/32bit | Returns a float value that corresponds to the Refraction Glossiness value of an object's material. | |
16bit/32bit | Returns a grayscale image that corresponds to the metalness values of the materials in the scene. | |
16bit/32bit | Reflection filter for V-Ray Material Coat layer. | |
16bit/32bit | Returns a float value that corresponds with the Coat Glossiness value of the V-Ray Material Coat layer. | |
16bit/32bit | Returns a float value that corresponds with the Sheen Glossiness value of the V-Ray Material Sheen layer. | |
16bit/32bit | Reflection filter for V-Ray Material Sheen layer. |
Matte
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
forced 32bit (for multi-channel files) | Uses the Cryptomatte convention by Psypop to encode mattes into multichannel OpenEXRs. | |
16bit/32bit | Renders only the object(s) assigned to a user-specified V-Ray compatible material. The material can be a top-level material or a sub-material of a Blend Mtl. | |
Isolates objects with specific Multi Matte IDs for compositing purposes. | ||
Uses a single R, G, or B channel to create a matte. | ||
– | Returns solid un-shaded colors to represent numerical identifiers set through that object's Attributes, Object Property, or assigned material. Useful for selection masks. EXRs and .vrimg formats are stored as integer values. | |
16bit/32bit | Renders only the object(s) called out with a specific Object or Material ID. This effect is reversible to create a render channel that excludes a particular object or objects according to Object or Material ID. | |
– | Node render ID of the object that contributes most to the pixel value. | |
– | Material ID of scene objects. | |
16bit/32bit | The matte shadow part of the image. |
Geometry
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
16bit/32bit | Normals generated by bump maps in screen space (which is not the same as camera space). Use the VRaySamplerInfo utility texture node to get the normals in camera, world, or object space. | |
16bit/32bit | Surface normals in screen space (which is not the same as camera space). | |
16bit/32bit | Surface velocity of an object. This render channel is useful for generating motion blur in post-production. | |
forced 32bit (for multi-channel files) | Z-depth of surfaces in the scene. |
Utility
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
16bit/32bit | For each pixel, the final values for the render channel are taken from the object that makes the largest contribution to that pixel. | |
DR Bucket (currently not supported) | 16bit/32bit | Displays the machine that rendered each bucket when using distributed rendering (currently not supported) with the Bucket Image Sampler. |
forced 32bit (optional for multi-channel files) | Renders the entire scene with a single defined texture mapped on all objects. | |
16bit/32bit | Shows an image where the pixel brightness is directly proportional to the number of samples taken at that pixel. | |
forced 32bit (for multi-channel files) | Provides information about various aspects of the shaded points - position, normal, bump normal, reflection/refraction vectors, and UVW coordinates. Can be used, e.g., for world position passes or normal passes. |
Raw
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|
Render channel | Color Depth of EXR floating-point channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
16bit/32bit | Raw diffuse direct illumination before it's multiplied by the diffuse surface color. | |
16bit/32bit | Raw diffuse global illumination (not multiplied by the diffuse surface color). Only present if Global illumination is enabled. | |
16bit/32bit | The sum of all raw lighting, both direct and indirect. | |
16bit/32bit | Pure surface indirect reflection before it is multiplied by the reflection filter color. | |
16bit/32bit | Pure surface refraction before it is multiplied by the refraction filter color. | |
16bit/32bit | Creates a solid mask showing the areas of reflection in the Coat layer without being affected by Fresnel. | |
16bit/32bit | Pure surface indirect reflection from a V-Ray Material Coat layer before it is multiplied by the reflection filter color. | |
16bit/32bit | Holds information similar to Sheen Filter RE, but without being affected by Fresnel. | |
16bit/32bit | Raw light that is blocked by other objects. | |
16bit/32bit | Pure surface indirect reflection from a V-Ray Material Sheen layer before it is multiplied by the reflection filter color. |