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07-848 2005

V-Ray for Maya

Multiple zDepth channels in Nuke with multichannel exr

https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/v-ray-for-maya-forums/v-ray-for-maya-general/988379-problems-with-z-depth-render-elements?p=988708#post988708

Last updated 1 September 2026

https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/v-ray-for-maya-forums/v-ray-for-maya-general/988379-problems-with-z-depth-render-elements?p=988708#post988708

When working with Nuke and using zDepth in a multichannel exr file, Nuke "sends" the zDepth channel into the Depth layer. This way, if using two (or multiple) zDepth passes, they won't appear in Nuke.

There are two ways to tackle the issue:

Re-render

In case you can re-render, add a dot sign (.) in the explicit name of each zDepth channel. That is, the Filename suffix field. This way, Nuke recognizes the separate channels, that should not belong to the native Depth layer.

Shuffle

If the re-render option is not available, then the zDepth passes can be found combined in Nuke into the Other layer. The way to go is to shuffle the Other layer. The two separate zDepth channels should appear along with all of their components.

For reference, see below.

This is the Shuffle with the two zDepth layers in their initial state in the Other layer.

Turn them as shown in the reference image.