Reflection

This page gives an overview of the Reflection Render Element and explains how it is used.

Overview

The Reflection Render Element stores reflection information calculated from the materials' reflection values in the scene. Surfaces with no reflection values set in their materials will contain no information in the render pass and will therefore render as black.

The Reflection Render Element is formed by multiplying the Raw Reflection (vrayRE_Raw_Reflection) Render Element by the Reflection Filter (vrayRE_Reflection_Filter) Render Element . So while the raw reflection pass gives the full reflection of objects reflecting in the scene, the reflection filter sets how much of that reflection should come through in the composite. The two are multiplied together to create the vrayRE_Reflection pass which gives a true representation of the reflection in the scene.

The Reflection Render Element is a key component in the main Beauty Pass.

UI Path: ||Display Render Settings button|| > Render Elements tab > Reflection

Attributes

Enabled – When enabled, the render element appears in the V-Ray Virtual Frame Buffer.

Deep output – Specifies whether to include this render element in deep images.

Filename suffix – The text added to the end of the rendered file, when saved as a separate file (e.g. myrender.reflect.vrimg).

Apply color mapping – Applies the color mapping options specified in the Color Management rollout of the VRay tab in the Render Settings window to this render element. This option is enabled by default.

Denoise – Enables the render element's denoising, provided the Denoiser render element is present.

Common Uses

The Reflection Render Element is useful for changing the appearance of reflective elements after rendering using compositing or image editing software. Below are a couple of examples of its use.

Reflection Render Element

Original Beauty Composite

Brightened Reflection Render Element

Brightened and warmed Reflection Render Element

Brightened Reflections

Brightened and warmed Reflections

Compositing Formula

vrayRE_Raw_Reflection x Reflection Filter = vrayRE_Reflection