Cryptomatte - Read Multi/Sub-object materials

[nemanja_stanar]

Hiya!

So, in V-Ray for 3ds Max Build 5.10.01 there was a change to cryptomatte that added the ability for it to read Multi/Sub-object materials.

At our studio we preferred it how it was before where a whole Multi/Sub-object material was masked as one. In the instances where we needed to work with sub-elements we would use Material ID or MultiMatte elements. But predominantly we would be selecting the whole object.

Since this update we find ourselves going back to wirecolour and miltimattes which are slow and dirty. What would be the recommended workflow for our situation? And would it be possible to add a checkbox feature in a future release to 'Read Multi/Sub-object materials', for example.

Thanks,
Nemanja

[hermit.crab]

You can always add a separate VRayCryptomatte element, say with the Node user property ID, where each multi-sub shaded object has an id.

[nemanja_stanar]

Hey Aleks,

Thanks for the suggestion. Yea we tried that too, but unfortunately while that is helpful with scattered objects, reading it as one object, it would still result in many masks where objects are placed individually by hand, eg trees and plants. It creates more work in post. Those objects share materials, so previously cryptomatte by node material name worked perfectly for us.

In terms of usefulness at this point I would rank it like:
1 - Cryptomatte by node material name (Old version with Multi/Sub-object material as single material)
2 - Wirecolour, MultiMatte
3 - Cryptomatte by node name
4 - Cryptomatte by node material name (New version with each Multi/Sub-object material as it's own material)

Just wondering whether it would technically be possible to make the reading of Multi/Sub-object sub materials optional in a future release?

Cheers!
Nemanja

[hermit.crab]

I doubt we will allocate the resources anytime soon. Many users request the exact opposite behavior (the current one). You can easily workaround it by adding a second Cryptomatte by node name or applying a Material modifier with identical ids to all multi-sub shaded objects. Using other Matte render elements is a solution too.