So, while the PSD Manager folks work on an update, I have a question. How hard would it be for someone to write a script to creates a mask from MAX layers? This is what I use PSD Manager for and it seems like it should have been done already.
Bobby, have you looked into Cryptomatte?
No, but I will. Thanks!
I remember seeing this. Kind of techie… I don’t see a way to buy it or anything.
Cryptomatte is shit, it’s super slow.
We have a custom script, it’s pretty straightforward to script a photoshop import. You could record a macro that breaks each RGB layer into 3 masked folders pretty easily.
The pulse post manager is an improved version of what we use in-house - you should check it out. it might take a minute to get used to the way it wants you to work, but offers a lot of flexibility for updating.
https://pulze.io/products/post-manager
Interesting, will look into that. In the meanwhile, cryptomatte is already built in as a Vray render element and creates these masks for you in you EXR, which you then open in Photoshop. I’ve found it very useful as I don’t need to depend on a plugin like PSD Manager. It never occured to me that it was slow, never compared.
https://evermotion.org/tutorials/show/10751/v-ray-for-3ds-max-cryptomatte
I personally use Cryptomatte too .
in Photoshop you won’t have the performance issues comparing to Aftereffect and animations especially with hundred of masks .
just use the free EXRIO plugin for Photoshop and you can have masks however you want ( per instance, per material , per layer ..etc)
I usually only need mask for few objects so I did write this script to that in one click (download link in the description )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9iq6iiN8FA.
The Pulze post manager is very good solution too, but I try to avoid subscription based tools when I can even tho it is cheap …anyway that’s another story.
They promised few months back to release one-time-payment license, but it is not available yet.
Cryptomatte worked perfectly! GPU isn’t supported, but that’s okay. I’ll try Pulze when I get a chance.
for those with already too many plugins: shallow knockout in photoshop’s layer blending options cutting through whole one layer group instead of mask. basically “color to alpha” functionality.
I don’t understand, can you elaborate?
Of course if you just need a few mattes you can use one or more MultiMatteElement render elements. (Give a unique name to each of you are auto saving the layers).
They can be set to use object IDs or material IDs. Pretty easy to work with. You can add one for IDs 1,2,3, another for IDs 4,5,6, etc. gets tedious if you need more than ten or twenty, but generally I think you should be spending more time getting things right in Max if that is the case :o
A little darker her and a little lighter here… tweak the color there… My clients seem to be picky and having all my layers already masked, just in case, is a major time saver.
I just had a client call yesterday saying that they decided to go from a gray roof to a black roof, which took me 10 seconds in Photoshop. CTRL+Click the roof mask layer with a level adjustment, and done.
No doubt masks and layers are great when they work!
In VFX sometimes they don’t work well due to motion blur or depth of field, etc.
Just houses and building stills here 
All day, all night, 24/7/365.
Great! I use Cryptomatte all the time now.
As for GPU it is supported with Bucket mode only.
Is it supported for saving out in the framebuffer in GPU and CPU?
Did someone heard anything from the cebas guys about the update? Its been over a month, did the vray 5 update broke so much for them?
Yes, VRAY 5 broke things and they are working on an update, but it might take awhile.
What a pitty. It really sucks when you have to rely on certain plugins for your workflow. Would love to see that cryptomatte gets more features.