Render Passes

Similar to layers, although contents of render passes are not limited to one render pass layer.

Render passes are useful for Depth Maps, Motion Blur, Ambient Occlusion, alternative lighting, alternative qualities etc.

Under render settings, there is an option to create render passes within the master render layer. You can select any combination of components and create a render pass. And then finally associate them.

From the render view, you can now load the individual render passes. Maya organizes these passes into folders for easy access.

DEPTH MAP

Create a render layer without the lights but with the entire scene otherwise. Name this layer depth.

(surface shader, presets, luminescence?)

Old Max, break connections, try 100, 150, 200 or until it's working nicely.

With the rendered images, load them into After Effects and add both to the composition. Add a camera lens blur and add the depth map pass to the blur map. And use the blur focal distance to manipulate the depth of field for the final image.

For Ambient Occlusion, if times allows; blending modes > multiply. Makes the blacks blacker and the white whiter.