Extended RLA/RPF Material ID Range for AE

[WShawn]

Hello:

Is there a way in LW to specify the ID of an object so it falls within the range the After Effects ID Matte filter can select? The AE ID Matte filter gives a selection range of 0-32000.

The scene I'm rendering in LW consists of 6 rock-like objects and some hypervoxel sprite trees in the far background. I apply the Extended RLA or Extended RPF Image Filter in LW and have Depth, Object ID Buffer and Material Buffer selected to be included in the output. I render the scene and bring the image into AE, and AE acknowledges those additional channels in the project window.

I bring the image into an AE comp and add the ID Matte filter and select Object ID as the Aux. Channel (to be isolated). When I click on each of the six rock objects the AE Info window displays their Object IDs which are 61266, 61696, 62125, 62555, 62984, 63414. The trees object shows an ID of 0.

Unfortunately, the ID selection field in the filter won't go above 32000 so I can't isolate any of those rock objects.

I've given each rock object a different surface in LW, but when I set Material ID as the Aux. Channel, AE sees one rock as having an ID of 15 and the other 5 rocks as having an ID of 16. Each rock should have a unique material ID. The trees have a material ID of 0.

I can work around this problem, but I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to make it work properly.

Thanks.

Shawn Marshall
Marshall Arts Motion Graphics

[Beamtracer]

I don't know if this is the cause of your problem or not...

Have you tried experimenting with the bit-depth of the images?

Most images are 8-bits-per-channel. That means there can be a maximum of 256 increments of light to dark.

Some images are 16-bpc, which offers 65536 levels of brightness.

You could try using different bit depths out of Lightwave, or switch After Effects between 8bpc and 16bpc and see if it makes any difference.