I work with a lot of 3D renders, and it would be awesome to be able to call EXR layers in automation. However, I can’t seem to find a way to reliably set them.
I can get as far as finding the Channel info property/effect, but after that I can’t seem to edit the drop-down layer selection menus. I was hoping to be able to loop through the options and set them to a matching name with something like “if property/effect name = custom Layers: > set property/effect name = custom ViewLayer.Combined”
Is it possible to call and set these properties?
Hi @Bornstellar, welcome to the forum!
I’ve looked into this issue, and it is quite frustrating.
The problem lies with the “Channel Info” effect property. Each property has a “value type” that determines its type, and for the “Channel Info” effect, this type is “custom value”. Unfortunately, scripting does not allow us to set or read these “custom values”.
This video explains it a bit more:
Other effects with custom values include Curves and Levels, which we also can’t change through scripting.
One workaround might be to save multiple animation preset files with different settings and apply them dynamically during automation. This approach works if the EXR file names follow a consistent format (e.g., all Beauty layers are named “Beauty” with a capital B).
let me know if need help with this workaround.
Alternatively, you might need to find an alternative to the EXtractoR effect, though I haven’t found one that fits this purpose yet.
I hope this helps!
Thanks so much for the quick response! It’s a shame we can’t access those custom values with scripting. I appreciate the thorough explanation nonetheless.
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