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Render Passes

Enables render passes, AOVs, Cryptomatte, and light groups for a render layer. Connect to the Scene node's Render Passes input.

Properties

Engine hint

Engine — filter the pass list to show only passes supported by your target engine: Cycles, EEVEE, or Both. This is a display hint only — it does not change which engine is used.

Data passes

Available for both Cycles and EEVEE:

Combined, Alpha, Z, Mist, Position, Normal, Vector, UV, Object Index, Material Index.

Each pass can be renamed: click the pencil icon next to any enabled pass to enter a custom output name. Custom names replace the default pass name in the output file.

Light passes

Diffuse Direct / Color, Specular Direct / Color, Volume Light, Emission, Environment, Ambient Occlusion, Shadow, Shadow Catcher.

Note

Some pass names differ between Cycles and EEVEE. Set the Engine hint to the appropriate engine to see the correct labels.

Cycles-only passes

Diffuse Indirect, Glossy Indirect, Transmission Direct / Indirect / Color, Volume Indirect, Denoising Data.

These passes are hidden when the Engine hint is set to EEVEE.

Cryptomatte

Enable any combination of CryptoObject, CryptoMaterial, and CryptoAsset.

Levels — the number of Cryptomatte levels (2–16, even numbers only; default 6).

Export Mode — how Cryptomatte output is written: - Single File — all crypto types in one multilayer EXR - One File per Type — a separate multilayer EXR per crypto type

Accurate Mode — enable Cryptomatte accurate mode (Cycles only).

Light Groups (Cycles only)

Add named light groups to include their passes in the output. The name must match the light group name defined on the view layer in the Properties panel.

Click Add Light Group to add entries and type the name in the field. Remove with ×.

AOVs

Add custom AOV passes. Each AOV needs a name and a type (Color or Value).

The AOV name must match an AOV defined in the Cycles or EEVEE shader node tree. AOVs allow you to output custom data from your shaders as separate image files.

Output toggle

The toggle at the top of the node controls whether passes are written to disk:

  • On (default) — passes are written as output files and available in the compositor
  • Off — passes are set up in the compositor but not written to disk; useful when you want to composite in-render without keeping intermediate files

Tips

  • Connect different Render Passes nodes to different Scene node inputs to use different pass configurations per view layer.
  • Use the Engine hint to keep the interface clean — passes that don't apply to your engine are hidden from view.