topic Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances. in Arnold for Cinema 4D Forum

"Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

jrw2 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 03:23:35 GMT

The new render setting Render selected objects works very well for my workflow. I can render only the material I want to render by selecting the material tag from the object manager, save the rendered images from picture viewer as PSD with layers, open them in Photoshop, and use the alpha layer to select the rendered area and copy/paste it to my previous rendering.

However, I've discovered that this does not work when the rendered object is an Instance Object. I use instance objects to render multiple copies in different configurations in the same scene. Somehow the Arnold renderer does not capture the material tag, or the selected object, from the original object that the Instance Object is referencing. Changing the Instance Mode doesn't make a difference.

Is this possible to fix? Are there workarounds?

Thank you.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

peter.horvath6V6K3 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 10:48:59 GMT

Sure, this could be fixed. Don't think there's a workaround at the moment. You can add the material to the Instance Object to be picked up if only a single object is instanced, but this won't work when instancing an object hierarchy.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

jrw2 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:07:31 GMT

@Peter Horvath Yes, the material/object to be rendered is deep down in an object hierarchy so that workaround won't work. If you can manage to fix it, it would be incredible. Thank you.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

peter.horvath6V6K3 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 17:17:13 GMT

Please send an email to support@arnoldrenderer.com referring to this thread and with a valid Arnold license I can send you a custom build with the fix to test. Please tell your C4D and C4DtoA version and platform (win or mac) in the email.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

peter.horvath6V6K3 — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 09:35:03 GMT

This should now be fixed in C4DtoA 3.3.0.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

jrw2 — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:32:37 GMT

Thank you, it now works, but only when the selection is active materials. When the selection is active objects, nothing is rendered for instances. Could you also fix it when objects are selected?

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

peter.horvath6V6K3 — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 11:43:40 GMT

I think the current behavior is correct. The instance is a separate object, so if you want the instance and the referenced object both rendered in active objects mode, you have to select both.

But I understand the use case when instancing a hierarchy you can not actually select only specific instances within the Instance Object. I can add a checkbox to control whether you want instances rendered together with selected objects or not.

Re: "Render selected objects" doesn't work for instances.

jrw2 — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 13:02:14 GMT

I agree. I forgot that an instance object is also an object. Yes, a checkbox would be good, if it doesn't take too much of your time. Perhaps name it "Include Instances". The logic would be "only the selected object(s) will be rendered, including wherever they are referenced".