Required AOVs in AiRawDriverInitialize();

[zenop]

Hi,

I'm wondering what the "required aovs" in a raw driver actually does.

I usually fill it in like a good citizen of the arnold universe:

static const char *required_aovs[] = {"RGBA RGBA", "VECTOR P", "FLOAT Z", "RGBA transmission", NULL}; AiRawDriverInitialize(node, required_aovs, false);

However, it doesn't make a difference if I remove the required aovs. So I was wondering what the purpose of this is. The API docs simply say:

NULL-terminated array of AOV descriptors ("TYPE name") to route to this driver

Thanks lads

Z

[Stephen.Blair]

You can remove the required AOVs and still access them?

And they are not output by for any other driver?

[zenop]

Yes, I can remove them and still access them. They are output by another driver currently (both exr_driver and a custom one).
However, I cannot access the AOVs if linked to the exr_driver only (regardless of specification in the required_aovs)

[Stephen.Blair]

@ You should be able to access any AOV that is generated by any driver.
The required_aovs is for ensuring that Arnold generates the AOVs needed by the raw driver, even if no other driver generates them.

[zenop]

cheers stephen, thanks for clarifying