Background 1
A very prevail workflow in industrial Concept Art is as following:
- Build the scene in 3D
- Render the scene in multi-pass and create what is usually called ID Pass\Clown Pass.
- Post processing the scene and do whatever you want in image editor.
- Bc you have Clown Pass, the magic wand is incredibly handy, allow you to do object-based selection in you Image real easy.
You can read about ID pass and other passes on this page: Layers and Passes - Keyshot Manual
It should be easy to see its value as an Instant Selection Mask Creator.
In case this concept (of using passes in 3D-aided works) sounds alien to you, check out the tutorial in: https://express.adobe.com/page/ucLFuLOEKK9Uo/
It serves a good demonstration.
Background 2
Many artists have grown fond of Blender since it has a good community and the development is active. They get comfortable with it and stay with it.
However, Blender’s render engine dose not support direct Clown Pass. Though it can be approximated with Crytomattes's Pick Output and Workbench Engine's Flat + Random Color combination. Above 2 approaches gives a similar result but can have overlapping object with same color. Bc of lack of ways to adjust random settings, once the problem occurs, it is very hard to tweak the result.
But it is a usable solution if you are seeking Clown Pass.
Background 3
As ppl in Dear GOD is there a simple way to render ID passes in Blender yet? - #11 by gtomorrow - Lighting and Rendering - Blender Artists Community mentioned, the above-mentioned Crytomattes is an industrial solution that is better than ID Pass in the world of Render Post processing, it can store object information (Masks) in Multi-layer EXR, which allows you to do fast selections.
Though image-editing software that supports M-EXR is scarce. You can achieve it with Exr-IO 2.06 Update | Exr-IO free Photoshop OpenEXR plug-in and Photoshop.
The Result looks like this:
However, open the same exr files gives me different results in Krita:
And thus comes my question:
Will it be possible for Krita to produce a similar result?
Turth is, the current ways to produce ID Pass in blender is no where as good as being able to use Crytomattes. (For example, none support Material Based Selection) Able to use Crytomattes masks in Krita will make thing 1000 times easier for a Blender \times Krita workflow (which I believe many have adopted.)
Though I cloud export layers from Photoshop (somehow PSD files with these masks are unable to open with Krita) and then work in Krita, but it is kindle of troublesome cz you have to manually place many masks (PNG might get trimmed).
I was going to file a ticket for EXR, but unsure it should be categorized as bug or feature requests (I am not sure if Crytomattes is part of standard or not). So I decided to post here.
So what do you guys think? Do you think it is an Overkill or it is actually something worth doing?
Relevant Discussion：Blender EXR Photoshop Mulitpass compositing - #5 by Pi-gor - Tutorials, Tips and Tricks - Blender Artists Community
(Btw, I would love to be educated on how to properly use rendered EXR file in Krita, It seems impossible to get the color right. I checked Openexr Color Managed Workflow - Support and Advice / General Questions - Krita Artists but after several tries, none of the color porfile in Assign color profile create the same image I see in blender render viewer, not even close.)
