GLOSSARY
The RLA format is a popular SGI format that supports the ability to include arbitrary image channels. While setting up a file for output, if you select RLA Image File from the list and click the Setup button, you’ll go to the RLA setup dialog. Once there, you can specify what channels (and what format) you want to write out to the file.
These are standard channels for 32-bit files.
RGB: Displays red, green, and blue color channels.
Alpha: Displays the alpha channel.
For output RLA files, there are six additional channels that you can generate (and view in the virtual frame buffer):
Z-Buffer Depth: Displays Z-Buffer information in repeating gradients from white to black. The gradients indicate relative depth of the object in the scene.
Material Effects: Displays the Effects Channel used by materials assigned to objects in the scene. The Effects Channel is a material property set in the Material Editor and used during Video Post compositing. Each Effects Channel ID is displayed using a different random color.
Object ID: Displays the G-Buffer ID assigned to objects using the Object Properties dialog. The G-Buffer ID is used during Video Post compositing. Each G-Buffer ID is displayed using a different random color.
UV Coordinates: Displays the range of UV mapping coordinates as a color gradient. This channel shows where mapping seams might occur.
Normal Vector: Displays the orientation of normal vectors as a grayscale gradient. Light gray surfaces have normals pointing towards the view. Dark gray surfaces have normals pointing away from the view.
Non-Clamped Colors: Displays areas in the image where colors exceeded the valid color range and where corrected by 3DS MAX. The areas appear as bright saturated colors usually around specular highlights.