Selection Sets and Matte Element

Have you ever had to draw a mask on your rendering to tweak the color of a wall or some other object in your scene in photoshop...or better yet, have to do it on a series of frames for an animation?
For those who use 'selection sets' in Max, and those who don't...I'd like to share a method that I always use in my workflow. Selection Sets - used in combination with the Matte Render Element in your Rendering dialogue window is a real time saver. You can basically use it to make masks for everything in your scene. They render very quickly since it's just a black & white image. It will even mask out objects textured with opacity maps.

I recently had to use it for an animation that I did involving a scene with a ton of polygons. It took too long to render all in one shot so I had to break it up in render passes. Anyway, here's a breakdown of the idea. Any questions, feel free to ask.

wow sir another level po ulit ito !!!!! sa max ba ginagawa sir ung pang-mask... render by selection ba ito sir, tapos edit na lang sa photoshop,,paano po gamitin itong selection set at matte element,,,, if u have time sir request po sana ng detailed workflow para dto, tanx for sharing!!! TIA!!!!!

Thanks AJ. Magandang technigue to!

thanks bos AJ..ayuz to ha..

ayos ang galing..... saan mo ginawa sir.... sa photoshop????

Here's how to make your Matte in 3ds Max:

Step 1. Select the objects you want to matte out.
Step 2. Create a Selection Set



Step 3. Open your Render Dialogue Window, Click on Render Elements Tab, Click on Add
Step 4. In the Render Elements Dialogue Window, Find Matte, press OK
Step 5. Select your output path
Step 6. Scroll down to Matte Texture Element, Enable 'Include'. The Exclude/Include Dialogue Window will pop up. Look on the bottom to find your Selection Set. Add it to the column on the right & Press Ok.



Step 7. Press Render

...Once you have your Matte, you can now use this in your favorite compositing program, ie Photoshop, Combustion, AfterEffects, etc.

In Photoshop, you can simply add this as one of your alpha channels.
In Combustion, Use the Set Matte Operator and attach the two nodes (your beauty pass & the matte)
In After Effects, use the Matte as a Luma Matte to mask your beauty pass.

Hope this makes sense.