The AOV Groups tab is where AOV composites are managed. Using the Composite AOV Output and Output Layer nodes, AOVs can be combined together with a variety of blending methods to form basic composites. These composites can be output alongside the individual AOVs and main beauty renders at render time with little performance penalty. 


AOV Groups are composites built from nodegraphs that connect to the Composite AOV pins of the Octane Renderer node (example here.). AOV Output group nodes are available in the AOV Node group of the AOV Node Editor, and are also created from Render Settings > Octane Renderer > AOV groups tab, illustrated below. When either an AOV Preset or an Input is added from the AOV Groups tab, a new Composite AOV pin is added to the OctaneRenderer node and a Composite AOV Output node is connected to that pin. Presets will add additional nodes and connect those nodes to a Composite AOV Output Layer node (discussed here), which is then connected to the Composite AOV node (discussed here). The output of this composite nodegraph will be visible in an "Out[n]" button in the Live Viewer (where [n] corresponds to the Composite AOV input number on the Octane Renderer node).


aov groups tab


Below the tab row in the AOV Groups tab is the AOV Presets section. Preset composites can be created, or build composites from scratch using the components available. These Composite Layers are listed in the body of the tab, with a turn down for each composite. 


There are also buttons to Add Input and Remove Inputs from the Composite Output node, a button to enable the Node Editor and a button to Show Pass (Out1 only). 

AOV Presets

Preset AOVs are available in Render Settings > Octane Renderer > AOV Groups tab for typical composite node graphs. These are available in the AOV Presets drop down menu, and are created by selecting the Apply button. If more than one Composite AOV port resides on the Octane Renderer node, an option will appear to replace an existing pin or add a new one. These presets are:


    • Light Mixing — This preset creates a Composite AOV pin on the Octane Renderer node and attaches 10 Render AOV output nodes to 10 Composite AOV Layer nodes, which are then attached to the Composite AOV pin. Each Composite AOV node is set to Blend Mode Add with an Opacity of 1.0. Each Render AOV output node represents one of the available Light channels. Feel free to disconnect any unneeded nodes.
    • Post+Shadow+AO+Main — This preset creates a Composite AOV pin on the Octane Renderer node, and attaches four Render AOV output nodes to a Composite AOV Layer node attached to the Composite AOV pin. Each AOV node (with attributes) is available in the AOV Groups tab. Each Render AOV output node is preset to Post, Shadow, Ambient Occlusion and Beauty pass outputs.
    • Wire+Main — This preset creates a Composite AOV pin on the Octane Renderer node, with a Wireframe AOV info node and a Beauty Pass Render AOV output node connected to a Composite AOV Layer node. It will multiply the W ireframe info pass onto the main Beauty render.
    • Render Layer — This preset creates a Composite AOV pin in the Octane Renderer node, with Post, Beauty, Layer Shadows and Layer Reflections connected to a Composite AOV Layer node. The use of Render Layers requires that the Render Layer be Enabled in the Render AOV group tab. Render Layers also requires the Alpha channel to be enabled in the kernel. The Render Layer nodes should also be set to Normal and all Alpha operations should be set to Alpha Compositing in order for this preset to work as expected. When Render Layers are enabled, the Main render will display only the objects that are in the specified Layer ID, and as determined by the Mode drop down menu.
Make your own Composite

The Composite AOV node (also known as the AOV output group node in Octane Standalone) is the gateway to building composites. This node is used to composite multiple Composite AOV Output nodes together for a final composite.


To make your own custom composite, click the Add Input button in the tab. This will add a Composite AOV pin to the Octane Renderer node, as well as automatically connect a Composite AOV output node. Select that node and choose Add Layer. A drop down menu will appear, containing all of the choices discussed in the Render AOVs section, here. Choose the desired AOV from the list and a Composite AOV Output Layer node is then created, with both an input pin and mask pin, connected to the Render AOV Output node of your choice. 


Next, add any additional layers needed from the Composite AOV Output node for the composite. Each Composite AOV Output node is self-contained — it's own separate composite. Each layer has its own separate blend modes and layer settings, discussed here.

Composite AOV Output Parameters

When a Composite AOV Output node is selected, the parameters for the node will appear in the both the Parameters tab displayed in the AOV Node Editor, as well as the AOV Groups tab in Render Settings. From these locations, AOV Presets can be added or individual outputs can be created. These parameters are discussed in detail here.