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DeepMerge

DeepMerge lets you merge samples from multiple deep images, so that each output pixel contains all of the samples from the same pixel in each input. You can also use it to remove or fade out samples in the B input that are occluded by samples in the A input. Unlike the DeepHoldout node, DeepMerge doesn’t flatten the data but produces a deep output image.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type

Connection Name

Function

Input

A, B

The deep images that you want to merge.

Control (UI)

Knob (Scripting)

Default Value

Function

DeepMerge Tab

operation

operation

combine

Sets how to merge the inputs:

combine - combine the samples from the A and B inputs.

holdout - hold out samples from the B input by the samples in the A input. This removes or fades out samples in input B that are occluded by samples in input A.

drop hidden samples

drop_hidden

disabled

When enabled, samples that are completely obscured by other samples are discarded (that is, samples behind other samples that have an alpha of 1).

This control is only available when operation is set to combine.

drop zero threshold

drop_zero_threshold

0.0000001

Any samples whose alpha value falls below this threshold are discarded from the holdout. This can help filter out samples with very low alpha values caused by floating point inaccuracy.

This control is only available when operation is set to holdout.

metadata from

metainput

B

Sets which input’s metadata is passed down the node tree.

Note:  When metadata from is set to All and there are keys with the same name in both inputs, keys in B override keys in A.

compute occluded samples

computeOccludedSamples

disabled

When enabled, the values of samples from main are affected by the occlusion values of the holdout samples in front of them.

When disabled, holdout occlusion is ignored.

For example:

M = main sample

H = holdout sample

M0 remains unchanged since there are no holdout samples before it. M2 is affected by the combined H0, H1, and H2 holdout samples and M4 is affected by all holdout samples.

Step-by-Step Guides

Merging Deep Images

Creating a Deep Holdout with the DeepMerge Node