Extra Buffers

Last modified: 18 March 2025

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Download icon Buffers.7z This archive contains the scene file used for most of the buffers shown on these pages

These are buffers which shading system elements, such as the Material nodes and Shading Models, provide. Most buffers are available here in direct and indirect versions. The "direct" buffers contain data from direct illumination of the surface, meaning the light that came directly from a light source. As opposed to the indirect buffers which contain data from the indirect illumination, that being light that got to the surface via an indirect route such as light that has bounced off another object via radiosity. Some buffers only become available when the materials pertaining to them are used.

tip

For most of the extra buffers listed here, there are two additional buffers available, labeled as Rho and Weight, introduced in LightWave 2019. The Rho buffers include the surface's color and any fresnel effects. Weight contains the value of the surface shader setting in this buffer as a percentage of its contribution to the render. A surface that was 100 % dielectric or metallic would have 0 diffuse weight because the diffuse component of the surface makes no contribution to the final render.

The Rho buffer is the BXDF reflection or transmission function that is being evaluated for each microfacet sample. They are intended for heavy compositing work and used to extract, for instance, the color from a specular buffer; by dividing the Rho by the specular direct and indirect to get the raw untinted reflection value.

Clearcoat Direct

Buffers-Extra_Clearcoat_Direct.png
Provided by the Carpaint and PBSDF material nodes, is the contribution of its Clearcoat element from direct illumination

Clearcoat Indirect

Buffers-Extra_Clearcoat_Indirect.png
Provided by the Carpaint and PBSDF material nodes, is the contribution of its Clearcoat element from indirect illumination

Clearcoat Rho

Buffers-Extra_Clearcoat_Rho.png
The Clearcoat_rho buffer provides the amount of Clearcoat occurring based on the way in which Clearcoat changes with glancing angles, fall off, etc.

Clearcoat Weight

Buffers-Extra_Clearcoat_Weight.png
This buffer shows the amount that the Clearcoat part of the scene's surfaces contributes to the overall render

Dermis Direct

Buffers-Extra_Dermis_Direct.png
Available when the Skin node is used (the supplied material for the dragon has been replaced by the Skin node at default values)

Dermis Indirect

Buffers-Extra_Dermis_Indirect.png
Available when the Skin node is used (the supplied material for the dragon has been replaced by the Skin node at default values)

Diffuse Direct

Buffers-Extra_Diffuse_Direct.jpg
Provided by many material nodes, is the diffuse shading from direct illumination

Diffuse Indirect

Buffers-Extra_Diffuse_Indirect.png
Provided by many material nodes, is the diffuse shading from indirect illumination. If you have no radiosity in your render, this buffer will not be available, because there is not indirect diffuse lighting.

Diffuse Rho

Buffers-Extra_Diffuse_Rho.jpg
Diffuse colour and Fresnel effects

Diffuse Weight

Buffers-Extra_Diffuse_Weight.jpg
Weight contains the value of the Diffuse setting in this buffer as a percentage of its contribution to the render

Epidermis Direct

Buffers-Extra_Epidermis_Direct.png
Available when the Skin node is used

Epidermis Indirect

Buffers-Extra_Epidermis_Indirect.png
Available when the Skin node is used

Fog

The diffuse color of objects with no other component

Hypodermis Direct

Buffers-Extra_Hypodermis_Direct.png
Available when the Skin node is used

Hypodermis Indirect

Buffers-Extra_Hypodermis_Indirect.png
Available when the Skin node is used

Legacy Volumetric

Shows legacy HyperVoxels separately The left image shows a final render with a surface HyperVoxel cloud, the second image shows the Legacy Volumetric buffer

Luminosity

Only shows elements that have luminosity

Raw RGB

The Diffuse color without additional surface components.

Reflection

Only shows pure reflection. If PBSDF has zero roughness on reflection, it shows in the reflection buffer (as a scalar represented by changes to the alpha, whereas Standard appears as a color) The dragon (PBSDF) is visible in this buffer in Image Viewer using the mouse to show the changing alpha, but not in a PNG. The ball is surfaced with Standard

Refraction

Only shows elements that have a refractive component. For this buffer we changed the dragon to use the Dielectric material

Refraction Rho

xxx

Refraction Weight

xxx

SSS Direct

Provided by nodes with a SubSurface Scattering component, is the Subsurface Scattering contribution from direct illumination

SSS Indirect

Provided by nodes with a SubSurface Scattering component, is the Subsurface Scattering contribution from indirect illumination. The green glow in this buffer is caused by the luminosity in the edges shown in the final render at the top of the list

Shadow

Indicates scene shadows

Sheen Direct

Provided by nodes with a Sheen component, is the Sheen contribution from direct illumination

Sheen Indirect

Provided by nodes with a Sheen component, is the Sheen contribution from indirect illumination

Sheen Rho

xxx

Sheen Weight

xxx

Specular Direct

Provided by many material nodes, is the Specular contribution from direct illumination

Specular Indirect

Provided by many material nodes, is the Specular contribution from indirect illumination. Without glossy surfaces, this buffer will not be available

Specular Rho

The specular_rho buffer provides the amount of reflection occurring based on the way in which reflection changes with glancing angles, fall off, and so forth

Specular Weight

xxx

Translucency Direct

Provided by Standard, is the Translucency contribution from direct illumination

Translucency Indirect

Provided by Standard, is the Translucency contribution from indirect illumination

Translucency Rho

xxx

Translucency Weight

xxx

Volumetric Direct

Provided by the Volumetric system, is the volumetric's contribution from direct illumination

Volumetric Emission

Provided by the Volumetric system, is the volumetric's emission of light into the scene

Volumetric Indirect

Provided by the Volumetric system, is the volumetric's contribution from indirect illumination

Volumetric Light

xxx

Volumetric Transmittance

xxx