You can duplicate any layer in your Maya scene.
You can use this feature to create two layers that are similar with only minor differences. For example, use this feature if you want to have two identical layers, but with raytracing turned on for one layer and turned off for the other. With this feature, you do not need to create the two layers independently - you only need to create one layer and duplicate it. This eliminates the need to reassign objects, materials and attributes in order to create the second layer.
There are two options available with this feature:
To duplicate an existing render layer
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