Setting Up the Compositor

To begin compositing state set outputs, open the Compositor window by choosing Compositor View from the Compositor menu. This opens the Compositor window containing all existing states, with each state's output already wired to its own Bitmap node. Each bitmap node's output is connected in turn to the Compositor Output node.

You can update the schematic automatically with all enabled states by doing one of the following:

• Choose Compositor View from the Compositor menu.
• Right-click the master state (State Sets) and choose Create Compositing View.

You can add highlighted states to the schematic manually by dragging them into the Compositor window.

Dragging the output handle of the state's schematic node opens a Create A Render Output Node option. Clicking it automatically creates and sets up a Bitmap node with the state's render output path as its File Name input.

Note that this isn't an ordinary connection. A wire between a state's output and a Bitmap node's input represents a live link that State Sets will update any time you change the state's current render output.

Try recording the state and setting a render output path. As soon as you stop recording, the bitmap's file name input automatically updates to the output you select. This way the bitmap constantly maintains and updates the current render output of the state.

You can combine multiple render pass state outputs into one composite texture node.

The final step of the compositing setup is to render all states to separate files, as specified by the Render Outputs function and/or the Render Setup dialog settings you recorded for each state. You accomplish this by opening the States menu and choosing Render All States.