Reflection with transparency - Maya Arnold

[daniel_mandina]

Hey, guys!

Hope you are all doing well and safe.

I have a question regarding the Arnold render, I've tried this in a few ways but not sure if this is possible. I'm trying to create a shader that makes a reflection of the objects in the scene but leaves a transparent background if there isn't anything else on the scene. The idea is to render some models in high resolution for print and have a nice reflection under those. Unfortunately, every time I try something new, the plane does keep a black background (some prints will be a black background but others will switch colors). I have tried a few configurations but no luck so far with the standard surface.

Any ideas from the community on how this can be achieved, if possible?

Thank you 🙂

[daniel_mandina]

I feel a bit silly but I figured it out hahaha

So, the aiShadowMatte has the indirect specular option which makes the effect I was looking for, I didn't know about that particular setting (focused too much on the standard surface). In case anyone is trying the same thing, this link below will be a great ref:

https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFMUG/Shadow+Matte

Cheers!