by Olivier Crespo Barrio·Rendering
Illustrative cover generated by AnyPlugins — no product screenshot available.
Three Layer Rendering earns its spot for pulling View Layer management and composition setup into a single Blender 4+ interface, from splitting geometry by camera distance to auto-building nodes from scenes and EXR files.
Three Layer Rendering is a Blender add-on that gives you one interface to manage View Layer render settings, with related settings unified so you don't have to switch between View Layers to adjust them. From that panel you can change passes directly, control Exclude, Hide In Viewport, Holdout and Only Indirect for any collection on the selected View Layer, reorder View Layers, and apply Camera Culling.
Its core routine splits scene geometry into three View Layers, Background, Foreground and Focus, and creates a View Layer for each one automatically. The Focus split measures the distance between the camera and a chosen focus object, so it holds up with animation and timeline camera markers. It splits meshes, surfaces, meta-balls and texts, and offers a Smart Geo Nodes option for Geometry Nodes objects.
On the output side, the add-on builds composition node groups from the scene, mixing all layers and passes in a given order. It can also assemble a composition from a MultiLayer EXR file once you set the layer order. It supports Blender 4 and later.
Three Layer Rendering is best for blender artists rendering scenes in layers and assembling compositions from View Layers or MultiLayer EXR files.
Three Layer Rendering is completely free to download and use.
Three Layer Rendering supports Blender 4 and later. If you are running a Blender 4.x release, the add-on is built to work with it, so its View Layer management and composition tools are available in your current version. For versions older than Blender 4, the developer does not list support, so check the developer's page before installing on an earlier build. The changelog on that page is the best place to confirm exactly which releases are covered and to see any features added in newer updates.
Three Layer Rendering builds the Focus layer by measuring the distance between the camera and the selected focus object. Because it relies on that distance rather than a fixed position, it keeps working even when the focus object is animated. It also works with timeline camera markers, so scenes that switch cameras are handled. Alongside Focus, the add-on splits geometry into Background and Foreground layers, and it can process meshes, surfaces, meta-balls and texts when creating those splits.
Three Layer Rendering handles Geometry Nodes objects through its Smart Geo Nodes option. When enabled, it tries to find the first Instances On Points node and connects a group to that node's Selection input, which avoids creating instances rather than deleting them afterward for better performance. One limit applies: if the correct Instances On Points node sits inside a group in the node tree rather than at the root of the modifier, this method will not find it. Keep that node at the root for the option to work as intended.
Three Layer Rendering can generate a composition directly from a MultiLayer EXR file. You select the file, set the correct order for its layers, and press a single button to build the composition. It can also create a composition node group straight from the scene, mixing all layers and passes in the order you choose. The developer describes the EXR route as taking under a minute and a good point to start your own composition, and notes it saves a lot of tedious time.
Three Layer Rendering is listed as free in this catalog. Licensing terms can change over time, so for the current price and any usage conditions, check the developer's page before you rely on it. That page also hosts the documentation, video tutorials and the changelog, which cover the auto-compose workflow and the View Layer ordering tools in more detail than a listing can. Confirming licensing there keeps you aligned with the developer's latest terms.
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