How did I handle… Developing a Rendering Workflow inside a 3D Production Pipeline

I’m dividing the production process in the following 4 phases:
• Modeling,
• Rigging,
• Visual effects (VFX), and
• Rendering.
I’m dividing the Rendering phase in 3 steps:
• Rendering elements
• Texturing
• Compositing
First, I’m distributing the render fields of my short film into fore, mid, and background.
• Foreground includes the character and the pampas grass waving in the wind.
• Middle‑ground includes water, ground, bigger trees, etc.
• Background includes sun, mist, water in the back and far away trees. I'm using a 2D card style Paint Effects for the farthest trees.
You render for compositing, the same way you model for rigging and texturing. I know from experience that compositors are going to need the following elements for every object in the fields:
• Direct lighting
• Indirect lighting
• Diffuse
• Reflections
• Speculars
• Refraction (transparency)
• Subsurface scattering (SSS) / translucency
• Volumetric lights
• Depth of field
• Motion blur
For lighting, I'm adding a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) for general lighting, a directional light to reinforce sunlight, and a spotlight to light up the speculars in her eyes. Also some volumetric lights rendered with the Maya renderer. The video shows some of the passes already composited. If you want to know more about rendering, take a look at the following case studies:
• Texturing a character: https://www.3dartviz.com/skills/skills-3d/rendering/texturing-character-render-time.html
• Rendering an interior environment: https://www.3dartviz.com/skills/skills-3d/rendering/rendering-interior-environment.html
• Texturing an exterior environment: https://www.3dartviz.com/skills/skills-3d/rendering/texturing-buildings-real-time-environment.html
• Compositing a short film: https://www.3dartviz.com/skills/skills-3d/rendering/compositing-short-film-using-nuke.html
• Rendering a prop asset: https://www.3dartviz.com/skills/skills-3d/rendering/rendering-prop-asset.html