How to merge Render-layers/images in Blenders Compositor

[wicked arrow]

How do i merge my following images into one using blenders compositor? (i am a huge noob when it comes to blenders compositor)

[coarse sky]

Use an alpha over node and plug 2 different images into it

[wicked arrow]

yea, i tried that, was quite weird. I tried in After Effects tho, and it seems to work

[spiral obsidian]

weird how? i sent you this screenshot yesterday. did you replicate this?

[wicked arrow]

I did, i just found AE easier

Or quicker to say the least

[spiral obsidian]

ae is easier probably

but its worth knowing the way to do it in blender

[wicked arrow]

Yes, defiently. I will defiently look further into it. But yesterday wasnt really much about learning, it was more on just getting the project done as fast as possible

[spiral obsidian]

that's fair

[coarse sky]

Ae might have worked for this program but trust me when I say it sucks for cgi and 3D comp

Just try to import an exr sequence and see what happens

[wicked arrow]

I know that yea, nothing works lol! But i know there is a way, dont know how to, William Landgren talked about it once

[coarse sky]

You cant tape a sinking ship and expect it to not sink. Not even flex seal is strong enough to fix the ship called ae

But honestly if you have not invested too much time into learning it switch to davinci or nuke or blenders comp.

[wicked arrow]

I know basics on Nuke

And Nuke is REALLY good, but damn is it expensive

But after effects works alot for me

Also, when we are on the topic of EXR. What is that?

Isnt it like a way to get all the Passes into one? Ans adjust them?

[coarse sky]

Okay I give up. Just use after effects xd

[coarse sky]

Exr is pretty much the best file format for cgi. You can change the exposure afterwards and it can use floats (32 bits) so you get all the color detail. Multi layer exr allows you to save multiple images/ passes into one file (for example cryptomatte, the combined output, mist...)

And you can combine the passes afterwards.
Lets say you have a red flag in your scene. You can accurately adjust the color by selecting it using the cryptomatte and then masking a hue shift with it that shifts the hue of the color pass. After that combine the light, glossy etc passes on top

The example is kinda ass but you get what I mean. You have all the files in one image and you can adjust every pass if you want

[wicked arrow]

Aaah, but does it take longer time to render?

[coarse sky]

It takes some time to save if you dont use compression/ your drive is slow?

[spiral obsidian]

all the data is written to memory during the render process so while technically it will be slower, we're not talking about any noticeable difference i wouldnt have thought

[steep vigil]

How do I export multiple render layers at once?