The following is a preview of your modifications. If everything looks ok then you can click 'Continue' and your post will be entered. If not then use the bottom form below to edit some more.
Subject: Re: Render Layer improvements
Sure, but just how do you suppose to tell the computer how to do the layer if you wouldnt use mel?
Actualy the thing is that the shading tree should be rewanpped to include arbitraty output connections to shadergroups so that each one render coudld output many images form one calc instead of many as it works now. Bit like arbitrary output variables in prman, and the similliar output variable thing in mentalray.
some comments tough:
Renderlayers are not partitions per se, but nodes that connect to objects renderinfo wich can only have one imput connection. Wich essentialy is allmost like sets but technicaly NOT.
Anyway you have all this functionality available today (yes even like in xsi), all you need is mel that tells how each layer should be rendered. Its not hard and it has the added benefit of allowing you to do anything you could imagine, even things guys at alias forgot about. NOTE: you can not gain superior flexibility without coding sorry theres no piece of ui that can do all that you coudl imagine.
But I do have a ui for doing most of what you ask for in pure mel... sorry im not sure if i can distribute it tough i must ask. id bet my balls i cant. It produces something much like thisone altough it was the version piror to the ui im using now, wich is far more flexible, even spits out processing info linux nowdays (and works even without processing info). Sorry the demo is REALY OLD!
Ps this is a maya wishlist not a demand list for what alias should implement