So, what’s this Preserve Layer Name setting do?

Preserve Layer Name is for single-layer EXRs, and it determines whether or not the AOV is written into the pre-defined R,G,B,A channels.

By that, I mean that if Preserve Layer Name = False, then a single-layer EXR will have these channels:

• A
• B
• G
• R

And if Preserve Layer Name = True, then the single-layer EXR will have channels like this (that include the “layer name”):

• Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.A
• Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.B
• Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.G
• Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.R

Channel names like “Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.R” can cause problems with some software, so by default Preserve Layer Names is set to False.

Note that Preseve Layer Names applies to single-layer EXRs only. If you’re writing out multi-layer EXRs, you’ll always get names like “Arnold_Direct_Diffuse.R”.