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title: "VRayAlpha"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAX/113585658/VRayAlpha"
format: markdown
---
This page gives information about the Alpha Render Element. Overview The Alpha Render Element shows the transparency of objects in the scene as grayscale colors. Solid geometry is represented by solid white, while those areas not blocked by geometry within the scene are black. Pixels at antialiased edges have varying shades of gray, as do semi-transparent surfaces. ||Render Setup window|| >  Render Elements  tab >  Add  button >  VRayAlpha Parameters VRayAlpha  has no controllable parameters .   Common Uses The  Alpha Render Element  is primarily used as a mask to enable other elements to be placed behind the  Beauty composite , such as the  Background  Render Element. The Alpha Render Element shown takes into account the transparency of the glass in the windows and masks them. See how the render looks before and after compositing. Before After   Notes   When using transparent materials such as glass, make sure that the material is set up to treat the material as transparent with regard to the Alpha channel. For example, when using  VRayMtl  as the material, set the  Affect channels  parameter for both Reflection and Refraction to  Color+alpha  or  All channels . Otherwise, the transparent surface is not treated as transparent in the Alpha Render Element. VRayAlpha render element is available as an output only when VFB is disabled from  Render Setup  >  V-Ray  tab   >  Frame buffer  rollout >  Enable built-in VFB , and an output format is chosen from  Render Setup  >  Common  tab >  Render Output  >  Save file .