How to use "CDA" as an LPE to get raw base color AOV?

[bentway23]

From Googling and forum-diving it seems that the way to get a raw diffuse AOV from Karma is to "Use CDA as a light path expression", but I haven't been able to find out what exactly that means/where to do it. I know what an LPE is in the most general sense, but haven't found a field in a node where typing "CDA" does anything. Any pointers?

Edited July 18 by bentway23
typo

[haggi]

You can use it wherever AOVs are defined, e.g. in a rendervar lop. Just change the source type to "LPE" and write your expression into the soruce name.

[RoseCliver]

On 7/18/2025 at 12:48 PM, bentway23 said:

From Googling and forum-diving it seems that the way to get a raw diffuse AOV from Karma is to "Use CDA as a light path expression", but I haven't been able to find out what exactly that means/where to do it. I know what an LPE is in the most general sense, but haven't found a  E-Imdadat field in a node where typing "CDA" does anything. Any pointers?

In Karma, using “CDA as a light path expression” means creating a Custom AOV and typing CDA in the Light Path Expression field. This outputs only the closest diffuse contribution, ignoring specular or indirect bounces. Ensure your Karma version supports Custom LPE AOVs, then assign a name and type to capture the raw diffuse lighting correctly.

Edited yesterday at 10:04 AM by RoseCliver