Hello Everyone!

I would appreciate some guidance. I may be an idiot and overthinking this.

I have a render broken into two layers, background and foreground. I'd like to render the background first, then sample that data and use it to modify the foreground render.

This can all be done by hand. But I wanted to know if it is possible to have the operation done in a single click. So when I hit render, Houdini outputs the background, samples it for the foreground, and then has it composited so I can see the result.

I just need to be pointed in the correct direction. Is this what TOPS is for, can it be done in the render engine (Arnold), or is there some other way?

Thanks for the help!