Introducing Maya® 2011

Summary

This chapter explored lighting in Maya, beginning with basic concepts that included the three-point lighting technique. You then learned about the different lights in Maya, how they work, and how you can use light linking to control your scene better. Shadows are an important part of lighting and were covered next in this chapter, followed by a quick exploration of the Physical Sun and Sky system with mental ray and then lighting effects such as lens flare and light glows. You then created a simple lighting for the decorative box for a still rendering. Finally, you learned how to begin animating lights for use in your scenes.

Lighting is truly the linchpin of CG. It can make or break a scene with the flick of a switch. As you’ll see in ...