Introduction to Lighting in Maya
The first step to creating impressive final renders is learning how to configure appropriate lighting for your scene. Software required: Maya 2015.
What you'll learn
The first step to creating impressive final renders is learning how to configure appropriate lighting for your scene. In this tutorial, we'll start off slowly, covering essential tools and techniques you'll need to know in order to get the most out of your renders. To get started we'll take a brief look at each of the major light types, learning key attributes of each. Next, we'll focus on Maya spot lights and some of the specialized features that come with them. From here you'll learn about loads of important tools and techniques, including the difference between Depth Map Shadows and Ray Trace Shadows, as well as how to simulate illuminated light sources and the importance of render stats. Finally, we'll go over how to link shadows and lights to objects in your scenes, as well as how to create volumetric light fog. Software required: Maya 2015.
Table of contents
- Overview of Various Light Types 8m
- Understanding Common Attributes of Maya Lights 10m
- Essential Attributes of Maya Spot Lights 6m
- Methods for Easily Aiming Lights in Maya 5m
- Using the Show Manipulator Tool in Maya 6m
- Exploring the Barn Doors Feature of Spot Lights 6m
- Working with Ambient Lights in Maya 6m
- Using Depth Map Shadows in Maya 11m
- Rendering Ray Trace Shadows in Maya 9m
- Controlling the Render Stats of Maya Objects 7m
- Simulating Illuminated Light Sources in Maya 9m
- Light and Shadow Linking in Maya 9m
- Using Gobos in Maya 7m
- Creating Volumetric Light Fog in Maya 9m
- Creating Light Glows and Lens Flares in Maya 9m
- Controlling Reflection and Refraction Depth in Maya 8m
About the author
Eddie began teaching creative professionals over ten years ago for Digital Tutors. In 2014 Digital Tutors was acquired by Pluralsight and he continued his focus on creating high quality training for artists in both the film and games industries. With a background in graphic design and illustration Eddie has always been focused on visual appeal. This can be seen through his courses in which he shares secrets for achieving production level quality for concept art, illustrations, textures, mater... more