RenderingTask

USING MAYA: RENDERING
VERSION 3
Copyright 2000, Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited.
Printed in U S A. All rights reserved.
The Maya 3 Documentation were created by: Steven Brooks, John Dila, Lisa Ford,
Conan Hunter, Claude Macri, Susan Park, Diane Ramey, Linda Rose, and Michael Stivers.
The title page image was created by: Matt Dougan
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
1 RENDERING NODES AND NETWORKS 1
Visual elements of a rendered scene 2

Previewing a scene and its elements 2
Nodes and node networks 3
Viewing a representation of your scene 3
Viewing nodes and node networks 5
Creating, duplicating, and deleting nodes 12
Connecting nodes 16
Setting node attributes 19
Animating node attributes 21
Importing and exporting nodes 24
Accessing your directories from Visor 25
2 PREVIEWING A SCENE 27
Interactively previewing and tuning a scene 29

Previewing and tuning with IPR 34
Changing the focus of IPR tuning 35
Previewing a scene or part of a scene 36
Rendering a single frame 37
Rendering part of a frame 37
Rendering specific objects 40
Previewing NURBS surface tessellation 41
Previewing surfaces in a view 42
Previewing the region of a scene to render 44
Finding scene problems and rendering scenes faster 44

iii
CONTENTS
3 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 47
Creating lights 48
Light types 49
Light Properties 50
Color and brightness 52
Location, direction, and light/surface links 52
Brightness and color decay 53
Brightness and color dropoff 55
Making lights render faster 55
Light icons, views, and manipulators 56
Light icons 56
Light views 56
Light manipulators 57
Positioning lights 60
Directing lights 61
Controlling which lights illuminate which surfaces 62
Creating and editing sets 63
Linking lights and surfaces 66
Customizing intensity or color decay 69
Creating intensity curves and color curves 70
Editing intensity curves and color curves 71
Precision lighting 74
Shadows 80
Creating shadows 82
Depth map shadows 82
Reusing depth maps 83
Raytraced shadows 86
Shadow properties 87
Depth map shadow properties 87
Raytraced shadows properties 88

IV
CONTENTS
Removing shadows 89
Making shadows render faster 90
Troubleshooting shadows 91
4 OPTICAL LIGHT EFFECTS 95
Creating optical light effects 97

Optical light effect icons 97
Removing optical light effects 98
Moving optical effects 98
Animating a light’s glow effect 99
Glow properties 100
Glow color, brightness, size, and opacity 101
Glow location 101
Glow brightness decay 101
Glow beams 102
Glow Randomness 103
Halo properties 104
Halo color, brightness, and size 104
Halo location 105
Halo brightness decay 105
Lens flare properties 106
Lens Flare color and brightness 106
Lens Flare location 107
Lens Flare shape, size, sharpness, and number 107
Lens Flare spread length and spread direction 108
Illuminated fog 108
Creating illuminated fog 108
Illuminated fog properties 109
Illuminated fog color and brightness 109
Illuminated fog location, direction, and size 110

v
CONTENTS
Illuminated fog brightness decay 110

Illuminated fog brightness dropoff 112
Illuminated fog opacity 112
Illuminated fog icons 113
Removing illuminated fog 113
5 MATERIALS AND SURFACES 115
Setting surface quality 117

NURBS surfaces 118
Polygonal surfaces 121
Aliasing 122
Material visual components 123
Color 125
The Color Chooser 126
The Surface Shader 126
Textures and file textures 127
Shininess 128
Surface highlights 129
Reflections 130
Bump Mapping 131
Displacement mapping 132
Feature-based displacement mapping 133
Non-Feature-based displacement mapping 135
Transparency 140
Uniform transparency 141
Refractions 141
Mapping transparency 142
Self-Illumination 143
Lighting surfaces from within 143
Surfaces that glow 144

VI
CONTENTS
Motion blur 147

3D motion blur 148
2D motion blur 149
Creating surface materials 152
Creating materials 152
Changing a material type 153
Applying textures to materials 153
Deforming surfaces with 3D textures or 2D projection textures 156
Applying materials to surfaces 161
Combining materials 162
Layering materials 163
Layering textures 166
Blend Modes 170
Double-sided shading 171
Switch utilities 174
Using Switch utilities 175
Making surfaces render faster 186
Troubleshooting surfaces 187
6 PAINTING TEXTURES 191
Paint Textures Tool and texture naming 192

Switch nodes and painted textures 193
Using the Paint Textures Tool 195
Masking polygonal faces while painting 196
Painting and IPR rendering 197
Determining stamp spacing and brush depth 200
Changing the Stamp Spacing 200
Changing the Brush Depth 201
Selecting and painting attributes 201
Texture attribute availability 202

vii
CONTENTS
Painting attributes not shown in the Texture list 202

Placing painted 2d textures 207
Assigning, saving, and reloading textures 209
7 CAMERAS AND VIEWS 211
Introduction to cameras 212

Creating cameras and views 213
Creating a camera to animate 215
One-node cameras 216
Multi-node cameras 216
Camera views and view guides 217
Camera views 217
Camera view guides 218
Camera icons and manipulators 220
Camera icons 220
Camera manipulators 221
Setting up a camera 224
Setting a camera’s view 227
Setting a camera’s center of interest 228
Setting how a camera views its center of interest 231
Setting a camera’s range 234
Selectively focusing a camera’s view 236
Saving and loading a camera’s view 238
Making camera views render faster 239
8 BACKGROUND AND ATMOSPHERE 241
Background 242
Creating a color background 244
Creating a texture background 244

VIII
CONTENTS
Creating an image file background 246

Removing a background 252
Atmosphere 253
Creating environment fog 254
Environment fog properties 254
Troubleshooting backgrounds 256
Troubleshooting environment fog 256
9 PREPARING TO RENDER 259
Selecting a camera 260

Setting rendered image properties 261
Setting the file format of rendered images 261
Setting the file name and extension of rendered images 265
Setting the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of rendered images 266
Rendered images with color, mask, or depth channels 268
Setting the location to save rendered images 272
Setting rendered images as frames or fields 273
Selecting objects to render 277
Selecting layers to render 279
Selecting individual objects or shadows to render 279
Selecting a range of objects and shadows to render 281
Running MEL commands before and after rendering 282
Making scenes render faster 283
10 RENDERING A SCENE 285
Finding potential problems in a scene 286

Test rendering 286
Rendering a frame 288
Rendering an animation 289

ix
CONTENTS
Rendering an animation on several computers 290

Rendering an animation on several UNIX computers 290
Rendering an animation on several Windows NT computers 292
Rendering on a computer with several processors 292
11 VIEWING RENDERED IMAGES 295
Viewing an image as it renders 296

Viewing a rendered image of a frame 297
Viewing rendered images of an animation 298
Playing a fcheck animation 299
Analyzing rendered images 301
Converting rendered image file formats 303
Color correcting rendered images 304
Changing luminance, gamma, saturation or offset 304
Troubleshooting rendered images 308
INDEX 309

X
INTRODUCING MAYA: USING RENDERING
Thank you for buying Maya—Alias|Wavefront’s award-winning computer

animation package. The following pages describe how to approach the Maya
documentation so you can learn and use your software most effectively.
About the rendering books

There are two rendering books for Maya 3.0: Using Maya: Rendering
(organized by production tasks) and Maya Reference: Rendering (organized by
Maya’s user interface). Also included is a rendering-specific reference card:
Troubleshooting Rendered Images.
To find information on... For example... Look in...
How you perform a How do I create Using Maya:

specific action. shadows? Rendering
What a particular Maya What does the Depth Maya Reference:

option, attribute, or Map Shadows attribute Rendering
window does. do?
How to solve a problem in How do I fix jagged Troubleshooting

a rendered image. shadow edges so that rendered images
they’re smooth? reference card
Using Maya: Rendering

Using Maya: Rendering describes how to give a scene a specific “look” by
creating lights, shadows, and light effects, shading and texturing surfaces,
setting up cameras and views, and creating a background.
It also describes how to prepare for rendering, render a scene, and view
rendered images.

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|
Maya Reference: Rendering

Maya Reference: Rendering describes each attribute, editor, and window you
use when rendering. Basic workflows as well as examples introduce you to
all you need to know about such elements as materials, textures, cameras,
and lighting.
About the Maya documentation set

Whether you use Maya Unlimited, Maya Builder, or Maya Builder, you
receive a full set of documentation. Since Maya ties together several different
kinds of software, we’ve included a lot of different books to describe how to
use it.
Where do I begin?
The following paragraphs should help you decide where to start reading
and learning about Maya.
1 When you install Maya Complete, Maya Unlimited, or Maya Builder, see
one of the installation guides for guidance.
For example, see Installing Maya 3.0 on Windows NT if you’re installing Maya
Complete or Unlimited on an NT or Windows 2000 system.
Important
In response to customer requests, we’ve changed the licensing procedure
in Maya 3.0, Please read the installation instructions from cover to cover,
even if you have installed previous versions of Maya.
2 If you’ve used Maya before and want an overview of new features, see
What’s New in Maya 3.
This booklet provides a summary of new features across all modules.
Next, you may want to review the Maya 3.0 Release Notes for brief
descriptions of limitations in the software and successful ways to work
around them.

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3 If you’re a first-time Maya user, see Learning Maya for a comprehensive,

step-by-step tour of the Maya software before you read any other
documentation.
A CD included at the back of the book contains online documentation of the
tutorials as well as all required image and Maya support files. Additional
copies of this book are also available from your local technical bookstore.
The remaining documentation assumes that you have at least a working
familiarity with Maya, so it’s important to start with Learning Maya.
4 Now, you’re ready to move on to the Using Maya series.
The Using Maya series

The Using Maya books describe how you can use Maya’s user interface to
create professional 3D graphics animations and visual effects. Each book is
devoted to a different area of the software.
The Using Maya series includes these books:
Essentials provides a guide to Maya’s user interface and basic tools. Using Maya:
Essentials also defines a number of concepts that are common to all of Maya.
Using Maya: Essentials was called Using Maya: Basics in previous releases.
NURBS describes Maya's spline modeling system and tells you how to get the most
Modeling out of it.
Polygonal describes how to interactively create, modify, and color polygonal models.
Modeling
Subdivision describes the enhanced subdivision surfaces modeling tools which are
Surfaces available only in Maya Unlimited.
Modeling
Character Setup tells how to use Maya’s deformer, skeleton, skinning, constraint, and
character features.
Animation describes Maya's basic animation software, which is based on keyframes and
motion paths. This book also provides information on motion capture and
introduces other Maya animation techniques, such as character setup.
Dynamics describes how to animate using natural forces. You can use dynamics to
make effects such as tumbling dice, waving flags, and exploding fireworks.

xiii
|
Rendering describes how to prepare for rendering, render a scene, and view your
rendered images. This book also describes how to create light, shadow, and
light effects, shade and texture surfaces, and paint textures. It also shows you
how to set up cameras and views and create a background. The information
in Using Maya: Rendering is arranged by production task.
The online book, Maya Reference: Rendering describes Maya’s rendering-
related menu options, attributes, and windows. The information in this book
is organized around the user interface
Paint Effects describes how to use Paint Effects to paint real-time rendered strokes onto or
between 3D objects or onto a 2D canvas.
Cloth describes how to create and animate realistic clothing using Maya
Unlimited’s Cloth software. This book includes four tutorials to get you
started, as well as a complete user’s guide.
Fur describes how to use Maya Unlimited Fur to create realistic, self-shadowing
fur and short hair on multi-surface models.
Live describes how to use Live, Maya Unlimited’s automated match-moving tool.
You can use Live to match Maya scenes with live footage by reconstructing
3D locations and camera or object movement from a shot.
The Maya Technical Library

When you’re ready to use Maya to its fullest potential, you’ll want to explore
the technical library. These documents tell how to use Maya’s powerful
command language and expressions. They also provide information that will
help you use Maya with other software packages.
Note
The books in the Maya Technical Library are not included in a printed
document set. However, html files for all of these documents are provided
on your product CD for online viewing. PDF files are also provided unless
otherwise specified.

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MEL describes how to use the Maya Embedded Language (MEL) to enter
commands and write scripts.
MEL Command includes technical descriptions of the individual MEL commands. MEL
Reference commands are provided in html format only, no PDF files are supplied.
Expressions describes how to use expressions to control attributes. Expressions are ideal
for controlling attributes that change incrementally, randomly, or
rhythmically over time. They are also useful for linking attributes between
different objects—where a change to one attribute affects the behavior of the
other.
DG Node is for technical users who want more information on the DG node attributes.
Reference The DG Node Reference is provided in html format only, no PDF files are supplied.
Maya File Formats is for technical users with programming experience who want to either edit
Maya files or write translators to or from the Maya file formats.
Maya Developer’s describes how to use the Maya API to load, write, and edit plug-ins. This
Tool Kit book includes instructions for creating your own plug-ins. The Maya
Developer’s Tool Kit also features on-line links to example plug-ins.
Maya Translators is for people who are bringing data into Maya or exporting data to other
software packages.
Maya Game describes how to install and use Maya game translators. Information is
Translators provided for VRML2 and GE2, as well as the RTG file format. This book also
includes information on using the MDt API.
Rendering Utilities describes how to use command-line and stand-alone utilities that are part of
Maya, such as fcheck, as well as the options for the command line renderer.
Rendering Utilities was called Utilities in previous releases.
Using Maya’s online documentation

For your convenience, the Maya documentation is online in html format.
(This help requires version 4 or higher of either Netscape Communicator or
Internet Explorer.) We include the complete Maya Unlimited documentation
set, no matter what version of the software you have purchased.

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Printing online books

To allow you to print copies of the documentation, we’ve provided PDF files
of most documents. These files require the Adobe Acrobat reader.
To print the online books, insert your Maya CD, navigate to the pdf
directory, and open library.pdf.
The Glossary
For 3.0, we’ve provided an online glossary so you can look up meanings of
words you encounter which are new or confusing.
Search tools
Due to customer requests, we’ve provided an enhanced Library search tool
in Maya 3.0. You can use the Library Search tool without installing the
documentation files on a server. To access the Library Search tool, return to
the main Maya Library page and select Library Search.
A Book Search tool is also provided in the left frame of most books. Use this
tool when to look for an item in the book you are viewing currently.
Online indexes
When you are viewing a specific book, you can access that book’s index. You
can also use the Global Index to view entries throughout the document set
(except the MEL Command Reference and the DG Node Reference.)
Using Maya’s printed documentation

A complete printed documentation set includes the following
documentation:
• Installing Maya — describes how to install and license your software
• Learning Maya — provides comprehensive step-by-step tutorials
• Maya Release Notes — lists limitations in the software and suggests
workarounds for them
• What’s New in Maya — describes the new features we’ve added for this
release
• Maya Quick Reference Card — a guide to Maya’s most frequently used
keyboard shortcuts. The Quick Reference Card also outlines the steps you
use to create your own hotkeys.

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• Troubleshooting Rendered Images — a quick reference card to help you identify

problems with rendered images
• Books in the Using Maya series — as listed on page xiii
• Maya Global Index for print —which provides page numbers for entries in the
printed document set. This book is different from the online index.
Printed documentation conventions

The printed documentation follows these conventions:
• MEL commands, program code, expressions, and error messages appear in
courier font:
This is computer code
• Items in cascading menus are identified by an arrow. For example, “select
Particles > Make Collide” means “select the Add Goal option from the Make
Collide menu.”
• Option windows are indicated by a box (❐) at the end of a menu item’s
name. Click this ❐ to open an item’s option window. For example, “Open
the Smooth options window (Polygons > Smooth - ❐).”

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xviii
INTRODUCTION
A typical film or video production can be divided into various distinct
stages. For some productions, like a feature film, a large team of people is
involved, with different people working in parallel on different stages. For
other productions, such as a television graphic, a single person may be
responsible for the entire production, working one stage after another.
Creating the computer generated (CG) elements for a film or video
production is usually an experimental process. Developments and
refinements in one stage of the process influence other stages, as does
periodic feedback from peers, directors, and clients. Although there is no
one standard procedure for creating a film or video production, most
productions involve some or all of the stages listed in the following.
Idea, script, and storyboard

Start with an idea, and develop it into a
written description of the project (the
script), which includes all action and
dialogue. Develop the script into a
visual description of each character,
each scene, and each shot (the
storyboard).
Project planning
Plan how to achieve each element in
each shot. For example, you may decide
to use a combination of real-world
elements (live action) and computer
generated (CG) elements, or you may
decide to use only CG elements.

1
|
Live action filming

If your project involves a combination of
live action and CG elements, film the
live action first to provide a reference to
the CG artists.
Modeling
Create CG surfaces to represent the basic
shapes of physical objects (for example,
a car or a person).
Animating
Define the motion and transformation of
CG elements over time (for example, a
car moving or a person walking).
Creating dynamic or particle effects

Realistically define the motion of CG
elements over time using physics (for
example, a ball falling due to gravity);
define the appearance and motion of
phenomena that involve countless small
particles (for example, fire or smoke).

2
|
Lighting
Illuminate CG surfaces and make them
cast shadows; create optical light effects
such as glows, halos, or lens flares, or
illuminated fog.
See “Rendering Nodes and Networks”
on page 1 and “Lights and Shadows” on
page 47.
Shading and texturing

Define the physical appearance of CG
surfaces, such as the surface material.
on page 1 and “Materials and Surfaces”
on page 115.
Setting up a view
Define a specific view of the CG scene.
on page 1 and “Cameras and Views” on
page 211.
Creating a background and

atmosphere
Define the appearance of the
background that appears behind all CG
elements, and the “air” that surrounds
all CG elements, such as fog.
on page 1 and “Background and
Atmosphere” on page 241.

3
|
Preparing to render
Define the properties that rendered
images will have, based on post-
production and presentation
requirements, and select objects to
render separately if necessary.
See “Preparing to Render” on page 259.
Rendering
Generate a two-dimensional image, or
series of images, from a specific view of
the three-dimensional CG scene.
See “Preparing to Render” on page 259.
Viewing rendered images

View and evaluate the rendered image,
or series of images, of the CG scene;
resolve any image quality problems.
See “Viewing Rendered Images” on
page 295.
Compositing
Combine live action and CG elements,
or CG elements that were rendered
separately, using compositing software
(such as Maya Composer or Maya
Fusion).
See the Maya Composer Lite or Maya
Fusion Lite on-line documentation for
Jester by Jeff Bell
details.

4
1 RENDERING NODES AND
NETWORKS
The renderer is the final stage in the 3D CG production process. It pulls data
together from every sub-system within Maya, interprets modeling
construction histories, IK chains, stacked deformations, rigid body, soft
body, particle dynamics, and more. At the same time, it interprets its own
data relevant to tessellation, texture mapping, shading, clipping, and
lighting.
Each attribute of a Maya node can be textured and animated. This means
that an attribute’s value or setting can be the result of another sequence of
Maya nodes.
There is no expected order of operations in Maya. You can connect any
Maya node to a shading node network as long as the input and output
attribute types match. For example, you can use the scale of a sphere (a triple
float attribute) to drive a material’s color (also a triple float attribute).
In addition to Maya’s complement of materials, textures, lights, and utilities,
you can write customized plug-in materials, textures, and lights, and
seamlessly integrate them into Maya. For instance, when you create your
own material, it automatically creates an Attribute Editor and sample swatch
like all the materials maya provides.
For details about creating your own plug-ins, see the on-line book,
Maya Developer’s Tool Kit.
In this chapter:
Visual elements of a rendered scene ... page 2
Nodes and node networks ... page 3

1
RENDERING NODES AND NETWORKS | 1
Visual elements of a rendered scene
VISUAL ELEMENTS OF A RENDERED SCENE

Nodes, connections, and node networks determine the visual elements of a
rendered image. See “Nodes and node networks” on page 3 for details.
Previewing a scene and its elements

There are many ways to preview rendering results in Maya, from Interactive
Photorealistic Rendering (IPR) to hardware texturing in the views.
See “Previewing a scene” on page 27 and “Finding scene problems and

rendering scenes faster” on page 44 for details.

2
Nodes and node networks
NODES AND NODE NETWORKS

Maya is a connection- or node-based system. Maya scenes consist of a series of
nodes you control by connecting them together and setting attribute values
for each node. There are various terms used to describe Maya’s architecture,
including Directed Graph (DG) and Data Flow architectures.
This section contains the following:
• “Viewing a representation of your scene” on page 3
• “Previewing a scene and its elements” on page 2
• “Viewing nodes and node networks” on page 5
• “Creating, duplicating, and deleting nodes” on page 12
• “Connecting nodes” on page 16
• “Setting node attributes” on page 19
• “Animating node attributes” on page 21
• “Importing and exporting nodes” on page 24
• “Accessing your directories from Visor” on page 25
Viewing a representation of your scene

Almost any kind of scene data can be used as input to rendering nodes, and
those nodes can be connected in a many ways to gain precise control over
the finished look. Both unconventional and rich effects can be generated.
The following explains some of the visual cues you can use to help edit and
refine these nodes and attributes to suit your needs.
The dependency graph

A dependency graph shows the node connections—Maya elements that
input and output data, such as connections among shading group items that
create an object’s material appearance. Material, light, post processes, such
as glow, texture, and utility nodes are the elements underlying the visual
looks you create in Maya.
See Using Maya: Essentials for more information about the dependency
graph.

3
Nodes
Nodes represent operations on data in your scene. Nodes consist of inputs
and outputs, the connections between which define all aspects of your
images from surfaces to lights and shadows.
Maya provides many types of nodes—surfaces, transforms, and 2D textures
are all node types.
A Blinn material node, with

its Output menu displaying
all the possible output
connections this node can
make.
Node networks
A node network contains several nodes connected together. You connect
nodes non-linearly to create the effects you want. You can share nodes to
create visual relationships, and to make rendering more efficient. Shading
networks are designed as a data flow network, where data is fed in the left
side of the network and a final shaded result emerges from the right-most
node.
Drag the cursor over the connection lines to display the input and output
information. See “Identifying nodes and node network connections” on page
9 for details.
Networks can be very simple or complex.

4
Several layers of textures are

connected to one Layered
Shader to make a complex
surface material.
Viewing nodes and node networks

Viewing nodes and node networks in Hypershade is like looking under the
hood of a car or at an object under a microscope—you can see what is
connected to what, how things are connected, and the relationships nodes
have to one another.

5
Material swatch into

which all other nodes
in network are
connected.
Connection lines
between nodes.
Texture swatch.
Right-click to display
Visor and Create folders. output menu.
To view a node network:

Select a swatch in Hypershade and click one of the tool bar buttons to view
upstream or downstream node connections or both. The node network,
including nodes and connections, displays. The following shows the node
connections for a selected texture swatch.

6
Show Upstream Connections Show Downstream Connections
Show Up and Downstream Connections
Selected texture
swatch connections.
The following shows the node connections for a selected material swatch.
Selected material
swatch connections.
Show Up and Downstream

Connections
The following shows the node connections for a selected shading group
swatch.

7
Geometry node.
Selected shading group

swatch connections.
Show Up and Downstream

Connections
Zooming and tracking a node network view

You can zoom in and out of Hypershade using the standard camera dolly
(Alt + left and middle mouse button) and track (Alt + middle mouse button)
hotkeys.
If you need to read

the swatch text while
the view is zoomed out,
drag the cursor over
the swatch to display
the swatch name.
Zoomed in. Zoomed out.

8
Rearranging the graph

When you first create a node network, the swatches may not display in an
orderly fashion. Select Graph > Rearrange Graph to adjust the display.
Identifying nodes and node network connections

The colored lines between nodes indicate node connections. As you move
the cursor over these lines, the connected attributes display.
Each line is connected to an attribute. For example, in the following, the 2d

Texture Placement node is connected to a file texture. Each connection line
represents an attribute available in the Place 2d Texture’s Attribute Editor.

9
To connect texture attributes to material attributes in Hypershade:

Using the left mouse button, click on the connection line, release the mouse,
then click-drag the white line connected at each end by small white boxes to
the output arrow on the material swatch. Release the mouse and select an
attribute from the pop-up menu.

10
A new connection is made, a new line and new node displays, and the
material updates with the new connections.
Before After
connection. connection.
Tip
These connection lines are color-coded, and indicate the type of connection.
For example, by default, triple connections are represented by green
connection lines. You can customize the colors and their meanings by
selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Colors, and changing the
values in the Hypergraph/Hypershade section.
To view a node’s inputs or outputs:

In Hypershade, right-click over the inputs or outputs arrows of a node to
display the pop-up menu.
These are the inputs and

outputs areas of a node.
Click an arrow to display
a pop-up menu.

11
Viewing images in Visor

You can quickly open and view any image file in your project directory or
render directory in Visor.
To view an image from within Visor:

Double click an image file in Visor’s project area to view the image in an
fcheck display window.
See “Viewing a rendered image of a frame” on page 297. See also the on-line
Maya Reference: Rendering book.
Creating, duplicating, and deleting nodes

You can create, duplicate, and delete nodes, connections, and node networks
in Hypershade.
To create a node using Visor:

1 Open the Create folder in Visor and open a node folder, like Materials.
2 Use the middle mouse button and click-drag a material node into
Hypershade. The new material swatch displays and a menu item is created
in the tool bar so you can easily return to that node’s layout or work area
whenever you want.
As you add more nodes, they occupy the same layout as the first node you
created so you can view and edit their relationships.

12
Maya stores between 8 and 10 work areas. If you create more than this,
Maya discards the oldest work areas for each new one.
Notes
• If you want a clear work area every time you drag a new node into
Hypershade, select Options > Clear Before Graphing.
• You can drag rendering nodes and folders from Visor to
Hypershade. You can also drag a scene file into Hypershade from
Visor. The scene file loads and the material and texture folders
display in Visor. (This operation is equivalent to importing these
nodes into the current scene.)
To create a node in Hypershade:

Maya provides two methods. Choose the one that’s easiest for you.
1 Select Create > from Hypershade’s menu bar and choose the rendering node
type and the node you want to create,
or
while the cursor is in Hypershade, right-mouse click to display the pop-up
menu.

13
2 Click in Hypershade to drop the new node swatch, or over another node
swatch to make a connection.
If you drop the new node onto another node, the connection pop-up menu
displays. Select an attribute on which you want to connect a node, and
release the mouse button. In Hypershade, the new node swatch displays and
the material swatch updates.
To duplicate a node and its network:

1 Select the node you want to duplicate.
2 In Hypershade, select Edit > Duplicate > Shading Network.
Maya creates the duplicated node network in Hypershade and in the Visor
folder with the original node. Each node you duplicate is placed in the
appropriate folder in Visor. In the following, the nodes are placed in the
Rendering level of Visor.
3 Click the Show Up and Downstream Connections button on the tool bar to
display the network you duplicated.

14
Note
If you want to duplicate a node without its network, select the node and
select Edit > Duplicate > Without Network. If you want to duplicate a node
and connect it to the same network (in effect sharing the network), select
Edit > Duplicate > With Connections to Network.
To delete a node connection:

1 Click the connection lines you want to delete (draw a marquee or Shift-click
to select more than one connection line), release the mouse and click in
Hypershade. The lines are highlighted.
2 Press Delete or Backspace to delete the connections. The lines are deleted
and the swatches in Hypershade update to show the changes.

15
To delete a node and its network:

1 Click the node you want to delete (draw a marquee or Shift-click to select
more than one node.) The node swatches are highlighted.
2 Press Delete or Backspace to delete the node or nodes. The swatches in
Hypershade and Visor are deleted.
Connecting nodes
You create a look by connecting nodes to form node networks.
Default connections
You can make default connections very quickly.
To connect two nodes using default connections in Visor or

Hypershade:
Using the middle mouse button, Ctrl-drag a node from the Create section of
Visor onto a node in Hypershade. Maya makes a default connection (for
instance, Maya assumes you want to connect the Color attribute of a texture
if you drag it onto a material).
To connect two nodes using default connections in the Attribute Editor:

1 Create a node in Hypershade (such as a 2D checker texture).

16
2 Double-click the input node’s swatch to open it’s Attribute Editor (such as a
Phong material).
3 Using the middle mouse button, drag the texture node swatch from Visor’s
Rendering section or from Hypershade into the material node’s Attribute
Editor directly onto the attribute name of the node you want to connect to.
Click-drag a checker
texture node from
the Rendering
section of Visor or
from Hypershade
onto the attribute’s
name.
Release the mouse.
Maya makes the connection and Hypershade updates.

17
Explicit connections
You can explicitly connect nodes to form node networks.
To connect two nodes using explicit connections:

1 Using the middle mouse button, Shift-drag a node from Visor or
Hypershade onto a node in Hypershade. The Connection Editor displays
showing the output node on the left and the input node on the right.
2 Select the output attribute on the left, then select the input attribute on the
right.
3 Close the Connection Editor. The connections display in Hypershade.

18
To connect two nodes using a default output and explicit input

connection:
1 Middle-mouse drag a node from Visor or Hypershade onto a node in
Hypershade. The Connect Input of menu of the receiving node displays.
2 Select the input attribute and release the mouse to make the connection.
Setting node attributes

You can fine-tune the visual elements in your scene by setting and adjusting
node attributes connected to other nodes and surfaces in your scene.
You can set one node at a time, (such as adjust an individual attribute while
using IPR), or adjust several at once using the Attribute Spread Sheet, the
Rendering Flags window, or the Channel Box.
See also the on-line Maya Reference: Rendering book for details about these
editors and windows.
To set an attribute for one node:

1 Select the node whose attribute you want to adjust and open its Attribute
Editor (double-click the node’s swatch in Hypershade to open its Attribute
Editor, or select Window > Attribute Editor.)
2 Adjust the attribute by moving the slider or typing a value in the field next
to the attribute name. If you want to map an attribute, press the map button
at the end of an attribute’s name. You can also set an attribute for many
nodes at the same time (such as turn off Visible in Reflections for several
surfaces) using the Attribute Spread Sheet.

19
To set an attribute for multiple nodes:

1 Select the surfaces or rendering nodes whose attributes you want to adjust.
2 Select Window > General Editors > Attribute Spread Sheet to display the
Attribute Spread Sheet.
3 Click a tab heading to see the attributes. The Keyable tab contains the render
node attributes. The Render tab contains the attributes that determine how a
surface renders. Use the scroll bar to view the attributes horizontally.
4 Drag down an attribute column to select its contents.

5 Type the value you want in the top field of the selected attribute column and
press Enter. All the attributes in the column update with the new value.

20
Tip
The Render Flags window also provides you with a way to edit multiple
nodes. See Rendering Flags in the on-line book, Maya Reference: Rendering.
Animating node attributes

To animate an attribute:
1 In the main Maya window, set the Time Slider to a frame.
Click to set a frame.
2 In the rendering node’s Attribute Editor, right-click the label of the attribute
you want to key and select Set Key from the pop-up menu to create a key.
3 Set the Time Slider to another frame.

21
4 Adjust the attribute and set another key. For example, click the Blinn
material’s color attribute and select a different color from the Color chooser
each time you set a new key.
Set a key on the time slider,

change the Color attribute,
then right-mouse in the
Attribute Editor and select Set Key.
Notice the tabs at the top of the Attribute Editor. They now contain
Animation attributes for the attributes you chose.
5 Playback the animation.
Playback button.
The surface to which the rendering attributes are assigned animate in the
view (for instance, the Blinn color changes at each key you set).
For more information on keys and playback, see Using Maya: Animation.

22
To view an attribute’s animation curve:

1 Open the Graph Editor (Window > Animation Editors > Graph Editor).
2 Open the Attribute Editor containing the attribute whose curves you want to
graph.
3 Press the Select button at the bottom of the Attribute Editor.
4 Maya loads the node into the Graph Editor, showing all animated attributes
in the left panel, and the graph curves in the graph panel (right).
5 Click an attribute in the left panel, click the Move Nearest Picked Key Tool
icon, use the right mouse button to select a point and use the middle mouse
button to adjust the animation curve.

23
Select the
Move Nearest
Picked Key Tool.
Right-mouse
click to select
a point.
Middle-mouse
click to adjust
the curve.
Notice how the attribute changes in the Attribute Editor, Hypershade, or

view as you adjust the animation curve. Playback the animation to see the
changes.
Importing and exporting nodes

Use File > Import or File > Export to import and export rendering nodes
among scenes. See also Using Maya: Essentials for a general discussion of
importing and exporting in Maya.
You can also import rendering nodes into the current scene by dragging
them from your project directory in Visor.
Note
Maya does not support drag-exporting to Visor.
To import a rendering node:

Drag the node you want from your project directory in Visor to Hypershade.
Maya imports, or copies, the node into the scene, and it displays in
Hypershade and in the scene’s Rendering folder in Visor.

24
Tip
Importing rendering nodes using Visor is the same as importing nodes
using File > Import.
To import all nodes from another scene:

In Visor, open your scenes directory, and drag a Maya scene into
Hypershade.
All the Maya nodes from that scene are imported into your current scene.
To export a rendering node:

1 In Hypershade, select the node(s) you want to export.
2 Select File > Export Selection.
3 Select the folder you want to export to, and choose Export Selection.
You can also export all the nodes in your scene by selecting
File > Export All in the main Maya window.
Accessing your directories from Visor

You can access your Maya files from any directory in Visor. Simply right-
mouse click while in Visor and select Add New Disk Folder from the pop-up
menu to link to your directories. Select a folder (directory) from the browser
that displays and drag your icons to the Hypershade to either open a file or
import a texture.

25
To remove a folder, place the cursor in the directory area or highlight the
directory name, right mouse click and select Remove this folder.

26
2 PREVIEWING A SCENE
Previewing occurs during several rendering phases, and you can use the
previewing tool that is best suited to your needs.
In this chapter:
Interactively previewing and tuning a scene ... page 29
Previewing a scene or part of a scene ... page 36
Previewing NURBS surface tessellation ... page 41
Previewing surfaces in a view ... page 42

27
PREVIEWING A SCENE | 2
Interactively previewing and tuning

materials
IPR lets you tune and preview at the
same time, interactively. As you tune an
attribute, the IPR image updates,
showing you the result of the change.
See “Interactively previewing and
tuning a scene” on page 29.
Previewing a scene or part of a

scene
You can perform low resolution test
renders of frames or parts of frames in
the Render View. See “Previewing a
scene or part of a scene” on page 36.
Previewing how objects are

tessellated
Display Render Tessellation lets you
preview the quality of your NURBS
surfaces before you render. See
“Previewing NURBS surface
tessellation” on page 41.
Previewing surfaces in a view

Switch to Hardware Texturing in a
modeling view to get a rough idea of
material assignment and texture
placement. See “Previewing surfaces in
a view” on page 42.

28
Interactively previewing and tuning a scene
Previewing visual elements of a

scene and their relationships
Use Hypershade to preview nodes and
their relationships. See “Finding scene
problems and rendering scenes faster”
on page 44.
INTERACTIVELY PREVIEWING AND TUNING A SCENE

This section contains the following information:
• “Previewing and tuning with IPR” on page 34
• “Changing the focus of IPR tuning” on page 35
The Render View contains Interactive Photorealistic Rendering (IPR)
options, which let you match colors, edit materials and textures, and adjust
light placement in real time.

29
When you drag a marquee around the entire scene or part of the scene, it re-
renders the scene in the Render View when you change lights, shadows,
materials, textures, and post processes.
• You can tune an entire frame or select a region or specific surfaces on which
to focus.
• You can batch render IPR files from the command line, so you can tune
several frames of the same animation, in which the visibility data may vary
from frame to frame.
What happens when you perform an IPR render?

When you perform an IPR render, Maya performs all the visibility
calculations (only once), and stores the results in a file in the iprImages
directory.
The IPR file is larger than a regular image file because it stores both visibility
and shading data:
• Visibility calculations compute what is in front of what in your scene, or
what is visible to the camera (or to the light, in the case of depth maps for
shadows) at each pixel in the image.
• Shading calculations compute what color is displayed at each pixel of the
image.

30
Note
An IPR image is a snapshot of a frame’s visibility and shading information.
An IPR file is not part of the scene file; it only represents what the scene
looked like, from a specific camera or light, at a specific time. You can re-
use an IPR file as you work on your scene, but remember that the IPR file
may be out of sync with your scene as you tune the look of your scene and
move things in the views.
The IPR file contains the information needed to perform the shading
calculations for each pixel in the image as you tune your shading networks.
When you select a region to tune, Maya loads all this information into
memory for all the pixels in the tuning region.
As you modify shading network attributes, Maya re-computes the shading
calculations and the image in the Render View updates. Since none of the
visibility calculations need to be re-computed at this stage, the tuning
updates are done much faster than a full re-rendering. The IPR image will be
the same size and approximately the same quality as a test render, but it
updates quickly like a Hypershade swatch.
IPR Limitations
Visibility limitations
Any change to an attribute that affects the visibility calculation, whether it is
a change like adding or removing a surface, or transforming CVs on a
surface, requires another IPR render before you can see the effect of that
change. Attributes that affect visibility are:
• Any transformation applied to any object or camera (like moving an object
or zooming the view, since moving an object or the camera may change
what is visible at each pixel).
• The resolution of a depth map produced for a light (you must regenerate the
depth map before you can see the result in IPR).

31
Adding or removing surfaces, UV mapping values

If you add or remove surfaces to or from the scene, or if you change the UV
mapping values for a texture, you need to perform another IPR render
before you see the change in IPR. Examples of these kinds of changes
include:
• When you select a new group of faces on a polygonal surface, even if the
surface is already in the scene. In IPR, selecting a new group of faces to
texture is equivalent to creating a new surface.
• Turning Fix Texture Warp on/off changes how the UV mapping values are
generated in an IPR render. This situation is analogous to modifying
polygon UVs by changing their placement.
Changing image planes, shadow maps, background color

If you make changes to shadow maps, image planes, or background color,
you must manually update the IPR tuning region (select IPR > Update
Shadow Maps or IPR > Update Image Planes/Background).
Features not supported:

• ray tracing
• particles
• 3D motion blur
• anti-aliasing: EAS, adaptive shading, multi-pixel filtering
• global override of Enable Depth Maps attribute (in Render Globals window)
will not function properly
• output to only IFF (deep raster) format
Image plane limitations:

• IPR only supports file mode, not texture mode.
• Changes to file mode do not IPR-render properly unless Update Image
Planes/Background is invoked per change.

32
Shader and Texture limitations:

• Use Background is not well supported, because of its reliance on ray tracing
(which is one of its primary uses).
• Modification, addition or deletion of displacement map as applied to the
geometry, requires re-rendering.
• Turning on advanced filters (for example. quadratic, cubic, quassian) in the
file texture requires re-rendering because much more information needs to
be passed to the sampleData, unless the render was generated with the
advanced filter turned on
Geometry (NURBS, Polygons, Subdivided surfaces) changes that need

re-rendering to be correct:
• Addition or deletion of geometry.
• Transformations or morphing of geometry.
• Changed tessellation attributes.
• Turning on/off Fix Texture Warp for the surface, or modifying any Fix
Texture Warp attributes, will not result in a proper IPR render unless you re-
render. This is because the (u,v) definitions have been modified.
Changes to the light’s attributes require the depth map to be

regenerated if the shadows are to be correct if:
• The light is transformed.
• Turning on/off Use Auto Focus.
• Changing a Spot light’s cone angle or penumbra attribute values.
Glow limitations
• The light glow intensity may appear different, due to light glow occlusion
being computed at the time of the IPR generation. If the light were moved
where the light glow occlusion changes, this could result in an inaccurate
glow intensity.
• Shader glow may be different, because the IPR region (not covering the
entire scene) will produce a different auto-exposure normalization.
• 2D motion blur won’t be exactly right because you are generally working on
a smaller region.

33
Others:
• Changing blur-by-frame will not update the IPR unless you re-render.
IPR file size

It takes longer to perform an IPR render than it does to perform a test render
because more information is written to disk. IPR files can be very large (for
example, at D1 Video resolution, 720x486, a scene in which most pixels are
covered by some object, the IPR file could be between 30 and 60Mb in size).
Make sure you have adequate disk space for your IPR file before you
perform an IPR Render.
Previewing and tuning with IPR

To preview or tune a scene with IPR:
1 In the Render View (Window > Rendering Editors > Render View), create or
load an IPR file. You can do this several different ways:
• Select IPR > IPR Render and choose a camera (a view) from the menu. The
perspective view is the default.
• Select File > Open IPR File, then select a previously created IPR file (it is also
possible to batch render IPR files from the command line).
• In the main Maya window, select Render > IPR Render Into New Window,
or click the IPR Render icon at the top-right of the Status Line.
The Render View displays and performs an IPR render of the current view.
When the render completes, the IPR file automatically opens.
2 Marquee a region within the IPR rendered image. This loads the information
associated with pixels in the marquee region from the IPR file. You must
select a region to tune before you start to modify rendering attributes. The
region you select determines the amount of memory required by IPR to re-
render the tuning region.
3 Modify and tune your scene. The marquee region of the IPR image in the
Render View updates as you tune to show the effect of your changes.

34
Changing the focus of IPR tuning

After you marquee a region to load pixels, you can click in the tuning region
to change the focus of the Attribute Editor to a specific surface material or
the lights affecting it.
To change the focus of IPR tuning:

In the tuning region, click the surface you want to tune. The Attribute Editor
displays the surface material of the surface you selected.
Tips
You can display a menu from which you can choose to edit the attributes
of any node that contributes to the color of that pixel, including lights. The
Attribute Editor shifts focus to display the attributes for the item you
choose. Shift-click with the left mouse button to display the menu and drag
to choose an item.
Also, after you marquee a region and start tuning it, you can drag
materials and textures onto objects within the tuning region of the IPR
image, just as you can make connections by dragging materials from
Hypershade onto surfaces in the views.
Cancelling an IPR Render

You can cancel an IPR Render the same way you cancel a test Render.
To cancel an IPR render:

Press Esc.
The IPR render stops. You can not tune a cancelled IPR Render. You must
perform a complete IPR Render to tune a region.

35
Previewing a scene or part of a scene
Saving an IPR file

You can save an IPR file for future use.
To save an IPR file:

After performing an IPR Render, select File > Save IPR File. The Save IPR
File dialog box displays. Type the name of the file, and press Save IPR File.
Batch rendering IPR files

You can batch render IPR files from the command line and from a remote
machine.
To batch render IPR files:

In a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
Render -ipr <scene>
See the Maya Rendering Utilities on-line documentation for details about
batch rendering.
Notes
• You cannot batch render IPR files from within Maya.
• Batch rendering to produce IPR files is not multi-threaded.
PREVIEWING A SCENE OR PART OF A SCENE

The Render View lets you render single frames or part of a frame at any
resolution. You can use it for test rendering, or for the final rendering of
single frames. You can also grab a snapshot of the wireframe drawing from
the modeling view to help you visualize where objects in your scene are
located relative to the resolution gate.
See also “Test rendering” on page 286.

36

• “Rendering a single frame” on page 37
• “Rendering part of a frame” on page 37
• “Rendering specific objects” on page 40
Rendering a single frame

To render a single frame:
1 Position the camera you want to render (the view).
2 Place lights in your scene (Create > Lights > and choose a light type) and in
the panel menu, select Use All Lights.
3 Select the Render into a new Render View window icon on Maya’s Status
line, or select Render > Render into New Window to open the Render View.
or
Select the IPR Render into a new Render View window icon on Maya’s
Status line, or select Render > IPR Render into New Window
Tip
Click the Redo Previous Render or the Redo Previous IPR Render button
on the Render View’s tool bar if you want to re-render the same camera.
Rendering part of a frame

To render part of a frame in Render View:
Note
You cannot render a part of a frame and see it in the camera view using
this method when IPR rendering.
1 In the Render View, select Options > Auto Render Region and
Render > Snapshot > and select the camera in which you want to re-render.

37
The Render View displays the camera view.
2 Now whenever you want to render a region you change, drag a marquee
around the region you want to re-render and press the Render Region
button in the Render View. In the following example, the specular color for
the material is changed.

38
To render part of a frame in IPR:

Once you perform an IPR render, drag a marquee around the part of the
frame you want to change. When you make the changes to your scene, the
IPR image re-renders the area automatically.

39
Rendering specific objects

You can preview specific surfaces by only rendering selected objects.
To render selected surfaces:

1 In a view, select the surface you want to render.
2 In the Image File Output section of the Render Globals window

(Window > Render Globals), set Renderable Objects to Render Active.
3 In the Render View, select Render > Render and the view you want to
render. Maya only renders the selected surface.
Render All. Render Active.

40
Previewing NURBS surface tessellation
Note
You cannot use this method when performing an IPR render.
PREVIEWING NURBS SURFACE TESSELLATION

Tessellation directly affects the quality with which NURBS surfaces are
rendered in Maya. It can be useful to view the surface tessellation to which
you are assigning materials to help you control how much tessellation to
perform, and where tessellation results on surfaces.
When you turn on Display Render Tessellation (in Hardware Texturing
Mode) in the NURBS object’s Attribute Editor, visual feedback displays how
your NURBS surfaces are tessellated. Maya provides this tool to cut down
on high rendering times resulting from over-tessellation, and nickeling and
jagged edges resulting from under-tessellation.
See also “NURBS surfaces” on page 118.
To preview tessellation or adjust tessellation quality:

1 Select the NURBS surface whose tessellation you want to view or adjust.
2 Make sure the object is displayed in shaded mode (select
Shading > Smooth Shade All from the view panel’s menu bar). Display
Render Tessellation only works in shaded display mode.
3 In the Tessellation section of the NURBS object’s Attribute Editor, turn on
Display Render Tessellation.
4 Modify any of the attributes in the Tessellation sections and view the results
in the modeling view as you make changes.

41
PREVIEWING SURFACES IN A VIEW

Maya’s hardware texturing provides a quick and easy way to preview and
tune the look of a texture or place a texture on an object interactively in the
modeling view.
The two options you can set for viewing your scene with Hardware
Texturing let you choose which texture-mapped attribute of the material
displays in the view (for example Color, Transparency, or Ambient Color)
and controls hardware texturing quality, allowing you to determine the
trade-off between drawing speed and image quality. Once you are satisfied
with the look and placement of a texture, software render it to see the fine
detail in the Render View.
You can view only one textured channel at a time, and you can switch
between any mapped or defined texture attribute. For example, if you have a
material’s Color mapped with a checker texture and the Transparency
mapped with a file texture, you can view the Transparency channel, make
the required tuning changes to it, then switch back to the Color channel to
tune it. To see all the channels together, you must software render.
Note
Higher quality settings increase hardware rendering times.
To preview surfaces in a view:

1 From the view panel’s menu bar, select Shading > Smooth Shade All and
Shading > Hardware Texturing (or press the hotkey 6).
2 In Hypershade, double-click the material swatch you want to preview and
tune to open its Attribute Editor.
3 In the Hardware Texturing section of the material’s Attribute Editor, the
Textured channel menu contains the attributes you can hardware render.
4 Select the Textured channel you want to view from the menu. In the
following, a file texture is mapped to the material’s Color Texture channel.

42
Notes
• You can only view one channel at a time.
• To view an attribute, it must be mapped to a texture. Attributes
that are not mapped are grayed out.
• Some channels, such as Bump Map, do not provide hardware
textured results. You must use the Render View to see the results.
5 Select the quality you want from the Texture quality menu.

43
Finding scene problems and rendering scenes faster
Previewing the region of a scene to render

Use the camera displays to preview the region of a scene that will render
when you render the scene.
To display the Resolution Gate view guide:

Select View > Camera Settings > Resolution Gate. The resolution gate
displays, showing you the area of the scene that will be rendered.
You can display several view guides at the same time by opening the
camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera Attribute Editor), and turning on
options in the Display Options section. For example, turn on the Display
Safe Action and Display Safe Title options.
• The Safe Action view guide indicates the region you should keep all of your
scene’s action within if you plan to display the rendered images on a
television screen. The safe action view guide represents 90% of the rendering
resolution (the resolution gate).
• The Safe Title view guide indicates the region you should keep titles (text)
within if you plan to display the rendered images on a television screen. The
safe title view guide represents 80% of the rendering resolution (the
resolution gate).
See also “Camera view guides” on page 218 for more information.
FINDING SCENE PROBLEMS AND RENDERING SCENES FASTER

You should always bear in mind what costs are associated with the looks
you create. For example, surfaces that will be far away or blurred may not
require the same level of visual accuracy or photorealism as surfaces close to
the camera or that must match live action.
Maya provides a diagnostic tool called Render Diagnostics with which you
can monitor how well you optimize your scene for rendering. There is also a
window, File > Optimize Scene Size-❐, where you can set options on or off
to optimize everything in your scene. See Using Maya: Essentials for more
information about this window.

44
Run Render Diagnostics after you tune surfaces and before you render. It
provides valuable information about how you can improve performance.
You can run the diagnostics while experimenting with your rendering
settings or before you start your final rendering.
To diagnose a scene:
Select Render > Render Diagnostics.
The Script Editor displays with the results of the Render Diagnostics.
Sample diagnostic messages

The following is a partial list of diagnostic messages Maya can return:
• Motion blur and raytracing are both turned on. Please note that reflections,
refractions and shadows are not motion blurred.
• You have motion blur turned on. Be aware that particles, lights and shadows
do not motion blur. As well, motion blurred shadows may produce artifacts.
A thorough discussion of the shadowing issues is available in the rendering
release notes.
• You have specified output to the Quantel format. In Maya 2.0, this format
may only be output to NTSC/PAL/HDTV resolutions, and does not output
to fields. If the above restrictions are not met, rendering will default to IFF
image output.
• You have specified output to the Cineon format. This format will not render
out a mask channel.
• The animation by-frame step is 0. Please be aware that this may result in an
infinite loop because 0 for by-frame is not meaningful.
• You have specified a fractional animation by-frame step. This will result in
images over-writing each other for fractional frame counts. Please remember
to turn on the modify-extension.
• Near/far clipping values are too far apart. You may encounter numerical
imprecision resulting in incorrect renders.
• There are no renderable cameras in your scene.

45

46
3 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
In Maya, surfaces are illuminated by light rays directly emitted from lights.
Maya provides five basic types of lights that you can use to illuminate
surfaces. By setting the properties of each basic light type, you can simulate
many different types of real-world light sources.
See also the on-line book, Maya Reference: Rendering, for more information
about light types and attributes.
In this chapter:
Creating lights ... page 48
Light types ... page 49
Light Properties ... page 50
Light icons, views, and manipulators ... page 56
Positioning lights ... page 60
Customizing intensity or color decay ... page 69
Shadows ... page 80
Creating shadows ... page 82
Shadow properties ... page 87
Removing shadows ... page 89
Making shadows render faster ... page 90
Troubleshooting shadows ... page 91

47
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS | 3
Creating lights
CREATING LIGHTS
You can create a light from many different parts of the Maya interface. The
easiest ways to create lights is to select a light type from the Create menu in
the main Maya window, from Hypershade, or from Visor and Hypershade.
To create a light from the main Maya window:

Select Create > Lights > and select the type of light you want to create.
Notes
• To set light properties before you create the light, open the light’s
option window. Select the light type you need from the menu, then
click the box at the end of it’s name, such as
Create > Lights > Create Point Light ❐. See “Light Properties” on
page 50. See also the on-line Maya Reference: Rendering book.
• You can change a light’s type (point, spot, directional, or ambient)
after you create it by setting the light’s Type attribute in the
Attribute Editor.
To create a light in Hypershade:

• Select Create > Lights and choose the type of light you want to create from
the Lights menu.
• Right-mouse button while in Hypershade, select Create > Lights and choose
the type of light you want to create from the Lights menu.
• Using the middle-mouse button, drag a light swatch from the
Create > Lights folder in Visor into Hypershade.

48
Light types
LIGHT TYPES
The following table describes each of Maya’s light types. For more
information, see the Maya Reference: Rendering on-line book.
Point light
A point light shines evenly in all directions from
the location of the light. For example, use a point
light to simulate an incandescent light bulb.
Spot light
A spot light shines evenly within a narrow range of
directions (defined by a cone) from the location of
the light. Use a spot light to create a beam of light
that gradually becomes wider (for example, a
flashlight or car headlight).
Directional light
A directional light shines evenly in one direction
only. Its light rays are parallel to each other, as if
emitted perpendicular to an infinitely large plane.
Use a directional light to simulate a very distant
point light source (for example, the sun as viewed
from the surface of the Earth).

49
Light Properties
Ambient light
An ambient light shines in two ways. Some of its
light shines evenly in all directions from the location
of the light (similar to a point light). Some of its light
shines evenly from all directions (as if emitted from
the inner surface of an infinitely large hollow
sphere). Use an ambient light to simulate a
combination of direct light (for example, the sun or
a lamp) and indirect light (sunlight diffused by the
atmosphere, or lamp light reflected off the walls of
a room).
Area light
Area lights are two-dimensional rectangular light
sources.You can use this type of light to simulate
the rectangular reflections of windows on surfaces.
An area light is initially two units long and one
unit wide. Use Maya’s transformation tools to re-
size and place area lights in your scene.
LIGHT PROPERTIES
Light properties define how lights illuminate surfaces. In Maya, you can
change the properties of a light by setting its attributes.These properties can
be grouped into four basic categories.
• “Color and brightness” on page 52
• “Location, direction, and light/surface links” on page 52
• “Brightness and color decay” on page 53
• “Brightness and color dropoff” on page 55
• “Making lights render faster” on page 55

50
Light Properties
Color and brightness

All lights have a specific color and
brightness.
See “Color and brightness” on page 52.
Location, direction, and light/

surface links
Most lights shine from a specific location
and shine in a specific direction. A
light’s location and direction define
which surfaces it will illuminate.
See “Location, direction, and light/

surface links” on page 52.
Brightness and color decay

A light’s brightness is strongest at the
light source and decreases or decays
further away from the light source. You
can control the brightness decay of point
lights and spot lights.
See “Brightness and color decay” on

page 53.
Brightness and color dropoff

If light shines in a focused beam, the
light’s brightness will be strongest in the
center of the beam and will decrease or
dropoff toward the edges of the beam.
You can control the brightness dropoff
of spot lights. You can also control how
a light’s color changes across its beam.
See “Brightness and color dropoff” on

page 55.

51
Light Properties
Color and brightness
Color
To change the color of a light, adjust the
Color attribute.
Brightness
To change the brightness of a light,
adjust the Intensity attribute.
Location, direction, and light/surface links
Location
To change the location of an ambient
light, point light, or spot light, move the
light.
See “Positioning lights” on page 60.
Direction
To change the direction of a directional
light or spot light, rotate the light.
See “Directing lights” on page 61.
Ambient light directionality

To change the proportion of directional
light to omnidirectional light of an
ambient light, adjust the Ambient Shade
attribute.

52
Light Properties
Spot light beam angle

To change the angle of a spot light’s
beam, adjust the Cone Angle attribute.
See “Light manipulators” on page 57.
Spot light barn doors

To make a spot light’s beam square or to
flatten one side of the beam, turn on the
Barn Doors attribute and adjust the
Left/Right/Top/Bottom Barn Door
attributes.
Light/surface links
To make a light only illuminate a
specific surface (or group of surfaces),
link the light and the surface(s).
See “Controlling which lights illuminate

which surfaces” on page 62.
Brightness and color decay
Tip
It is easier to see the effect of brightness and color decay with illuminated
fog. See “Illuminated fog” on page 108 and “Glow brightness decay” on
page 101 for details.

53
Light Properties
Preset brightness decay

To change how a point light’s or spot
light’s brightness decreases with
distance (using a preset decay rate),
adjust the Decay Rate attribute.
Custom brightness decay

To change how a spot light’s brightness
decreases (or even increases) with
distance (using a user-defined decay
rate), use the Intensity Curve attribute.
See “Customizing intensity or color

decay” on page 69.
Color decay
To change how a spot light’s color
changes with distance, use the Color
Curves attribute.

Regional brightness decay

To separate a spot light’s beam into
regions that are illuminated and regions
that are not illuminated, turn on the Use
Decay Regions attribute, and adjust the
Region 1, Region 2, and Region 3
attributes.

54
Light Properties
Brightness and color dropoff
Color dropoff
To change how the color of a light
changes across its beam, map a texture
to the Color attribute.
Overall brightness dropoff

To change how the brightness of a spot
light beam decreases from the center of
the beam to the edge of the beam, adjust
the Dropoff attribute.
Edge brightness dropoff

To change how the brightness of a spot
light beam decreases only near the edge of
the beam, adjust the Penumbra Angle
attribute.
Making lights render faster

Rendering a scene can take a long time. You can, however, make scenes
render faster by limiting the number of surfaces each light illuminates.
To make lights render faster:

Link lights only to the surfaces that you want them to illuminate (see
“Controlling which lights illuminate which surfaces” on page 62).

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Light icons, views, and manipulators
LIGHT ICONS, VIEWS, AND MANIPULATORS

Lights display as icons in camera views, but you can look through a light’s
view. You can also display light manipulators allowing you to visualize and
adjust light attributes.
• “Light icons” on page 56
• “Light views” on page 56
• “Light manipulators” on page 57
Light icons
When you create a light in Maya, a light icon displays in the camera views.
This icon represents the position and direction of the light.
Ambient Point Area
Directional Spot
To display or hide all light icons:

Select Display > Show > Lights, or Display > Hide > Lights.
To hide or display all light icons in a view:
In a view, select Show > Lights.
Light views
You can look through a light’s view and adjust the location and direction of
the light using camera tools and hotkeys (see “Setting a camera’s view” on
page 227). You can also adjust light manipulators in a light’s view.
To look through a light’s view:

1 Select the light.
2 In a view, select Panels > Look Through Selected.

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Light manipulators
You can interactively adjust certain light attributes in a view using light
manipulators. Light manipulators display in camera views and light views.
Click the Show Manipulator Tool icon in the mini bar at the left of Maya’s
Shelf to see the light manipulators.
Cycling index
After you create a light and select the
None Center Of Pivot Show Manipulator Tool, click the
Interest/ Cycling Index manipulator to display
Origin
each of the different types of light
manipulators.
The position of the dash on the Cycling
Cone Penumbra Decay Index indicates which manipulators
Radius Radius Region
display.
Origin/Decay/Radius
Center of interest/Origin
Origin
Center of Move the two parts of this manipulator
Interest to change the location (origin) and
direction (Center Of Interest) of a light.
All lights include this option.

57
Pivot
Pivot
Move the Pivot manipulator and then
click on it to change the point that a light
pivots about when you move the light or
the center of interest. Click the Pivot
manipulator again to disable the pivot
point.
All lights include this option.
Cone Radius Cone Radius

Move the Cone Radius manipulator to
change the angle of a spot light’s beam.
Only the Spot Light includes this option.
Penumbra Radius Penumbra Radius

Move the Penumbra Radius
manipulator to change how the
brightness of a spot light beam decreases
only near the edge of the beam.

58
Decay regions
Move the Decay Regions manipulators
to separate a spot light’s beam into
regions that are illuminated and regions
that are not.
Look through barn doors

Select a Spot Light whose manipulators
are displayed, turn Barn Doors on in the
Attribute Editor, and select
Look Through Selected from the view’s
Panels menu. The Barn Doors
manipulators are only visible in the
light’s view.
Move the Barn Doors manipulators to
make a spot light’s beam square or to
flatten one side of the beam or change
the spot light’s Barn Door values in the
Attribute Editor.
To return to the current view, select the
view from the Panel menu.
See also “Precision lighting using the
Spot light” on page 74.

59
Positioning lights
To display light manipulators:

• Select Display > Show > Light Manipulators.
• Click the Show Manipulator Tool (or press the hotkey t).
To display or hide a specific light manipulator:

Select a light and then select a manipulator from the Display > Camera/
Light Manipulator sub-menu.
To hide light manipulators:

Select Display > Hide > Light Manipulators.
To increase or decrease the size of light manipulators:

Press - (decrease) or = (increase).
POSITIONING LIGHTS
You position a light to control the location it shines from. You can position a
light interactively in a view using light manipulators or using the Move tool.
You can also position a light by setting the light’s Translate attributes.
• “Directing lights” on page 61
• “Controlling which lights illuminate which surfaces” on page 62
• “Creating and editing sets” on page 63
• “Linking lights and surfaces” on page 66
To position a light interactively in a view using light manipulators:

Drag the light’s Origin manipulator (see “Center of interest/Origin” on page
57).

60
Positioning lights
To position a light interactively in a view using the Move tool:

1 Select the light you want to move.
2 Select the Move tool (or press the hotkey w).
Maya displays a manipulator with four handles.

• To move the light along an axis, drag one of the arrow handles.
• To move the light in any direction, drag the center handle.
For more information on moving objects, see Using Maya: Essentials.
Directing lights
You direct a light to control the direction it shines to. You can direct a light
interactively in a view using light manipulators or using the Rotate tool. You
can also direct a light by setting the light’s Rotate attributes (or rotate a spot
light interactively while looking through its view.)
To direct a light interactively in a view using light manipulators:

Drag the light’s Center of Interest manipulator (see “Center of interest/
Origin” on page 57).
To direct a light interactively in a view using the Rotate tool:

1 Select the light you want to rotate.
2 Select the Rotate tool (or press the hotkey e). Maya displays a sphere-shaped
manipulator with four rings.
• To rotate the light around an axis, drag one of the inner rings.
• To rotate the light around the current view, drag the outer ring.
• To rotate the light in any direction, drag the sphere-shaped manipulator
between the rings.
• To move the light’s pivot point, press the Insert key, move the pivot point,
and press the Insert key again.
For more information on rotating objects, see Using Maya: Essentials.

61
Positioning lights
Controlling which lights illuminate which surfaces

By default, when you create a light the new light illuminates all surfaces in
your scene (assuming you set the light’s properties appropriately). Similarly,
when you create a surface, all lights in your scene illuminate the new
surface.
You can, however, control lights and surfaces so only a specific light
illuminates a specific surface (or a specific group of lights illuminate a
specific group of surfaces). You do this by linking lights and surfaces
together.
Linking lights and surfaces

If you link a spot light with the sphere
on the left and the ground plane, but not
with the sphere on the right, the light
only illuminates the sphere on the left
and the ground plane.
When you link lights and surfaces you can determine which lights
illuminate which surfaces and regions in your scene without affecting the
rest of the scene. Linking lights and surfaces can also help reduce rendering
times because you can limit the number of surfaces each light illuminates.
You can link any number of surfaces (or sets of surfaces) and any number of
lights (or sets of lights). You can also link any number of shading groups
and any number of lights (or sets of lights).
For instance, if you link a light and a shading group, the light illuminates all
surfaces that use that shading group. However, if you link a light and a
shading group and then break the link between them, the light does not
illuminate the surface.

62
Positioning lights
Creating and editing sets

You can use sets to link groups of lights and groups of surfaces. A set is a
collection of objects (or components of objects). By creating a set of surfaces
(an object set) and a set of lights (a light set), you can easily link the surfaces
and lights by linking the two sets. For more information on sets, see Using
Maya: Essentials.
Maya automatically creates a default light set (defaultLightSet) which
includes all lights in your scene. You can, however, remove lights from the
default light set and create other object sets and light sets to link using the
Relationship Editor. You can access the Relationship Editor to use for linking
lights and objects either by selecting:
Windows > Relationship Editors > Light Linking
or
Lighting/Shading > Light Linking > Light-Centric or Object-Centric.
To add or remove a light from the default light set:

In the light’s Attribute Editor, turn the Illuminates by Default attribute either
on (to add the light to the default light set) or off (to remove the light from
the default light list).

63
Positioning lights
Illuminates by Default on. Illuminates by Default off.
To create an object set:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Object Centric Light Linking.
2 In the left panel (Illuminated Objects), select the objects you want to include
in a new set and select Edit > Create Object Set from Highlighted Objects.
Maya adds a new object set to the bottom of the object list.
To create a light set:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Light Centric Light Linking.
2 In the left panel (Light Sources), select the lights you want to include in a
new set and select Edit > Create Light Set from Highlighted Lights. Maya
adds a new light set to the bottom of the light list.

64
Positioning lights
To name a set:
1 In the Relationship Editor, double-click the set’s name.
2 Type a new name and press Enter.
Type a new name and press Enter.
To add or remove an object (or light) from a set:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Set Editing.
2 In the left panel (Sets), select the set. The objects (or lights) in the set are
highlighted in the right panel.
3 In the right panel (Objects), select the objects (or lights) you want to add to
the set and clear the selection of objects (or lights) you want to remove from
the set. In the following, lights are added to the set.

65
Positioning lights
For more information on sets, see Using Maya: Essentials.
Linking lights and surfaces

Maya provides several ways to link lights and surfaces.
To illuminate a specific surface and link lights to that surface, use
object centric light linking in the Relationship Editor
(Window > Relationship Editors > Light Linking > Object-Centric, or
Lighting/Shading > Light Linking > Object-Centric).

66
Positioning lights
To identify a specific light and the surfaces you want that light to illuminate,
use light centric light linking in the Relationship Editor
(Window > Relationship Editors > Light Linking > Light-Centric or
Lighting/Shading > Light Linking > Light-Centric).
You can also select the lights and surfaces you want to link in a view and
link them using the Lighting/Shading menu items Make Light Links and
Break Light Links.
You can also link lights and surfaces from the Maya command line. See “To
link lights and surfaces from the command line:” on page 69.

67
Positioning lights
To select which lights illuminate a specific surface:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Object Centric Light Linking.
2 In the left panel (Illuminated Objects), select the objects (surfaces), object
sets, or shading groups you want to illuminate. In the right panel (Light
Sources), the lights or light sets that illuminate the selected objects (surfaces),
object sets, or shading groups, are highlighted.
3 In the right panel (Light Sources), select the lights or light sets you want to
illuminate the selected objects (surfaces), object sets, or shading groups.
4 In the right panel (Light Sources), clear the selection of any lights or light
sets that you do not want to illuminate the selected objects (surfaces), object
sets, or shading groups.
To select which surfaces a specific light illuminates:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Light Centric Light Linking.
2 In the left panel (Light Sources), select the lights, light sets, or shading
groups you want to use to illuminate. In the right panel (Illuminated
Objects), the objects (surfaces) or object sets illuminated by the selected
lights or light sets are highlighted.
3 In the right panel (Illuminated Objects), select the objects (surfaces) or object
sets that you want the selected lights or light sets to illuminate.
4 In the right panel (Illuminated Objects), clear the selection of any objects
(surfaces) or object sets that you do not want the selected lights or light sets
to illuminate.
To select all surfaces illuminated by a specific light:

1 Choose the light illuminating the surfaces you want to select.
2 From the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/Shading
> Select Objects Illuminated by Light.
To select all lights that illuminate a specific surface:

1 Choose the surface illuminated by the lights you want to select.
2 From the Rendering menu set, select
Lighting/Shading > Select Lights Illuminating Object.

68
Customizing intensity or color decay
To link selected lights and surfaces:

1 Select the lights and surfaces you want to link.
2 From the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/Shading > Make Light Links.
To unlink selected lights and surfaces:

1 Select the lights and surfaces you want to unlink.
2 From the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/Shading > Break Light Links.
To link lights and surfaces from the command line:

From the Maya command line, type:
lightlink -light <lightName> -object <surfaceName>
For example, to link spotLight1 and nurbsSphere1, type:
lightlink -light spotLight1 -object nurbsSphere1
For more information on the lightlink command, see the Using Maya: MEL
online documentation.
CUSTOMIZING INTENSITY OR COLOR DECAY

A light’s brightness is strongest at the light source and decreases or decays
further away from the light source. The light’s color, however, remains the
same no matter how far it is from the light source.
In Maya, you can control how fast the brightness of a point light or spot light
decreases with distance using a preset brightness decay rate. You can also
customize the brightness decay rate to control how the color of a spot light
changes with distance using a color decay rate.
You can select a preset brightness decay rate by setting the Decay Rate
attribute (see “Preset brightness decay” on page 54). The preset brightness
decay rates are usually good enough to create most types of lighting effects.
In some cases, however, you may want to create a unique type of brightness
decay. For example, using a custom brightness decay rate, you can actually
make a spot light’s brightness increase further away from the light source.

69

• “Creating intensity curves and color curves” on page 70
• “Editing intensity curves and color curves” on page 71
Creating intensity curves and color curves

You can create a custom brightness decay rate using an intensity curve. You
can create a custom color decay rate using a set of color curves (a red curve, a
green curve, and a blue curve).
Note
You can only use this technique for a Spot Light.
Intensity curves and color curves are graphical representations of a light’s

brightness and color with distance. The vertical axis represents the intensity
or color intensity value, and the horizontal axis represents distance from the
light source. (Intensity curves and color curves are similar to animation
curves, except the horizontal axis of an animation curve represents time.)
When you create intensity curves and color curves, Maya uses the Light Info
Utility node. See the Maya Reference: Rendering on-line documentation for
information about the Light Info utility.
To create a custom brightness decay:

In the Light Effects section of the spot light’s Attribute Editor, click the
Create button beside the Intensity Curve attribute.
Maya creates an Intensity Curve node and connects it to the Intensity
attribute.
Turn on Light Direction Only in the Attribute Editor that displays.
To create a custom color decay:

In the Light Effects section of the spot light’s Attribute Editor, click the
Create button beside the Color Curves attribute.
Turn on Light Direction Only in the Attribute Editor that displays.

70
Maya creates a Red Curve node, a Green Curve node, and a Blue Curve
node and connects them to the Color attribute.
Click to create an
Intensity Curve or
a set of Color Curves.
Editing intensity curves and color curves

You can edit intensity curves or a set of color curves either in the Attribute
Editor or in the Graph Editor. Intensity or color curves display as a table of
values in the Attribute Editor.
To view the table for an Intensity Curve, click the box next to the Create
button.
To view the attribute table for Color Curves and the Intensity curve once
you create them, select the spot light in the view.

71
Tips
IPR Render the scene or part of the scene to get instant feedback on the
changes you make to the light’s intensity and color curves.
Adjust the values as necessary.
Click the tabs to open the

tables for the Color Curves.
To adjust the Intensity or Color Curves interactively, select the spot light and
open the Graph Editor (Windows > Animation Editors > Graph Editor).
An intensity curve displays as a dark blue line, and color curves display as
red, green, and blue lines.

72
To edit points, click the Move Nearest Picked Key Tool at the top-left of the
Graph Editor, select a Color or the Intensity curve from the left panel, and
use the middle-mouse button to drag a marquee around the point you want
to edit. Once it highlights, move it until you get the results you want.
To move the whole curve, make sure to deselect the Move Nearest Picked
Key Tool, select the curve, then drag it using the middle mouse button.
The following example shows how the Color R (red) curve displays once
you move the Color R curve in the Graph Editor.

73
Before adjusting. After adjusting.
For more information on using the Graph Editor, see Using Maya: Animation.
Precision lighting
Precision lighting is crucial when working on special effects, such as being
able to interactively clamp lighting at an exact spot, or easily specify the light
intensity at an exact spot. The following should help when you want to
precisely light your scene using a spot light and intensity curves.
Precision lighting using the Spot light

The spot light is basically a infinite cone. One way to explain using spot
lighting is as two one-dimensional operations:
• To control the lighting intensity as a function of the distance from the spot
light’s origin.
• To control the lighting intensity in the circle (what you should see if viewed
from the perspective of the spot light).

74
The most common intensity control is the spot light’s (and point light’s)
decay attribute.
Interactively setting decay regions

The first useful attributes are the decay regions. Turn on the decay region
manipulators (click the Show Manipulator icon in Maya’s Status Line, then
click the cycling index).
When interacting with the spotlight to get precision lighting for distance
dimension, it is best to have your camera view perpendicular to the spotlight
icon so that you can see the distance effect head-on.
Tips
• Leave the Attribute Editor open and IPR render your scene so you
can make changes interactively to get the look you want.
• Apply a Light Fog (click the box next to Light Fog in the Light
Effects section of a spot light’s Attribute Editor) to see the results.
The decay regions indicate the regions you want to light and the regions you
don’t want to light in the shape of three truncated cones. The decay region
manipulators can be used to precisely indicate these regions. It can also be
used as a modeling tool to indicate the amount of lighting within the
truncated cones, as shown in the following.

75
When the decay regions and its manipulators are on, the decay regions can
be interactively dragged to position where the light clamping regions can
occur (or you can enter exact distance positioning in the Attribute Editor).
Controlling the lighting intensity

Once the decay regions set the boundaries in which you want lighting, the
exact lighting intensities in those region(s) can be exactly defined.
Click the light’s Intensity Curve button to define an intensity curve with
respect to the distance to the spotlight origin (connected to the Intensity
attribute of the light).
This intensity curve is an expression, so it can also be edited in the
Expression or Graph editors (see Using Maya: Expressions for details about
expressions).
In this expression, the time actually represents the distance. At this point,
you can match the decay region values (for clamping the lighting regions) to
the distances in the in the expression. For example, if you want to have
maximum intensity at distance 0 and a linear decay at distance 10, make sure
the time entries are 0, 10 and their respective values set at 1, 0.

76
Doing this does not give you exact linear decay, as the graph shows smooth
tangents—setting the curve to hard tangents produces exact linear decay.
Other decay types can be achieved by tweaking the graph representing the
decay.
Note
Before final rendering, depending on whether you wanted the light fog or
decay regions, it may be wise to take them out. The example uses the light
fog and decay regions as measuring tools.
What was achieved for the light’s intensity can also be applied to the Color
attribute of the spotlight using the Color intensity curve. This is also an
expression like the Intensity curve, except that it is a three-channel (RGB)
expression. This means that you can create lighting which results in a blue
light at the spotlight origin, then graduate to a red light at some distance
away.
Tip
If you are using the Attribute Editor, keep in mind that navigation to the
correct curves can be done with the tabs and navigation arrows at the top
of the editor.
Controlling the lighting within the spot light’s circle.

Select the spotlight, and choose Panels > Look Through Selected in the view.
This represents the view from the spotlight.

77
The green circle represents the cone boundary. Any objects outside this circle
will not be lit by this spotlight. Regular camera tracking, tumbling, or
dollying work well in this view to shine the spotlight exactly on the desired
area.
Adjusting Barn Doors

If Barn Doors is turned on in the Attribute Editor, four blue lines display
when you choose Look Through Selected in the view’s Panels menu
representing a rectangular boundary to the spotlight. No light from this spot
light reaches the regions outside the blue line-boundaries.
Each of the four lines can be directly manipulated to shift the boundaries, or
the lines can be numerically entered in the Attribute Editor, where the
attributes are in degrees measured from the spotlight to the blue line-
boundary.

78
For instance, for a 80 degree spotlight, the four blue line-boundaries will
have the value of 40 if the boundaries lie exactly at the spotlight border.
Adjusting the penumbra value

Tweaking the penumbra value displays a second circle. Change the value in
the Attribute Editor or click the cycling index icon to display and use the
manipulator, then select Panels > Look Through Selected to see the circle.
The region between the two circles results in a softer illumination.

If the penumbra value is set to 0 (the default) and Barn Doors is on, this
results in a very hard edge look to the lighting. With a non-zero penumbra
value, the barn door effect is a smooth illumination of the scene.

79
Shadows
You can also verify the illumination by looking at the Light Shape and
Intensity Sample at the top of a spot light’s Attribute Editor. These change as
you change the values for the spot light.
Default settings.
Penumbra Angle at -5.
Barn Doors at 10, 10, 40, 40

Penumbra Angle at 0.
Barn Doors at 10, 10, 40, 40

Penumbra Angle at 10.
SHADOWS
When light shines on a surface, the parts of the surface facing toward the
light source appear illuminated, and the parts of the surface facing away
from the light source appear dark. If one surface is located between a second
surface and the light source, the first surface casts a shadow onto the second
surface.
When light shines on a surface in Maya, the parts of the surface facing
toward the light source appear illuminated, and the parts of the surface
facing away from the light source appear dark. However, by default,
surfaces do not cast shadows onto other surfaces that face toward a light
source. Maya illuminates all surfaces facing a light source regardless of
obstructing surfaces. This is the default setting because rendering shadows
can be very time consuming.
You can, however, add shadows by controlling which combinations of lights
and surfaces can produce shadows. Typically, you only want a few specific
lights and surfaces to produce shadows. By limiting shadows only to these
specific lights and surfaces, you can help reduce rendering times.
In Maya, lights can produce either no shadows, depth map shadows, or
raytraced shadows.

80
Shadows
No shadows
All surfaces facing a light source are
illuminated, even if obstructed by
another surface. By default, lights and
surfaces do not produce shadows.
All surfaces facing away from a light
source are not illuminated. (These are
not shadows.)
Depth map shadows

Depth map shadows produce very good
results in almost all situations, with
marginal increase to rendering time.
See “Depth map shadows” on page 82.
Raytraced shadows
Raytraced shadows produce very good
results in most situations; however, you
must raytrace your scene to use
raytraced shadows, and this is often
very time consuming.
See “Reusing depth maps” on page 83.
By adjusting the properties of depth map shadows or raytraced shadows,

you can simulate shadows from many different types of real-world light
sources and objects.

81
Creating shadows
CREATING SHADOWS
To create a shadow, a scene must contain a shadow casting light, a shadow
casting surface, and a shadow receiving surface. The light must illuminate
both the shadow casting surface and the shadow receiving surface.
An individual light can produce either depth map shadows or raytraced
shadows, however, you can combine depth map shadow casting lights and
raytraced shadow casting lights in a scene.
• “Depth map shadows” on page 82
• “Reusing depth maps” on page 83
• “Raytraced shadows” on page 86
Depth map shadows

A depth map represents the distance from a specific light to the surfaces the
light illuminates. A depth map is an image file that contains a depth channel
rendered from a light’s point of view (see “Depth channel” on page 271).
Each pixel in the depth map represents the distance from the light to the
nearest shadow casting surface in a specific direction.
If a scene contains a depth map shadow casting light, Maya creates a depth
map for that light during rendering and uses the depth map to determine
which surfaces illuminate and which surfaces are in shadow. (If the distance
from the light to a shadow casting surface is greater than the corresponding
point in the depth map, that surface will be in shadow.)
To create a depth map shadow:

Depth map shadows produce very good results in almost all situations, with
very little increase to rendering time.
1 Select the light for which you want to produce a shadow.
2 In the Shadows section of the light’s Attribute Editor, turn on Use Depth
Map Shadows.

82
Creating shadows
Tips
• Set the light’s Dmap Resolution to the lowest value that produces
shadows of acceptable quality. As a starting point, set Dmap
Resolution to the same value as your rendering resolution (see “Setting
up a camera” on page 224). If Dmap Resolution is too low, shadow
edges will appear jagged. If Dmap Resolution is too high, rendering
times will increase.
• Adjust the Shadow Color to display transparent or colored shadows.
By default, the Shadow color is black.
3 Select the surface on which you want to cast a shadow.

4 In the Render Stats section of the surface’s Attribute Editor, turn on Casts
Shadows.
Note
If you perform an IPR render and then change the Dmap Resolution or Use
Dmap Auto Focus, these changes will not update in the IPR render (see
“Interactively previewing and tuning a scene” on page 29).
Reusing depth maps

If you use depth map shadows, Maya calculates a depth map for each light
and for each frame of your animation during rendering by default. You can,
however, save a depth map for a specific light to disk and reuse it later. This
can help reduce rendering times.

83
Creating shadows
Tips
• Maya saves depth map files in the depth directory of your current
project (see “Setting the location to save rendered images” on page
272).
• Generate shadow depth maps before rendering your scene by using
the Render -sp <sceneName> command and option. This can help
reduce rendering times and you can re-use the depth maps for
subsequent renders. See “Rendering an animation” on page 289 of
this book, and “Render” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online
book.
If you are... Do this...
Rendering a single frame several Set Disk Based Dmaps to Reuse

times, each time making Existing Dmap(s). Maya will
adjustments to object or light calculate the depth map the first
properties, but not moving lights or time you render and save it to disk.
objects, the depth map will not During each subsequent render,
change and can be reused. Maya will read the depth map from
disk.
Rendering an animation in which Set Disk Based Dmaps to Reuse

the light or the objects it illuminates Existing Dmap(s) and turn off
do not move (for example, a camera Dmap Frame Ext. Maya will
fly-through), the depth map will not calculate the depth map when it
change from frame to frame and can renders the first frame and save it to
be reused. disk. During each subsequent
frame render, Maya will read the
depth map from disk.

84
Creating shadows
If you are... Do this...
Rendering an animation in which Set Disk Based Dmaps to Reuse

lights and/or the objects they Existing Dmap(s) and turn on
illuminate do move, the depth map Dmap Frame Ext. Maya will
will change from frame to frame. If calculate the depth maps for each
you are rendering the entire frame the first time you render the
animation several times, each time animation and save them to disk.
making adjustments to object or During each subsequent render,
light properties, but not changing the Maya will read the depth maps
way lights or objects move, the from disk.
depth maps for each frame will be
the same as in the initial render and
can be reused.
Rendering a single frame or an Set Disk Based Dmaps to Overwrite

animation, have previously saved Existing Dmap(s). Render your
depth maps to disk, and have moved frame or animation once. Maya will
lights and/or the objects it calculate the depth map(s) and save
illuminates, the depth maps will them disk, overwriting any depth
now be different, and you cannot map(s) that already exist on disk.
reuse the depth masks on disk. If you want to continue adjusting
object or light properties, but not
move lights or objects, set Disk
Based Dmaps to Reuse Existing
Dmap(s).
Rendering a single frame or an Set Disk Based Dmaps to Off. Maya

animation, have previously saved will calculate the depth map(s)
depth maps to disk, but do not want every time you render. Maya will
to use the depth maps that are on not read depth maps from disk.
disk. Maya will not save depth maps to
disk.

85
Creating shadows
Raytraced shadows
Raytracing is a type of rendering where the path of individual light rays are
calculated from their destination (the camera) to their source (a light).
Raytracing is very time consuming.
Raytraced shadows are shadows produced during raytracing. Raytraced
shadows produce very good results in most situations; however, you must
raytrace your entire scene to use raytraced shadows, and this is often very
time consuming.
Use raytraced shadows only to create those few types of shadow effects that
depth map shadows cannot produce (for example, shadows from
transparent colored surfaces).
Avoid using raytraced shadows to produce soft-edged shadows. Raytracing
high quality soft-edged shadows can be very time consuming (and soft-
edged depth map shadows produce very good results).
Note
You cannot preview raytraced shadows using IPR. You must render your
scene in order to preview raytraced shadows. See “Previewing a scene or
part of a scene” on page 36.
To create a raytraced shadow:

1 Select the light for which you want to produce a shadow.
2 In the Raytrace Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor,
turn on Use Ray Trace Shadows.
3 Select the surface on which you want to cast a shadow.
4 In the Render Stats section of the surface’s Attribute Editor, turn on Casts
Shadows.
5 In the Raytracing Quality section of the Render Globals window
(Windows > Render Globals), turn on Raytracing.

86
Shadow properties
SHADOW PROPERTIES
Lights and objects have many properties that define the appearance of
shadows. In Maya, you change the properties of a shadow by setting
attributes for the shadow casting light.
• “Depth map shadow properties” on page 87
• “Raytraced shadows properties” on page 88
Depth map shadow properties
Color
To change the color of a shadow, adjust
the Shadow Color attribute.
Edge softness
To make shadow edges softer, reduce
the Dmap Resolution attribute and
increase the Dmap Filter Size attribute.
Edge graininess
To change the graininess of shadow
edges, adjust the Dmap Resolution
attribute. For spot lights, you can also
adjust the Cone Angle attribute.
Illuminated fog shadow graininess

To change the graininess of shadows
appearing in illuminated fog, adjust the
Fog Shadow Samples attribute.
See “Illuminated fog” on page 108.

87
Shadow properties
Illuminated fog shadow darkness

To change the darkness of shadows
appearing in illuminated fog, adjust the
Fog Shadow Intensity attribute.
See “Illuminated fog” on page 108.
Raytraced shadows properties
Color
To change the color of a shadow, adjust
the Shadow Color attribute. (The color
of a partially transparent surface will
also influence the color of a shadow.)
Edge softness
To change the softness of shadow edges,
adjust the Light Radius attribute (or the
Light Angle attribute for directional
lights).
Soft edge graininess

To change the graininess of a shadow’s
soft edges, adjust the Shadow Rays
attribute.
Shadows from reflected/refracted

light
To change the maximum number of
times a light ray can be reflected and/or
refracted and still produce a shadow,
adjust the Ray Depth Limit attribute.
This only affects a specific light. Adjust
the Shadows attribute in the Render
Globals window to set this value for all
lights.

88
Removing shadows
REMOVING SHADOWS
Removing unnecessary shadows can help reduce rendering times. You can
either remove all shadows produced by a specific light, or all shadows cast
by a specific surface.
To learn how to remove a shadow produced by a specific combination of
lights and surfaces, see “Controlling which lights illuminate which surfaces”
on page 62.
To remove all shadows produced by a specific light:

1 Select the light.
2 In the Depth Map Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor
(or in the Shape Keyable tab of the light’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off
Use Depth Map Shadows.
3 In the Raytrace Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor (or
in the Shape Keyable tab of the light’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Use
Ray Trace Shadows.
To remove all shadows cast by a specific surface:

1 Select the surface.
2 In the Render Stats section of the surface’s Attribute Editor (or in the Render
tab of the surface’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Casts Shadows.
Note
You can make all shadow casting surfaces cast shadows from all shadow
casting lights, even if they are not linked together, by turning off Shadows
Obey Light Linking in the Render Options section of the Render Globals
window (Windows > Render Globals).

89
Making shadows render faster
MAKING SHADOWS RENDER FASTER

Rendering a scene often takes a long time. There are, however, many things
you can do to make shadows render faster.
To make shadows render faster:

• Use depth map shadows instead of raytraced shadows.
• For surfaces that do not need to cast shadows, turn off Casts Shadows.
To make depth map shadows render faster:

• Set the Dmap Resolution to the lowest value that produces acceptable
results. (For shadow casting spot lights, first reduce the Cone Angle to the
lowest value that produces acceptable results.)
• Turn on Use Dmap Auto Focus (or set the Dmap Focus to the lowest value
that produces acceptable results) and set the Dmap Resolution to the lowest
value that produces acceptable results.
• Set Dmap Filter Size to the lowest value that produces acceptable results. A
Dmap Filter Size value of 3 or less is usually sufficient.
• Set Fog Shadow Samples to the lowest value that produces acceptable
results.
• Set Disk Based Dmaps to Reuse Existing Dmap(s) (see “Removing shadows”
on page 89).
• If a point light does not need to produce shadows in the light’s positive or
negative X, Y, or Z directions, turn off the appropriate Use Dmap attributes
(Use X+ Dmap, Use X- Dmap, Use Y+ Dmap, Use Y- Dmap, Use Z+ Dmap,
or Use Z- Dmap).
• If your scene contains NURBS surfaces, in the Memory and Performance
Options section of the Render Globals window, make sure Reuse
Tessellations is on (the default setting).
To make raytraced shadows render faster:

• Use depth map shadows instead of raytraced shadows.
• If the Light Radius (or the Light Angle for directional lights) is greater than
0, set Shadow Rays to the lowest value that produces acceptable results.
• Set Ray Depth Limit to the lowest value that produces acceptable results.

90
Troubleshooting shadows
TROUBLESHOOTING SHADOWS
You may come across the following problems in the shadows of a rendered
image.
Jagged or flickering shadow edges
for shadow casting spot lights

Decrease the Cone Angle.
for shadow casting directional lights

Turn on Use Light Position, turn off Use Dmap Auto Focus, and set Dmap
Width Focus so all objects that you want to cast shadows do indeed cast
shadows for all frames of your animation. To determine the Dmap Width
Focus value, select Panels > Look Through Selected, and zoom the view in or
out until all shadow casting objects are visible. Make a note of the width of
the view, and use this value for Dmap Width Focus.
for all light types

You can do one of the following:
• Turn off Use Light Position (for directional lights only), turn on Use Dmap
Auto Focus for the light, and turn off Casts Shadows for any objects
(especially large objects) in your scene that do not need to cast shadows
(they can still receive shadows).
• Increase Dmap Filter Size (to the lowest value that produces acceptable
results) for the shadow casting light (this will make shadow edges softer).
• Increase Dmap Resolution (to the lowest value that produces acceptable
results) for the shadow casting light.

91
Grainy or flickering shadows in illuminated fog
Increase Fog Shadow Samples (to the

lowest value that produces acceptable
results) for the shadow casting light.
Dark spots or streaks on illuminated surfaces (outside of

shadows)
Turn on Use Mid Dist Dmap for the
shadow casting light that illuminates the
surface.
or
Increase Dmap Bias by a small amount for

the shadow casting light that illuminates
the surface.
Shadow appears detached from shadow casting surface
Decrease Dmap Bias by a small amount

for the shadow casting light.

92
Grainy or flickering shadow edges (raytraced shadows)

Decrease Light Radius (point lights or spot
lights) or Light Angle (directional lights) for
the shadow casting light. This will also make
shadow edges sharper.
or
Increase Shadow Rays (to the lowest value

that produces acceptable results) for the
shadow casting light.
Staircase of dark triangles on surface (raytraced shadows)
Increase Curvature Tolerance for the surface.
or
Increase U Divisions Factor and V Divisions

Factor for the surface (to the lowest values
that produce acceptable results).

93

94
4 OPTICAL LIGHT EFFECTS
Maya provides three basic types of optical light effects: glows, halos, and
lens flares. By setting the properties of each basic optical light effect, you can
simulate different real-world effects.
In this chapter:
Creating optical light effects ... page 97
Glow properties ... page 100
Halo properties ... page 104
Lens flare properties ... page 106
Illuminated fog ... page 108

95
OPTICAL LIGHT EFFECTS | 4
When light shines directly into an observer’s eye or into a camera’s lens, the
light source may appear to glow. If the light passes through a mesh (for
example, a star filter on a camera) or through hair or eyelashes, the light
refracts, producing a star-like glow. In some cases, the light may reflect off
the surfaces of a camera’s compound lens and produce a lens flare. These are
all examples of optical light effects.
Glow
A glow is a bright, fuzzy disk at the
location of a light source.
Halo
A halo is a bright ring that surrounds a
light source.
Lens flare
A lens flare consists of several bright
disks of various sizes that extend from
the light source in one direction.
In Maya, when light shines directly into the camera, the light source does not,
by default, glow or produce a lens flare. You can, however, add an optical
effect to any light, and control which lights produce a glow or lens flare.

96
Creating optical light effects
CREATING OPTICAL LIGHT EFFECTS

You create an optical light effect by adding it to an existing light (see
“Creating lights” on page 48). A light that produces an optical light effect
can produce any combination of glow, halo, and lens flare.
Notes
• To see an optical light effect, the light source must shine into the
camera (see “Location, direction, and light/surface links” on page
52).
• When you render a scene that contains optical light effects, the
optical light effects will appear in the rendered image after all other
elements in your scene have rendered.
To add an optical light effect to a light:

1 Select the light for which you want to produce an optical light effect.
2 In the Light Effects section of the light’s Attribute Editor, click the map
button beside the Light Glow attribute.
Maya automatically creates an optical FX node, connects it to the light node,
and displays its Attribute Editor.
Optical light effect icons

When you create an optical light effect in Maya, an optical FX icon displays
in camera views around the light’s icon (see also “Light icons” on page 56
and “Illuminated fog icons” on page 113). This icon represents the position
and size of the optical light effect.
Optical Light Effect Icon

97
Removing optical light effects

You can temporarily turn off or permanently remove an optical light effect
from a light.
To temporarily turn an optical light effect off or on:

In the optical FX’s Attribute Editor, set the Active attribute off or on.
When Active is off, a yellow X appears in the Post Process Sample at the top
of the Attribute Editor and in the opticalFX swatch in Hypershade to
indicate the optical light effect will not render.
To permanently remove an optical light effect:

1 Select the optical FX node.
2 Press Delete.
Moving optical effects

To re-position an Optical FX utility node:
1 Map the Optical FX utility to a light’s Color.
2 Create a Locator and place it anywhere in the scene (Create > Locator).
3 Open the Connection Editor
(Window > General Editors > Connection Editor.
4 Select the locator in the view and press the Reload Left button in the
Connection Editor. Make sure Show Readable and Show Non-Keyable are
on in the Left Side Filters menu.
5 In Hypershade, select the Optical FX utility swatch attached to the light.
Click the light swatch then press the Show Up and Downstream
Connections icon.
6 Press the Reload Right button in the Connection Editor. Make sure Show
Inputs Only and Show Non-Keyable are on in the Right Side Filters menu.
7 In the Connection Editor, select the locator’s World Matrix attribute, then
select the Light World Mat attribute of the Optical FX node to connect them.

98
You can now move the locator anywhere in the scene and the optical light
effect moves with it. If you follow these steps for other lights in the scene,
you can create multiple optical effects.
Animating a light’s glow effect

If you position a point light glow behind an object and want to animate the
glow effect so that it becomes less bright (due to occlusion) as the object
moves, you can adjust the light shape’s Radius value and set keys for each
value as the objects come closer or move away.
To increase or decrease a glow effect’s radius for animation:

1 In a point light’s Attribute Editor, select the sphereShape2 tab and change
the Radius value.
Notice that each time you change the Radius value the point light’s icon
increases or decreases in the view.
2 Set keys each time you change the Radius value to fade or increase the glow
effect.

99
Glow properties
Point light in view Default Radius=1.0 Radius=0.5

occluded (hidden)
by object.
Radius=0.3 Radius=0.1
Optical effects tips

• Turn on Ignore Light in the Optical FX Attributes section of the Attribute
Editor to avoid flickering when animating an optical effect, or if you place an
optical effect in an enclosed area.
• To produce a cleaner and more realistic-looking optical effect, turn on
Geometry Anti-aliasing in the Render Stats section of a light’s shape
Attribute Editor (for example, select the sphereShape tab for a point light).
When you do, Maya matches an object’s geometry with the light’s triangles.
GLOW PROPERTIES
• “Glow color, brightness, size, and opacity” on page 101
• “Glow location” on page 101
• “Glow brightness decay” on page 101
• “Glow beams” on page 102
• “Glow Randomness” on page 103

100
Glow properties
Glow color, brightness, size, and opacity
Color
To change the color of a glow, adjust the
Glow Color attribute.
Brightness
To change the brightness of a glow,
adjust the Glow Intensity attribute.
Size
To change the size of a glow, adjust the
Glow Spread attribute.
Opacity
To change the amount that a glow
obscures objects, adjust the Glow
Opacity attribute.
Glow location
A glow appears at the location of the

light source. To change the location of a
glow, move the light source.
See “Moving optical effects” on page 98.
Glow brightness decay

A glow’s brightness is strongest at the light source and decreases or decays
further away from the light source. (In some cases, the color of the glow may
also change.)

101
Glow properties
Linear brightness decay

To make the brightness of a glow
decrease quickly with distance, set the
Glow Type attribute to Linear.
Exponential brightness decay

To make the brightness of a glow
decrease gradually with distance, set the
Glow Type attribute to Exponential.
Ball brightness decay

To make a glow appear as a bright, well-
defined disk with sharp edges, set the
Glow Type attribute to Ball.
Lens flare brightness decay

To make a glow appear as a series of
colored disks, set the Glow Type
attribute to Lens Flare.
Rim halo brightness decay

To make a glow appear as a colorful ring
around the location of the glow, set the
Glow Type attribute to Rim Halo.
Glow beams
A glow can consist of regularly spaced or randomly spaced beams or rays of
light. These beams simulate refractions caused by a camera’s star filter or by
eyelashes.
Number of regularly spaced beams

To change the number of regularly
spaced glow beams, adjust the Star
Points attribute.

102
Glow properties
Width of regularly spaced beams

To change the width of regularly spaced
glow beams, adjust the Glow Star Level
attribute.
Brightness of randomly spaced

beams
To change the brightness of randomly
spaced glow beams, adjust the Glow
Radial Noise attribute.
Width and number of randomly

spaced beams
To change the width and number of
randomly spaced glow beams, adjust the
Radial Frequency attribute. (Make sure
Glow Radial Noise is not 0.)
Beam rotation
To rotate regularly spaced or randomly
spaced glow beams, adjust the Rotation
attribute.
Glow Randomness
Randomness strength
To change the randomness of a glow,
adjust the Glow Noise attribute.
Randomness rotation
To rotate a glow’s randomness, adjust
the Rotation attribute.

103
Halo properties
Randomness resizing
To resize a glow’s randomness, adjust
the Noise Uscale and Noise Vscale
attributes.
Randomness movement
To move a glow’s randomness, adjust
the Noise Uoffset and Noise Voffset
attributes.
Randomness contrast
To change the contrast of a glow’s
randomness, adjust the Noise Threshold
attribute.
HALO PROPERTIES
• “Halo color, brightness, and size” on page 104
• “Halo location” on page 105
• “Halo brightness decay” on page 105
Halo color, brightness, and size
Color
To change the color of a halo, adjust the
Halo Color attribute.
Brightness
To change the brightness of a halo,
adjust the Halo Intensity attribute.

104
Halo properties
Size
To change the size of a halo, adjust the
Halo Spread attribute.
Halo location
A halo appears at the location of the

light source. To change the location of a
halo, move the light source.
Halo brightness decay

A halo’s brightness is strongest at the light source and decreases or decays
further away from the light source. (In some cases, the color of the halo may
also change.)
Linear brightness decay

To make the brightness of a halo
decrease quickly with distance, set the
Halo Type attribute to Linear.
Exponential brightness decay

To make the brightness of a halo
decrease gradually with distance, set the
Halo Type attribute to Exponential.
Ball brightness decay

To make a halo appear as a bright, well-
defined disk with sharp edges, set the
Halo Type attribute to Ball.

105
Lens flare properties
Lens flare brightness decay

To make a halo appear as a series of
colored disks, set the Halo Type
attribute to Lens Flare.
Rim halo brightness decay

To make a halo appear as a colorful ring
around the location of the halo, set the
Halo Type attribute to Rim Halo.
LENS FLARE PROPERTIES

• “Lens Flare color and brightness” on page 106
• “Lens Flare location” on page 107
• “Lens Flare shape, size, sharpness, and number” on page 107
• “Lens Flare spread length and spread direction” on page 108
Lens Flare color and brightness

All lens flares have a specific color (or range of colors) and brightness.
Color
To change the basic color of a lens flare,
adjust the Flare Color attribute.
Color range
To change the color range of a lens flare,
adjust the Flare Col Spread attribute.

106
Lens flare properties
Brightness
To change the brightness of a lens flare,
adjust the Flare Intensity attribute.
Lens Flare location
A lens flare appears at the location of the

light source.To change the location of a
lens flare, move the light source.
Lens Flare shape, size, sharpness, and number

You can control the shape, size, sharpness, and number of elements (usually
circles or hexagons) in a lens flare.
Shape
To change the shape of a lens flare to a
hexagon, turn on the Hexagon Flare
attribute.
Size
To change the size of a lens flare, adjust
the Flare Min Size and Flare Max Size
attributes.
Sharpness
To change the sharpness of a lens flare,
adjust the Flare Focus attribute.

107
Illuminated fog
Number of elements
To change the number of elements
(circles or hexagons) in a lens flare,
adjust the Flare Num Circles attribute.
Lens Flare spread length and spread direction

You can control the spread of a lens flare relative to the light source.
Spread direction
To change the direction of a spread lens
flare, adjust the Flare Vertical and Flare
Horizontal attributes.
Spread length
To change the spread length of a lens
flare, adjust the Flare Length attribute.
ILLUMINATED FOG
When light shines, it often illuminates fine particles (fog, smoke, or dust)
that are in the air.
In Maya, when light shines through the air, it does not, by default,
illuminate any fog or dust. You can, however, add fog to a light so that the
fog appears to be illuminated by that light. This is known as light fog. Light
fog is associated with a specific light and only appears within the light’s
illumination.
Creating illuminated fog

You create illuminated fog by adding it to an existing light (see “Creating
lights” on page 48). To create fog that fills your entire scene, not just within
the illumination of a specific light, use environment fog (see “Atmosphere” on
page 253).

108
Illuminated fog
To add illuminated fog to a light:

1 Select the light for which you want to illuminate fog.
2 In the Light Effects section of the light’s Attribute Editor, click the map
button beside the Light Fog attribute.
Maya automatically creates a light fog node, connects it to the light node,
and displays its Attribute Editor.
Illuminated fog properties

This section includes the following information:
• “Illuminated fog color and brightness” on page 109
• “Illuminated fog location, direction, and size” on page 110
• “Illuminated fog brightness decay” on page 110
• “Illuminated fog brightness dropoff” on page 112
• “Illuminated fog opacity” on page 112
• “Illuminated fog icons” on page 113
• “Removing illuminated fog” on page 113
Illuminated fog color and brightness
Color
To change the color of illuminated fog,
adjust the fog’s Color attribute. (The
light’s Color attribute also influences the
color of illuminated fog.)
Brightness
To change the brightness of illuminated
fog, adjust the Fog Intensity attribute.
(The light’s Intensity attribute and the
fog’s Density attribute also influence the
brightness of illuminated fog.)

109
Illuminated fog
Illuminated fog location, direction, and size

Fog can be illuminated from a specific direction. You can control the
directionality of spot light fog.
Location
To change the location of illuminated
fog, move the light source. See
“Positioning lights” on page 60.
Direction
To change the direction of illuminated
fog from a spot light, rotate the light’s
icon in a modeling view. See “Directing
lights” on page 61.
Beam angle (spot light)

To change the beam angle of illuminated
fog from a spot light, adjust the Cone
Angle attribute. See “Light
manipulators” on page 57.
Size (point light)

To change the size (outer radius) of
illuminated fog from a point light, adjust
the Fog Radius attribute.
Illuminated fog brightness decay

The brightness of illuminated fog is strongest at the light source and
decreases or decays further away from the light source.

110
Illuminated fog
Preset brightness decay

To change how the brightness of
illuminated fog decreases with distance
(using a preset decay rate), adjust the
Fog Type attribute (for illuminated fog
from a point light), or the Decay Rate
attribute (for illuminated fog from a
point light or spot light).
Custom brightness decay

illuminated fog from a spot light
decreases (or even increases) with
distance (using a user-defined decay
rate), use the Intensity Curve attribute.
Color decay
To change how the color of illuminated
fog from a spot light changes with
distance, use the Color Curves attribute.
Regional decay
To separate illuminated fog from a spot
light into regions that are illuminated
and regions that are not illuminated,
turn on the Use Decay Regions attribute,
and adjust the Region 1, Region 2, and
Region 3 attributes. See “Light
manipulators” on page 57.

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Illuminated fog
Illuminated fog brightness dropoff

If illuminated fog is in a focused beam, the fog’s brightness will be strongest
in the center of the beam and will decrease or dropoff toward the edges of
the beam. You can control the brightness dropoff of spot light fog.
Fog spread
illuminated fog from a spot light
decreases from the center of the beam to
the edge of the beam, adjust the Fog
Spread attribute. (The Penumbra Angle
attribute also influences how the
brightness decreases from the center of
the beam to the edge of the beam.)
Illuminated fog opacity

Illuminated fog can obscure objects that are within or behind the fog.
Opacity
To change the amount that objects
within or behind illuminated fog are
obscured, either turn off Color Based
Transparency and adjust the Density
attribute, or turn on Color Based
Transparency and adjust the Density and
Color attributes.
Color based transparency

To make objects obscured by
illuminated fog appear as flat-shaded
silhouettes, turn off Color Based
Transparency.

112
Illuminated fog
Fast drop off

To make illuminated fog obscure objects
close to the camera less than objects
further from the camera, turn on Fast
Drop Off.
Illuminated fog icons

When you create illuminated fog in Maya, an icon appears in camera views
around the light’s icon (see also “Light icons” on page 56). This icon
represents the position and size of the illuminated fog.
Illuminated Fog Icon Illuminated Fog Icon

(Point Light) (Spot Light)
Removing illuminated fog

You can temporarily turn off or permanently remove illuminated fog from a
light.
To temporarily turn off illuminated fog:

In the light’s Attribute Editor, set the Fog Intensity attribute to 0.
To permanently remove illuminated fog:

1 Select the light fog node.
2 Press Delete.

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Illuminated fog

114
5 MATERIALS AND SURFACES
Materials, or elements, have three natural phases: solid, liquid, and gas. Each
phase has unique properties that define it and characterize its look. Surfaces
in all phases share common characteristics or properties, like color,
shininess, bumpiness, and transparency.
In this chapter:
Setting surface quality ... page 117
Material visual components ... page 123
Color ... page 125
Shininess ... page 128
Bump Mapping ... page 131
Displacement mapping ... page 132
Transparency ... page 140
Self-Illumination ... page 143
Motion blur ... page 147
Creating surface materials ... page 152
Combining materials ... page 162
Layering materials ... page 163
Layering textures ... page 166
Double-sided shading ... page 171
Switch utilities ... page 174
Making surfaces render faster ... page 186
Troubleshooting surfaces ... page 187

115
MATERIALS AND SURFACES | 5
Surface quality
Surface quality determines how accurate
materials and textures look on a surface.
Visual components of materials

All surfaces share common visual
properties, like color, shininess,
bumpiness, and transparency.
Creating surface materials

You can create natural-looking or
synthetic materials in Maya. The Phong
material’s hard highlights are good for
plastics, paints, and other man-made
surfaces.
The Blinn material’s softer, more natural
highlights are good for simulating
organic surfaces.
The Lambert material’s flat finish is good
for architectural surfaces like brick or
concrete.

116
Setting surface quality
Combining materials on a single

surface
You can use special utilities to map two
different textures onto the same NURBS
surface, or to switch the look of a surface
attribute on one or more surface.
SETTING SURFACE QUALITY

The shape of an object contributes to how its surface covers it, whether it’s a
skin covering a skeleton, or a present wrapped in paper. In Maya, a surface’s
geometry affects how materials are applied to it and what it looks like after a
material is applied.
• “NURBS surfaces” on page 118
• “Polygonal surfaces” on page 121
• “Aliasing” on page 122

117
NURBS surfaces
NURBS surfaces
A NURBS surface is composed of one or
more patches. During rendering, each
patch is divided into an appropriate
number of triangles to approximate the
CVs true shape of the surface. This is called
tessellation.
Surface patches Isoparms
You can use NURBS surfaces for anything from stand-in geometry to feature
CG characters. NURBS surface quality depends in part on how finely
tessellated a surface is, though you should be very selective about how
finely you tessellate each surface because it can increase rendering times.
Use level of detail wherever you can in a scene. Level of detail means that you
give foreground, or feature, surfaces more detail, while giving background,
or less important surfaces less detail. This practice will save you time during
rendering.
Tessellation describes how many triangles are used, where on the surface
triangles are concentrated, and how large or small they are. Tessellation
affects the quality of your rendered surfaces as well as how long it takes for
them to render.
NURBS surface quality

You control NURBS surface quality by adjusting the tessellation attributes
that control how finely tessellated the surfaces are and where on the surface
triangles are concentrated. Finer tessellation means longer rendering times
with higher image quality.

118
In Maya, the default tessellation method is surface-based, which implies

Maya tessellates on the surface as opposed to at isoparms or surface spans.
The advantage of surfaced-based tessellation is that it produces more
uniform tessellation with lower triangle counts and render times.
Use span-based tessellation when joined surfaces share the same isoparm at
the edges to remove holes or cracks between the joined surfaces or use
smooth edge.
See “To use span-based tessellation:” on page 119 for details.
Texturing NURBS surfaces

NURBS surfaces have an inherent parameterization, according to how they
were constructed and defined. This can be both an advantage (every point
on the surface has an analytic and continuous U, V value so textures cover
them nicely) and a limitation (it can be hard to deviate from the inherent
structure of a NURBS surface).
To use span-based tessellation:

In the Tessellation section of the surface’s Attribute Editor, turn on Explicit
Tessellation Attributes and set Mode U and Mode V to Per Span # of
Isoparms. You can also turn on Smooth Edge to remove cracks between
joined surfaces.
There are several tessellation modes you can apply to NURBS surfaces
(Tessellation > Explicit Tessellation > Primary Tessellation), so you must
determine which one is best suited to the surface you are rendering. The
following lists some useful rules:
If your NURBS surface is Set Mode U/Mode V and

degree... Number U/Number V to...
1 Per Span # of Isoparms; 1
greater than 1 Per Surf # of Isoparms in 3D;

1.5 * ((#spans U/V) + 1)

119
To set surface quality:

1 Select the NURBS surface and open its Attribute Editor.
2 Make sure you are in smooth shaded mode (in a view select Shading >
Smooth Shade All).
3 Adjust the Tessellation attributes in the surface’s Attribute Editor. See
“Previewing NURBS surface tessellation” on page 41.
To fix flickering of a thin or small surface:

1 Render the animation/image at final production quality.
2 Examine the animation/image visually, and identify the specific surface that
flickers.
3 In the Anti-Aliasing Quality section of the Render Globals window, set Edge
Anti-aliasing to High Quality or Highest Quality.
Note
The Geometry Antialiasing Override attribute in a surface’s Attribute
Editor will only work if you set Edge Anti-aliasing to High or Highest in
the Render Globals window.
4 Select the surface that you determined is flickering and open its Attribute
Editor.
5 In the Render Stats section, turn on Geometry Antialiasing Override, and
adjust the Antialiasing Level.
Notes
• Turn on Geometry Antialiasing Override only for flickering
surfaces to help keep rendering times down.
• If the flickering is caused by thin surfaces (only a few pixels wide),
also turn on Multi Pixel Filter in the Render Globals window. See
“Troubleshooting surfaces” on page 187.

120
Polygonal surfaces
Polygonal surfaces
A face is the smallest unit of a polygonal
surface to which you can apply a
material. You can apply a material to the
whole polygonal surface or to just a face
or collection of faces of the polygonal
UVs surface.
Faces Vertices
You can use polygonal surfaces for anything from game characters and
levels to stand-in geometry to feature CG characters. Game developers use
polygonal surfaces almost exclusively because they provide the combination
of light-weight models (with low memory usage in a game) and the ability to
easily apply different textures to different parts of the same surface.
Polygonal surface quality

Polygonal surfaces are made of faces, which are the smallest surface unit of a
polygon surface that you can apply a material to. You control how many
faces a polygonal surface has, as well as where on the surface the detail is
concentrated.
Texturing polygonal surfaces

Polygonal surfaces need to have a U, V specified in some way for every
vertex of every face. For this reason, it can be challenging to make each face
smoothly correspond to the shape of the surface, so the texture map looks
good when it’s applied. On the other hand, the flexibility of faces make it
easy to apply different maps to different parts of the same surface, which is
impossible with NURBS surfaces.
See Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling for details.

121
Important note about interactive placement

Interactive placement is for NURBS surfaces, not polygonal surfaces.
It is recommended that you do not use the As Projection option in the
Create Render Node window when selecting a 2D texture to map to your
polygonal models, especially if you have tweaked any UVs using any of
the Edit Polygons > Texture menu items.
See Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling for details.
Do not use this

option if you tweaked UVs.
Aliasing
In general terms, you can identify surface aliasing by images with jagged
edges or textures, or by flickering surfaces in an animation. There are many
kinds of aliasing, like grainy surfaces, flickering, and jaggedness.
Aliasing is a natural outcome of point sampling, and you can control how
much or how little aliasing occurs in your rendered frames. There are many
kinds of aliasing, and as many different approaches to controlling or fixing
aliased images. Maya separates edge aliasing from shading aliasing to give
you more control over image quality and performance.
Some solutions to control aliasing are time-expensive, and increase render
times. Try to find the solution that gives you the best balance between image
quality and performance.
We recommend that you read the entire troubleshooting section at the end of
this chapter and the troubleshooting card to familiarize yourself with the
different kinds of aliasing, and how to fix them in Maya. See
“Troubleshooting surfaces” on page 187.

122
Material visual components
MATERIAL VISUAL COMPONENTS

Material surfaces determine how much light the material absorbs or reflects
(for example, materials that contain metallic elements tend to reflect more
than those without). Maya defines materials by several groups of visual
properties, like color, shininess, and transparency, with which you can
mimic real-world or fantasy surfaces.
Color
Use RGB (Red, Green, Blue) or HSV
(Hue, Saturation, Value) values to define
a surface color, or you can map a texture
or file texture to a material.
See “Color” on page 125.
Shininess
If a surface is shiny it can have
highlights, or hard reflectivity values.
The less shiny, the softer its reflectivity
and the less it reflects other surfaces.
See “Shininess” on page 128.
Bumpiness
A surface can appear bumpy or it
actually can have displacements in its
surface values.
See “Bump Mapping” on page 131 and
“Displacement mapping” on page 132.

123
Material visual components
Transparency
A surface can be transparent or opaque.
When raytracing a transparent surface,
light rays that penetrate the surface
bend, and the light is refracted.
See “Transparency” on page 140.
Self-illumination
Sometimes when light strikes a surface,
the surface appears to be lit from within,
or it appears to have a glowing halo.
See “Self-Illumination” on page 143.
Motion blur
A fast moving surface captured by a
camera appears blurred.
See “Motion blur” on page 147.

124
Color
COLOR
You can define color with RGB or HSV values or by mapping a texture or
file to the color attribute.
• “The Color Chooser” on page 126
• “The Surface Shader” on page 126
• “Textures and file textures” on page 127
RGB and HSV

Define a material’s color with RGB or
HSV values using the Color Chooser.
Surface Shaders
Use a Surface Shader to connect a
surface’s color with a non-rendering
attribute, like a Transform. The surface
color changes as the surface moves.
See “The Surface Shader” on page 126.
Textures
Map a texture to a material’s Color, and
then adjust or tune the texture.
See “Textures and file textures” on page
127.
File textures
Use an image file to drive the color of a
material.
See “Textures and file textures” on page
127.

125
Color
The Color Chooser

Use the Color Chooser to define RGB or HSV values for a specific color.
To use the Color Chooser:

1 Create a material and open its Attribute Editor.
2 Click the color field next to the Color label.
3 The Color Chooser displays.
4 Select a color (see Using Maya: Essentials for details about the Color Chooser).
The Surface Shader

Use a Surface Shader when you want to completely control the color,
transparency and matte opacity of a material. This kind of shader does no
shading calculation of any kind. Rather, it allows you to connect other
attributes directly to its color, glow color, and transparency. It completely
ignores everything else that would normally affect a shader.
For example, if you connect the Translate attribute of an object to the Out
Color attribute of a Surface Shader, the shader color depends on the position
of the object in space. As the object moves, it changes color.
You can also use a Surface Shader to define a color or color map that you can
save and share among node networks.
To connect a Surface Shader’s color with a surface’s Translate

attributes:
1 Open the Connection Editor and load the left side with the surface and the
right side with the Surface Shader.
2 Connect the surface’s Translate attribute with the Surface Shader’s Out Color
attribute. As you translate the surface, the surface color changes.
To create and store a color with a Surface Shader:

1 Create a Surface Shader material. Surface materials only have three
attributes: Out Color, Out Transparency, and Out Glow Color, and are ideal
for connecting a color value (or map) to one or more materials.
2 Click the color field next to the Color label. The Color Chooser displays.

126
Color
3 Select a color.
4 Connect the Surface shader to the Color of one or many materials. See also
“Connecting nodes” on page 16.
Textures and file textures

You can define a material’s color by mapping a texture or file texture to its
Color attribute.
To create a file texture using Visor:

1 Open Hypershade and Visor.
2 Drag an image file from Visor to Hypershade. Maya creates a file texture
that references the image file you dragged from Visor. If you delete or move
the image file, the reference to the image file breaks and the texture file
swatch turns black to indicate that no file is associated.
To map a texture to the Color attribute:

2 Click the map button next to the Color attribute. The Create Render Node
window displays.
3 Create any 2D or 3D texture. The texture pipes its Out Color to the material’s
Color attribute.
By default, the texture covers the entire surface you assign it to, but you can
place the file texture on the surface to suit your needs using the 2d or 3d
Texture Placement Attributes.
To map a file texture to the Color attribute:

2 Click the map button next to the Color label. The Create Render Node
window displays.
3 Create a file texture. maya connects a file texture node to the material’s Color
attribute. Now you must connect an image file to the file texture node.
4 In the file texture’s Attribute Editor, click the folder button and select the
image file from the browser.

127
Shininess
Note
If you map a texture (for example a checker) to a material’s Color attribute
and adjust the texture’s Translate Frame and Coverage placement
attributes so that the checker does not cover the entire surface, you will
notice a grey color underneath when the checker is rendered. The grey
color comes from the texture’s Default Color attribute, located in the Color
Balance section of its Attribute Editor. In Maya, if the coverage does not
contain the texture, the Default Color of the texture (not the surface
material) is used. To fix it, you can map the Default Color, or you can
change the color using the Color Chooser.
SHININESS
Some surfaces are shinier than others (for example a wet fish has a shinier
surface than a dry leaf). Depending on how shiny a surface is, it reflects light
in different ways.
Tip
The Blinn material is the best to use for shiny surfaces in animations.
Highlights on other specular materials, like Phong and PhongE, may
flicker when animated.
Highlights
The size of a specular highlight on a
surface makes the surface look either flat
or shiny.
See “Surface highlights” on page 129.

128
Shininess
Highlight color
You can control the color of highlights
on surfaces.
See “Surface highlights” on page 129.
Reflections
You can control the degree of reflectivity
as well as other surface properties like
refracted color. To get true reflections,
you must raytrace your scene.
See “Reflections” on page 130.
Surface highlights
Only materials with specular attributes (Anisotropic, Blinn, Phong, and
PhongE) have surface highlights. The ‘specular’ highlight is the white shiny
glow on the material.
Anisotropic Blinn Phong PhongE
To control highlights:
1 Create a specular material (Anisotropic, Blinn, Phong, or PhongE) and open
its Attribute Editor.
2 Adjust the attributes in the Specular Shading section to get the look you
want.

129
Shininess
To control highlight color:

1 Create a specular material (Anisotropic, Blinn, Phong, or PhongE) and open
its Attribute Editor.
2 Adjust the Specular Color attribute in the Specular Shading section to get the
highlight color you want.
Reflections
You can simulate real reflections by using reflection maps. You can also
create photorealistic reflections by raytracing (but raytracing is slower).
To simulate real reflections:

Assign a specular material, like Blinn or Phong, to the surface for which you
want to have reflections, and map an environment texture or image file to
the Reflected Color attribute.
To create true reflections:

You must have at least two surfaces to create true reflections. You can
control which surfaces appear in reflections and which don’t by turning
Visible in Reflections on or off in each surface’s Attribute Editor. (Visible in
Reflections is on by default when you create new surfaces.)
1 Create a sphere and a ground plane, and position the sphere over the
ground plane. Create a light to illuminate both surfaces.
2 Create a specular material (a Phong or PhongE) and assign it to the sphere.
The sphere is reflected in the ground plane.
3 Create a second material and assign it to the ground plane. The ground
plane reflects the sphere.
4 Make each surface a different color, so you can see the reflection of one in
the other.
5 In the Raytracing Quality section of the Render Globals window, turn on
Raytracing. This tells Maya to raytrace any surface whose Visible in
Reflections/Refractions is toggled on. These attributes are on by default for
all surfaces, but raytracing only works when you turn on Raytracing in the
Render Globals window.

130
Bump Mapping
6 Perform a test render to see the results. If you want the sphere to reflect the
ground plane, open the ground plane’s Attribute Editor and turn on Render
Stats > Visible in Reflections.
BUMP MAPPING
All surfaces have texture, though some are smooth and some bumpier (for
example, the difference between an orange peel and the skin of an apple). In
some cases you can simulate the look of a bumpy surface, while in other
cases you want to actually displace the surface of an object.
Bumpy surface, smooth silhouette

To make a material appear bumpy, but
have a smooth silhouette, assign a
texture to the material’s Bump Mapping
attribute.
Bumpy surface, bumpy silhouette

To make a material appear bumpy and
have a bumpy silhouette, assign a
texture to the shading group’s
Displacement Mat. attribute.
Use bump mapping to simulate 3-dimensional surface detail effects. Bump

maps do not alter the shape of surfaces to which they are assigned.
To make a surface look bumpy:

Assign a texture to the Material’s Bump Mapping attribute.
When you render, make sure the scene’s light intensity is not set too high, or
you may not see the bump map on the surface.

131
Displacement mapping
Note
When you are using a file texture that has a mask file that does not
resemble the RGB image, the result may be a bump that corresponds to the
mask information, which is not what you expect. To fix this, remove the
image file’s mask channel.
DISPLACEMENT MAPPING
Displacement mapping changes the surface of your geometry. When viewed
in silhouette, you can see the displacement of your surface.
A displacement map is similar to a bump map—the surface to which it is
mapped is displaced along the normals. The displacement height is the
alpha value of the texture map by default. If you turn on Alpha is
Luminance for the texture, the displacement height results are based on the
intensity of the pixels in the texture map.
The difference is that displacement mapping changes the surface by moving
its vertices while bump mapping only changes the surface’s normals. When
you displacement map a texture, the map actually affects the geometry of
the object. With displacement maps, the silhouette of the surface is consistent
with the rest of the surface, unlike bump maps. You can also get shadows
and reflections of the displacement on objects.
To adjust the attributes for a displacement mapped object, select the object
and open its Attribute Editor, then open the Displacement Map section of
the editor.
See the online Maya Reference: Rendering book for details about setting
displacement shader attributes.

132
Notes
• You should avoid using Environment textures for displacement
mapping. Maya will not stop you from doing so, but the basic
characteristics of environment mapping preclude accurate
calculations when used for displacement mapping.
• To avoid displacement texture “popping,” make sure the surface’s
Use Min Screen attribute is turned off in the Secondary Tessellation
Attributes section of its Attribute Editor. Use Min Screen tessellates
a surface based on its distance from the camera and uses the screen
space to determine how much tessellation is required (as opposed
to object or world space). If the surface is moving toward or away
from the camera and Use Min Screen is on, the tessellation changes
over time, and the displaced texture “pops.”
Tips
• Although you can use the 2D and 3D textures Maya provides, you
can also load a 2D File texture of your own.
• Displacement mapped texture results do not display in hardware
texturing mode (the view) unless temporarily mapped to a
material’s channel.
Feature-based displacement mapping

The following describes displacement mapping textures when Feature
Displacement is on (on by default).
Maya uses feature-based displacement mapping and tries to attain high
quality displacement mapping with better performance. This technique
detects features (height variation) in the displacement texture and adds
triangles to the tessellation only where needed. This keeps the polygon count
to a minimum.
When using this technique, the tessellation attributes do not have to be set
high, they just have to be high enough to capture the surface shape.

133
To displace the surface of an object:

1 Create a material in Hypershade.
2 Middle-mouse drag a texture swatch onto the material swatch in
Hypershade.
3 Select displacement map from the material’s pop-up menu.
To determine how to set Displacement Map-related surface attributes, see

the online Maya Reference: Rendering book for information on Displacement
Map attributes.
The following example shows how displacement mapping a 2D file texture
of a stone wall can quickly create depth and a 3D feel. The displacement
operation for this example uses the surface’s default Displacement Map
settings.

134
After
displace-
ment
mapping.
Before
displacement
mapping.
Hypershade
view.
Adding surface detail using the bump map channel

Since the bump map channel is not used when performing feature-based
displacement mapping, you can add bump maps to your displaced surfaces
using the material’s bump map channel directly.
Non-Feature-based displacement mapping

When Feature Displacement is turned off, the surface’s Displacement Map
attributes are not usable and a bump node is automatically created. The
texture and the bump map’s Filter Size and Filter Offset attributes (if they
have them) are automatically adjusted for optimal results.
The bump node makes the displacement map look good without requiring
excessive tessellation. The bump node translates the texture’s color into a
surface normal in the direction and magnitude needed for the displacement.
Deleting the bump node results in the loss of the bumped normal; the
geometry will still be displaced, but the surface normal will not be affected.
This results in the surface looking as if it has been shaded without being
displacement mapped.

135
Displacement maps take longer to render than bump maps because they
actually alter the shape of surfaces to which they are assigned, creating
complex surface detail. Displacement occurs along the surface normals
according to the intensity of the pixels in the texture map.
Tip
To achieve high-quality displacement mapping, you must set the
tessellation values relatively high. However, this increases rendering times
and requires more memory.
To displace the surface of an object when Feature Displacement is off:

1 Create a material in Hypershade.
2 Middle-mouse drag a texture onto the material in Hypershade.
3 Select displacement map from the material’s pop-up menu.
4 In the Tessellation section of the object’s Attribute Editor, you can increase
the tessellation by increasing the U and V Division Factor values.
You can also increase the tessellation by turning on Explicit Tessellation

Attributes and, for example, adjust the Primary Tessellation attributes as
follows:

136
Although increasing the tessellation values slows down the renderer, you
must increase the tessellation to achieve accurate results for displacement
surfaces.
5 In the Anti-aliasing Quality section of the Render Globals window, set
Presets to Production Quality.
6 Perform a test render.
NURBS Cone NURBS Cone displaced with

in view. Fractal texture, Render View.
Tip
Since the above example resembles a tree, you may want to connect the
displacement map to another attribute, such as Ambient Color, and change
the material’s Color to green.

137
Adding displacement surface detail on a displacement

mapped surface
To add detailed texturing to a surface that already has a displacement map,
you can bump the “displacement” bump.
To add bump detail to a surface with a displacement map:

This procedure is a continuation of the previous procedure.
1 In Hypershade, select the material you created, and display its up and
downstream connections.
2 Create a Bump 3d node (Create > Utilities > General Utilities). Maya uses
this bump node to provide the extra surface detail on the material you
created once it is attached to the shading network with the following steps.
3 Create a marble texture. This texture node will be mapped to the Bump 3d
node you created in the previous step.
4 Middle-mouse drag the Marble node onto the Bump 3d node. The Marble’s
Out Alpha is connected to the Bump 3d node’s BumpValue attribute
automatically.
5 Middle-mouse drag the Bump 3d node onto the “displacement” bump node.
6 Click to highlight the bump3d swatch. The Connection Editor displays
showing the Bump 3d node’s attributes on the left and the “displacement”
bump node’s attributes on the right.
Note
Make sure to turn on Options > Auto-connect in the Connection Editor to
put the editor in automatic mode.
7 Select Right Side Filters > Show Hidden, to display the node’s hidden
attributes.

138
8 Click the left side node’s Out Normal attribute, then click the right side
node’s Normal Camera attribute to make the connection. This connects the
Bump 3d node to the “displacement” bump node.

139
Transparency
TRANSPARENCY
Surface transparency can be a very obvious characteristic, such as a glass
surface, or rather subtle, such as a thin layer of dirt on a smooth surface.
Surface transparency
You can control the surface
transparency with a single attribute
slider, called Transparency. See
“Uniform transparency” on page 141.
Refractions
You control which surfaces appear
refracted. You must raytrace to get
refractions or reflections. See
“Refractions” on page 141.
Mapping transparency
When you map a material’s
Transparency attribute, the texture is
connected to the transparency and
determines which parts of the surface
are transparent. See “Mapping
transparency” on page 142.

140
Transparency
Layered transparency
The Layered Shader lets you combine
one or more materials on a surface to
produce organic- or complex-looking
surfaces. See “Making metal using the
Layered Shader surface material” on
page 163.
Uniform transparency
To make a surface uniformly transparent:
In the material’s Attribute Editor, use the Transparency slider to adjust the
amount of transparency the surface has.
By default, the surface is completely opaque (in the Color field next to the
Transparency label, black represents opaque, and white represents
completely transparent).
Refractions
When raytracing, light rays bend when they penetrate transparent surfaces,
causing refractions.
You must have at least two surfaces to create true refractions. You can
control which surfaces have refractions and which don’t by turning on/off
Visible in Refractions in each surface’s Attribute Editor. Raytracing must be
turned on in the Raytracing Quality section of the Render Globals window
to render refractions.
To create refractions:
1 Create a sphere and a plane, and position the sphere in front of the plane.
Create a light to illuminate both surfaces.
2 Create a specular material (using Phong or PhongE) and assign it to the
sphere.
3 Set the material’s Transparency attribute to white. The sphere will be
transparent and allow light to penetrate its surface. This will cause the light
rays to bend, and refract the plane’s surface.

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Transparency
4 Open the plane’s Attribute Editor, and turn on Render Stats > Visible in
Refractions. (Visible in Refractions is on by default when you create new
surfaces.)
5 Create a material and assign it to the plane. The plane will be visible through
the sphere, but its surface will be refracted.
6 Map a checker texture to the plane, so you can see the refracting of the
checker squares through the sphere.
7 In the Raytracing Quality section of the Render Globals window, turn on
Raytracing. This tells Maya to raytrace any surface whose Visible in
Reflections/Refractions is turned on.
8 In the Raytrace Options section of the sphere’s material Attribute Editor,
turn on Refractions, and set the following attributes:
Set this attribute... To...
Refractive Index 1.33
Refraction Limit 6
Reflection Limit 4
9 Perform a test render to see the results.

If you want the sphere to reflect the ground plane, open the ground plane’s
Attribute Editor and turn on Render Stats > Visible in Reflections.
Mapping transparency
To make a surface with varied transparency:
2 Click the map button next to the Transparency attribute, and create a 2D or
3D texture.
The texture’s Out Color information is piped to the material’s Transparency.
By default, parts of the texture that are black will be opaque, and where the
texture is white it will be completely transparent.

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Self-Illumination
SELF-ILLUMINATION
Many surfaces appear to have a quality of self-illumination, while others
appear to glow. For example, on a dark night the sun’s rays light the moon,
giving it the appearance of being illuminated from within, and if you look
far into the night sky distant clusters of stars appear to have a glowing aura.
Glow attributes define the type of glow produced from light reflecting off a
surface, or from surface incandescence.
Surfaces that are illuminated from

within
Incandescence can make a surface
appear to contain heat, like a red-hot
electric stove burner.
See “Lighting surfaces from within” on
page 143.
Surfaces that glow

Surface glow affects the surface and the
space around it, giving it a 3D quality.
Glow is a post process.
See “Surfaces that glow” on page 144.
Lighting surfaces from within

When light shines on a surface, the surface can appear to be lit from within,
or to have its own internal light source.
To make a surface appear lit from within:

1 Create a material and give it a color.
2 Assign the material to a surface.

143
Self-Illumination
3 Click the color field next to the Incandescence label, and create an orange
color.
The Incandescence slider controls the Value channel, so you may have to
adjust the Incandescence Value to get the look you want.
4 Use the slider to decrease the incandescence level, so only a little bit of
orange glow appears.
Only a dull, flat surface is rendered, which is the result of only the surface’s
incandescence.
6 Create a light to shine on the material.
8 The surface now has a color, as well as an orange internal light source.
Surfaces that glow

Some surfaces appear to have a glowing aura.
Hide Source
Occludes the surface; the glow is
rendered.
Turned off Turned on
Glow Intensity
Controls the brightness of the glow.
Low High

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Self-Illumination
Note
Glow is a post process, so when you render a surface with glow, it will
take extra time before the glow appears in the image.
To make a surface glow:

1 Create a colored material and assign it to a surface.
2 Create a light to illuminate the surface.
3 In the Special Effects section of the material’s Attribute Editor, turn on Hide
Source, and turn up the Glow Intensity to 0.5. Hide Source removes the
surface from the rendering, but uses its shape and Color information to
create the glow.
Tip
In the material’s Attribute Editor, set the Incandescence attribute to give
the surface a 3D quality.
Shader glow issues

Shader glow from one surface can affect the intensity of another surface’s
glow. For example, a large glowing surface that enters a scene may appear to
cancel the affect of, or alter, the glow of a smaller surface in the scene. This
phenomenon is caused by the Shader Glow’s Automatic Exposure control.
To normalize the scene’s glow and halo effects, see the following procedure.
To get the right glow and halo intensities:

1 Turn on Automatic Exposure in the Shader Glow’s Attribute Editor (open
the Shader Glow Attribute Editor by double-clicking the Shader Glow
swatch which is located in the Post Process folder in Visor’s Rendering
section).
2 Select a frame in which the halo and glow effects have the look you want.

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Self-Illumination
3 Render the scene (select Render > Render into New Window).
The glow intensity normalization factor and halo intensity normalization factor are
printed in the Maya command shell or DOS window. They look similar to
this sample:
glow intensity normalization factor = 0.0110171.
halo intensity normalization factor = 0.0243521.
These are the values that Maya will use if the Auto Exposure control is
turned off.
4 In the Shader Glow Attribute Editor, set the Glow Intensity and Halo
Intensity to the values for the glow intensity normalization factor and halo
intensity normalization factor.
5 Turn off the Automatic Exposure.
6 Render the scene again.
To get the same glow at different resolutions:

Shader glows look different at different resolutions. This can be an issue if
you are test rendering at one resolution, and using a different resolution for
final rendering.
Use the above procedure, but instead of entering the glow intensity from the
out file, divide the intensity by the square of the factor by which you want to
increase the resolution:
glow intensity/(scale factor)2
For example: you render the glow you want with Auto Exposure turned on,
and in the script editor you see that the glow intensity was 8. If you want to
double the resolution, enter a glow intensity of 2:
8/22 = 2

146
Motion blur
Note about shader glow banding artifact

In some cases where a surface is double-sided, shader glow may cause a
banding artifact when Hide Source is turned off.
Incorrect glow Correct glow

To fix the problem, turn off Double-Sided in the Render Stats section of the
surface’s Attribute Editor.
MOTION BLUR
We often associate blur in an image to the speed at which a surface was
moving when filmed. Blur is recorded when a surface moves while the
shutter of a camera is open. Maya can compute accurate real-world blur,
which can be an expensive operation, or it can compute an approximation of
real-world blur, which is much cheaper and very acceptable in some
situations.
3D motion blur
3D blur takes longer to render than 2D
blur, but it is more realistic looking
because it computes actual blur values.
See “3D motion blur” on page 148.

147
Motion blur
2D motion blur
2D blur, or fake blur, is a post process. It
looks more uniform, and not quite as
real, as 3D motion blur. 2D motion blur
is perfect for medium-to-far-away
surfaces, where level of detail is not
important.
See “2D motion blur” on page 149.
3D motion blur
3D motion blur computes accurate blur based on the camera’s Shutter Angle,
and the motion blur frame step (Blur By Frame). Use it when a surface is
turning (so a new part of the surface becomes visible), or when a surface is
moving and revealing another surface behind it.
Frame Step 2 Frame Step 4

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Motion blur
Shutter Angle 144 Shutter Angle 70
To create 3D motion blur:

1 Create a material, give it a color, and assign it to a surface.
2 Animate the surface, so it moves across the camera’s view.
3 In the Anti-aliasing Quality section of the Render Globals window, set
Presets to 3D Motion Blur Production.
4 In the Motion Blur section of the Render Globals window, turn on Motion
Blur and set Motion Blur Type to 3D. The Blur By Frame value determines
how fast the surface looks like it is moving. Increasing this value makes the
surface look more blurry.
2D motion blur
2D motion blur provides you with a fast way to approximate true (3D)
motion blur. Use 2D motion blur to create blur in the rendered image to
simulate the look of a real camera when some surfaces are moving while the
camera’s shutter is still open. 3D motion blur can be used, but it is slower
than 2D motion blur. 2D motion blur approximates the blur, but it is much
faster and can give appropriate results in many situations.

149
Motion blur
Blur Length 1 Blur Length 3
Smooth Color off Smooth Color on
There are three methods of working with 2D Motion Blur:

• The basic method is where you want to blur a scene and accept the rendered
result as a good enough blur approximation for your job.
• The second method creates and saves the blur data only, while not blurring
the image in your scene; you can work on the blur data later using a
compositing/blur tool.
• Finally, you can choose to set up the 2D motion blur so that you can tune the
blur result interactively in IPR. The procedures for each of these levels are
described in the following.

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Motion blur
To create 2D motion blur in one rendering pass:

Blur.
2 Set Motion Blur Type to 2D.
3 Adjust the Motion Blur attributes in the Render Globals window.
4 Render the image. The rendered image is blurred and saved in the usual /
images directory.
To create 2D motion blur, and tune it in IPR:

Blur.
3 In the Render View, select IPR > IPR Render Globals and make sure Render
2D Motion Blur is on (it is on by default) in the IPR Options section of the
Render Globals window.
4 Perform an IPR render—the motion vector file and the non-blurred image
are saved in the usual iprImages directory.
5 Marquee a region in Render View for IPR tuning. (IPR uses the motion
vector file under the iprImages directory and a non-blurred image to
produce the blurred image.)
6 Turn on IPR > IPR Tuning Options > Update 2D Motion Blur. When you
adjust the 2D motion blur parameters in the Render Globals window, the 2D
motion blur updates automatically in the Render View.
Note
If you want 2D motion blur off for some surfaces, open the Attribute Editor
for the surfaces and turn off Motion Blur in the Render Stats section.
To save the blur data only:

Blur.

151
3 Adjust the Motion Blur attributes in the Render Globals window.

4 Turn on Keep Motion Vectors, then render the image.
The rendered image is saved in the usual /images directory without being
blurred. The motion vectors are also saved in the same file, which keeps the
number of files you work on relatively low.
CREATING SURFACE MATERIALS

Use Visor and Hypershade to create materials and textures and apply them
to surfaces.
This section contains the following topics:
• “Creating materials” on page 152
• “Applying textures to materials” on page 153
• “Applying materials to surfaces” on page 161.
Creating materials
The procedure to create a material is the same whether you create a surface
material, a volumetric material, or a displacement material.
To create a material:
1 Open Hypershade, and make sure Visor is open (by default, Visor opens as a
panel within Hypershade).
2 In Visor, open the Create folder and open the Materials folder.
Thumbnails of all the available materials are displayed.
3 Using the middle mouse button, drag a material from Visor into
Hypershade.
The new material is displayed in Hypershade. At this point, you can apply it
to a surface (see “Applying materials to surfaces” on page 161), apply a
texture to it (see “Applying textures to materials” on page 153), view other
nodes that are connected to it (see “Viewing nodes and node networks” on
page 5), and more. See “Finding scene problems and rendering scenes
faster” on page 44.

152
Changing a material type

You can change a material from one type to another. For example, you can
change a Blinn to a Phong. If you change a material that has specular
attributes to one that does not, and then change it back, you will lose the
specular settings.
To change a material type:

In the material’s Attribute Editor, select the material Type you want.
Applying textures to materials

In Maya there are many ways to apply a texture to a material. You can apply
a texture so it covers an entire surface as if it were wrapped in paper. Or you
can project a texture so it makes the surface look like a solid block of
something (for example like a piece of marble). Or you can make a stencil
texture look like a label (for example like a label on a bottle of wine).
Another way to apply textures to surfaces is by exporting a model to
StudioPaint, and then painting it. When you import it back to Maya, a
unique texture is assigned to each surface using the Switch utility. See
“Switch utilities” on page 174.
Normal textures
Normal textures cover surfaces as if the
surface were wrapped with paper.
See “Normal textures” on page 154.

153
Projection textures
Projection textures make a surface look
like a solid block of the texture, or as if
the texture is projected onto the surface
by a projection camera.
See “Projection textures” on page 155.
Stencil textures
Stencil textures are good for creating
labels, for example, to put on a flying
logo or other product. Stencil textures
typically use a file texture, though you
can also use 2D and 3D textures as well.
See “Stencil textures” on page 158.
Normal textures
To apply a normal texture to a material:
1 Create a material (see “Creating materials” on page 152).
2 In Visor, open the Create folder and open the Textures folder.
Thumbnails of all the available textures are displayed.
3 Using the middle mouse button, drag a texture from Visor into Hypershade
in one of the following ways:
• If you want to connect the texture to a material or another texture right
away, either Ctrl-drag the texture onto the material swatch in Hypershade
(this makes the default connection), or, to make an explicit connection, drag
the texture onto the material swatch in Hypershade. A connection menu is
displayed. Select the input connection you want (select color if you want the
material to look like the texture). A connection line is displayed. If you hold
the cursor over the connection line, the connected attributes are displayed.
• If you want to connect the texture later, drag it into Hypershade. The new
texture is displayed in Hypershade.

154
To smear a texture:
Connect the Out Alpha of a brownian (or other texture) to the Offset U and/
or Offset V attribute of another texture’s placement node.
You can also map the Repeat U and/or Repeat V on the placement node for
different smear effects.
One side of this head is smeared

with a brownian texture.
To turn a texture inside-out:

You can make a texture look like it’s turned inside-out by using the Repeat
UV attribute. Repeat UV describes how many times the texture is repeated
within the covered area. If you set the Repeat UV value to -1, the texture will
repeat in the opposite direction, and effectively turn the texture inside-out.
Projection textures
The projection node is used to project a 2D texture map onto your 3D
surfaces, much like a projection camera would project an image onto an
object in front of its lens.
Planar Cylindrical Cubic Concentric

projection projection projection projection

155
To create a projection 2D texture:

1 Select a surface in a view.
2 Assign a material to the surface.
3 In Hypershade, select Create > Textures > 2D and turn on 2D Projection.
4 Select Create > Textures > 2D and select a texture from the menu.
5 Set the Proj Type attribute to a projection type in the projection Attribute
Editor. To see the projection on the surface, in a view select Shading >
Smooth Shade All.
6 In the projection Attribute Editor, click Interactive Placement to display the
projection manipulators in the view.
You can adjust how your map is projected by using the projection
manipulators. See also Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling.
Projection mapping scale Projection mapping rotate

manipulator manipulator
Deforming surfaces with 3D textures or 2D projection textures

When you map a 3D texture or a projected 2D texture to a surface, and
deform the surface, the surface will appear to move or swim through the
texture. This is a common problem in character animation. One way to
eliminate this swimming is to use a reference object.
Reference objects allow you to lock a 3D texture or projected 2D texture to a
surface: as the surface animates or deforms, the texture stays with the
surface, producing a very natural looking result.

156
A sphere mapped with a Without a reference With a reference object,

3D texture. object, as the sphere as the sphere deforms,
deforms, it appears to so does the texture.
move or swim through
the texture.
Note the following when using reference objects:

• You must create a reference object before you deform the original surface.
• A reference object for a polygonal surface must have the same topology
(number of faces) as the original surface. When you create a reference object,
the topology of the reference object is identical to the original surface.
However, if you make subsequent changes to the topology of the original
surface, you must create another reference object.
• A scene can contain any number of reference objects, but each surface in the
scene can only have one reference object.
To create a reference object:

1 Assign the 3D texture to the surface.
2 Select the surface.
3 Select Shading > Create Texture Reference Object.
Maya creates a templated copy of the surface. This copy is called the reference
object. You can move a reference object to anywhere in your scene.
4 Use the texture placement manipulators to position the texture relative to the
reference object.
5 Animate the original surface (not the reference object).

157
As the original surface moves or deforms, Maya uses the reference object to
move or deform the texture so that it matches the motion or deformation of
the original surface.
Stencil textures
The Stencil texture lets you use an image file as a surface texture; however, it
also lets you control a mask component, which lets you key out colors of
your image file. Use the Stencil texture for label mapping, or to overlay
different textures (and control which parts of the textures are visible).
Making a label
Label mapping is a technique of assigning a stencil texture to a material, and
mapping an image file onto it, while keying out the unwanted portions or
colors of the image file. For example, this technique is ideal for creating a
label on a beer bottle.
Making a label mask

A mask controls the transparency of a stencil texture and limits the area on a
surface where the material’s texture or surface color is visible. There are two
types of masks: file masks and chroma key masks.
File masking uses a texture or image file connected to a stencil node to mask
out parts of a material’s texture or surface color.
• White parts of the mask hide the material’s texture or surface color.
• Black parts of the mask are transparent, so you can see the material’s texture
or surface color.
• Grey parts of the mask are semi-transparent, so you can see both the mask
and the material’s texture or surface color.
To control the mask’s transparency, map the stencil node to the material’s
Transparency attribute (see the following procedure).

158
If the Image file has four channels (RGBA), then you can use the same file for
both the Image file and the Mask file. The RGB information will be used for
the image portion of the stencil and the A (alpha) will be used for the mask
portion of the stencil. If, however, the Image file has only three channels
(RGB), then you must create a separate Mask file.
You can create a mask file by converting the Image file to black and white
using a paint program (for example, VizPaint2D or StudioPaint). Although
you can use a color image file as a Mask (for example, you could use the
same file for both the Image and Mask), the level of transparency of the
mask will vary through the range of colors.
To create a label using an image file mask:

1 In your material’s Attribute Editor, click Map next to the Transparency
attribute.
2 In the Textures tab turn on As Stencil, and click File in the 2D Textures
section to create a File texture. Maya creates a stencil node with a file texture
connected to it.
3 In the file texture’s Attribute Editor, select an image for the Image Name
attribute. This image is the mask. Black parts of the image are transparent;
white parts of the image are opaque.
4 To control the overall transparency of the mask, adjust the Mask and Edge
Blend attributes in the stencil node’s Attribute Editor.
Key masking a label

Key masking does not require a mask file. Instead, you set the Stencil
texture’s HSV Color Key attributes so that a certain color, or a certain range
of colors, are either visible or invisible.
Key masking has no effect if an image file is mapped to the stencil’s Mask
attribute. Make sure there is no Mask file assigned to the Stencil texture.

159
To create a label and key out a color:

1 Create a material, and click the map button next to the Color attribute. The
Create Render Node window displays.
2 Turn on As Stencil, and click File to create a file texture.Maya creates a
stencil node and connected to the material, and a file texture is connected to
the stencil node.
3 In the file texture’s Attribute Editor, click the folder icon next to the Image
Name attribute, and select an image from the file browser. The image is now
mapped to the stencil texture, and it appears on the material swatch in
Hypershade. By default, the image file covers the entire material. You can
limit the area it covers by masking the label and/or positioning it on the
material.
4 To key out part of the image file, turn on Key Masking in the HSV Color Key
section of the stencil’s Attribute Editor, and set Color Key to the color you
want to key out of the image. You may have to adjust the other HSV Color
Key attributes to make the mask perfect. The stencil’s default color is visible
anywhere that you key out a color from the image.
3D and Environment textures as stencils

You can use a 3D or Environment texture as a stencil, but in order to do it,
you must first map the Stencil node to the color you want to map, and then
connect the texture you want to the Stencil’s input.
To use a stencil with 3D and Environment textures:

1 Create a Stencil texture.
2 In the Stencil’s Attribute Editor, click the map button next to the Image
attribute, and map any 3D or environment texture to it.

160
Applying materials to surfaces

There are a number of ways to apply a material to a surface. The most
common is to use Hypershade.
To apply a material to a surface:

Using the middle mouse button, drag the material from Hypershade onto a
surface in a view.
The material is applied to the surface. You can be in either wireframe or
shaded mode to make the connection. If you are in wireframe mode, make
sure the cursor touches the surface when you release the mouse button;
otherwise the connection may not be made.
To apply a material to several surfaces from within Hypershade:

1 Select the surfaces in a view.
2 In Hypershade, click the right mouse button over the material you want, and
select Assign Material To Selection from the pop-up menu. Maya applies the
material to the surfaces.
To apply a material to several surfaces from the main Maya window:

1 Select the surfaces in a view.
2 Select Shading > Assign Shading Group and select the shading group you
want to assign.
To apply a material to a group of faces on a polygonal surface:

1 Select the surface in your scene.
2 Press the right mouse button while over the surface, select Face from the
marking menu, then choose the Select by component type icon (or press the
hotkey F11).
3 Select (either drag or Shift-click) the faces you want to texture.
4 While the faces are highlighted, in Hypershade, Shift-click the left mouse
button over the material you want, and press the right mouse button to
select Assign Material To Selection from the pop-up menu. Maya applies the
material to the faces.

161
Combining materials
COMBINING MATERIALS
There are a few ways of combining more than one material on a single
surface. Some of these techniques tend to be memory intensive (for example,
layering using the Layered Shader) and may take longer to render.
Layering materials
You can layer materials to produce
realistic-looking surfaces by using the
Layered Shader.
See “Layering materials” on page 163.

162
Layering materials
Double-sided shading
You can shade each side of a NURBS
surface with a different material using a
double-sided shading technique.
See “Double-sided shading” on page
171.
Switch utilities
Switch utilities allow you to have several
objects share certain shading
characteristics and also have unique
characteristics for each object.
See “Switch utilities” on page 174.
LAYERING MATERIALS
There are a few ways to create a layered look for a material, one of which is
by using the Layered Shader. The Layered Shader lets you use more than
one material or texture to define different layers.
Making metal using the Layered Shader surface material

Organic surfaces can be complex looking. The Layered Shader surface
material is perfect for creating complex organic surfaces.

163
Layering materials
A Layered Shader surface material

with three layers was used to create
the shading group for this image.
The Layered Shader surface material lets you create surface materials or
textures with different looks and layer them so they blend naturally
together. In this example, a pitted layer is combined with a crusty oxidized
layer and a colored layer, producing a surface that looks like worn volcanic
iron.
The vase is composed of three separate surface materials fused together by
the Layered Shader surface material. Each of the three contributing surface
materials occupies a layer in the final surface effect. Rendered separately,
you can see the effect each one contributes.
The Layered Shader also lets you share textures and files and their attributes
between layers. Subtle characteristics can be shared between layers, which
results in very natural-looking effects.
To create a Layered Shader shading network:

1 Open Hypershade and create a Layered Shader surface material. The swatch
displays in Hypershade, but does not show the default sphere as with other
material swatches because it does not have a layer connected to it yet.
2 Open the Layered Shader’s Attribute Editor and map the Color with a
PhongE surface material.

164
Layering materials
Remember to click the

layer you want to work with
and then map its attributes.
Click to map a surface

material to the
Layered Shader.
The swatch in Hypershade now displays the surface material connected to

the layered shader.
3 Open the Layered Shader’s Attribute Editor again, create a new layer by
clicking in the spot beside the first layer, and map a Blinn surface material to
its Color attribute.
Click anywhere in this area

to create a new layer.
Click the X to delete layers.
Move the cursor

over a layer to
see its name.
4 Add as many layers as necessary to build up the surface material for the
results you want.
In the following, only the two materials in the example are used to create a
simple, yet realistic-looking result.

165
Layering textures
Compositing Flag
The Compositing Flag composites the layers using layered shader or layered
texture mode. Since the shader nodes usually factor in their transparency
before they report a color, compositing in layered shader mode means the
transparency for layer “n” will be factored in layers “n+1”. Compositing in
layered shader mode means that the transparency for layer “n” will be used
at layer “n”.
LAYERING TEXTURES
Use Layered Texture if you want to create a texture consisting of two or
more of the textures already existing in the scene composited together in a
certain way using several Blend Modes.
The difference between the Layered Shader node with the Compositing Flag
set and Layered Texture is that when using Layered Shader, textures
typically consist of color and alpha. And even when used in layered texture
mode, the textures consists of color, transparency (not alpha), and glow. The
Layered Shader node can only blend/composite layers together— the
Layered Texture node provides numerous choices (see Layer is Visible).
To create a layered texture node:

1 In Hypershade, create a material.
2 Create a Layered Texture. Either middle-mouse drag the Layered Texture
node from Visor into Hypershade, or select
Create > Textures > Other > Layered Texture and click in Hypershade.

166
Layering textures
3 Middle-mouse drag the Layered Texture swatch over the material swatch
and map it to a material attribute, such as Color.
4 Double-click the Layered Texture swatch to open its Attribute Editor.
• The first time you open the Attribute Editor for a Layered Texture, notice the
single green rectangle at the top left. This rectangle represents the texture
you map to an attribute. Click the box next to the Color attribute and select a
texture from the Create Render Node window that displays. The rectangle
turns blue and when you drag the cursor over the rectangle, the name of the
texture or file displays.
• Add additional layers by clicking in the Layered Texture Attributes section
of the Attribute Editor, or by dragging and dropping them from Visor or
Hypershade. Each time you add a layer, you can map a new texture or file to
that layer’s attributes.
5 Select a layer. Maya updates the Color, Alpha, Blend Mode, and Layer is
Visible attributes to reflect the properties of the selected layer.
6 Select a Blend Mode and view the results in the Render View as you make
changes.
The following is simply a visual representation of the original file textures
used to map the object and some of the effects that result from the changes
you can make.
Two file textures used as layers and Rendered default result.

connected to a Blinn material.

167
Layering textures
The Add Blend Mode selected for file 2. Rendered result.
The Subtract Blend Mode selected for file 2. Rendered result.
Example
of just one
result
you can
achieve.

168
Layering textures
Notes about the Layered Texture Attribute Editor

• Re-order the layers by using the middle mouse button and click-dragging
the texture swatch to wherever you need it.
Middle-mouse-drag these
swatches to re-arrange layers.
• To change a specific layer’s texture attributes, click the tab at the top of the
Attribute Editor to access that texture’s attributes.
Layer is Visible
The Layer is Visible attribute specifies whether the layer should be taken
into consideration during computation of the result color and alpha of the
layered texture. If toggled off, it is as if the layer does not exist. Use this
when you want to verify how a particular layer looks by itself. See the
following examples.

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Layering textures
Layer is Visible on Layer is Visible off.

(default).
Alpha is Luminance
This check box lets you specify that the Alpha should be the luminance of
the Out Color, as with other 2D textures, such as a File texture.The slider
value determines the extent of the blend. For instance:
Alpha = 0 results in the background texture
Alpha = 1 results in a full blend
Alpha = anything between 0 and 1 results in some background texture, and
some blend. This slider essentially controls an the Over Blend Mode of the
full blend on the background texture.
Hardware Color
This lets you specify the color you want to objects using this texture to
display in the view while in hardware shading mode (not hardware
texturing mode).
Blend Modes
Blend Modes are supported by the layered texture and layered shader
nodes. Using one of these blend modes, you can define how each layer in the
layered texture and layered shader blends with the underlying layer.

170
The Blend Mode specifies how the currently selected layer blends with the
layers behind it. See the online Maya Reference: Rendering book for details
about using the Layered Texture node and the blend mode descriptions.
DOUBLE-SIDED SHADING
Double-sided shading lets you shade a surface with one material on one side
and a different material on the other side. This is the only way you can apply
more than one material to a NURBS surface.
Note
You can apply more than one material to polygonal models at the face
level. See “Polygonal surfaces” on page 121 and “Applying materials to
surfaces” on page 161.

171
To create a double-sided shaded surface:

1 In Hypershade, create:
• One material (this procedure uses a Phong, but use whatever you want).
• One Sampler Info utility
• One Condition utility
The Sampler Info utility provides access to camera and surface information
that you can pipe into your shading networks during rendering. The
Condition utility lets you specify which texture is mapped to each side of the
surface.
• One Checker texture
• One Crater texture.
2 Assign the Phong material to the surface.
3 In Hypershade, middle-mouse drag the Checker texture onto the Condition
utility to open the Connection Editor.
4 In the Connection Editor, connect the Checker’s Out Color attribute to the
condition utility’s Color 1 attribute (click the Out Color attribute in the
Checker column, then click Color 1 in the Condition column).

172
5 Middle-mouse drag the Crater texture onto the Condition utility, and in the
Connection Editor, connect the Crater’s Out Color to the Condition’s Color 2
attribute.
6 Middle-mouse drag the samplerInfo utility swatch over the Condition utility
swatch to open the Connection Editor.
7 In the Connection Editor, click the Flipped Normal attribute then click the
Condition’s First Term or Second Term attribute.
8 In Hypershade, middle-mouse drag the Condition utility onto the Phong

material and select color to connect it to the Phong’s Color attribute.
9 Perform a test render. Maya shades each side of the surface with a different
texture.
Swapping the textures on the surfaces

You can use the condition utility to specify which texture is applied to the
front and back sides of the surface.

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Switch utilities
To swap the texture mapping:

1 Double-click the Condition utility in Hypershade to open its Attribute
Editor.
2 In the Condition Attributes section, change the Operation attribute to
Not Equal (or if it is set to Not Equal, change it to Equal).
3 Perform a test render. The textures are swapped.
SWITCH UTILITIES
Switch utilities have two main functions in Maya. First, they allow more
than one image file to be mapped to a single shading group, such that each
image file is assigned to a different surface. This is the way Switch utilities
are used in conjunction with StudioPaint. When you import and paint a
Maya model in StudioPaint, it automatically creates one texture (image file)
for each pickable surface (there are a few exceptions, so please read the
StudioPaint documentation for details). When these textures are exported
back to Maya, each image file is automatically assigned to a shading group
via a shading switch (single or triple).
Secondly, several surfaces can share certain shading characteristics and also
have unique characteristics for each surface. For example, using a switch
utility, you can assign a single material to several surfaces but have a
different image file or color channel mapped to each surface.

174
Switch utilities
Using Switch utilities

Create the shading network and assign it to as many surfaces as you want.
For instance, if you want all spheres in a scene shaded with black and white
checkers except one, you create the Switch for the specific attribute on the
Checker texture that you want to switch.
Triple Switch utility

To use the Triple Switch utility to switch the Color attribute:
1 Create several NURBS primitive cones.
2 Create a Blinn material, and assign it to all the cones in the scene.
3 Map a texture, such as Leather, to the Blinn’s Color attribute. If you want,
change the Leather texture’s attributes such as the Cell Color and Crease
Color, and change some of the other attribute values so that the Leather
texture now resembles polka dots. The scene should look similar to this
when you render.
Note
You will not see your shading switch assignments in hardware texture
mode.

175
Switch utilities
4 Open the Leather texture’s Attribute Editor and using the right mouse
button, click on the Crease Color text label and select Create New Texture.
5 The Create Render Node window displays. Select Triple Shading Switch
from the Utilities tab. The Switch Attributes window displays. The Triple
Shading Switch utility accommodates the RGB channels of the color you
switch to.
6 Open the Outliner and use the middle mouse button to drag the cone you
want to texture with another color into the inShape column of the Switch
Attributes window. The cone’s name displays in the inShape column.
7 Click the row that contains the cone, then right-click and select Map Item, or
click the right mouse button over the inTriple column and select Map from
the pop-up menu.

176
Switch utilities
8 The Create Render Node window displays. Select a texture, such as Marble,
from the Textures tab. The Marble texture’s Attribute Editor displays. The
Marble texture provides the color information used to shade the Crease
Color attribute of the cone in the inShape column.

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Switch utilities
Note on the Default color attribute

When you connect the Switch utility to the Leather’s Crease Color
attribute, Maya replaces the Crease Color connection with the Switch
utility. As a result, the Crease Color defaults to a grayish color, the Switch
utility input’s Default color. This fact is reflected in Hypershade, where the
Leather texture is still visible, but with a gray background instead of a
colored background.
To make the Crease Color as it was, or any other color or texture you
choose, in the Triple Shading Utility Attribute Editor, adjust the Default
attribute. The Default attribute controls the color of all surfaces not listed in
the inShape column. See the following example.
Continue to add the objects you want to texture and repeat the Map Item
selection to choose new textures from the Create Render Node window.
Adjust the textures as necessary to obtain the look you need.
The following shows the Hypershade shading groups and the rendered
result using six cones that now resemble party hats.

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Switch utilities
Cone 1 Cone 6
Cone 3
Cone 4
Cone 2
Cone 5
Double Shading Switch

You can use a Double Shading Switch to switch the Repeat UV attribute of a
2d texture placement node.
You create a Double Shading Switch for the original texture’s Repeat UV
attribute, then you map a new Place 2d Texture node to the Switch node.
Each time you change the Repeat UV settings, new results occur.
To use the Double Switch Utility to change a 2D texture’s Repeat UV

settings:
1 Create a material, such as Blinn, and assign it to the objects in your scene.
2 Map a texture to it’s Color attribute. In this example, a Cloth texture is used.
Change the Cloth texture’s attributes if necessary.

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Switch utilities
3 By default, Maya connects a place2dTexture node to 2D textures. In

Hypershade, double-click this place2dTexture swatch to open its Attribute
Editor.
4 Right-mouse click over the Repeat UV text label and select Create New
Texture from the pop-up menu.
5 Select Double Shading Switch from the Utilities tab.The Double Shading
Switch Attribute Editor displays.
6 Open the Outliner and middle-mouse drag the objects you want to change
into the inShape columns. Select an object and right mouse click to select
Map from the pop-up menu.
7 Select the Place 2d Texture utility from the Utilities tab in the Create Render
Node window that displays. The Connection Editor displays.
8 Select the Repeat UV Output node from the place2dTexture column and
click the arrow for the Input [0] Input node to select Input[0]InDouble node.

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Switch utilities
You can select any node you want. This is just an example showing how the
first object can be changed.
Change the Repeat UV values to suit your needs.
Keep the IPR window open and in interactive mode (drag a marquee around
the area you want to update) to keep track of the results.
The following shows all five revolved surfaces’ Repeat UV settings changed
using the Double Switch Utility node.

181
Switch utilities
Single Shading Switch

You can use a Single Shading Switch to change the texture attributes of just
one of the objects in your scene and adjust the selected texture’s attribute for
all the objects by changing the Default value.
To use the Single Shading Switch to apply luminance to a texture:

In this example, the Vein Width of a Marble texture is mapped to the
Luminance Color Utility.

182
Switch utilities
1 Create a material, such as Anisotropic, and map a texture, such as Marble, to

its color. Adjust the Marble attributes to your liking.
2 Assign the Anisotropic material to the objects in your scene.
3 In the Marble texture’s Attribute Editor, click the Map button next to the
Vein Width attribute and select the Single Shading Switch utility from the
Create render Node window that displays.
4 Open the Outliner and click-drag the object you want to change to the
inShape column In the Single Switch Utility’s Attribute Editor.

183
Switch utilities
Note
The Marble’s Vein Width default value changes to match the Default value
in the Single Shading Switch’s Attribute Editor, which is 0.000. Change the
Default value to the Marble texture’s default Vein Width value (0.100) to
see the original result.
Rendered result when

Single Shading Switch
is created.
Change the Default

value at the bottom of
the Attribute Editor
to get the desired results.
5 Right-mouse click over the object’s name and select Map from the pop-up
menu, or select the Map Item button.
6 Select the Luminance Color Utility from the Create Render Node window.
The Luminance Attribute Editor displays.
7 Adjust the Luminance value and notice how the selected object changes in
the IPR render view.

184
Switch utilities
To change the Default value for the other objects in the Single Shading
Switch shading group:
Simply type a value to change the default (or a value you already typed) and
all the objects in the scene use that Luminance value.
Notes about using Switch utilities

• After you create a Switch utility, the original value of the attribute on which
you created the Switch is lost. You must reset this value as the Default
setting in the Switch’s Attribute Editor. Use Surface Shader materials
(without a shading group) to create and store colors that you want to use
when working with Switch utilities to avoid losing colors.
• To enter or delete information from a cell, click in the cell and type or delete
text.
• You can drag textures and texture placements from Hypershade, the
Outliner, or Connection Editor into a utility’s Attribute Editor.
• You can drag shapes from the Outliner into a utility’s Attribute Editor.
• When you select a row in the Switch table, you can use the right mouse
button to map, remove, or edit the selection.
Switch node limitation: displacement node networks

The switch node cannot be used in a displacement shading network. If each
surface needs a unique displacement, the only way to achieve the effect is to
use multiple shading groups.
You can create a new, identical shading group, or you can copy the shading
network so you can share textures.

185
Making surfaces render faster
MAKING SURFACES RENDER FASTER

you can do to make surfaces render faster.
To make surfaces render faster:

• Use single sided surfaces instead of double sided ones.
• Tessellating large surfaces requires a lot of memory, so use several small
surfaces instead of one large surface when you can. The renderer is more
efficient with smaller surfaces.
• Use Display Render Tessellation to preview surface complexity before
rendering large scenes. See “Setting surface quality” on page 117.
• If your scene contains many identical surfaces (for example, many spheres),
use Optimize Instances to improve rendering performance.
• Use 2D motion blur instead of 3D motion blur when possible.
• For bump maps, reduce the value of the Alpha Gain attribute, which
smooths the bump map and reduces the number of samples of adaptive
shading. This technique only works when Edge Anti-aliasing is set to
Highest Quality. The texture bump will look flatter when the Alpha Gain is
lower.
• Use bump mapping instead of displacement mapping.
• Use layered textures when possible, instead of a Layered Shader.
• If you are raytracing your scene, lower Reflection Limit and Refraction Limit
to the lowest values that produce acceptable results.
• On IRIX, in the Render Globals window, Use File Cache avoids re-
tessellation of the same surface during rendering. Turn on Use File Cache to
store geometric data in a separate file in a location that you specify (the
default location is /usr/tmp, but you can set a new location by typing
setenv TMPDIR xxx, where xxx is the name of the directory where this file
will be output).
• If your scene contains depth map shadows, turn on Reuse Tessellations.
• Turn on Displacement Bounding Box when using displacement maps.

186
Troubleshooting surfaces
TROUBLESHOOTING SURFACES
There are many common problems that you may notice in a rendered image
that relate to surfaces.
Faceted surface edges or profile

For faceted surface edges, turn on Smooth
Edge for the surface (or turn on Smooth
Edge and increase Smooth Edge Ratio).
or
Increase Curvature Tolerance for the
surface.
or
Increase U Divisions Factor and V
Divisions Factor for the surface (to the
lowest values that produce acceptable
results).
Jagged surface edges or profile

Increase Edge Anti-aliasing in the
Render Globals window (to the lowest
setting that produces acceptable results).
or if you do not plan to composite
the rendered image:
Turn off Composite in the Render
options section of the Render Globals
window.

187
Flickering thin surfaces

In the Render Globals window, turn on
Use Multi Pixel Filter, and set Pixel Filter
Type and Pixel Filter Width X/Y to one
of the following:
• Gaussian Filter, 3, 3
• Quadratic B-Spline Filter, 3, 3
• Triangle Filter, 2, 2.
and
Turn on Geometry Antialiasing
Override for the surface, and increase
Antialiasing Level (try 3, 4, or 5).
Grainy or flickering highlights

Make sure Use Min Screen is off for the
surface and Mode U and Mode V are not
set to Best Guess Based on Screen Size.
or
Use a Blinn material instead of a Phong
or PhongE material.

188
Flickering textures or popping

displacements
for solid textures
Make sure Use Min Screen is off for the
surface and Mode U and Mode V are not
set to Best Guess Based on Screen Size.
or for image file textures or textures
with noise:
Increase Filter Offset (to the lowest value
that produces acceptable results).
or for image file textures:
Set Filter Type to Quadratic for the
texture.
or
Check that Use Maximum Res is turned
off.
Jagged edges or jagged or sharp

textures on motion blurred surfaces
In the Anti-aliasing Quality section of
the Render Globals window, set Presets
to 3D Motion Blur Production.
or
Check that Use Maximum Res is turned
off.

189
Outlines around 2D motion blurred

surfaces
Remove any transparent objects, fog,
and/or glow, and set the background
color to black. Render the scene, and
then composite the elements you
removed with the rendered image (for
example, using Maya Composer or
Maya Fusion).
or
In the Render Globals window, set
Smooth Value to 0 and turn on Smooth
Color.
Jagged surface edges, textures, or

shadows in raytraced reflections or
refractions
Turn on Shading Samples Override for
the reflecting/refracting surface, and
increase Shading Samples (to the lowest
value that produces acceptable results).

190
6 PAINTING TEXTURES
Use the Paint Textures Tool to paint renderable attributes such as color,
bump, transparency, and specular color, on either polygons or NURBS. You
can also paint on file textures assigned to your objects.
Note
For polygonal objects, you must have non-overlapping UVs which fit
within the 0 to 1 texture space to achieve expected results. See Using Maya:
Polygonal Modeling for details about polygons.
See Using Maya: Essentials for information on how to set Paint Texture Tool
options common to Artisan tools, such as pressure sensitivity in the Stroke
tab, and the hotkeys such as b to resize the brush, or alt F to flood the
surface.
In this chapter:
Paint Textures Tool and texture naming ... page 192
Masking polygonal faces while painting ... page 196
Painting and IPR rendering ... page 197
Determining stamp spacing and brush depth ... page 200
Selecting and painting attributes ... page 201
Assigning, saving, and reloading textures ... page 209

191
PAINTING TEXTURES | 6
Paint Textures Tool and texture naming
PAINT TEXTURES TOOL AND TEXTURE NAMING

When you enter the Paint Textures Tool, Maya checks to see if there are any
file textures already assigned to the selected surfaces for the current attribute
(such as color or bump maps). If any of the surfaces do not have file textures
assigned, Maya prompts you to assign textures to the surfaces. Maya names
the new textures based on the current scene, shape and attribute names and
places them in the current project’s textures directory.
If there are existing file textures, Maya checks to see if their names match the
current shape, scene and attribute names. If they do not, Maya copies the
textures to the correct names. This prevents you from overwriting existing
file textures, and makes it easier for the tool to keep track of the textures.
Example:
Scene name: myPaintScene
Shape names: ballShape, planeShape
Attributes: color, transparency
Resulting texture names:
myPaintScene_ballShape_color.iff,
myPaintScene_ballShape_transparency.iff,
myPaintScene_planeShape_color.iff,
myPaintScene_planeShape_transparency.iff
.iff is the default file format. When you Assign Textures you can choose to
save the file as Maya IFF (the default), SGI, SoftImage, TIFF, Alias PIX, GIF,
RLA, JPEG, EPS, and Quantel.

192
Notes
• A bump map attribute displays as normalCamera in the scene name.
• If the original textures were not a power of 2 in each dimension
(such as 512 x 512, 256 x 128), Maya resizes the copies to the
nearest power of 2. This makes the Paint Textures tool more
efficient.
• If you change the shape or scene name, for example by renaming a
surface, or by saving the scene as a new name, the next time you
enter the Paint Textures tool, the textures are copied to the new
name.
• To ensure your textures are in sync with your scene name, you
should enter the Paint Textures tool and display each painted
attribute (such as color, bump) AFTER changing your scene name
using File > Save Scene As. This prevents you from overwriting the
newer scene’s textures if you return and edit an earlier version of
the scene.
Switch nodes and painted textures

Maya creates switch nodes for each material attribute for multiple painted
surfaces (see “Switch utilities” on page 174 for details about using these
switch nodes. See also the online Maya Reference: Rendering book). This lets
you use a single material for multiple painted surfaces by assigning the
correct file texture to each surface. For a single surface, no switch node is
created.
When assigning a texture to multiple surfaces attached to the same material,
tripleShadingSwitch or singleShadingSwitch swatches, file texture swatches,
and the place2dTexture swatches display in Hypershade.

193
Hypershade view.
Some examples of how you

can overlay painted textures
by dragging and dropping
the tripleShadingSwitch swatch
over attributes in a material’s
Attribute Editor.
Full color (RGB) attributes, such as Color, Transparency, and Incandescence,

create a tripleShadingSwitch.
A single channel attribute, such as BumpMap, Diffuse, and Translucence,
create a singleShadingSwitch node. If you paint color on one of these
attributes, it automatically displays as grey.
See also the table under the heading “Texture attribute availability” on page
202.

194
Using the Paint Textures Tool
USING THE PAINT TEXTURES TOOL

To use the Paint Textures Tool:
1 Select the surface or surfaces you want to paint.
2 Open the Paint Textures Tool options window from the Lighting/Shading
menu (click the ❐).
3 Select the attribute you want to paint from the Texture Attribute to Paint
pop-up menu.
If you have not previously painted or assigned file textures to one or more of
the surfaces, a warning prompt displays in the Command Feedback line:
Some surfaces have no file textures assigned.
4 Press the Assign Textures button and select the required size and file format
for the textures from the Assign File Textures window that displays.
Note
The texture size is currently limited to 2048 x 2048 and must be a power of
2 in each dimension. The default is 256 x 256. Smaller textures provide
faster performance.
5 By default, the Texture Attribute to Paint is Color. Select a color from the
Color Chooser and paint on the surface. You can use either UV texture mode
or Projective paint mode. Select the mode from the Misc tab.
Once you finish painting one attribute, you can paint another attribute.
6 Select Save Textures at any time to checkpoint your work—you can retrieve
the saved textures by pressing the Reload Textures button.
If AutoSave on Exit is not turned on (under the Misc tab), you are prompted
to save the textures when exiting the tool, or when selecting a new attribute
to paint. Maya saves the textures to the textures directory of the current
project with a name derived from the scene, the surface, and the attribute
being painted. You should not change the name of these textures.

195
Masking polygonal faces while painting
Tip
For increased performance, hide the surfaces you are not painting.
MASKING POLYGONAL FACES WHILE PAINTING

When painting polygonal objects, you can choose to paint on only selected
faces to mask out the rest of the faces and protect them from the paint.
To mask polygonal faces while painting:

1 Select the faces on which you want to paint.
2 Enter the Paint Textures tool and proceed as normal. An outline displays
around the selected faces.
See the procedure, “Painting polygonal faces” on page 198 to get an idea of
how this works.
Notes
• Flood ignores the selection and paints the entire polygonal mesh.
• If you want to change your selection, you must exit the Paint
Textures tool, make your new selection, and then re-enter the tool.
There is no need to re-assign the textures.

196
Painting and IPR rendering
PAINTING AND IPR RENDERING

The following procedure shows you how to paint more than one attribute
and IPR render the scene.
The model used is a tiara, which is a polygonal object. The procedure is
broken into a series of steps:
• “Painting a model” on page 197
• “Painting polygonal faces” on page 198
• “Painting transparency” on page 198
• “Painting bump maps” on page 199
Painting a model
1 Select the tiara and enter the Paint Textures tool.
2 Select Color as the Texture Attribute to Paint, click the Assign Textures
button, and make sure 512 x 512 is the size in the Assign File Textures
window.
3 Select a color from the Color Chooser, such as gold (click the Color Value bar
to open the Color Chooser) and paint the crown. Select Flood to complete.
4 Change the color (drag the slider to make it darker), lower the opacity value
and paint some dirt.

197
Painting polygonal faces

1 Select the tiara (if not already selected), press the right mouse button while
over the tiara and select Face from the marking menu to enter polygon
component selection mode.
2 Select the four front gemstones, which are two rubies and two emeralds, and
paint them red and green (Shift-select all the faces of two gemstones, paint
them red, then Shift-select the faces on the other two and paint them green).
Once you select all the faces of the gemstones, a heavy line displays.
Painting transparency
The gemstones are semi-transparent. Use this method to paint them.
1 Shift-select the faces of the gemstones.
2 Select Transparency and Assign Textures, 512 x 512.
3 Flood the tiara with black, select Color and paint the four stones light grey.

198
Painting bump maps

To add depth and a few ornamental decals to the tiara, you can paint bump
maps.
1 Select the tiara (right-mouse-click and choose Select All from the marking
menu).
2 Select BumpMap and Assign Textures, 512 x 512.
3 Select UV Texture Paint mode (under the Misc tab), and turn on Reflection
(under the Stroke tab).
Note
Reflection is only available in UV Texture Mode and provides good results
only when the UVs are symmetrical in texture space.
This next step is optional. You can also open the Render View outside of the
panels and when you click Maya’s select icon to get out of the tool, the IPR
view updates.
4 Select the panel layout Persp/RenderView. Select
Panels > Layouts > 2 Side by Side, Panels > Perspective >persp in one view
and Panels > Render View in another view.
5 Marquee-select some pixels at the front of the tiara in the Render View, then
click the IPR icon to IPR render.
6 In the perspective view, click the tiara and Flood with a mid grey color.
7 Select a slightly darker grey and paint ornamental swirls on the front of the
tiara. Repeat this using a lighter grey color. Change the Shape of the brush if
you want.

199
Determining stamp spacing and brush depth
8 Press Save Textures to see the update in the IPR.

To save the texture automatically at the end of the stroke, turn on AutoSave
on Stroke (under the Misc tab). Use with caution, though, because this
removes the ability to undo.
9 Repeat painting and updating the textures if you want. The following shows
the finished tiara.
DETERMINING STAMP SPACING AND BRUSH DEPTH

Maya also provides you with options to adjust the stamp spacing, and
control the brush depth.
Changing the Stamp Spacing

If you find your stroke is broken or dotty, try decreasing the Stamp Spacing
(Misc tab) slightly. Conversely, if you find that your stroke is too slow, your
Stamp Spacing may be set too low. The default setting is 1.0. The ideal value
will vary depending on your model and your texture size.
Default Stamp Spacing=1.0
Stamp Spacing set to 10.0
Stamp Spacing set to 0.5.

Slower feedback.

200
Selecting and painting attributes
Changing the Brush Depth

The brush depth is indicated by the vertical line through the center of the
brush. The Brush Depth value determines how far the paint is projected. For
example, when you are painting where there are folds in the surface,
decrease the Brush Depth value so the paint does not run into other areas of
the object. The default setting is 0.5.
Brush Depth Brush Depth

default=0.5. set to 0.1.
The paint The paint is

projects only projected
beyond the on the
front front surface.
surface.
SELECTING AND PAINTING ATTRIBUTES

In the File Texture section of the Tool Settings window, Maya provides you
with a number of attributes you can paint onto your objects.

201
Texture attribute availability

Select an attribute from the pull-down menu, then click the Assign Textures
button to paint the attribute onto the object. The following table shows
available attributes and whether they are RGB or single channel.
RGB Single Channel
Color BumpMap
Transparency Reflectivity
Incandescence Diffuse
Specular Color Translucence
Ambient Color
Reflected Color
Available attributes vary depending on the material type. For example,

Specular Color is not available for a Lambert material. If you want to paint
other attributes, drag and drop another material from Hypershade onto your
model.
Painting attributes not shown in the Texture list

You can drag and drop textures directly onto attributes in a material’s
Attribute Editor. This means that even though the attributes are not shown
on the Texture list, you can connect the texture to the attribute of your
choice. Try the following example.
To paint attributes not shown in the Texture list:

1 Create a polygonal Plane primitive.
2 Create a material, such as Blinn, and assign it to the plane.
• In the Blinn’s Attribute Editor, assign a Ramp texture to the Color attribute.
• In the Ramp texture’s Attribute Editor, click one of the color boxes with an X
through it to delete the color, and change the Type to Circular.

202
3 Select the plane and enter the Paint Textures Tool.

4 Select Transparency as the Texture Attribute to Paint and assign a texture.
Flood the plane with a flesh tone. Click the Color Value bar and use the
Color Chooser to create a flesh-toned color, click the brush on the plane, then
click the Flood button.
Click the Color Value bar and select another color from the Color Chooser to
paint a mouth, then select another color to paint a pair of eyes.
Tip: Select Textures from the

Hypershade menu to quickly
see the texture swatches.
Result in view.
5 Select Incandescence and assign a texture to the plane. Choose a color and
paint hair all over the plane.

203
Result in view. Hypershade view of textures.
6 Exit the Paint Textures Tool.

7 Double-click the Blinn swatch in Hypershade to open its Attribute Editor
and change Hardware Texturing back to Color.
8 Open the Ramp texture’s Attribute Editor and click the bottom color dot.
From Hypershade, middle-mouse drag and drop the first file texture (the
face) onto the Selected Color attribute.
Click the bottom color dot and drag and drop the second file texture (the
hair) onto the Selected Color attribute.
Note
If you have painted multiple surfaces, drag the switch node instead.

204
Click the color dot,

and drag and drop
the texture onto the
Selected Color attribute.
9 In the material’s Attribute Editor, break the connections for both

Transparency and Incandescence (right-mouse click while the cursor is over
the name of the attribute and select Break Connection).
To test the results, open the Ramp texture’s Attribute Editor and drag the
color dots up and down. Notice how the face and hair fade in and out as you
drag.

205
Tip: Watch the Texture Sample

at the top of the Attribute Editor
as you drag the color dots.
Note
If you want to use the texture on a full-color (RGB) attribute, make sure
you choose to paint an attribute, such as Incandescence, which has three
channels. See the table under the heading “Texture attribute availability”
on page 202 for details.
If you connect a triple channel attribute to a single channel attribute, such as

Color to Glow Intensity in the following example the Connection Editor
displays. Select an Output channel for the switch utility and click to connect
it to the attribute you want.

206
Switch node dropped onto

Glow Intensity attribute.
In the Connection Editor,
click Output, select
a channel and connect
it to the material’s attribute.
Placing painted 2d textures

Maya also creates a place2dTexture node when you paint a surface using the
Paint Textures Tool. That means you can place the texture using
manipulators or by changing the attributes under the place2dTexture tab in
the material’s Attribute Editor.
To quickly access the place2dTexture attributes, click the place2dTexture
swatch in Hypershade. See the online Maya Reference: Rendering book for
details about the Place 2d & Place 3d Utilities attributes.
In the following, a bump map is painted onto the object, and the texture is
placed by changing various place2dTexture attributes.

207
Original painted bump map texture.
Bump map texture altered by changing

various place2dTexture attributes.
In this next example, the Color texture is placed.
Original painted color texture.
Color texture altered by changing place2dTexture attributes

(set both Repeat U and V values to 10.).

208
Assigning, saving, and reloading textures
ASSIGNING, SAVING, AND RELOADING TEXTURES

Use the three buttons at the bottom of the Paint tab to assign, save, or reload
your paint textures.
Assigning textures
You must click this button once you have selected an object or objects (or
faces) and an attribute to paint. If you have not previously painted or
assigned file textures to one or more of the surfaces, a warning prompt
displays in the Command Feedback line:
Some surfaces have no file textures assigned.
Saving textures
Click the Save Textures button at any time to checkpoint your work. You can
also determine when you want to save the texture, meaning when you exit
the tool or when you’ve finished a stroke. Under the Misc tab in the Tool
Settings window, the AutoSave section contains two options: AutoSave on
Exit (on by default), and AutoSave on Stroke.
AutoSave on Exit—Saves the textures when you exit the Paint Textures
Tool, or when you select a new attribute to paint.
If off, Maya prompts you to save the textures when you exit the tool or select
another attribute.
AutoSave on Stroke—This option is off by default. Turn this option on if
you want to save each stroke you paint on the object. Use this option when
IPR rendering. As you release the stylus (or mouse) at the end of each stroke,
the texture is updated and the IPR render refreshes to reflect your changes.
Note
Turn this option on only in circumstances when you know you will not be
making too many errors because you cannot undo your strokes when this
option is on.

209
Assigning, saving, and reloading textures
Reloading textures
Click the Reload Textures button to retrieve any textures you saved (if you
clicked the Save Textures button).
Tips on texture and paint modes (under the Misc tab)

• UV Texture Paint may be faster when you have good, non-overlapping,
contiguous UVs, and also allow the reflection mode to be used if the UVs are
symmetrical in texture space—for NURBS, this is always the case. For
polygons, it may not be.
• Projective Paint works best when the UV mesh is cut into multiple pieces,
and also virtually eliminates brush distortion at seams and at areas where
there is uneven parameterization.
Notes
• You will have to assign textures for each attribute you choose to
paint the first time you choose to paint that attribute.
• When painting grayscale attributes such as bump, the color you
paint with automatically converts to grayscale.

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7 CAMERAS AND VIEWS
You use a camera to both look at the world and record the world. To look at
the world from a camera’s point of view, you look into the camera’s
viewfinder. When you take a photograph, you are recording a 2D image of
the 3D world from the camera’s point of view onto film or videotape.
There are two types of real-world cameras: still picture and motion picture.
Still picture cameras record a single image at a time. Motion picture cameras
record a continuous series of images (usually 24, 25, or 30 images per
second) that, when played back in sequence, create the illusion of motion.
In Maya, you use a camera to either look at a scene or render a scene, or both.
To look at a scene from a camera’s point of view, you look at the camera’s
view. When you render a scene, you are creating and recording a digital 2D
image of the 3D scene from a camera’s point of view onto your computer’s
disk.
In this chapter:
Introduction to cameras ... page 212
Creating cameras and views ... page 213
Creating a camera to animate ... page 215
Camera views and view guides ... page 217
Camera icons and manipulators ... page 220
Setting up a camera ... page 224
Setting a camera’s view ... page 227
Saving and loading a camera’s view ... page 238
Making camera views render faster ... page 239

211
CAMERAS AND VIEWS | 7
Introduction to cameras
INTRODUCTION TO CAMERAS
View
A view represents the view from a
specific camera. You use views to look at
your scene as you create it. A scene can
contain several cameras, and therefore
several views. Objects in a view appear
as wireframe or shaded objects.
Rendered image
You render a scene by rendering a view
from a specific camera. Usually you use
several cameras to look at your scene
when you’re creating it, but only one
camera to render your scene when it’s
finished.
There are two types of cameras in Maya: orthographic and perspective. Both
types of cameras can render either a single image or a continuous series of
images.
Perspective camera
Perspective cameras are similar to real-
world cameras. They represent the effect
of perspective. When an object is near the
camera it appears larger than when it is
far from the camera. You use a
perspective camera to look at your scene
as you create it, and to render your scene
when it’s finished.

212
Creating cameras and views
Orthographic camera
Orthographic cameras are not like real-
world cameras. They do not represent
the effect of perspective. An object
viewed from an orthographic camera
appears to be the same size no matter
how near or far it is from the camera.
You use orthographic cameras to look at
your scene as you create it. (For
example, you can use an orthographic
camera to see the relative size of objects
or to align objects.)
When you first start Maya, or create a new scene, by default the scene
contains four cameras (and views): three orthographic cameras (side, top,
and front) and one perspective camera (persp). You can, however, create
additional cameras.
CREATING CAMERAS AND VIEWS

Usually, you use the four default cameras to view your scene, and create an
additional perspective camera to actually render from. If you render from
the default perspective camera, you may find it difficult to position the
camera without having another perspective camera to view your scene from,
especially if you are animating the camera.
You can create a camera from the main Maya window or from the view of
another camera. When you create a camera from the main Maya window, by
default, it is a perspective camera. To create an orthographic camera, you
must set the Create Camera Options.
After you have created a camera, you can change whether it is a perspective
camera or an orthographic camera.

213
Creating cameras and views
Notes
• If you are creating a camera that you plan to animate, see
“Creating a camera to animate” on page 215.
• To set camera properties as you create the camera, select
Create > Camera - ❐. See “Setting up a camera” on page 224.
To create a camera (and view) from the main Maya window:

Select Create > Camera.
To create a perspective camera (and view) from a view:

Select Panels > Perspective > New.
To create a perspective camera (and view) from Hypershade:

• Select Create > Utilities > Camera.
• Using the middle mouse button, drag the camera swatch from the
Create > Cameras folder in Visor into Hypershade.
To create an orthographic camera (and view) from the main Maya

window:
1 Select Create > Camera ❐.
2 In the Orthographic Views section of the Create Camera Options window,
turn on Orthographic.
3 Click the Create button.
To create an orthographic camera (and view) from a view:

Select Panels > Orthographic > New.
To change a perspective camera to an orthographic camera (or vice

versa):
• In the Orthographic Views section of the camera’s Attribute Editor, turn
Orthographic on or off.
• In the camera’s view, select View > Camera Settings > Perspective.

214
Creating a camera to animate
CREATING A CAMERA TO ANIMATE

When animating the camera, think of the camera in terms of three
component parts:
Camera eye
The camera eye is the camera unit itself, which travels along the motion path to
which it is assigned. The motion path determines the position of the camera
at any given time in relation to the scene. For example, the design of the
motion path lets you move the camera closer to or further away from an
object in the scene. To visualize, think of yourself walking along with a
camera taking pictures: the route you follow would be the motion path.
Camera view
The camera view is the focus point of the camera — where the camera is
looking at any given time. If the camera view is not assigned to a motion
path of its own, then the view is always directly in front of the camera.
Think of yourself walking through a scene without ever pivoting your head,
your view is always directly ahead of your body. By assigning the view to a
motion path of its own, you can change the view point of the camera at any
time in relation to the camera position.
Camera up vector
The camera up vector is the current angle of the camera at any given time in
relation to the camera eye. The camera up vector is the direction from the
camera’s eye to the camera’s up. If the camera’s up is not assigned a motion
path of its own, the camera remains parallel to the path that the eye has been
assigned to at all times. By assigning the camera up to an independent motion
path, the camera can be pivoted to any angle up to 360 degrees. This can be
likened to a camera on a tripod except that the tripod could pivot a full 360
degrees.
• “One-node cameras” on page 216
• “Multi-node cameras” on page 216

215
Creating a camera to animate
One-node cameras
When you create a camera, by default, it is a one-node camera. A one-node
camera has one node that controls its position and direction (the transform
node).
A one-node camera is usually fine for rendering still images or for
animations in which the camera does not move or the camera’s motion is
very simple. However, you may find that a one-node camera is difficult to
animate for more complicated movements because you cannot easily control
the point that the camera looks at or the camera’s up direction.
To animate a one-node camera and control the point that the camera looks at
the camera’s up direction, you need to use constraints. A constraint is a way
of controlling, or constraining, an object’s position, orientation, or scale based
on the position, orientation, or scale of another object. (For information on
using constraints, see Using Maya: Character Setup.)
Multi-node cameras
Instead of animating a one-node camera using constraints, you may find it
easier to animate a two-node or three-node camera.
A two-node camera has two nodes that control its position and direction,
and a three-node camera has three. These extra nodes allow you to easily
control the point that the camera looks at and the camera’s up direction, and
make animating the camera much easier.
Note
After you have created a camera, it is difficult to change whether it is a
one-node, two-node, or three-node camera.

216
Camera views and view guides
To create a one-node, two-node, or three-node camera:

1 Select Create > Camera ❐.
2 In the Animation Options section of the Create Camera Options window,
select One, Two, or Three, then click the Create button.
Use the Show Manipulator tool as well as the Move tool to position the
camera, and while in the Perspective view, select the camera name from the
Panels menu to verify its position.
See “Camera views and view guides” on page 217 and “Camera icons and
manipulators” on page 220 for details on how to do this.
CAMERA VIEWS AND VIEW GUIDES

If you create a new camera, its view is not automatically displayed in a
panel. You can, however, control which views appear in which panels and
how panels are arranged in the Maya window. You can also display view
guides to help visualize how your scene will render.
• “Camera views” on page 217
• “Camera view guides” on page 218
Camera views
You look at the world from a camera’s point of view by looking into the
camera’s viewfinder. In Maya, you look at a scene from a camera’s point of
view by displaying the camera’s view, either in a panel or in a separate
window. For more information on arranging views, see Using Maya:
Essentials.
To display a camera’s view in a panel:

• From a view, select the camera’s name from the Panels > Perspective or
Panels > Orthographic sub-menu.
• Select the camera, and from a view, select Panels > Look Through Selected.
To display a camera’s view in a window:

From a view, select Panel > Tear Off Copy.

217
Camera view guides

The viewfinder of a camera may contain one or several markings that help
you determine what parts of the image will or will not be recorded by the
camera.
In Maya, a camera’s view may contain one or several view guides. By
default, a camera’s view does not display any view guides. Usually when
you are creating a scene, you do not need to display any view guides. You
can, however, display one or more of the several different types of view
guides to help you determine what parts of the scene will or will not render.
No view guides
By default, a camera’s view does not
include any view guides.
Film gate
The Film Gate view guide indicates the
area of the camera’s view that a real-
world camera would record on film. The
dimensions of the film gate represent the
dimensions of the camera aperture. The
film gate view guide indicates the area
of the camera’s view that will render
only if the aspect ratios of the camera
aperture and rendering resolution are
the same.

218
Resolution gate
The Resolution Gate view guide
indicates the area of the camera’s view
that will render. The dimensions of the
resolution gate represent the rendering
resolution. The rendering resolution
values are displayed above the
resolution gate view guide.
Field chart
The Field Chart view guide represents
the twelve standard cel animation field
sizes. The largest field size (number 12)
is identical to the rendering resolution
(the resolution gate).
Safe action
The Safe Action view guide indicates the
region that you should keep all of your
scene’s action within if you plan to
display the rendered images on a
television screen. The safe action view
guide represents 90% of the rendering
resolution (the resolution gate).
Safe title
The Safe Title view guide indicates the
region that you should keep titles (text)
within if you plan to display the
rendered images on a television screen.
The safe title view guide represents 80%
of the rendering resolution (the
resolution gate).

219
Camera icons and manipulators
To display a camera view guide:

• From the view panel, select the guide from the View > Camera Settings sub-
menu.
• Select the guide from the Display Options section of the camera’s Attribute
Editor.
Tip
To change the amount of space visible outside a view guide, in the Film
Back section of the camera’s Attribute Editor, adjust the Overscan attribute.
CAMERA ICONS AND MANIPULATORS

Usually you adjust a camera while looking through its view. However, you
can display camera icons and manipulators which allow you to visualize
and adjust a camera’s view without having to actually look through its view.
• “Camera icons” on page 220
• “Camera manipulators” on page 221
Camera icons
A camera icon represents the position and direction of a camera in a view.
Camera icons are not visible by default.
Note
A camera’s icon is never visible in its own view. You can only see a
camera’s icon from another camera’s view.

220
Perspective Camera Orthographic Camera
A circle on a two-node or three-node camera icon represents the view point

(center of interest), and a circle on a three-node camera represents the
camera’s up direction. See “Creating a camera to animate” on page 215.
Up Direction Point
Center of Interest
Center of Interest
Two-Node Camera
Three-Node Camera
To display or hide all camera icons:

Select Display > Show > Cameras or Display > Hide > Cameras.
To hide or display all camera icons in a specific view:

In a view, select Show > Cameras.
Camera manipulators
Camera manipulators allow you to interactively adjust certain camera
attributes. Click the Show Manipulator tool icon on Maya’s Status Line for a
selected camera to see the manipulators.

221
Cycling index
Click the Cycling Index manipulator to
display each of the camera’s three types
of manipulators: Center of Interest/
Camera Origin, Pivot, and Clipping
Planes.
The position of the dash on the Cycling
None Center of Interest/ Index indicates which manipulator is
Camera Origin displayed.
Pivot Clipping Planes
Center of Interest/Camera Origin

Camera Origin
Move the two parts of the Center of
Interest manipulator to change the
camera’s location (the manipulator on
the camera icon) and direction (the
manipulator on the circle).
See “Setting a camera’s center of
interest” on page 228.
Center of Interest
Pivot
Move the Pivot manipulator and then
click on it to change the point that the
camera pivots about when you move the
camera or the center of interest. Click the
Pivot manipulator again to disable the
pivot point.

222
Clipping planes
Move the two parts of the Clipping
Planes manipulator to change the
location of the near and far clipping
planes.
See “Setting a camera’s range” on page
234.
To display camera manipulators:

• Select Display > Show > Camera Manipulators.
• Click the Show Manipulator Tool (or press the hotkey t).
To display or hide a specific camera manipulator:

Select a camera and then select the manipulator from the Display > Camera/
Light Manipulator sub-menu.
To hide camera manipulators:

Select Display > Hide > Camera Manipulators.
To increase or decrease the size of camera manipulators:

Press - (decrease) or = (increase).

223
Setting up a camera
SETTING UP A CAMERA
Every camera has certain basic physical characteristics that do not change
(for example, the camera’s film format: 16mm, 35mm, 70mm). You select a
specific camera for its basic physical characteristics based on how you plan
to use the film or video in post-production and how you plan to present the
finished film or video.
In Maya, you can change all characteristics for a camera at any time.
However, you usually set a camera’s basic characteristics when you first
create it. You set these characteristics based on how you plan to use the
rendered images in post-production and how you plan to present the
finished film or video. For example, if you plan to render a scene and then
combine it with live action, you will need to set up Maya’s camera to match
the real-world camera used to record the live action.
To set up a camera:
1 In the Film Back section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera
Attribute Editor), select a preset Film Gate (for example, Super 16mm). Maya
automatically sets the following camera attributes. If you do not see an
appropriate preset Film Gate, you must set these attributes manually.
Camera
Aperture The height and width of the camera’s aperture or film
back, measured in inches. The Camera Aperture controls
the relationship between Focal Length and Angle of View.
Film Aspect
Ratio The ratio of the camera aperture’s width to its height.
When you set the Camera Aperture values, Maya
automatically updates the Film Aspect Ratio (and vice
versa).
Lens Squeeze
Ratio The amount that the camera’s lens compresses the image
horizontally. Most cameras do not compress the image
they record, and their Lens Squeeze Ratio is 1. Some
cameras (for example, anamorphic cameras), however,
compress the image horizontally in order to record a large
aspect ratio (wide) image onto a square area on film.

224
Setting up a camera
Tip
Turn on the Film Gate view guide in the Display Options section of the
camera’s Attribute Editor. See “Camera view guides” on page 218.
The Film Gate represents the region of your scene that a real-world camera
would record. It does not usually represent the region of your scene that the
Maya camera will render.
2 In the Resolution section of the Render Globals window (Window > Render
Globals), select a preset Render Resolution (for example, 640 x 480). Maya
automatically sets the following attributes. If you do not see an appropriate
preset Render Resolution, you must set these attributes manually.
Width, Height The width and height of the image you want to render,
measured in pixels. The ratio of the width and height is
the image aspect ratio. When you set the Width, Maya
automatically updates the Height (and vice versa) if
Maintain Width/Height Ratio is on. When you set the
Width or Height, Maya automatically updates the Device
Aspect Ratio (if Lock Device Aspect Ratio is off) or the
Pixel Aspect Ratio (if Lock Device Aspect Ratio is on).
Device Aspect
Ratio The aspect ratio of the display device you will be viewing
the rendered image on. The device aspect ratio represents
the image aspect ratio (see above) multiplied by the pixel
aspect ratio (see below). Device Aspect Ratio and Pixel
Aspect Ratio are related; when you set the Device Aspect
Ratio, Maya automatically updates the Pixel Aspect Ratio.
Pixel Aspect
Ratio The aspect ratio of the individual pixels of the display
device you will be viewing the rendered image on. Most
display devices (for example, a computer monitor) have
square pixels, and their Pixel Aspect Ratio is 1. Some
devices, however, have non-square pixels (for example,
digital video has a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 0.9).

225
Setting up a camera
Pixel Aspect Ratio and Device Aspect Ratio are related;

when you set the Pixel Aspect Ratio, Maya automatically
updates the Device Aspect Ratio.
Tip
Turn on the Resolution Gate view guide in the Display Options section of
the camera’s Attribute Editor. See “Camera view guides” on page 218.
The Render Resolution, or Resolution Gate, represents the region of your

scene that the camera will actually render.
3 Set the following camera attributes:
Film Fit Controls the size of the resolution gate relative to the film
gate, and whether the resolution gate fits within the film
gate (Fill), fits only horizontally (Horizontal) or vertically
(Vertical) within the film gate, or whether the film gate fits
within the resolution gate (Overscan).
Film Fit Offset Offsets the resolution gate relative to the film gate, either
vertically (if Film Fit is Horizontal) or horizontally (if Film
Fit is Vertical). You usually leave the Film Fit Offset as 0.
Film Offset Vertically and horizontally offsets the resolution gate and
the film gate relative to the scene. You usually leave both
Film Offset values as 0. However, you can track the view
in two dimensions using the Film Offset. See “Tracking a
camera’s view in two dimensions” on page 230.

226
Setting a camera’s view
SETTING A CAMERA’S VIEW

You set a camera’s view by first selecting a subject or center of interest and
then selecting how the camera will view the center of interest. You can also
selectively focus a camera so that certain objects are in sharp focus while
other objects are not. In Maya, you can also limit a camera’s range so that
only objects within this range are visible.
• “Setting a camera’s center of interest” on page 228
• “Setting how a camera views its center of interest” on page 231
• “Setting a camera’s range” on page 234
• “Selectively focusing a camera’s view” on page 236
Tips
• Turn on the Resolution Gate view guide to see the area of your
scene that will actually render. See “Camera view guides” on page
218.
• By default, you cannot undo or redo all camera movements. To
undo or redo all camera movements, turn on Journal Command in
the Display Options section of the camera’s Attribute Editor, or in
the camera’s view select View > Camera Settings > Journal.

227
Setting a camera’s center of interest

A camera’s center of interest is the point in 3D space that the camera looks
at. An object that is located at this point appears in the center of the camera’s
view. You can set a camera’s center of interest in several ways.
Looking at objects or regions in a

scene
Tracks, tilts/pans, and/or dollies the
camera so that selected objects, all
objects, or a selected region are in the
camera’s view. See “Looking at objects
or regions in a scene” on page 229.
Tracking
Moves the camera left, right, up, or
down. The scene in the camera’s view
moves in the opposite direction. See
“Tracking a camera’s view” on page 229.
2D tracking
Moves the camera’s film back; the
camera does not move. The scene in the
camera’s view moves in the opposite
direction. Perspective, or the relative
orientation of objects in the scene, does
not change. See “Tracking a camera’s
view in two dimensions” on page 230.
Tilting and panning

Tilts the camera up or down, or pans the
camera left or right. The scene in the
camera’s view moves in the opposite
direction. See “Tilting or panning a
camera’s view” on page 230.

228
Looking at objects or regions in a scene

You can easily set a camera’s center of interest to the center of a specific
object, group of objects, or region.
To look at selected objects:

Select View > Look At Selection.
The camera tilts and pans so that selected objects are in the center of the
camera’s view.
To look at and fill the view with selected objects:

Select View > Frame Selection (or press the hotkey f).
The camera tracks and dollies so that selected objects fill the camera’s view.
To look at and fill the view with all objects in a scene:

Select View > Frame All (or press the hotkey a).
The camera tracks and dollies so that all objects in the scene (including lights
and cameras if their icons are displayed in the view) fill the camera’s view.
To look at and fill the view with a region of a scene:

Ctrl-Alt-drag over the region.
The camera tracks and dollies so that the selected region fills the camera’s
view.
Tracking a camera’s view

Tracking a camera means moving the camera left, right, up, or down. The
scene in the camera’s view moves in the opposite direction.
To track a camera’s view:

• Using the middle mouse button, Alt-drag in the camera’s view. (The speed
that Maya tracks the camera is based on the distance from the camera to the
center of interest. If this distance is very small, the camera will track very
slowly.)
• Select View > Camera Tools > Track Tool and drag in the camera’s view.
• Select the Move tool (or press the hotkey w) and move the camera’s icon.

229
• Select View > Frame Selection to track and dolly so that selected objects fill
the camera’s view.
• Select View > Frame All to track and dolly so that all objects in the scene fill
Tracking a camera’s view in two dimensions

Tracking a camera in two dimensions means moving the camera’s film back,
not the camera itself. The scene in the camera’s view moves in the opposite
direction. The relative orientation of objects in the scene does not change.
To track a camera’s view in two dimensions:

Adjust the camera’s Film Offset values.
Tilting or panning a camera’s view

Tilting a camera means rotating the camera up or down; panning a camera
means rotating the camera left or right. The scene in the camera’s view
moves in the opposite direction. (The angle of rotation up or down is also
referred to as pitch; the angle of rotation left or right is also referred to as
yaw.)
To tilt or pan a camera’s view:

• Select View > Camera Tools > Yaw-Pitch Tool and drag in the camera’s
view.
• Select View > Look At Selection to tilt or pan the camera so that selected
objects are in the center of the camera’s view.
• Move the camera’s Center of Interest manipulator.

230
Setting how a camera views its center of interest

Once you set a camera’s center of interest, you set how the camera looks at its
center of interest. A camera can look at its center of interest from any
direction or distance.
Note
The Film Gate, Camera Aperture, Film Aspect Ratio, Lens Squeeze Ratio,
Film Fit, Film Fit Offset, and Film Offset attributes also affect a camera’s
view; however, you should set these attributes only when you are first
setting up a camera. See “Setting up a camera” on page 224.
There are several ways you can set how a camera views its center of interest.
Tumbling
Changes the position from which the
camera views its center of interest. The
scene in the camera’s view appears to
rotate about the center of interest. See
“Tumbling a camera’s view” on page
232.
Rolling
Rotates the camera about its sight line.
The camera’s view rotates in the
opposite direction. See “Rolling a

231
Dollying
Moves the camera toward or away from
its center of interest. The scene in the
camera’s view becomes larger or
smaller. The relative size of objects in the
scene changes based on their distance
from the camera. See “Dollying a
Zooming
Changes the lens’s focal length; the
camera does not move. The scene in the
camera’s view becomes larger or
smaller. The relative size of objects in the
scene does not change. See “Zooming a
Tumbling a camera’s view

Tumbling a camera means changing the position from which the camera
views its center of interest. The scene in the camera’s view appears to rotate
about the center of interest. (The angle of a camera’s sight line relative to the
ground plane is also referred to as its elevation; the angle of a camera’s sight
line relative to a plane perpendicular to the ground plane is also referred to
as its azimuth.)
To tumble a camera’s view:

• Alt-drag in the camera’s view.
• Select View > Camera Tools > Tumble Tool and drag in the camera’s view.
• Select View > Camera Tools > Azimuth Elevation Tool and drag in the
camera’s view.
• Move the camera icon manipulator.

232
Rolling a camera’s view

Rolling a camera means rotating the camera about its sight line (the line
connecting the camera to its center of interest).
To roll a camera:
• Select View > Camera Tools > Roll Tool and drag left or right in the camera’s
view.
• Select the Rotate tool (or press the hotkey e) and rotate the camera’s icon
using the blue rotate manipulator.
Dollying a camera’s view

Dollying a camera means moving the camera toward or away from its center
of interest. The scene in the camera’s view becomes larger or smaller. The
relative size of objects in the scene changes based on their distance from the
camera.
Note
When you dolly an orthographic camera, the camera does not actually
move. Instead, the camera’s viewing plane increases or decreases in size.
The effect in the camera’s view, however, is the same as moving the
camera.
To dolly a camera:
• Using the left and middle mouse buttons, Alt-drag in the camera’s view.
• Select View > Camera Tools > Dolly Tool and drag in the camera’s view.
• Select View > Frame Selection to track and dolly so that selected objects fill
• Select View > Frame All to track and dolly so that all objects in the scene fill
Zooming a camera’s view

Zooming a camera means changing the lens’s focal length; the camera does
not move. The scene in the camera’s view becomes larger or smaller. The
relative size of objects in the scene does not change.

233
To zoom a camera:
• Select View > Camera Tools > Zoom Tool and drag in the camera’s view.
• Adjust the camera’s Angle of View attribute or Focal Length attribute.
Note
The Camera Scale attribute also affects the amount of zoom.
Setting a camera’s range

In the real-world, cameras can see objects no matter how near or far they are
from the camera’s lens.
In Maya, cameras can only see objects within a finite range of distances from
the camera. A camera’s range is represented by its clipping planes. All
cameras have a near clipping plane and a far clipping plane.
The near and far clipping planes are imaginary planes located at two specific
points along a camera’s sight line. Only objects between a camera’s two
clipping planes are visible in that camera’s view. Any objects in your scene
that are closer to the camera than the near clipping plane, or farther from the
camera than the far clipping plane, will not be visible.
Note
If part of an object is in front of the near clipping plane, then only the part
of the object beyond the near clipping plane will be visible. If part of an
object is beyond the far clipping plane, then the entire object will be visible,
including the part beyond the far clipping plane.
By default, Maya automatically sets a camera’s clipping planes so that they

are just slightly beyond the limits of the objects in your scene. However, you
can also manually set a camera’s clipping planes to limit which objects are
visible in the camera’s view (see “Selecting a range of objects and shadows
to render” on page 281).

234
Tips
• Turn on the camera’s Clipping Planes manipulator (see “Camera
manipulators” on page 221). The dimensions of the Clipping
Planes manipulator represents the camera’s film gate, not the
rendering resolution, and may or may not indicate the region that
will actually render. See “Film gate” on page 218.
• The camera’s view only displays objects between the near and far
clipping planes.
To set clipping planes automatically:

Turn on the camera’s Auto Render Clip Plane attribute.
To set clipping planes manually:

1 Turn off the camera’s Auto Render Clip Plane attribute.
2 Set the camera’s Near Clip Plane attribute to the distance from the camera to
the near clipping plane.
3 Set the camera’s Far Clip Plane attribute to the distance from the camera to
the far clipping plane.
Notes
• If the distance between the near and far clipping planes is much
larger than is required to contain all the objects in your scene, the
image quality of some objects may be poor. Set the Near Clip Plane
attribute to the largest value and the Far Clip Plane attribute to the
lowest value that still produces the desired result.
• If you set a camera’s clipping planes manually so that a shadow-
casting surface is beyond the far clipping plane, and a depth-map
shadow-casting light is illuminating the surface, the surface will
not render, but the surface’s shadow will render. To remove the
shadow, turn off Casts Shadows for the surface.

235
Selectively focusing a camera’s view

A camera has a range of distances within which objects will be sharply
focused. This range of distances is known as the camera’s depth of field.
Objects that are outside of this range (closer to the camera or farther away
from the camera) appear blurred or out of focus.
In Maya, by default all objects are sharply focused no matter now near or far
they are from the camera. You can, however, selectively focus a camera to
simulate depth of field.
Note
When you render a scene from a camera that uses depth of field, the entire
scene will first render with all objects in sharp focus. Different objects in
the image will then be blurred based on their distance from the camera.
To selectively focus a camera’s view:

In the Depth of Field section of the camera’s Attribute Editor, turn on Depth
Of Field.
Properties of selective focus

You can change the properties of a camera’s depth of field to control which
objects are in sharp focus, and which objects are not.
Focus distance
To change the distance from the camera
at which objects appear in sharp focus,
adjust the Focus Distance attribute. To
scale the Focus Distance attribute, adjust
the Focus Region Scale attribute.

236
Focus range
To change the range of distances from
the camera within which objects appear
in sharp focus, adjust the F Stop
attribute. (The smaller the F Stop, the
shorter the depth of field.)
The Focal Length and Angle of View

attributes also influence the range of
distances from the camera within which
objects appear in sharp focus.
Tip
To make the camera automatically focus on its center of interest (similar to
a real-world camera’s auto-focus function), connect the output of the
camera group node’s Distance Between attribute to the input of the camera
shape node’s Focus Distance attribute. This is only possible with two-node
and three-node cameras because one-node cameras do not have a camera
group node (see “Creating a camera to animate” on page 215 and
“Connecting nodes” on page 16).
Note
Changing your scene’s linear working unit will alter a camera’s depth of
field. Use the Focus Region Scale attribute to compensate for any changes
you make to your scene’s linear working unit if you want to maintain the
same depth of field. For example, if you change your scene’s linear
working unit from centimeters to meters, change the Focus Region Scale
value from 1 to 100. The Focus Region Scale attribute can also make
controlling a camera’s depth of field easier over very long distances (for
example, stars and planets) or very short distances (for example,
microscopic close-ups).

237
Saving and loading a camera’s view
SAVING AND LOADING A CAMERA’S VIEW

Once you have set a camera’s view, you may want to save it. After you save
a camera’s view, you can adjust the view and later easily load the saved
view.
You save a camera’s view by creating a bookmark. By default, a camera has
four pre-defined bookmarks: Perspective, Front, Top, and Side. You can add
several additional bookmarks to a camera using the Bookmark Editor.
To save a camera’s view:

1 In the camera’s view, select View > Bookmarks > Edit Bookmarks.The
Bookmark Editor displays.
• To create a bookmark with a custom name, type the name of the bookmark
in the Name field and click the Apply button.
• To create a bookmark with a system-assigned name, click the New
Bookmark button.
2 Click the Close button.
To load a camera’s view:

In the camera’s view, select the bookmark from the View > Bookmarks menu
or from the View > Predefined Bookmarks menu.

238
Making camera views render faster
To rename a saved (bookmarked) camera view:

1 In the camera’s view, select View > Bookmarks > Edit Bookmarks. The
2 Select the bookmark you want to rename.
3 Type the new name for the bookmark in the Name field and press Enter,
then click the Close button.
To delete a saved (bookmarked) camera view:

1 In the camera’s view, select View > Bookmarks > Edit Bookmarks. The
2 Select the bookmark you want to delete.
3 Click the Delete button, then click the Close button.
To add a saved (bookmarked) camera view to the shelf:

Click the Add To Shelf Button to create a MEL file that displays at the top-
right of the shelf. Drag the cursor over the MEL icons to see which camera
you saved.
MAKING CAMERA VIEWS RENDER FASTER

Rendering a scene often takes a long time. You can, however, make camera
views render faster by not selectively focusing the camera, or by selectively
focusing the camera so that more objects are in focus.
To make camera views render faster:

Turn off Depth Of Field, or increase the F Stop (see “Selectively focusing a
camera’s view” on page 236).

239
Making camera views render faster

240
8 BACKGROUND AND
ATMOSPHERE
When you photograph an object, it is usually within an atmosphere (for

example, air) and is surrounded by other (background) objects.
In Maya, you may want to only model the foreground objects in a scene, and
represent background objects using a two-dimensional background. You can
also simulate the effect of an atmosphere surrounding the objects in your
scene.
In this chapter:
Background ... page 242
Troubleshooting backgrounds ... page 256
Atmosphere ... page 253
Troubleshooting environment fog ... page 256

241
BACKGROUND AND ATMOSPHERE | 8
Background
BACKGROUND
A background is what appears behind the objects in a scene. You can also
use a background as a temporary reference for modeling or animating
objects in your scene.
When you take a photograph in a studio, the background is often a two-
dimensional object. It may be a colored wall, a painted piece of fabric, or an
enlarged photograph of a real-world environment.
In Maya, when you render a scene, the background is also two-dimensional.
It may be a solid color, a procedural texture, or an image file.
• “Creating a color background” on page 244
• “Creating a texture background” on page 244
• “Creating an image file background” on page 246
• “Removing a background” on page 252
Color background
A color background floods the
background of your scene with a solid
color (for example, black, white, or red).
Texture background
A texture background uses a 2D, 3D, or
environment texture to simulate a three-
dimensional background or
environment.

242
Background
Image file background

An image file background uses an image
file, a series of image files, or a movie file
as a background.
Usually you render the objects in a scene against a black background, and
later composite the rendered images with a more appropriate background
(for example, using Maya Composer or Maya Fusion).
In some cases, however, you may want to create a background in Maya,
either as a reference for modeling or animating objects in your scene (for
example, rotoscoping or motion matching), or because you don’t have access
to compositing software.
In Maya, a background is associated with a specific camera. When you create
a background, you create it for a specific camera. When you render your
scene from that camera, the background is included in the rendered image. If
you render your scene from a different camera, the background is not
included in the rendered image.

243
Background
Creating a color background

A color background floods the background of your scene with a solid color
(for example, black, white, or red).
To create a color background:

In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera
Attribute Editor), set the Background Color attribute.
Creating a texture background

A texture background uses a 2D, 3D, or environment texture on an image
plane to simulate a three-dimensional background or environment. (An
image plane is a plane that sits in front of, and faces, a specific camera.)
There are five types of environment textures which you can use as
backgrounds. (You can also use 2D or 3D textures as backgrounds.)
Env Ball texture

An Env Ball texture uses an image (or
series of images) of a highly reflective
chrome ball in an environment (real
world or computer generated) to re-
create that environment.
Env Chrome texture

An Env Chrome texture simulates a
showroom environment. The texture
consists of a ground plane and a sky
plane (with fluorescent style light
rectangles), and provides a simple but
effective environment to simulate
reflections off chrome surfaces.

244
Background
Env Cube texture

An Env Cube texture simulates an
environment by mapping six image files
onto the inner surfaces of a large hollow
cube.
Env Sky texture

An Env Sky texture simulates a
planetary environment viewed from the
surface of a planet.
Env Sphere texture

An Env Sphere texture simulates an
environment by mapping a texture or
image file directly onto the inner surface
of an infinitely large hollow sphere.
Note
If you use a 3D texture or an environment texture as a background and
animate the camera, the texture may change as the camera moves. To
prevent the texture from changing, parent the texture’s 3D placement node
to the animated camera. See also Using Maya: Essentials.

245
Background
To create a texture background:

1 In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera
Attribute Editor), click the Create button to the right of the Image Plane
attribute. Maya creates an image plane and connects it to the camera.
2 Set the Type attribute for the image plane to Texture.
3 Click the texture button for the Texture attribute. The Create Render Node
window displays.
4 Select the texture you want to use as a background (for example, an
Environment Texture). Maya creates the texture and connects it to the image
plane.
Creating an image file background

An image file background uses an image file, a series of image files, or a
movie file, on an image plane as a background. (An image plane is a plane
that sits in front of and faces a specific camera.)
You can create one or several image file backgrounds for a scene.
Important
Before you create an image file background, you should set up the camera
(see “Setting up a camera” on page 224), and possibly the camera’s view as
well (see “Setting a camera’s view” on page 227), so that it matches the
camera that was used to record the background image.
Creating a static image file background

A static image file background uses a single image file as a background. The
background image does not change during an animation.
To create a static image file background:

1 In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera
Attribute Editor), click the Create button to the right of the Image Plane
attribute. Maya creates an image plane and connects it to the camera.
2 Make sure that the Type attribute for the image plane is set to Image File
(the default setting).

246
Background
3 Click the folder button for the Image Name attribute.The file browser
displays.
4 Select the image file you want to use as a background, and click Open. Maya
connects the image file to the image plane.
Creating an animated image file background

You can create an animated image file background using either a series of
image files or a movie file. (A movie file will update in the views much
faster than a series of image files will.)
You can use either SGI (uncompressed or using RLE, RLE24, JPEG, MVC1,
or MVC2 compression) or QuickTime (uncompressed or using Quicktime
Video, Quicktime Animation, or Indeo compression) movie files as animated
backgrounds.
Note
If a moving camera was used to record the original image files or movie
file that you want to use as a background, then you must match the
camera’s motion using Maya Live. See Using Maya: Live.
To create an animated image file background:

1 In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor, click the Create
button to the right of the Image Plane attribute. Maya creates an image plane
and connects it to the camera.
2 Make sure the Type attribute for the image plane is set to Image File (the
default).
3 Click the folder button for the Image Name attribute. The file browser
displays.
If you want to use a sequence of image files as an animated background,
select one of the image files and click Open. If you want to use a movie file as
an animated background, select the movie file and click Open.
Maya connects the image or movie file to the image plane.
4 Turn on Use Frame Extension.
5 Set the Time Slider to the first frame of your animation.

247
Background
If you are using a sequence of image files as an animated background, set

the Frame Extension attribute to the extension number of the first image file
you want to use. The default value is 1.
6 Click the right mouse button over the Frame Extension attribute, and select
Set Key from the pop-up menu. (You must do this if you are using either a
sequence of image files or a movie file as an animated background.)
7 Move the Time Slider to the last frame of your animation.
8 If you are using a sequence of image files as a background, set the Frame
Extension attribute to the extension number of the last image file you want to
use.
9 Click the right mouse button over the Frame Extension attribute, and select
Set Key from the pop-up menu. (You must do this if you are using either a
sequence of image files or a movie file as an animated background.)
Creating a 3D image file background

An image file background is a two-dimensional image that exists behind the
objects in your scene. You can, however, simulate a three-dimensional
background by creating “stand-in” surfaces that represent objects in the
background image. An object in your scene can then:
• move behind an object in the background image
• cast shadows onto objects in the background image
• receive shadows from objects in the background image
• be accurately reflected by the objects in the background image
For example, if you have a background

image that contains a fence, and you
want a CG character to appear behind
the fence.

248
Background
You would first create a stand-in surface

for the fence, then you would position
your CG character behind the stand-in
surface.
Note
It is also possible to create a 3D image file background so that the objects in
your scene accurately reflect the objects in the background image. See the
Note in the following procedure.
To create a 3D image file background:

1 Create an image file background for the perspective camera you plan to
render from (see “Creating a static image file background” on page 246 or
“Creating an animated image file background” on page 247).
2 Use the background as a reference to create a relatively simple surface or
group of surfaces to act as stand-ins for the objects in your background
image that you want to interact with the objects in your scene.
For example, if you want an object in your scene to cast a shadow onto the
floor in the background image, create a plane as a stand-in for the floor.
3 Scale and/or position the stand-in surfaces so that they are directly over the
correct areas of the background image.
4 In Hypershade, select Create > Materials > Use Background, and assign the
new material to the stand-in surfaces. The stand-in surfaces have the same
color as the objects in the background image that they represent.

249
Background
Note
To make the objects in your scene accurately reflect the objects in the
background image, do not use a Use Background material. Instead, assign
a Blinn or Phong material (for example) to the stand-in surfaces, and map a
File projection texture to Color (see “Projection textures” on page 155).
Map the background image to the Image attribute, set Proj Type to
Perspective, and set Link To Camera to the camera with the background
image.
This makes the stand-in surfaces have the same color as the objects in the
background image that they represent and makes the objects in your scene
accurately reflect the objects in the background image. However, it also
means you have to illuminate the stand-in surfaces properly to make them
look identical to the objects in the background image that they represent.
5 You can now make objects in your scene appear to move behind objects in
the background image by moving them behind the stand-in surfaces.
The objects in your scene also appear to cast shadows onto the objects in the
background image by casting shadows onto the stand-in surfaces (see
“Creating shadows” on page 82).
• To make objects in the background image appear to cast shadows onto
objects in your scene, in the Render Stats section of the stand-in surfaces’
Attribute Editor, turn on Casts Shadows (see “Creating shadows” on page
82).
• To make the objects in your scene appear to accurately reflect objects in the
background image, in the Render Stats section of the stand-in surfaces’
Attribute Editor, turn on Visible in Reflections (see “Shininess” on page 128).
(Visible in Reflections is on by default.)
• To make the objects in the background image appear to accurately reflect the
objects in your scene, in the Render Stats section of the objects’ Attribute
Editor, turn on Visible in Reflections (see “Shininess” on page 128). (Visible
in Reflections is on by default.)

250
Background
Displaying image file backgrounds

After you create an image file background, you can control how it displays
in views and in the rendered image.
No display To hide the background so it is not displayed in views or
in the rendered image, set Display Mode to None.
Icon To display the background as a rectangle with diagonal
lines in views, and as a color image with transparency
(alpha) in the rendered image, set Display Mode to
Outline.
Color image
(without
transparency) To display the background as a color image in views, and
as a color image with transparency (alpha) in the rendered
image, set Display Mode to RGB.
Color image
(with
transparency) To display the background as a color image with
transparency (alpha) in views and in the rendered image,
set Display Mode to RGBA. (If the image file does not
contain an alpha channel, set Display Mode to RGB.)
Gray-scale
image To display the background as a gray-scale image in views,
and as a gray-scale image with transparency (alpha) in the
rendered image, set Display Mode to Luminance.
Transparency To display the transparency (alpha) of the background in
views and in the rendered image, set Display Mode to
Alpha.

251
Background
Notes
• To display an image file background only in the view of the
camera that the background is connected to, set Display to looking
through camera.
• To display an image file background in the view of the camera that
the background is connected to, and as an icon in all other views,
set Display to all views.
Sizing and positioning an image file background

How you position a texture or image file background depends on whether
the background’s Image Plane attribute is Attached to Camera or Fixed.
When you create a background for a perspective camera, Image Plane is
Attached to Camera by default. When you move the camera, the image
plane also moves. You use this setting when you are using the image plane
as a reference for animating objects in your scene (that is, motion matching
or rotoscoping), or if you plan to render the image plane as a background.
When you create a background for an orthographic camera, Image Plane is
Fixed by default. When you move the camera, the image plane does not
move. You use this setting when you are using the image plane as a
reference for modeling objects in your scene.
See Maya Reference: Rendering for details about image plane attributes.
Removing a background
You can easily remove a background from your scene.
To remove a color background:

In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View > Camera
Attribute Editor), set the Background Color to black.
To temporarily turn off a texture or image file background:

In the Image Plane Attributes section of the image plane’s Attribute Editor
(View > Camera Attribute Editor), set Display Mode to None.

252
Atmosphere
To permanently remove a texture or image file background:

In Hypershade, select the image plane swatch and either press Delete or
select Edit > Delete.
ATMOSPHERE
Atmosphere is what surrounds the objects in a scene. It represents the effect
of fine particles (fog, smoke, or dust) in the air.
These particles affect the appearance of the atmosphere and the appearance
of objects in the atmosphere. In Maya, you can simulate the effect of
atmospheric particles using environment fog.
To simulate particles in the air that are illuminated by a particular light, use
light fog (see “Illuminated fog” on page 108).
Environment fog
Environment fog simulates the effect of
fine particles (fog, smoke, or dust) that
are in the air.

• “Creating environment fog” on page 254
• “Environment fog properties” on page 254
• “Troubleshooting backgrounds” on page 256

253
Atmosphere
Creating environment fog

You create environment fog by creating an environment fog node.
To create environment fog:

1 In the Render Options section of the Render Globals window (Window >
Render Globals), click the map button beside the Environment Fog attribute.
2 Maya automatically creates an environment fog node and an environment
fog light node (an ambient light).
Environment fog properties

In Maya, you control the properties of the atmosphere by setting the
attributes of the environment fog node.
Color
To change the color of environment fog,
adjust the Color attribute.
Opacity
To change the amount that objects
within or behind environment fog are
obscured, adjust the Saturation Distance
attribute and the value of the Color
attribute.
Color based transparency

To make objects obscured by
environment fog appear as flat-shaded
silhouettes, turn off Color Based
Transparency.

254
Atmosphere
Depth range
To make environment fog fill a specific
region (between two distances from the
camera), set Distance Clip Planes to Fog
Near/Far and adjust the Fog Near
Distance and Fog Far Distance
attributes.
Vertical range
To make environment fog fill a specific
vertical region, turn on Use Height and
adjust the Min Height and Max Height
attributes. To make the edges of the
region gradually blend, adjust the Blend
Range attribute.
Layers
To create variations in the density and
color of environment fog across the
camera’s view, turn on Use Layer and
assign a texture to the Layer attribute.
(You may need to limit the Depth Range,
and increase Volume Samples for the
environment fog shape, in order to see
the effect.)
Texturing environment fog

You can only assign 3D textures (or 2D projection textures) to environment
fog attributes. When you assign a 3D texture to an environment fog
attribute, scale the 3D texture placement cube to the size of the camera’s
field of view either at the near clipping plane (if Distance Clip Planes is set
to Camera Near/Far) or at the Fog Near Distance (if Distance Clip Planes is
set to Fog Near/Far). See “Setting a camera’s range” on page 234.

255
Troubleshooting backgrounds
TROUBLESHOOTING BACKGROUNDS
You may notice the following problem in the background of a rendered
image.
Grainy or jagged background

image
Render your scene without a
background image, and then composite
the rendered image with the
background image (for example, using
Maya Composer or Maya Fusion).
or
Increase Shading Samples and Max
Shading Samples (to the lowest values
that produce acceptable results) for the
image plane.
TROUBLESHOOTING ENVIRONMENT FOG

You may notice the following problems in environment fog in a rendered
image.
Transparent surfaces look incorrect

Set Ambient Shade to 0 for the
environment fog light.

256
Troubleshooting environment fog
Jagged surface edges in

environment fog
Turn on Shading Samples Override for
the environment fog shape, and increase
Shading Samples and Max Shading
Samples (to the lowest value that
produces acceptable results).
or
Increase Edge Anti-aliasing in the
Render Globals window (to the lowest
setting that produces acceptable results).
Outlines around 2D motion blurred

surfaces
Remove any transparent objects, fog,
and/or glow, and set the background
color to black. Render the scene, and
then composite the elements you
removed with the rendered image (for
example, using Maya Composer or
Maya Fusion).
or
In the Render Globals window, set
Smooth Value to 0 and turn on Smooth
Color.
Grainy or flickering environment fog

Turn on Shading Samples Override for the environment fog shape, and
increase Shading Samples and Max Shading Samples (to the lowest value that
produces acceptable results).
or
Turn on Volume Samples Override for the environment fog shape, and
increase Volume Samples (to the lowest value that produces acceptable
results).

257
Troubleshooting environment fog

258
9 PREPARING TO RENDER
Before you can render a scene, you must select which camera to render from,
what properties rendered image files will have (for example, file names,
format), and where Maya saves rendered image files.
You may also want to set up your scene so that you can render various scene
elements separately and later composite the rendered elements together.
In this chapter:
Selecting a camera ... page 260
Setting rendered image properties ... page 261
Selecting objects to render ... page 277
Running MEL commands before and after rendering ... page 282
Making scenes render faster ... page 283

259
PREPARING TO RENDER | 9
Selecting a camera
SELECTING A CAMERA
When you first start Maya, or create a new scene, by default the scene
contains four cameras (and views): three orthographic cameras (side, top,
and front) and one perspective camera (persp). When you render a scene, by
default, Maya generates a two-dimensional image, or series of images, only
from the persp camera’s view of the scene. If you created an additional
camera, by default, Maya does not automatically generate a two-dimensional
image, or series of images, from that camera’s view of the scene. You must
select which camera will generate images during rendering.
For more information on cameras, see “Cameras and Views” on page 211.
To select a camera to render from:

In the Image File Output section of the Render Globals window (Window >
Render Globals), set the Camera attribute to the name of the camera you
want to render from.
Note
You can also render from several cameras simultaneously; however, there
is no performance advantage to doing this.
To select several cameras to render from, in the Output Settings section of
the Attribute Editor of the cameras you want to render from, turn on
Renderable (and in the Output Settings section of the Attribute Editor of
the cameras you do not want to render from, turn off Renderable).
You can also select a camera (or several cameras) to render from when you
render from a UNIX shell or DOS window, using Render and the -cam
option. See “Render” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.

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Setting rendered image properties
SETTING RENDERED IMAGE PROPERTIES

During rendering, Maya generates a two-dimensional image, or series of
images, from a specific view of a three-dimensional scene and saves it as an
image file. You can control the properties of rendered image files according
to your post-production and presentation requirements.
• “Setting the file format of rendered images” on page 261
• “Setting the file name and extension of rendered images” on page 265
• “Setting the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of rendered images” on page
266
• “Rendered images with color, mask, or depth channels” on page 268
• “Setting the location to save rendered images” on page 272
• “Setting rendered images as frames or fields” on page 273
Setting the file format of rendered images

Maya can save rendered image files in one of several standard image file
formats. By default, Maya saves rendered image files in the Maya Image File
Format (Maya IFF).
Note
Some image formats cannot include mask or depth channels; in these cases,
Maya may generate a separate mask or depth file (see “Rendered images
with color, mask, or depth channels” on page 268).
To set the file format of rendered images:

Render Globals), set the Image Format attribute.

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Alias PIX (als) Alias pix file format. Maya saves the image, mask, and
depth channels as separate files.
AVI (avi) Microsoft Audio Video Interleaved movie file format.

Maya can store a sequence of images in an AVI file. Maya
only renders out uncompressed AVI files as these are the
most general for reading into other applications. This file
format is available on IRIX as well as NT.
Cineon (cin) Cineon image file format. Maya does not create a mask
file or channel.
EPS (eps) Encapsulated PostScript file format. Maya saves the

image and depth channels as separate files. (Maya does
not create a mask file or channel.)
GIF (gif) Graphics Interchange Format. Maya saves the image and
depth channels as separate files. (Maya does not create a
mask file or channel.) GIF images may be up to 8 bits (256
colors) in depth and are always compressed.
JPEG (jpg) Joint Photographic Experts Group file format. Maya

saves the image and depth channels as separate files.
(Maya does not create a mask file or channel.) The JPEG
format is a standard for compressed still images, usually
coded to the CCIR 601 standard. JPEG uses DCT and
offers data compression of between 5 and 100 times.
Three levels of processing are defined: baseline,
extended, and lossless. Maya only supports JPEG
formats that contain RGB information; Maya does not
support JPEG formats that contain CMYK information.
Maya IFF (iff) Maya Image File Format with 8 bits per color channel.
Maya saves the image, mask, and depth channels in one
file. See “Maya Image File Formats” in the Maya File
Formats online documentation.

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Maya16 IFF Maya Image File Format with 16 bits per color channel.
(iff) Maya saves the image, mask, and depth channels in one
file. See “Maya Image File Formats” in the Maya File
Formats online documentation.
Movie A sequence of images, each image occurring at a unique

and determinable instant in time and stored in a single
file. See also Movie in the Maya Reference: Rendering
online book.
Quantel (yuv) Quantel image file format. Maya saves the image and
mask channels in one file. The Quantel format outputs to
YUV. Maya can only output Quantel format images at
NTSC, PAL, YUV, or HDTV resolutions; if you select a
different resolution, Maya will save rendered images in
Maya IFF.
Quicktime Apple QuickTime(tm) movie file format. Maya can store

a sequence of images in a QuickTime(tm) file. Maya only
renders out uncompressed QuickTime files as these are
the most general for reading into other applications. This
file format is only available on IRIX
RLA (rla) Wavefront image file format. Maya saves the image,
mask, and depth channels in one file.
SGI (sgi) Silicon Graphics Image file format with 8 bits per color
channel. Maya saves the image and mask channels in one
file, and the depth channel as a separate file.
SGI16 (sgi) Silicon Graphics Image file format with 16 bits per color
channel. Maya saves the image and mask channels in one
file, and the depth channel as a separate file.
SGI Movie SGI movie file format. Maya can store a sequence of
images in an SGI Movie file. Maya only renders out
uncompressed SGI Movie files as these are the most
general for reading into other applications. This file
format is only available on IRIX.

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SoftImage (pic) SoftImage image file format. Maya saves the image and
mask channels in one file, and the depth channel as a
separate file.
Targa (tga) Targa image file format. Maya saves the image and mask
channels in one file, and the depth channel as a separate
file.
Tiff (tif) Tagged-Image File Format with 8 bits per color channel.
Maya saves the image and mask channels in one file, and
the depth channel as a separate file.
Maya generates TIFF files that use TIFF 6.0 compression.
To generate uncompressed TIFF files, set the
IMF_TIFF_COMPRESSION environment variable before
starting Maya. Use uncompressed TIFF files when you
intend to read the images into an application that
requires uncompressed images (for example, ZaP!It) or
that supports the TIFF 4.0 standard.
Tiff16 (tif) Tagged-Image File Format with 16 bits per color channel.
Maya saves the image and mask channels in one file, and
the depth channel as a separate file.
Maya generates TIFF files that use TIFF 6.0 compression.
To generate uncompressed TIFF files, set the
IMF_TIFF_COMPRESSION environment variable before
starting Maya. Use uncompressed TIFF files when you
intend to read the images into an application that
requires uncompressed images (for example, ZaP!It) or
that supports the TIFF 4.0 standard.
Windows Windows bitmap image file format. Maya saves the

Bitmap (bmp) image and depth channels as separate files. (Maya does
not create a mask file or channel.)

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Setting the file name and extension of rendered images

The name of rendered image files can consist of three separate components:
file name, frame number extension, and file format extension. (A
combination of these three components is referred to as the file name syntax.)
name.001.iff
file format extension
frame number extension
file name
The file name is the base name for all image files in an animation. The frame
number extension represents the frame of the animation that the image was
rendered at. The file format extension represents the file format of rendered
images (see “Setting the file format of rendered images” on page 261).
You can control how Maya names rendered image files in the Render
Globals window. Whenever you change the file name, format of the frame
number extension, or the file format extension, Maya updates the preview
file name at the top of the Render Globals window.
To set the file name of rendered images:

Render Globals), set File Name Prefix to the base name you want rendered
files to have (for example, rocket).
Note
You can also set the file name of rendered files when you render from a
UNIX shell or DOS window, using Render and the -im or -p option. See
“Render” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.
To set the format (syntax) of the frame number extension and file
format extension of rendered images:
Render Globals), set Frame/Animation Ext to the combination and order of
base name (name), file format extension (ext), and frame number extension
(#) you want rendered files to have.

265
Important
If you select an option that does not contain #, Maya will render a single
frame. If you select an option that contains #, Maya will render an
animation.
• Set Start Frame to the first frame that you want to render and End Frame to
the last frame that you want to render.
• Set By Frame to the increment between frames that you want to render.
• Set Frame Padding to the number of digits you want in frame number
extensions.
The file format extension is the standard file format extension for the current
Image Format setting.
To use a custom file format extension, in the Modify Extension section of the
Render Globals window, turn on Use Custom Extension and type the
extension you want to use in the field below Use Custom Extension.
Setting the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of rendered images

A rendered image file consists of numerous rectangular pixels (picture
elements). The size of a rendered image is measured by the number of pixels
it contains horizontally and vertically, and by the aspect ratio of individual
pixels (whether pixels are square or rectangular).
Important
You should set the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of rendered images
when you are setting up the camera you want to render from, because
these settings affect the region of your scene that will render (see “Setting
up a camera” on page 224).
To set the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of rendered images:

In the Resolution section of the Render Globals window (Window > Render
Globals), select a preset Render Resolution (for example, 640 x 480).

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Maya automatically sets the following attributes. If you do not see an

appropriate preset Render Resolution, you must set these attributes
manually.
Width, Height The width and height of the image you want to
render, measured in pixels. The ratio of the width
and height is the image aspect ratio. When you set
the Width, Maya automatically updates the Height
(and vice versa) if Maintain Width/Height Ratio is
on. When you set the Width or Height, Maya
automatically updates the Device Aspect Ratio (if
Lock Device Aspect Ratio is off) or the Pixel Aspect
Ratio (if Lock Device Aspect Ratio is on).
Device Aspect Ratio The aspect ratio of the display device you will be
viewing the rendered image on. The device aspect
ratio represents the image aspect ratio (see above)
multiplied by the pixel aspect ratio (see below).
Device Aspect Ratio and Pixel Aspect Ratio are
related; when you set the Device Aspect Ratio,
Maya automatically updates the Pixel Aspect
Ratio.
Pixel Aspect Ratio The aspect ratio of the individual pixels of the
display device you will be viewing the rendered
image on. Most display devices (for example, a
computer monitor) have square pixels, and their
Pixel Aspect Ratio is 1. Some devices, however,
have non-square pixels (for example, digital video
has a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 0.9). Pixel Aspect Ratio
and Device Aspect Ratio are related; when you set
the Pixel Aspect Ratio, Maya automatically
updates the Device Aspect Ratio.

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Tip
Turn on the Resolution Gate view guide by selecting View > Camera
Settings > Resolution Gate (or in the Display Options section of the
camera’s Attribute Editor). The Resolution Gate view guide represents the
region of your scene that the camera will actually render. To change the
amount of space visible outside the view guide, in the Film Back section of
the camera’s Attribute Editor, adjust the Overscan attribute (for example,
set it to 1.2). See “Camera view guides” on page 218.
Rendered images with color, mask, or depth channels

Each pixel in a (color) rendered image consists of three values or channels.
Each of the three channels represent the amount of red, green, or blue in the
image. Some image files can also contain a fourth or fifth channel of
information.
• A mask channel (or alpha channel) represents the presence and opaqueness
of objects.
• A depth channel (or Z depth or Z buffer channel) represents the distance of
objects from the camera.
These two channels are used by compositing software (for example, Maya
Composer or Maya Fusion). For example, you can use the mask channel of
an image as a matte to composite an object (without its background) with
another image, or you can use the depth channel to correctly composite
several transparent objects over each other.
During rendering, Maya can generate an image file that contains either color
channels (all three), a mask channel, a depth channel or any combination of
the three. (Some image formats cannot include mask or depth channels; in
these cases, Maya generates a separate mask or depth file.)
By default, Maya generates an image file with three color channels and a
mask channel. You can, however, control the types of channels Maya
includes in rendered image files. If you do not plan on compositing rendered
images, then you do not need to generate mask or depth channels during
rendering. (The file size of an image with a mask or depth channel is larger
than for an image without a mask or depth channel.)

268
For information on viewing color, mask, and depth channels, see “Analyzing
rendered images” on page 301.
Color channels
A color image consists of three channels
representing the amount of red, green,
and blue in the image. See “Color
channels” on page 270.
Mask channel
The mask channel represents the
presence and opaqueness of objects.
Areas that do not contain objects are
black, areas that contain solid objects are
white, and areas that contain partially
transparent objects are a shade of gray.
See “Mask channel” on page 270.
Depth channel
The depth channel represents the
distance of objects from the camera.
Objects that are close to the camera are a
lighter shade of gray than objects that
are far from the camera. See “Depth
channel” on page 271.

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Color channels
You set whether rendered images contain color channels from the Render
Globals window.
To make rendered images contain color channels:

Render Globals), make sure the Camera attribute is set to the name of the
camera you want to render from, and then to the right of the Channels
attribute, turn on RGB Channel (Color).
Mask channel
You set whether rendered images contain a mask channel from the Render
Globals window. You can also directly control the mask value for individual
objects (for example, scale the mask value or set it to a constant value), or
indirectly control the mask value for individual objects by selecting objects
to render (see “Selecting individual objects or shadows to render” on page
279).
Note
If you plan on compositing rendered images (for example, using Maya
Composer or Maya Fusion), make sure the scene’s background is black (see
“Creating a color background” on page 244).
To make rendered images contain a mask channel:

attribute, turn on Alpha Channel (Mask).
To scale the mask value for an object:

In the Matte Opacity section of the object’s material’s Attribute Editor, set
Matte Opacity Mode to Opacity Gain and adjust the Matte Opacity value.

270
During rendering, Maya will first generate the mask channel, and then
multiply the mask values for the object by the Matte Opacity value. For
example, if Matte Opacity is 1, the mask values for the object will be
unchanged; if Matte Opacity is 0.5, the mask values for the object will be half
of their original values.
To set the mask value for an object to a constant value:

Matte Opacity Mode to Solid Matte and adjust the Matte Opacity value.
During rendering, Maya will first generate the mask channel, and then set
the mask values for the object to the Matte Opacity value. For example, if
Matte Opacity is 1, the mask values for the object will be 1; if Matte Opacity
is 0.5, the mask values for the object will be 0.5.
If the object is transparent, any objects behind it will appear in the mask
channel.
To set the mask value for an object to zero:

Matte Opacity Mode to Black Hole.
During rendering, Maya will first generate the mask channel, and then set
the mask values for the object to 0.
If the object is transparent, any objects behind it will not appear in the mask
channel.
Depth channel
You set whether rendered images contain a depth channel from the Render
Globals window.
To make rendered images contain a depth channel:

attribute, toggle on Depth Channel (Z Depth).

271
To create a Depth file:

In the renderable camera’s Attribute Editor in which you want to create a
depth file, select a Depth Type from the Output Settings section.
Setting the location to save rendered images

By default, Maya saves rendered images to the images directory of your
current project. You can, however, change this location to any directory.
Note
If you are rendering images with a mask or depth channel, and the file
format of rendered images does not support mask or depth channels, Maya
may save the mask channel as a separate file in the mask directory of your
current project, and the depth channel as a separate file in the depth
directory of your current project. See “Setting the file format of rendered
images” on page 261 and “Rendered images with color, mask, or depth
channels” on page 268.
To set the location where rendered images are saved:

1 From the main Maya window, select File > Project > Edit Current.
2 In the Render File Locations section of the Edit Project window, change the
directory for Images and click Accept.
Note
You can also set the location where rendered files are saved when you
render from a UNIX shell or DOS window, using Render and the -rd
option. See “Render” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.

272
Setting rendered images as frames or fields

Both motion picture film and video simulate motion by displaying a
continuous sequence of images or frames. There are, however, important
differences in the way film and video systems display individual frames
which may affect how you render images.
Film frames
Motion picture film projectors display an entire frame in one brief instant, by
shining light through the film. Most motion picture film systems display 24
or 25 frames per second.
If your post-production process and final presentation format do not involve
interlaced video systems (see Video fields next), you should render images
as frames. When you render images as frames, Maya will generate one
image file for each frame of an animation. By default, Maya renders images
as frames.
Video fields
Most video systems display an individual frame in two stages, first by
illuminating half of the phosphors on a television’s screen (every odd row
beginning with the first row), and then illuminating the remaining half of
the phosphors (every even row beginning with the second row). These two
“half-frames” are referred to as fields and the process of combining two fields
together is referred to as interlacing. NTSC and PAL video systems both use
interlaced fields. NTSC video systems display 30 frames per second, or 60
fields per second; PAL video systems display 25 frames per second, or 50
fields per second.
Because video systems display an individual frame in two stages, if you
render images as frames (that is, in one stage) and then display them on a
video system, the motion of fast moving objects may appear jerky or choppy.
If your post-production process or final presentation format involve
interlaced video systems, you should render images as fields. (If your
animation does not contain fast moving objects, you could try rendering
images as frames.) When you render images as fields, Maya will generate
two image files for each frame of an animation, one for each field. (Maya
renders a frame at time “x” by rendering one field at time “x” and one field
at time “x+0.5”.)

273
To properly view a frame or an animation rendered as fields, you must

interlace the two fields together.
Important
The settings you use for rendering images as fields may depend on the
settings of hardware or software you will be using the images with, and how
they interlace fields together (for example, the interlace utility, compositing
software, or frame buffer device). Before you render an animation as fields,
perform a test render and use the test rendered images through your entire
post-production process (see “Test rendering” on page 286).
Even though Maya automatically sets these options automatically depending
on whether the Resolution is NTSC or PAL, if you encounter problems in the
animation where objects vibrate up and down, change the Zeroth Scanline
setting and test render the animation again. If this does not solve the
problem, or if objects in the animation vibrate left to right, try different
combinations of Field Dominance and Zeroth Scanline, and test render the
animation until the problem is solved.
Note
If you will be using Composer to composite images rendered as fields, you
must either interlace the fields together before importing them into
Composer, or render the images in Alias PIX or RLA format. You can only
import fields into Composer if they are in Alias PIX or RLA format. (In
addition, RLA format fields must be named name.1, name.2, name.3,
name.4, and so on, not name.1o, name.1e, name.2o, name.2e, and so on.)
See “Setting the file format of rendered images” on page 261.

274
To make images render as fields:

1 In the Field Options section of the Render Globals window (Window >
Render Globals), set the following attributes:
Render Controls whether Maya renders images as:
Frames—Render regular frames.
Both Fields, Interlaced—Render both odd and even

fields (for video) and automatically interlace the
results into a full frame.
Both Fields, Separate—Same as above, except no

interlacing occurs. The result is a sequence of odd and
even field images.
Odd Field—Render odd fields only.
Even Field—Render even fields only.
Field Dominance Controls whether Maya renders odd fields at time “x”
and even fields at time “x+0.5” (Odd Fields First), or
even fields at time “x” and odd fields at time “x+0.5”
(Even Fields First). To render fields for NTSC
systems, set Field Dominance to Odd Fields First. To
render fields for PAL systems, set Field Dominance to
Even Fields first.
Zeroth Scanline Controls whether the first line of the first field Maya
renders is at the top of the image or at the bottom of
the image. Set Zeroth Scanline to At Top (unless you
encounter problems with a test rendered animation).

275
2 By default, Maya saves the two field image files by adding an “e” (for even
fields) and an “o” (for odd fields) onto your frame number extension or file
name (see “Setting the file name and extension of rendered images” on page
265). For example, name.001e.iff and name.001o.iff.
If automatic interlacing is done, the .e and .o files do not exist and the steps
to manually interlace are not necessary.
To use a custom extension for each field image file, select Custom Extension
and enter the extension you want to use for Odd Field and Even Field.
To interlace two fields together on UNIX:

In a UNIX shell, type:
interlace <options> <filename>
using the following options:
-a <# # #> The first frame, last frame, and increment between frames
that you want to interlace.
-d Specifies that the even field is the first field. If you do not
use the -d option, the odd field will be the first field. This
setting should be the same as the Field Dominance setting
you used in the Render Globals window.
The interlace utility combines each pair of “o” and “e” files into a single
image file.
For a complete list of interlace options, in a UNIX shell type:
interlace -h
For more information on interlace, see “interlace” in the Maya Rendering
Utilities online documentation.
To interlace two fields together on a Windows NT computer:

See “FieldAssembler” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation
or select Help > Help from within the FieldAssembler window.

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Selecting objects to render
SELECTING OBJECTS TO RENDER

When you render a scene, by default, all objects in the scene that are visible
in the camera’s view will also be visible in the rendered image. It is often
more efficient, however, to render elements of a scene separately, and then
combine or composite them together using compositing software (for
example, Maya Composer or Maya Fusion).
Rendering elements of a scene separately can take less time than rendering
the entire scene at once. It also lets you make changes to individual elements
very quickly because you don’t have to re-render the entire scene again.
There are several ways you may want to divide a scene into elements to
render separately. For example, you may want to:
• render each object separately
• render static objects (once for the entire animation) and moving objects
separately
• render foreground objects and background objects separately
• render groups of interacting objects separately
• render objects and shadows separately
• render surfaces and volumetric effects (environment fog, light fog, particle
effects, and volume shaders) separately
Note
If you are raytracing a scene, it may be difficult to render elements of a
scene separately because objects need to reflect and refract other objects.
For example, the following scene was rendered as two separate elements
(foreground character and background character), and then composited with
a background image.

277
Foreground Character Background Image Background Character
Composited Image
In general, you should plan to separate a scene into elements early in your
production process (for example, after storyboarding).
There are several methods you can use to control which objects will render.
• “Selecting layers to render” on page 279
• “Selecting individual objects or shadows to render” on page 279
• “Selecting a range of objects and shadows to render” on page 281
For an example of rendering elements of a scene separately, and then
compositing the rendered images together, see “Example: Rendering two
layers and compositing them” on page 281.
Note
If you plan on compositing rendered images (for example, using Maya
Composer or Maya Fusion), make sure the scene’s background is black (see
“Creating a color background” on page 244).

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Selecting layers to render

A layer is a way of grouping several objects together to make them easier to
control as a group. If someone else created the scene you are rendering, it
may already be divided into layers. You can easily render an individual
layer by making only that layer visible.
Note
You can also render an individual layer when you render from a UNIX
shell or DOS window, using Render and the -l option. See “Render” in the
Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.
To display the Layer Bar:

Select Options > Layer Bar.
To create a layer:
1 Select the objects you want to place in the new layer.
2 On the Layer Bar, click the New Layer button.
To make a layer visible or not visible:

On the Layer Bar, click the triangle icon to the left of the layer’s name, and
turn on or off the Visible option from the menu.
For more information on layers, see Using Maya: Essentials.
Selecting individual objects or shadows to render

You can select which objects and/or which shadows will render
independently. For example, you can render an object so that it will not cast
shadows but will receive shadows cast by other objects.
For objects you want to render:

• In the Render Stats section of the object’s Attribute Editor (or on the Render
tab of the Attribute Spread Sheet), make sure that Primary Visibility is on.
• In the Object Display section of the object’s Attribute Editor (or on the
Geometry tab of the Attribute Spread Sheet), make sure Visibility is on.

279
• If you want the object’s shadow to render (that is, the shadow that the object
casts onto other objects), in the Render Stats section of the object’s Attribute
Editor (or on the Render tab of the Attribute Spread Sheet), make sure that
Casts Shadows is on.
• If you do not want the object’s shadow to render (that is, the shadow that the
object casts onto other objects), in the Render Stats section of the object’s
Attribute Editor (or on the Render tab of the Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off
Casts Shadows (see “Removing shadows” on page 89).
For objects you do not want to render:

• For objects that you want to receive shadows, assign a Use Background
material to them (see “Creating materials” on page 152).
• For objects that you want to cast shadows, but not receive shadows, in the
Render Stats section of the object’s Attribute Editor (or on the Render tab of
the Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Primary Visibility.
• For objects that you do not want to cast shadows or receive shadows, in the
Object Display section of the object’s Attribute Editor (or on the Geometry
tab of the Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Visibility.
Notes
• If you render shadows separately, use the mask channel of the
rendered shadow image in your compositing software to reduce
the brightness of another image (see “Mask channel” on page 270).
For example, in Maya Composer, you would use the mask channel
as part of a Brightness event (see the Maya Composer Lite online
documentation).
• When you are rendering from the Render View window, you can
render active objects only by setting Renderable Objects to Render
Active in the Render Globals window (Window > Render Globals).

280
Selecting a range of objects and shadows to render

If you want to render only objects and shadows within a specific range from
the camera (for example, foreground objects), you can use the camera’s
clipping planes to control which objects and shadows will render (see
“Setting a camera’s range” on page 234).
Example: Rendering two layers and compositing them

This example shows how you can render two elements of a scene separately,
and then composite the two rendered images together. The scene consists of
yellow pipes and blue rings, which are rendered separately in Maya and
then composited using Maya Composer.
1 Render the blue rings by themselves (see “Selecting objects to render” on

page 277).
2 Render the yellow pipes by themselves, using a black hole matte opacity on
the rings (see “Mask channel” on page 270). This causes the yellow pipes to
render only where they would not be obscured by the blue rings.
3 Import the two images into Maya Composer. To view the images’ mask
channels, click the Display Mask button.
Image
Mask
4 Layer the yellow pipes over the blue rings. Select the yellow pipes, then the
blue rings, and then select Event > Layer > Over.

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Running MEL commands before and after rendering
5 You can refine the look of each element independently within Maya
Composer, instead of having to re-render the entire scene in Maya.
RUNNING MEL COMMANDS BEFORE AND AFTER RENDERING

In some situations, you may want Maya to run a specific MEL command or
script before rendering and another MEL command or script after rendering.
For example, if your scene contains a very large, complex surface, which you
do not want to work on, you could run a MEL command before rendering to
display the surface (so it renders), and run another MEL command after
rendering to hide the surface.
Important
When you are rendering a scene from within Maya, make sure you do not
specify a MEL command or script that includes delete operations or you
may accidently delete objects in your scene.

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Making scenes render faster
To run a MEL command or script before or after rendering:

In the Render Options section of the Render Globals window (Window >
Render Globals), enter a MEL command or script to run before rendering in
the Pre Render MEL attribute field and a MEL command or script to run
after rendering in the Post Render MEL attribute field.
MAKING SCENES RENDER FASTER

you can do to make scenes render faster.
To make a scene render faster:

• See “Making shadows render faster” on page 90.
• See “Making surfaces render faster” on page 186.
• See “Making camera views render faster” on page 239.
• Before rendering, close all applications (including Maya, if you are rendering
from a UNIX shell or DOS window) to maximize the amount of memory
available for rendering.
• If your scene contains objects with construction history, and you no longer
need the construction history, delete it (see Using Maya: Essentials).
• Diagnose your scene for a list of ways you can make your specific scene
render faster (see “Finding potential problems in a scene” on page 286).
• Remove unused or invalid elements from your scene by selecting File >
Optimize Scene Size from the main Maya window.
• Render elements of a scene separately and composite the rendered images
using compositing software (see “Selecting objects to render” on page 277).
• To give yourself plenty of room for temporary rendered files, set the
TMPDIR variable as the location for temporary render cache files.
- TMPDIR for IRIX
- TEMP for NT

283
Making scenes render faster

284
10 RENDERING A SCENE
Rendering is the process that generates a two-dimensional image, or series of

images, from a specific view of a three-dimensional scene.
In this chapter:
Finding potential problems in a scene ... page 286
Test rendering ... page 286
Rendering a frame ... page 288
Rendering an animation ... page 289
Rendering an animation on several computers ... page 290
Rendering on a computer with several processors ... page 292

285
RENDERING A SCENE | 10
Finding potential problems in a scene
FINDING POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN A SCENE

Before you render a scene, you should diagnose it for common problems
which can affect image quality and rendering times.
To find potential problems in a scene:

• From the main Maya window, select Render > Render Diagnostics.
• From the Render View window, select File > Render Diagnostics.
Maya opens the Script Editor and displays a list of potential problems in
your scene.
Test rendering
Before you render an image or an animation, you should test render your
scene. Test rendering gives you a chance to detect and correct image quality
problems, and estimate and reduce the amount of time the final render will
take, before you spend a lot of time doing the final render. See also
“Previewing a scene and its elements” on page 2.
Test rendering a single frame

If your final render will be of a single frame, then you may want to test
render that frame at a resolution that is lower than your final resolution.
To test render a single frame:

1 From the Render View window (Window > Rendering Editors > Render
View), select a resolution from the Options > Test Resolution sub-menu.
2 From the Render View window, select the camera view you want to render
from the Render > Render sub-menu.
Maya renders the scene and displays the image as it renders in the Render
View window.
• To cancel the rendering, press Esc.
• To re-render the frame, select Render > Redo Previous Render, or click the
Redo Previous Render button.

286
Finding potential problems in a scene
Test rendering an animation

If your final render is an animation, you may want to test render the entire
animation at a resolution lower than your final resolution, or test render
every few frames of the animation (either at your final resolution or at a
resolution lower than your final resolution). You may also want to test
render a few specific frames from the animation at your final resolution (see
“Test rendering a single frame” above).
To test render an animation:

From a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
Render <options> <scene>
using the following options:
-s <start_frame> The first frame of the animation that you want

to render.
-e <end_frame> The last frame of the animation that you want

to render.
-b <by_frame> The increment between frames that you want

to render.
-x <image_x_resolution> The horizontal resolution of the rendered

images.
-y <image_y_resolution> The vertical resolution of the rendered images.
For example, if your animation begins at frame 1 and ends at frame 100, and
your final image resolution will be 640 x 480, and you want to test render the
animation by rendering every ten frames, type:
Render -s 1 -e 100 -b 10
If you want to test render the animation by rendering every frame at half
your final resolution, type:
Render -s 1 -e 100 -b 1 -x 320 -y 240

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Rendering a frame
For a complete list of Render options, in a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
Render -help
For more information on Render, see “Render” in the Maya Rendering
RENDERING A FRAME
You can render a single frame either from within Maya or from a UNIX shell
or DOS window. Before rendering, close all applications (including Maya, if
you are rendering from a UNIX shell or DOS window) to maximize the
amount of memory available for rendering. For more information on
Render, see “Render” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.
To render a frame from within Maya:

• From the main Maya window, select Render > Render into New Window.
• From the Render View window (Window > Rendering Editors > Render
View), select the camera view you want to render from the Render > Render
sub-menu.
View window.
To re-render a frame from within Maya:

• From the main Maya window, select Render > Redo Previous Render.
• From the Render View window, select Render > Redo Previous Render.
• From the Render View window, click the Redo Previous Render button.
View window. To cancel the rendering, press Esc.
To render a frame from a UNIX shell or DOS window:

For a list of Render options, in a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
Render -help

288
Rendering an animation
RENDERING AN ANIMATION
You can render an animation either from within Maya or from a UNIX shell
or DOS window. Before rendering, close all applications (including Maya, if
you are rendering from a UNIX shell or DOS window) to maximize the
amount of memory available for rendering.
To prepare to render an animation:

1 In the Image File Output section of the Render Globals window (Window >
Render Globals), select a Frame/Animation Ext option that includes #.
2 Set Start Frame to the first frame that you want to render and End Frame to
the last frame that you want to render.
3 Set By Frame to the increment between frames that you want to render.
4 Set Frame Padding to the number of digits you want in frame number
extensions.
See “Setting the file name and extension of rendered images” on page 265.
To render an animation from within Maya:

1 From the main Maya window, select Render > (Save) Batch Render.
The Save/Render window is displayed.
2 Enter a file name for the temporary scene file that Maya will save and use to
render and click Save/Render.Maya renders the animation.
To cancel the rendering, from the main Maya window, select
Render > Cancel Batch Render.
To render an animation from a UNIX shell or DOS window:

Render -help

289
Rendering an animation on several computers
RENDERING AN ANIMATION ON SEVERAL COMPUTERS

You can render one or several scenes across a network of UNIX computers.
For example, you can divide an animation into sequences and render each
sequence on a different computer. You can also control when and on which
computer to render. Rendering across a network of computers is often
referred to as distributed rendering.
Note
You cannot render across a network of Windows NT computers unless you
have the appropriate third-party software.
Rendering an animation on several UNIX computers

Before you render an animation on several UNIX computers, you must
install Dispatcher on all of the computers you want to render on. Dispatcher
is a stand-alone utility used for distributing rendering and post-production
jobs across a network of UNIX computers.
You may also need to create and configure a pool. A pool defines the group
of computers, or hosts, you can render on. (The default pool, WholeSystem,
uses all of the computers on your network.) You may also need to configure
host computers to indicate the days and times each is available for
rendering.
To install Dispatcher, to create and configure a pool, or to configure host
computers, check with your system administrator, or see “dispatcher” in the
Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation.
You can render an animation on several UNIX computers either from within
Maya (see next) or from a UNIX shell (see “dispatcher” in the Maya
Rendering Utilities online documentation).
To render an animation on several UNIX computers from within Maya:

1 From the main Maya window, select Render > (Save) Distributed Render.
The Save/Render window displays.

290
Rendering an animation on several computers
render and click Save/Render. The Dispatcher and Submit Job windows
display.
(If the Submit Job window is not displayed, in the Dispatcher window, select
Jobs > Submit.)
3 In the Submit Job window, set the following options:
Name The name of the rendering job.
Start The first frame that you want to render.
End The last frame that you want to render.
Step The increment between frames that you want to render.
Order The order to render frames, either incremental (first to

last), decremental (last to first), or binary descent (the
middle frame is rendered first, then the middle of each half,
and so on, until all frames are rendered).
Pool The group of computers you want to render on. To render

on all computers on your network, select WholeSystem.
Scheduling The order that your job will render relative to other jobs. A
Priority job with a high priority (for example, 100) will render
before a job with a low priority (for example, 0).
4 Click Submit.
The job is listed in the bottom section of the Dispatcher window. The
animation will render on all of the computers in the pool.
To submit additional jobs, in the Dispatcher window, select Jobs > Submit
and go to step 3 above.
For more information on Dispatcher and rendering an animation on several
UNIX computers, see “dispatcher” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online
documentation.

291
Rendering on a computer with several processors
Rendering an animation on several Windows NT computers

Before you render an animation on several Windows NT computers, you
must install NT Solution on all of the computers you want to render on. NT
Solution is a stand-alone utility used for distributing rendering and post-
production jobs across a network of Windows NT computers.
For more information on NT Solution and rendering an animation on several
DOS computers, see the NT Solution online documentation.
RENDERING ON A COMPUTER WITH SEVERAL PROCESSORS

You can render a scene on a computer that has more than one processor and
make use of some or all of its available processors.
To render on a computer with several processors from within Maya:

1 From the main Maya window, select Render > (Save) Batch Render ❐. The
Batch Render window displays.
2 To use all available processors on your computer for rendering, turn on Use
all available processors. To use only some of the available processors on
your computer for rendering, turn off Use all available processors and set
Number of Processors to Use to the number of processors you want to use.
3 Click Batch Render. The Save/Render window displays.
render and click Save/Render. Maya renders the animation.
To render on a computer with several processors from a UNIX shell or

DOS window:
Render -n <number of processors to render on> <scene>
(If you do not set the -n option, only one processor will be used for
rendering.)
For example, to use one processor for rendering, type:
Render <scene>

292
To use two processors for rendering, type:

Render -n 2 <scene>
To use all processors on your computer for rendering, type:
Render -n 0 <scene>
Render -help
Tips
• Using more than one processor for rendering requires more
memory than using a single processor. When using more than one
processor, you may want to use the -mm option to increase the
maximum amount of memory used during rendering.
• A “-rep” command line option avoids rendering onto a filename
that already exists.


293

294
11 VIEWING RENDERED
IMAGES
After rendering an image or an animation, you will want to view the result.
You may also want to view images as Maya renders them.
In this chapter:
Viewing an image as it renders ... page 296
Viewing a rendered image of a frame ... page 297
Viewing rendered images of an animation ... page 298
Analyzing rendered images ... page 301
Converting rendered image file formats ... page 303
Color correcting rendered images ... page 304
Troubleshooting rendered images ... page 308

295
VIEWING RENDERED IMAGES | 11
Viewing an image as it renders
VIEWING AN IMAGE AS IT RENDERS

When Maya renders an image, it divides it into tiles based on the complexity
of your scene. A tile is a rectangular sub-section of the camera’s view. If an
area of your scene is very complex, Maya divides that region of the camera’s
view into several tiles. If another area of your scene is very simple, Maya
divides that region of the camera’s view into only one or a few tiles. By
rendering tiles, Maya can make best use of your computer’s memory.
When you view an image as it renders, you will see individual tiles
gradually appear until the entire image is rendered.
If you rendered a frame from within Maya, then the rendered image appears
in the Render View window.
If you rendered a frame from a UNIX shell or DOS window, then you can
view the image as it renders from another UNIX shell or DOS window. You
can also view an image from an animation as it renders.
To view an image as it renders from a UNIX shell or DOS window:

fcheck <options> <image>
(or select Start > Programs > Maya 3.0 > Fcheck from the Windows NT
desktop).
The image appears in an fcheck display window. To close the fcheck display
window, move the cursor over the window and press Esc.
For a list of fcheck options, in a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
fcheck -h
For more information on fcheck, see “fcheck” in the Maya Rendering Utilities

296
Viewing a rendered image of a frame
VIEWING A RENDERED IMAGE OF A FRAME

After Maya finishes rendering an image, you can view it either from within
Maya or from a UNIX shell or DOS window. If you rendered a frame from
within Maya, the rendered image automatically appears in the Render View
window.
Note
To properly view a frame or an animation rendered as fields, you must
interlace the two fields together. See “Setting rendered images as frames or
fields” on page 273.
To view a rendered image of a frame from within Maya (Visor):

In Visor, double-click the image’s icon.
The image displays in an fcheck display window. To close the fcheck display
To view a rendered image of a frame from within Maya (Render View):

1 In the Render View window, select File > Open Image. The file browser
displays.
2 Select the image file you want to view, and click Load Image. The image is
displayed in the Render View window.
To... Do this...
Make the image fill the Render View Select View > Frame Image.
window.
Display the image at its actual size. Select View > Real Size.
Move the image in the Render View Alt-drag the image.

window.

297
Viewing rendered images of an animation
To... Do this...
Zoom into or out of the image. Alt-drag the image with the left
and middle mouse buttons, either
left (zoom out) or right (zoom in).
To view a rendered image of a frame from a UNIX shell or DOS

window:
fcheck <options> <image>
desktop).
The image appears in an fcheck display window. To close the fcheck display
fcheck -h
VIEWING RENDERED IMAGES OF AN ANIMATION

After Maya finishes rendering an animation, you can view it from within
Maya (if you rendered the animation within Maya) or from a UNIX shell or
DOS window.
Note
In order to properly view a frame or an animation rendered as fields, you
must interlace the two fields together. See “Setting rendered images as
frames or fields” on page 273.

298
To view rendered images of an animation from within Maya:

Select Render > Show Batch Render. Each image of the animation loads into
an fcheck display window, and automatically plays back repeatedly. To
close the fcheck display window, move the cursor over the window and
press Esc.
To view rendered images of an animation from a UNIX shell or DOS

window:
fcheck <options> <image>.
For example, type:
fcheck rocket.
desktop).
Each image of the animation loads into an fcheck display window, and
automatically plays back repeatedly. To close the fcheck display window,
move the cursor over the window and press Esc.
fcheck -h
Playing a fcheck animation

Use Fcheck to display a sequence of images based on the start and end
images. Fcheck assumes that you have an animation of images. You can
control settings such as the animation speed from the keyboard. In a shell,
enter a command similar to the following:
fcheck -n start end step mysequence
start is the starting image in the animation.

end is the ending image in the animation.
step is the number to increment for advancing frames. This is
typically 1.

299
Important note
To use Fcheck to view a sequence of rendered frames whose file name is of
the form name.#.ext (in the Extension menu in Render Globals), you must
replace # with @ in the Fcheck command. Here’s an example:
If your file sequence includes file names blue.1.iff to blue.10.iff, you

must use the following Fcheck command to view the sequence with a
value of 1 step:
fcheck -n 1 10 1 blue.@.iff
Key Description
, Press the Less than key to play the animation backwards.

The animation loops continuously.
. Press the Greater than key to play the animation forwards.

The animation loops continuously.
Space Temporarily stops a looping animation. The current image

will be displayed. Press the spacebar again to resume the
animation where you left off.
Shift+< Lets you make any frame in an animation be the starting

frame.
Shift+> Lets you make any frame in an animation be the ending

frame.
Alt+, Plays an animation backwards once.
Alt+. Plays an animation forward once.
- Slows down the animation.
+ Speeds up the animation.

300
Analyzing rendered images
Key Description
right arrow Goes to the next frame in the animation after the animation
was stopped using the spacebar.
Ctrl+right Goes to the last frame in the animation.

arrow
left arrow Goes to the previous frame in the animation.
Ctrl+left Goes to the first frame in the animation.

arrow
s Swings through your animation, playing it as a round trip.

Once Fcheck reaches the end of the animation, Fcheck then
moves backwards to the beginning of the animation to
replay it. This is a toggle key.
t Plays the animation in real time, skipping images if

necessary. This is a toggle key.
ANALYZING RENDERED IMAGES

When you view a rendered image, or rendered images of an animation, you
may want to examine individual channels (for example, the red, green, or
blue color channel, the mask channel, the depth channel). Viewing
individual channels can make it easier to notice, and correct, image quality
problems.

301
Analyzing rendered images
Color image
To display the full color image in the
Render View window, select Display >
All Planes or click the Display RGB
Planes button.
To display the full color image in an
fcheck display window, press c.
See “Color channels” on page 270.
Red, green, or blue channel

To display either the red, green, or blue
channel in the Render View window,
select Display > Red Plane (or Green
Plane or Blue Plane).
To display either the red, green, or blue
channel in an fcheck display window,
press r (or g or b).
See “Color channels” on page 270.
Luminance (grayscale)
To display the luminance as a grayscale
image in the Render View window,
select Display > Luminance.
To display the luminance as a gray scale
image in an fcheck display window,
press l (lower case L).
Luminance (embossed)
To display the luminance as an
embossed or bumpy image in an fcheck
display window, press n (normal bump)
or i (inverted bump). To increase the
amount of bump, press the up arrow
key. To decrease the amount of bump,
press the down arrow key.

302
Converting rendered image file formats
Negative image
To display the negative image in an
fcheck display window, press c and then
press x. To display the normal color
image again, press x.
Mask (alpha) channel

To display the mask (alpha) channel in
the Render View window, select
Display > Mask Plane or click the
Display Mask button.
To display the mask (alpha) channel in
an fcheck display window, press m or a.
See “Mask channel” on page 270.
Depth channel
To display the depth channel in an
fcheck display window, press z.
See “Depth channel” on page 271.
CONVERTING RENDERED IMAGE FILE FORMATS

When you render an image or an animation, the rendered image file(s) are
saved in one of several types of file formats (see “Setting the file format of
rendered images” on page 261). After rendering is complete, you may want
to convert the rendered image(s) into another image file format.
To convert a rendered image from one image file format to another:

In an UNIX shell or DOS window, type:

303
Color correcting rendered images
imgcvt <options> <input_image> <output_image>

For a list of imgcvt options, in a UNIX shell or DOS window, type:
imgcvt -h
For more information on imgcvt, see “imgcvt” in the Maya Rendering Utilities
COLOR CORRECTING RENDERED IMAGES

When you view an image using fcheck, you can alter the luminance, gamma,
saturation, and offset of the image.
Changing luminance, gamma, saturation or offset

Use the following keys to change the luminance, gamma, saturation or offset
in images as well as change channels and manipulate colors.
Key Action
+ Increases the luminance by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Plus increases the luminance by
10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Plus increases the luminance by
50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Plus resets the image to the state it
was in before you changed the luminance. The image is
restored to the original luminance value.

304
Key Action
- Decreases the luminance by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Minus decreases the luminance
by 10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Minus decreases the luminance by
50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Minus resets the image to the state
it was in before you changed the luminance. The image is
restored to the original luminance value.
] Increases the gamma by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Bracketright increases the gamma
by 10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Bracketright increases the gamma
by 50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Bracketright resets the gamma
value to what it was before you changed the gamma. The
image is restored to the original gamma value.
[ Decreases the gamma by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Bracketleft decreases the gamma
by 10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Bracketleft decreases the gamma
by 50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Bracketleft resets the gamma
value to what it was before you changed the gamma. The
image is restored to the original gamma value.

305
Key Action
/ Increases the offset by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Slash increases the offset by 10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Slash increases the offset by 50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Slash resets the offset to what it
was before you changed it. The image is restored to its former
state.
Slash can also be used for decreasing the percentage of color
added to the bump image. (First press N to display the bump).
This creates an offset of 1%.
\ Decreases the offset by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Backslash decreases the offset by
10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Backslash decreases the offset by
50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Backslash resets the offset to what
it was before you changed it. The image is restored to its former
state.
; Increases the saturation by 1%.

Holding Shift while pressing Semicolon increases the
saturation by 10%.
Holding Alt while pressing Semicolon increases the saturation
by 50%.
Holding Ctrl while pressing Semicolon resets the saturation
value to what it was before you changed it. The image is
restored to the original saturation value.
x Displays the negative.
Shift+X With the mask displayed, press Shift and X to reverse the mask,
that is, black areas are shown in white and white areas are
shown in black.

306
Key Action
d Resets the image to the state it was in before you made changes
to the luminance, gamma and saturation. This undoes at once
all the changes made to all these items.
p Displays the current luminance, gamma and saturation values

in the shell where you enter Fcheck.
F1 Displays the red channel.
F2 Displays the green channel.
F3 Displays the blue channel.
F4 Displays all channels.
Shift+F1 Displays the cyan channel.
Shift+F2 Displays the magenta channel.
Shift+F3 Displays the yellow channel.

307
Troubleshooting rendered images
TROUBLESHOOTING RENDERED IMAGES

When you view a rendered image or animation, you may notice image
quality problems. For example, a surface may have jagged edges, or a
texture may flicker during an animation.
To solve an image quality problem, you must first identify the part of the
image that contains the problem (that is, surfaces, shadows, backgrounds, or
environment fog). Then you can look through the images and descriptions in
the sections listed in the following table (or on the Troubleshooting
Rendered Images reference card) to find the specific problem and the
appropriate solution.
The Troubleshooting Rendered Images reference card summarizes the most
common image quality problems. For a complete list of possible image
quality problems, see the sections listed in the following table.
To troubleshoot a See...
problem with...
Surfaces “Troubleshooting surfaces” on page 187
Shadows “Troubleshooting shadows” on page 91
Backgrounds “Troubleshooting backgrounds” on page 256
Environment Fog “Troubleshooting environment fog” on page 256

308
INDEX
Numerics animation
and Fcheck 299
Auto-connect
Connection Editor 138
2D motion blur 148, 149 and using the keyboard 299 Autofly
ANIMATION
tuning with IPR 151 changing where the camera eye 215
3D backgrounds 248 animation starts 299 camera up vector 215
first frame 301 camera view 215
3D motion blur 147, 148, 149
last frame 301 AutoSave on Exit
performance 186
playing as a round trip 301 Paint Textures Tool 209
playing backwards 300
AutoSave on Stroke
playing forward 300
A playing in real time 301
Paint Textures Tool 209
AVI image format 262
Active attribute slowing down 300
azimuth
optical light effects 98 Area lights
Azimuth Elevation Tool 232
Add New Disk Folder creating 48
description 232
in Visor 25 description 50
Alias Pix format 262, 274 As Stencil 2D texture option 160
aliasing 122, 187 aspect ratio
device 225, 267
B
All Planes option
image 225, 267 Background Color attribute
Render View window 302
pixel 225, 266, 267 Environment attributes 244
alpha channel 159, 268, 269, 303
Assign Textures backgrounds 242
Alpha is Luminance
Paint Textures Tool 3D 248
Layered Texture button 209
attribute 170 animated 247
assigning materials to color 244
Ambient lights surfaces 161 creating 242
creating 48
associating lights 62–69 image 246
description 50
atmosphere 253 movie 247
Ambient Shade attribute 52 removing 252
creating 254
analyzing rendered images 301 properties 254 texture 244
Angle of View attribute 234 troubleshooting 256 troubleshooting 256
animating Attribute Editor Barn Doors
attributes 21 setting attributes in 19 adjusting for spot lights 78
backgrounds 247 Attribute Spread Sheet 20 attribute 53
cameras 215 manipulator 59
attributes
curves 23 Batch Render
animating 19
rendering 289 (Save) Batch Render 289
painting 202
viewing animation 298 and IPR 36
setting 19, 20
Auto Render Clip Plane Cancel 289
attribute 235 -rep command line
option 293
Auto Render Region 37
bitmap format 264

309
INDEX
blackhole, see Use Background By Frame attribute

material 249 Image File Output
Blend Modes attributes 266, 289
Layered Texture
attribute 170
Blend Range C
environment fog
attribute 255 Camera Aperture attribute 224
blue channel 302, 307 Camera attribute 260
Blue Plane option Camera option 214
Render View window 302 Camera Scale attribute 234
Blur By Frame attribute 149
Blur Length attribute 150
blur, motion
2D 149
3D 149
Bookmarks 238
Both Fields
Interlaced 275
Separate 275
Break Light Links 69
brightness
decay 54, 101, 105, 110
dropoff 55, 112
fog 109
glow 101
halo 104
lens flare 107
light 52
Brush Depth
bump mapping 123, 131, 131–
138
creating 131
fine detail on displacement
map 135
painting 199
performance 186

310
INDEX
cameras 211–239 zooming 233 color

animating 215 Cancel Batch Render 289 background 244
camera eye, what is 215 cancelling channel 269
camera up vector, batch render 289 color correcting images 304
description 215 IPR 35 decay, light 54
camera view, what is 215 render 288 dropoff, light 55
center of interest 227, 228 fog 109
Casts Shadows attribute
clipping planes 234 glow 101
Render Stats attributes 83,
creating 213 halo 104
86, 280
dollying 233 HSV 125
center of interest
elevation 232 incandescence 124
camera 227, 228
eye, Autofly 215 key 160
light 57
frustum 223 lens flare 106
manipulator 57, 222
icons 220 light 52
look at point 216 Channel Box 19
material 123
manipulators 221 channels motion blur 124
multi-node cameras 216 display all 307 RGB 125
one-node 215 Channels attribute 270 shadow 87, 88
one-node cameras 216 channels, image 268, 301 shininess 123
optimizing 239 Cineon format 45, 262 storing 126
orbit 232 clipping planes 234 Surface Shader 125
orthographic 213 manipulator 223 textures 125
panning 230 transparency 124
perspective 212 Color attribute
pitch 230 Common Material
range 234 Attributes 125
rolling 233 Environment Fog
selecting to render 260 Attributes 254
setting up 224 Light Attributes 52, 55
setting view 227 Light Fog Attributes 109
three node cameras 216 Color Based Transparency
three-node 215 attribute 112
tilting 230 Color Chooser 126
tracking 229
Color Curves 54, 111
tumbling 232
description 70
two node cameras 216
combining
two-node 215
two-sided materials 171
up vector, Autofly 215
view guides 218 components
view, Autofly 215 applying materials to 161
views 217 Composer, Maya 274
yaw pitch 230 Composite attribute 187

311
INDEX
compositing 277, 281

Compositing Flag
D displacement mapping 132
add details 135
attribute 166 Decay Rate attribute 54, 111 feature-based 133
for layered materials 166 Decay Regions manipulator 59 non-feature-based 135, 136
Concentric projection 155 performance 186
Default color
troubleshooting 189
Condition utility 172 triple shading switch
attribute 178 displacement shader 132
Cone Angle attribute 53, 87, 91,
110 deforming surfaces 157 displacement surface
Cone Radius manipulator 58 deleting add detail to 138
connecting node networks 16 Display Mode attribute 251
nodes 3, 16 nodes 12 Display Options attributes
connection lines 11 Density attribute cameras 220
construction history Light Fog Attributes 112 Display Render Tessellation
dependency graph attribute 186
deleting 283
show node connections 3 displaying
converting image format 303
depth channel 268, 269, 271, all channels 307
Create Ambient Light 48
303 animation 298
Create Area Light 48 blue channel 307
depth map shadows 81
Create Directional Light 48 cyan channel 307
creating 82
Create Light Set from green channel 307
optimizing 90
Highlighted Lights option image channels 301
properties 87
Relationship Editor 64 images during
reusing depth maps 83
Create Object Set from rendering 296
Depth Of Field attribute 236
Highlighted Objects option magenta channel 307
Relationship Editor 64 Device Aspect Ratio red channel 307
attribute 225, 267 single image 297
Create Point Light 48
diagnosing tessellation 41
Create Spot Light 48
rendered images 308 the negative of an image 306
Create Texture Reference
scenes 286 yellow channel 307
Object 157
directing lights 61 Distance Clip Planes
Cubic projection 155
Directional lights 49 attribute 255
Curvature Tolerance
creating 48 Distributed Render
attribute 93, 187
Disk Based Dmaps attribute 84, (Save) Distributed
Custom Extension attribute 276
90 Render 290
cyan channel 307
Displacement Bounding Dmap Bias attribute 92
Cycling Index manipulator 57, Box 186 Dmap Filter Size attribute 87, 90,
222
91
Cylindrical projection 155
Dmap Focus attribute 90
Dmap Resolution attribute 83,
87, 90, 91
Dmap Width Focus attribute 91

312
INDEX
Dolly Tool 233 Explicit Tessellation files

dollying cameras 233 set for displacement depth 269
double-sided materials 171 mapping 136 image 269
Export All 25 IPR 30, 34
downstream
Export Selected 25 mask 269
connections, view in
Hypershade 6 exporting Film Aspect Ratio attribute 224
Dropoff attribute 55 nodes 24 Film Fit attribute 226
Duplicate option 15 extension, image 265 Film Fit Offset attribute 226
duplicating eye Film Gate attribute 224
nodes 12 camera 215 Film Gate view guide 218
Film Offset attribute 226, 230
first frame
E F animation 301
Fix Texture Warp attribute 32
Edge Anti-aliasing attribute 187 F Stop attribute 237
Flare Col Spread attribute 106
edges faces, polygons 117, 121
applying materials to 161 Flare Color attribute 106
troubleshooting 187
Far Clip Plane attribute 235 Flare Focus attribute 107
elevation
description 232 Fast Drop Off attribute 113 Flare Horizontal attribute 108
End Frame attribute fcheck utility 296, 299 Flare Intensity attribute 107
Image File Output Field Chart view guide 219 Flare Length attribute 108
attributes 266, 289 Field Dominance attribute 274, Flare Max Size attribute 107
ending frame 300 275 Flare Min Size attribute 107
Env Ball texture 244 fields 273 Flare Num Circles attribute 108
Env Chrome texture 244 interlaced, separate, even, Flare Vertical attribute 108
Env Cube texture 245 odd 275 flickering animations
Env Sky texture 245 interlacing 276 fixing 120
render 275 troubleshooting 188
Env Sphere texture 245
file Flipped Normal attribute 173
environment fog 253
labels 159 Focal Length attribute 234
creating 254
masks 158
properties 254 Focus Distance attribute 236
troubleshooting 256 file format, image 261
Focus Region Scale
converting 303 attribute 236, 237
environment textures 244
File Name Prefix attribute 265 fog
EPS format 262
file name, image 265 environment 253
errors, rendering 44
File Texture illuminated 108–113
Even Field 275, 276
Paint Textures Tool 201 light 108–113
excluding objects from
file textures 125 Fog Far Distance attribute 255
lights 62–69
Fog Intensity attribute 109

313
INDEX
Fog Near Distance attribute 255 Glow Attributes 101 Hardware Texturing option
Fog Radius attribute 110 Glow Color attribute 101 previewing 42
Fog Shadow Intensity Glow Intensity attribute 144 HDTV 45
attribute 88 Glow Noise attribute 103 Height attribute
Fog Shadow Samples Glow Opacity attribute 101 Resolution attributes 225,
attribute 87, 90, 92 267
Glow Radial Noise attribute 103
Fog Spread attribute 112 Hexagon Flare attribute 107
Glow Spread attribute 101
Fog Type attribute 111 Hide Source attribute 145
Glow Star Level attribute 103
format, image file highlights 128
Glow Type attribute 102
converting 303 color 129, 130
glows 96
setting 261 controlling 129
creating 97
Frame troubleshooting 188
icons 97
render fields option 275 HSV 125
problems with
Frame All option resolutions 146 HSV Color Key 160
Maya View menu 229 properties 100 Hypershade
Frame Extension attribute removing 98 connecting nodes 16
Image Plane Attributes 248 shader 145 creating nodes 13
Frame Padding attribute 266, Graph Editor 23 deleting nodes 16
289 color curves 72 duplicating nodes 14
Frame Selection 229 intensity curve 72
Frame Step attribute 148 green channel 302, 307
Frame/Animation Ext Green Plane option I
attribute 265, 289 Render View window 302 icons
frames 273 camera 220
rendering multiple 289 glow 97
rendering single 288 H halo 97
frustum, camera 223 illuminated fog 113
Halo Color attribute 104
lens flare 97
Halo Intensity attribute 104 light 56
G Halo Spread attribute 105
Halo Type attribute 105
light fog 113
optical light effect 97
gamma 304 halos 96 illuminated fog 108–113
changing 304 creating 97 creating 108
correcting 304 icons 97 icons 113
geometry intensities 145 properties 109
NURBS 118 properties 104 removing 113
polygonal 121 removing 98 Illuminates by Default
Geometry Antialiasing Override Hardware Color attribute 63
attribute 120 Layered Texture image aspect ratio 225, 267
GIF format 262 attribute 170

314
INDEX
image file formats

converting 303
intensity
fog 109
L
setting 261 glow 101 labels
Image Format attribute halo 104 creating 158
Image File Output lens flare 107 masking 159
attributes 261 light 52 last frame
Image Plane attribute shader glow 145 animation 301
Environment attributes 246, Intensity attribute 52 Layer is Visible 169
247 Intensity Curve attribute 54, 111 Layered Texture
image planes 246 intensity curves 70 attribute 169
images interactive texture layered materials 117
analyzing 301 placement 122 Layered Shader 162, 163, 171
aspect ratio 225, 267 interlace utility 276 Compositing Flag 166
background 246 interlacing 273 creating 164
channels 268, 301 metal 163
IPR 29
color correcting 304 performance 186
batch rendering 29, 36
converting format 303 Layered Texture
cancelling 35
directory 272 Alpha is Luminance 170
changing focus 35
extension 265 Blend Modes 170
files 30, 34
fields 273 creating 166
IPR Render Into New
file format 261 Hardware Color 170
Window 34
file name 265 Layer is Visible 169
loading files 34
frames 273 re-order layers 169
previewing 28, 34
luminance 302 specify layer attributes 169
name 265
tuning 34 layers
negative 303
compositing materials 166
pixel aspect ratio 266
creating 279
properties 261
resolution 266
J rendering 279
visible/invisible 279
troubleshooting Journal Command attribute 227
rendered 308 lens flares 96
JPEG format 262 creating 97
viewing during
rendering 296 icons 97
viewing single 297 properties 106
imgcvt utility 304
K removing 98
Lens Squeeze Ratio attribute 224
Import option 25 keyboard
keys for animations 299 Light Angle attribute 88, 93
importing
nodes 24 Light Centric Light Linking
option
incandescence 124, 143
Relationship Editor 64, 68
inShape attribute 176

315
INDEX
light fog 108–113 Look Through Selected 56, 217 Max Height attribute 255
creating 108 looping animation 300 Max Shading Samples
icons 113 luminance 302, 304 attribute 256
properties 109 changing 304 Maya Composer 270
removing 113 correcting 304 Maya Fusion 270
Light Fog attribute 109 Luminance option Maya IFF format 262
Light Glow attribute 97 Render View window 302 Maya16 IFF format 263
Light Radius attribute 88, 93 MEL commands
Light Set running after rendering 282
creating 64 M running before
lightlink command 69 rendering 282
magenta channel 307
lights 55 Min Height attribute 255
Make Light Links 69
ambient 50 motion blur 45, 124, 147
area 50 manipulators
2D 149
associating 62–69 camera 221
3D 148
center of interest 57 light 57
only saving data 151
creating 48 mask channel 268, 269, 270, 303 troubleshooting 189
directing 61 Mask Plane option motion matching 243
Directional 49 Render View window 303
movie background 247
excluding objects 62–69 masking
Movie image format (non-
icons 56 key 159 supported) 263
linking with surfaces 62–69 materials 116
manipulators 57 multi-processor rendering 292
applying to components 161
moving 60 applying to surfaces 161
omni 49 bumpiness 123
optimizing 55 changing the type 153 N
origin 57 color 123 name
point 49 combining 162, 171 images, setting 265
positioning 60 creating 152
properties 50 Near Clip Plane attribute 235
double-sided 171
rotating 61 negative images 303
IPR 29
spot 49 layering 162, 163, 164, 171 node networks
views 56 self-illumination 124 viewing 5
linking lights and surfaces 62– shininess 123
69 transparency 124
loading views 238 tuning 29
look at point 216 Matte Opacity attribute 270, 271
Look At Selection 229 Matte Opacity Mode
Look Through Barn Doors attribute 270, 271
manipulator 59 matte transparency, see Matte
Opacity 270

316
INDEX
nodes 3–25 Number of Processors to Use optimizing

Bump 3D 138 attribute 292 cameras 239
connecting 16, 19 NURBS 117–120 lights 55
connections, show in surfaces 118 scenes 283
Hypershade 6 tessellation 117 shadows 90
creating 12 NURBS surfaces 28 surfaces 186
creating in Hypershade 13 orbit camera 232
creating in Visor 12 origin
default connections 16
deleting 12
O light 57
manipulator 57
deleting connections 15 Object Centric Light Linking orthographic cameras 213
described 4 option
Out Alpha attribute 138
duplicating 12, 14 Relationship Editor 64, 68
explicit connections 18 Out Normal attribute 139
Object Set
exporting 24 Overscan attribute 220, 268
creating 64
importing 24 Odd Field 275
inputs 4
making connections 3
Odd Field attribute 276
offset 304
P
networks 4
changing 304 paint programs 159
outputs 4
correcting 304 Paint Textures Tool 191
rearranging in Hypershade 9
setting attributes 19 omni lights 49 assigning textures 209
tracking 8 one-node camera 215 AutoSave on Exit 209
viewing 5 opacity AutoSave on Stroke 209
zooming 8 fog 112 Brush Depth 201
nodes and node networks 3 glow 101 File Texture 201
connection lines 9 Open Image option masking polygonal faces 196
deleting 16 Render View window 297 painting bump maps 199
exporting 24 polygonal faces 198
Open IPR File 34
importing 24 Reload Textures button 210
Operation attribute 174
previewing 29 Save Textures button 209
optical light effects 95–98 Stamp Profiles 200
Noise Threshold attribute 104 creating 97 Stamp Spacing 200
Noise Uoffset attribute 104 icons 97 texture attributes 201
Noise Uscale attribute 104 properties 100–108 texture naming 192
Noise Voffset attribute 104 removing 98 transparency 198
Noise Vscale attribute 104 Optimize Scene Size 283 using 195, 197, 198
Normal Camera attribute 139 painting
Normal textures 153 using the Paint Textures
NTSC safe zone 219 Tool 195, 197
NTSC video 45, 273, 275 PAL video 45, 273, 275
panning cameras 230

317
INDEX
Penumbra Angle attribute 55

Penumbra Radius
previewing 27
a scene 27, 34
R
manipulator 58 Hardware Texturing Radial Frequency attribute 103
perspective cameras 212 option 42 range, camera 234
in a view 28
pitch 230 Ray Depth Limit attribute 88, 90
interactively 28
Pivot manipulator 58, 222 raytraced shadows 81
IPR 34
Pix format 262, 274 node networks and creating 83
pixel aspect ratio 266 relationships 29 optimizing 90
Pixel Aspect Ratio attribute 225, part of a scene 28, 36 properties 88
267 Resolution Gate 44 Raytracing attribute 86
pixels 31, 266, 268 surfaces 42 Rearrange Graph
Planar projection 155 tessellation 41 rearranging nodes in
Primary Visibility attribute 279, Hypershade 9
planes
clipping 234 280 red channel 302
image 246 problems Red Plane option
Point light messages 45 Render View window 302
creating 48 rendering 44 Redo Previous IPR Render 37
point lights 49 projection node 155 Redo Previous Render 37, 288
polygonal faces Projection textures 153, 154 Redo Previous Render option
painting 198 creating 156 Render View window 288
polygonal surfaces 32, 121–122 Projective paint mode 195 reference objects
faces 117 properties creating 157
mapping 161 atmosphere 254 deforming surfaces 157
texturing 121 environment fog 254 texture, creating 157
positioning glow 100 Reflection Limit attribute 142
lights 60 halo 104 reflections 129, 130
Post Render MEL attribute 283 illuminated fog 109 simulating 130
lens flare 106 Refraction Limit attribute 142
Pre Render MEL attribute 283
light 50
refractions
light fog 109
creating 141
optical light effects 100–108
Refractive Index attribute 142
shadow 87
Region 1 attribute 54, 111
Region 2 attribute 54, 111
Q Region 3 attribute 54, 111
Reload Textures
Quantel format 263 Paint Textures Tool
Quicktime image format (IRIX button 210
only) 263

318
INDEX
removing rendering RGBA 159

backgrounds 252 animation 289 RLA format 263
glows 98 batch 289 Roll Tool 233
halos 98 cancelling 288
rolling cameras 233
illuminated fog 113 cancelling batch render 289
Rotation attribute 103
lens flares 98 errors 44
light fog 113 frames 288 rotoscoping 243
optical light effects 98 layers 279
shadows 89 multiple frames 289
Render multi-processor 292 S
fields options 275 part of a frame 37
Safe Action view guide 219
Render 2D Motion Blur preparing 259–283
problems 44 Safe Title view guide 219
attribute 151
resolution 266 Sampler Info utility 172
Render Active option 40
running MEL commands saturation 304
Render Diagnostics 45, 286
before/after 282 changing 304
Render Diagnostics option 44 scenes 285 correcting 304
Render Globals 187 selecting objects 277 Save IPR File option 36
Render into New Window option single frames 37, 288 Save Textures
Maya Render menu 288 snapshots 37 Paint Textures Tool
Render Region specific surfaces 40 button 209
previewing 28 test 286 save zone, NTSC 219
render part of a frame 37 tiles 296
saving
Render Resolution attribute 225, viewing images during 296
views 238
266 wireframes 37
scenes
render tessellation Rendering Diagnostics 44
diagnosing 286
previewing 28 Rendering Flags window 19 finding problems 286
Render utility 287, 288, 289, 292 -rep optimizing 283
Render View command line option, batch previewing 36
and single frame 37 rendering 293 rendering 285
previewing 36 Repeat UV attribute 179 viewing 227
Render View window resolution Select Lights Illuminating
IPR 34 glow 146 Object 68
Renderable attribute 260 halo 146 Select Objects Illuminated by
renderable cameras 45 image 266 Light 68
Renderable Objects attribute 280 Resolution Gate attribute 44, self-illumination 124
268 Set Editing option
Resolution Gate view guide 219 Relationship Editor 65
reusing depth maps 83 sets
RGB 125, 159, 176 creating 63
RGB Channel 270 SGI format 263

319
INDEX
SGI Movie format (IRIX Stamp Profiles surfaces

only) 263 Paint Textures Tool 200 applying materials 161
SGI16 format 263 Stamp Spacing deforming 156
shader glow 145 Paint Textures Tool 200 Display Render Tessellation
Star Points attribute 102 attribute 186
Shading Samples attribute 256
double-sided 163
Shading Samples Override Start Frame attribute
faces 117
attribute 190 Image File Output
attributes 266, 289 glow 143
Shadow Color attribute 87, 88 identical 186
Shadow Rays attribute 88, 90, 93 Stencil textures 153, 154
incandescence 143
shadows 80 StudioPaint 174 layered 162
creating 82 surface glow layered transparency 141
depth map 81 creating 145 linking with lights 62–69
optimizing 90 troubleshooting 145, 147 motion blur 124
properties 87 Surface Shader 125, 126 NURBS 117
raytraced 81 performance 186
removing 89 polygonal 32
troubleshooting 91 polygons 117, 121
Shadows attribute 88 previewing 28, 41
Shadows Obey Light Linking refractions 140
attribute 89 setting quality 120
shininess 123, 128 single-sided 186
Show Batch Render 299 switched 163
tessellation 117
Show Hidden option
texturing polygons 121
Connection Editor 138
transparency 140
Shutter Angle attribute 149
troubleshooting 187, 190
silhouette two-sided 163
bumpy 131
Switch utilities 174–185
smooth 131
and paint multiple
Smooth Color 150 surfaces 193
smooth shading 28 creating 175
snapshots special notes 185
rendering 37 syntax, file name 265
SoftImage format 264
specific surfaces
rendering 40 T
Spot light 49
Targa format 264
Barn Doors, adjusting 78
creating 48

320
INDEX
tessellation 187 textures 125, 127 Triple Shading Switch 176

NURBS 117 3D 160 triple shading switch
previewing 41 applying to materials 153 Default color attribute 178
previewing render 28 assigning, Paint Textures troubleshooting
set for displacement Tool 209 atmosphere 256
mapping 136 attributes for Paint Textures backgrounds 256
surface quality 116 Tool 201 displacement maps 189
Tessellation Viewer 41 background 244 edges 187
test rendering 28, 286 creating 127, 153 environment fog 256
environment 160, 244 flickering 188
Test Resolution option
file 127 highlights 188
layered 166 motion blur 189
Texture Attribute to Paint
layering materials 163 rendered images 308
mapping 127 Rendering Diagnostics 44
Texture quality menu 43 Normal 153 shadows 91
Texture Reference Object painting with Paint Textures surfaces 190
creating 157 Tool 191
tumbling cameras 232
Textured channel menu 42 popping 133
Projection 153, 155 tuning
reloading, Paint Textures a scene 34
Tool 210 changing the focus 35
saving, Paint Textures IPR 34
Tool 209 materials 29
smearing 155 region 34
Stencil 153, 158 two-node camera 215
swapping 173 two-sided materials 171
turning inside-out 155 Type attribute
texturing surfaces 121 Image Plane Attributes 246,
three-node camera 215 247
Tiff format 264
Tiff16 format 264
tiles, rendering 296 U
tilting cameras 230 U Divisions Factor attribute 93,
Track Tool 229 187
tracking up and downstream
cameras 229 connections, view in
nodes in Hypershade 8 Hypershade 6
transparency 124, 140 up vector
mapping 142 camera 215
matte, see Matte Opacity 270
painting 198

321
INDEX
Update Image Planes/

Background option
V wireframes
rendering 37
IPR menu 32 V Divisions Factor attribute 93,
Update Motion Blur option 187
IPR menu 151 video fields 273 Y
Update Shadow Maps option viewing
IPR menu 32 Yaw-Pitch Tool 230
animation 298
upstream animation curves 23 yellow channel 307
connections, view in images during
Hypershade 6 rendering 296
Use all available processors nodes and node networks 5 Z
attribute 292 objects 229
Z buffer channel 268
Use Background material 249, scene regions 229
scenes 227 Z Depth 271
280
single image 297 Z depth channel 268
Use Custom Extension
attribute 266 viewing animations 299 Zeroth Scanline attribute 274,
275
Use Decay Regions attribute 54, views 211–239
111 camera 215 Zoom Tool 234
Use Depth Map Shadows creating 213 zooming
attribute 82 guides 218 cameras 233
light 56 nodes in Hypershade 8
Use Dmap Auto Focus
attribute 90, 91 loading 238
Use Frame Extension attribute saving 238
Image Plane Attributes 247 Visibility attribute 279, 280
Use Height attribute 255 Visible in Refractions
Use Light Position attribute 91 attribute 142
Use Mid Dist Dmap attribute 92 Visor 12
accessing directories from 25
Use Min Screen attribute 133
Add New Disk Folder 25
Use Ray Trace Shadows nodes, creating 12
attribute 86
viewing images 12
Use X- Dmap attribute 90
Volume Samples attribute 255
Use X+ Dmap attribute 90
Use Y- Dmap attribute 90
Use Y+ Dmap attribute 90 W
Use Z- Dmap attribute 90
Use Z+ Dmap attribute 90 Width attribute
Resolution attributes 225,
UV texture mode 195
267
UVs 32
Windows Bitmap format 264

322

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USING MAYA: RENDERING

Alias® Maya Complete™ Maya Paint Effects™

ALIAS|WAVEFRONT ■ 210 KING STREET EAST ■ TORONTO, CANADA M5A 1J7

USING MAYA: RENDERING

1 RENDERING NODES AND NETWORKS 1

Visual elements of a rendered scene 2

Interactively previewing and tuning a scene 29

USING MAYA: RENDERING

3 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 47

USING MAYA: RENDERING

4 OPTICAL LIGHT EFFECTS 95

Creating optical light effects 97

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Illuminated fog brightness decay 110

5 MATERIALS AND SURFACES 115

Setting surface quality 117

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Motion blur 147

6 PAINTING TEXTURES 191

Paint Textures Tool and texture naming 192

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Painting attributes not shown in the Texture list 202

7 CAMERAS AND VIEWS 211

Introduction to cameras 212

8 BACKGROUND AND ATMOSPHERE 241

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Creating an image file background 246

9 PREPARING TO RENDER 259

Selecting a camera 260

10 RENDERING A SCENE 285

Finding potential problems in a scene 286

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Rendering an animation on several computers 290

11 VIEWING RENDERED IMAGES 295

Viewing an image as it renders 296

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Thank you for buying Maya—Alias|Wavefront’s award-winning computer

About the rendering books

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Using Maya: Rendering

USING MAYA: RENDERING

Maya Reference: Rendering

About the Maya documentation set

USING MAYA: RENDERING

3 If you’re a first-time Maya user, see Learning Maya for a comprehensive,

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• Troubleshooting Rendered Images — a quick reference card to help you identify

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