386 3D Animation for the Raw Beginner Using Maya
COLORING A MATERIAL WITH LIGHTS
We will color a bowl by using the lights that are shining on it. Figure15.30 shows the men-
tal ray material attributes; we are using one of the metallic paint materials. e colors of
the material are all set to white.
ere are two spotlights shining on the bowl. ey are between the bowl and the viewer,
pointing directly at the bowl. e spotlight attributes are shown in Figures15.31 and 15.32.
We are using two dierent yellowish colors.
e rendering is shown in Figure15.33. (Note that the brown background in the Color
Insert on p. CI-16 for Figure 15.33 is not inuencing the color of the bowl.)
FIGURE 15.26 is shows mental ray materials.
Advanced Light and Materials Properties and Effects 387
USING ANISOTROPY WITH MENTAL RAY TO CONTROL
THE TRANSPARENCY OF FROSTED GLASS
We will focus on one particular setting for the frosted glass on the double doors,
Anisotropy. Anisotropy is an attribute that can be set in the mia_material attribute box.
is controls highlights that run across the scene in multiple directions.
In Figure15.34, we see the Anisotropy settings for the mia_material that makes up the
frosted glass of our doors.
Figure15.35 shows a render resulting from an Anisotropy setting of 1, meaning that the
le-right and up-down values of the highlights are equal, or more precisely, that the high-
lights are even in all directions. us, the glass doors blur the white shelves behind them.
In Figure15.36, the setting is 10, creating a highlight that is not equal in all directions.
In particular, the top-down highlights are soer than the le-right highlights. e eect
is to undo some of the frosted eect of the glass, as the highlights do not blur the shelves
as much. You can think of it this way: In order for the horizontal shelves to be distorted
FIGURE 15.27 in glass settings.
388 3D Animation for the Raw Beginner Using Maya
FIGURE 15.28 Mia_material shader.
FIGURE 15.29 (See p. CI-11 of Color Insert) Rendering the colored glass.
Advanced Light and Materials Properties and Effects 389
to the point of not being easily visible, the white coloring of the shelves needs to be moved
upward and downward.
If we crank it up even more, we see in Figure15.37, that the highlights are very weak in
the top-down direction (compared to the le-right direction). So there is now virtually no
frosted glass eect.
In Figure15.38, we see what happens if you set the number to .1. Now, the highlights are
greater up-down than they are right-le, and the doors are distorted again. (See p. C-11 of
the Color Insert for Figure 15.38 for various Anisotropy settings.)
FIGURE 15.30 e mental ray paint shader.
390 3D Animation for the Raw Beginner Using Maya
USING THE PENUMBRA AND DROPOFF
SETTINGS ON A MAYA SPOTLIGHT
For the most part, we have focused on Cone Angle and Intensity as the key attributes of a
spotlight. Here, we will look at two other attributes: Penumbra and Dropo.
e lights in the scene are shown in Figure15.39. ere are two so point lights inside
the closet, as well as a spotlight positioned outside the closet and pointing directly at it. e
spotlight has a cone angle of 94. e Attribute Editor that pops up if we select the spotlight
in the Main Window and then hit a Control+A once or twice is seen in Figure15.40.
e penumbra is the part of a shadow where some light makes it past whatever is block-
ing light and casting a shadow. It is a soer, gray shadow around the edges. We see in
Figure15.41 that a larger penumbra setting gives us a more gradual edge to the spotlight.
And in Figure15.42, a penumbra of 0 creates a harsh edge to the light. Without a penum-
bra, there is no grayish zone.
FIGURE 15.31 Coloring the spotlight.

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