Introducing Maya® 2011

Lighting the Living Room

This example has us lighting a living room scene modeled by a former student of mine. We will learn how to use Global Illumination as an introduction to the basics of how GI works in mental ray for Maya. Let’s begin with the typical mental ray specific attributes you will find on any light you create in Maya.

mental ray Light Attributes

Every light in Maya has a section of attributes that define its mental ray capabilities. Because rendering with mental ray is very popular with Maya, it is a good idea to have an idea of how mental ray treats Maya lights.

For Caustics or GI to work, mental ray lights need to emit photons. These photons are emitted from enabled lights to bounce in the scene and create indirect lighting ...