Maya 8 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide

14. Shaders, Materials, and Mapping

By default, objects in Maya are a matte gray color. This appearance, like the appearance of all objects in Maya, is controlled by a shader. By changing the shader assigned to an object, you can control the object’s appearance and surface behaviors.

Shaders control more than just the color of the object: They can make a surface appear shiny and metallic, or rough and rocky (Figure 14.1). You can use shaders to make your objects glow, reflect and refract light, appear transparent, and more.

Figure 14.1. The objects at left and the objects at right have the same geometry. However, they’ve been assigned different shaders, which makes them look like they’re made from different substances.

Shaders consist of one ...