MAYA REFERENCE: RENDERING

VERSION 3
MAYA REFERENCE: RENDERING
Copyright 1999, Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited
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 CONTENTS

MAYA REFERENCE: RENDERING

1 INTRODUCTION 1

Rendering editors and windows 1

Rendering menus 2
Materials, textures, and utilities 2

2 GENERAL EDITORS 5

Attribute Editor 6

Attribute Spread Sheet 10

Attribute Spreadsheet Menus 11
Attribute Spreadsheet Tabs 12

Connection Editor 16
Connection Editor Menus 17
Connection Editor Buttons 18
Node network navigating buttons 19

Tool Settings 21
Camera Tools 21
Shading Group Tool 21
Texture Placement Tool 22
Texture Placement Options 23

3 INTRODUCTION TO RENDERING EDITORS 25

4 RENDER VIEW AND IPR 29

Quick overview: Using the Render View 31

Improving the Render View test render quality 31
Rendering only part of the scene 33

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Quick overview: Using IPR 34

Improving the IPR test render quality 35
IPR Limitations 35

Render View icons 37

Render View panel 41

Render View menus 41

5 RENDER GLOBALS 51

Render Globals Edit menu 52

Hardware Render Globals 52

Render Globals attributes 52

File Name 52
Image File Output 52
Resolution 58
Field Options 63
Anti-aliasing Quality 66
Raytracing Quality 74
Modify Extension 76
Renumber Frames 76
Motion Blur 76
Render Options 79
Memory and Performance Options 82
IPR Options 86
Render Layer/Pass Control 86
Render Pass management spreadsheet 87

6 BATCH RENDER WINDOW 89

Batch Render Window options 89

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7 HARDWARE RENDER BUFFER 91

Hardware Render Buffer menus 92

File menu 92
Render menu 92
Camera menu 94
Flipbooks menu 95
Time slider and transport controls 97
Hardware Render Global attributes 97

8 HARDWARE RENDER GLOBALS 99

Image Output Files 99

Render Modes 103

Multi-Pass Render Options 105

Display Options 106

9 FLIPBOOK OPTIONS 109

10 HYPERSHADE 111

Hypershade panel 112

Creating nodes 112
Connecting nodes 114
Mousing through the Hypershade 114

Hypershade menus 120

File Menu 120
Edit menu 121
Create menu 122
Graph menu 123
Window menu 124

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Options menu 124

Hypershade buttons 125

11 VISOR 131

Visor panel sections 133

Accessing your directories from Visor 134

12 CREATE RENDER NODE 137

Using the Create Render Node window 138

Common Create Render Node options 141

With Shading Group 141
With New Texture Placement 142
Normal 142
As projection 143
As stencil 143

13 MULTILISTER 145

Multilister Menus 146

File menu 146
Edit menu 148
Select menu 151
Display menu 152
Window menu 155
Filter menu 155

Multilister Buttons 157

Multilister Swatches 159

Multilister Tabs 160

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14 RENDERING FLAGS 161

Rendering Flags Show menu 161

Rendering Flags window Panels 162

15 RENDER RELATIONSHIPS 165

Linking UVs and textures 166

UV-Centric linking 166
Applying layered textures to UV sets 170
Texture-Centric linking 171

Linking lights and objects 173

Light-Centric linking 173
Object-Centric linking 173

Creating and displaying Render Layers 174

Create Render Layer 174
Render Layers 174

16 SHADING GROUP ATTRIBUTES 177

Assigning effects to shading groups 178

17 CONVERT TO FILE TEXTURE 183

Converting a solid texture to a file texture 183

Convert to File Texture options 184

18 SURFACE RENDER ATTRIBUTES 187

Tessellation attributes 188

Explicit Tessellation Attributes 191
Primary Tessellation Attributes 191
Secondary Tessellation Attributes 192

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Texture Map 195

Fix Texture Warp 195

Render Stats 198

3D Motion Blur 203
Displacement Map 204

Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces) 206

Changing tessellation attributes 206
Changing the component display 207

19 CAMERAS 211

Create > Camera 211

Camera Overview 213

Angle of View 213
Focal Length 213
Camera Scale 214
Auto Render Clip Plane 214
Near Clip Plane, Far Clip Plane 214

Creating a camera to animate 215

Camera eye 216
Camera view 216
Camera up vector 216

Camera nodes 217

One-node cameras 218
Multi-node cameras 218
Multi-node camera attributes 220
Verifying the camera’s position 223

Camera icons and manipulators 223

Camera icons 223

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Camera manipulators 225

Create Camera Options window 227

Camera Properties 228
Lens Properties 228
Film Back Properties 229
Motion Blur 231
Clipping Planes 232
Orthographic Views 233
Animation Options 234

Attribute Editor Camera attributes 234

Camera Attributes 235
Film Back 238
Depth of Field 240
Output Settings 242
Environment 243
Special Effects 244
Display Options 244
Orthographic Views 247
Animation Options 247

Camera Tools 248

Azimuth Elevation Tool 248
Dolly Tool 249
Roll Tool 251
Track Tool 251
Tumble Tool 251
Yaw-Pitch Tool 253
Zoom Tool 253

20 RENDER MENU 255

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Render into New Window 255

Redo Previous Render 256
IPR Render into New Window 256
Redo Previous IPR Render 257
Test Resolution 257
Render Diagnostics 258
(Save) Batch Render 259
Cancel Batch Render 260
Show Batch Render 260
(Save) Distributed Render 260

21 LIGHTING/SHADING 261

Link and select light options 262

Select Objects Illuminated by Light 262
Select Lights Illuminating Object 262
Make Light Links 262
Break Light Links 262
Light Linking 263

Shading Group Attributes 268

Assign Shading Group 269

Displacement to Polygon 269

Texture Reference Objects 272

Create Texture Reference Object 272
Delete Texture Reference Object 273
Select Texture Reference Object 273

NURBS Texture Placement Tool 274

Texture Placement Options 274

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22 VIEW PANEL MENUS 275

View menu 275

Select Camera 276
Previous View, Next View 276
Default Home 277
Look at Selection 277
Frame Selection 277
Frame All 278
Predefined Bookmarks 278
Bookmarks 278
Camera Settings 278
Camera Attribute Editor 283
Camera Tools 283

Shading menu 283

Wireframe 284
Smooth Shade All 284
Smooth Shade Selected Items 284
Flat Shade All 285
Flat Shade Selected Items 285
Bounding Box 286
Points 286
Shade Options 287
Interactive Shading 288
Dense Wireframe Acceleration 288
Color Index Mode 288
Back Face Culling 288
Hardware Texturing 289
Apply Current to All 289

Lighting menu 289

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Use Default Lighting 289

Use All Lights 290
Use Selected Lights 291
Use Previously Specified Lights 291
Two Sided Lighting 291
Specify Selected Lights 292

Panels menu 292

Perspective 292
Orthographic 292
Look Through Selected 293
Panel 293

23 LIGHTS 295

Creating lights 296

Positioning and setting lights interactively 296

Common light attributes and options 299

Spot light attributes 302

Light descriptions 304

Area Light 304
Ambient Light 306
Directional Light 306
Point Light 306
Spot Light 306

Light Effects attributes 307

Light Fog 307
Light Glow 309

Shadows Attributes 309

Shadow Color 309
Decay Regions attributes 310

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Depth Map Shadow attributes 312

Raytrace Shadow attributes 320

24 INTRODUCTION TO MATERIALS 323

Creating materials 324

Assigning materials to surfaces: overview 325

Common Material Attributes 326

Shared material attributes 329

Special Effects 329
Matte Opacity 330
Raytrace Options 333
Hardware Texturing 336

25 SURFACE MATERIALS 341

Anisotropic 342

Blinn 348

Lambert 351

Layered Shader 351

Phong 354

Phong E 356
Shading Map 358

Surface Shader 358

Use Background 359

26 VOLUMETRIC MATERIALS 371

Common Volumetric material attributes 372

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Matte Opacity 372

Env Fog 373

Simple Fog 374
Physical Fog 375
Physical Fog attributes 376
Fog 377
Air 378
Water 380
Sun 382
Clipping Planes 383

Light Fog 383

Particle Cloud 385

Volume Shader 389

27 DISPLACEMENT MAPPING 393

Displacement Shader 393

Displacement Shader attribute 395
Pre-filtering textures 395
Feature-based Displacement Map attributes 395
Setting sample rates 400
Non-Feature-based displacement mapping 401
Setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes 402
Displacement mapping and Layered Shaders 403

28 INTRODUCTION TO TEXTURES 405

Creating textures 407

Assigning textures to materials: overview 408

Texture-specific features 414

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With New Texture Placement 414

Normal 415
As projection 415
As stencil 416

Painting textures 416

Paint Textures Tool and texture naming 417
Paint Textures Tool attributes 419
Paint Textures Tool buttons 422
Automatically saving painted textures 423

29 2D TEXTURES 425

Common 2D texture attributes 426

Color Balance 427
Effects 428
UV Coordinates 432

Bulge 433

Checker 433

Cloth 434

File 435

Fractal 441
Grid 442

Mountain 443

Movie 444

Ramp 446

Water 449

Interactively placing 2D textures 453

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30 3D TEXTURES 457

Common 3D texture attributes 459

Color Balance 459
Effects 460

Brownian 468

Cloud 469

Crater 470

Granite 473

Leather 474

Marble 477

Rock 478

Snow 479

Solid Fractal 481

Stucco 482

Wood 484

Interactively placing 3D textures 487

31 LAYERED TEXTURES 491

Creating Layered Textures 491

Blend modes 496

32 ENVIRONMENT TEXTURES 501

Common Environment texture attribute 502

Effects 502

Env Ball 502

Env Chrome 507

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Env Cube 509

Env Sky 512

Env Sphere 519

33 INTRODUCTION TO UTILITIES 523

34 GENERAL UTILITIES 525

Array Mapper 526

Condition 527

Light Info 532

Multiply Divide 537

Plus Minus Average 543

Reverse 546

Sampler Info 548

Set Range 553

Vector Product 554

Uv Chooser 559

35 COLOR UTILITIES 561

Blend Colors 561

Clamp 563

Contrast 565

Gamma Correct 567

Hsv To Rgb 569

Luminance 569

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Rgb To Hsv 570

Surface Luminance 570

36 BUMP 2D & BUMP 3D UTILITIES 571

Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects attributes 571

Bump Filter 572
Bump Filter Offset 572
Adjust Edges 572
Provide3d Info 573

Bump 2d 575
Cascading bump maps 575

Bump 3d 580

37 PLACE 2D & PLACE 3D UTILITIES 583

2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement 583

Texture Placement Tool Settings 584

Place 2d Texture 586

Place 3d Texture 592

Place 3d Texture manipulators 592

38 PROJECTION & STENCIL UTILITIES 595

Projection 595

Stencil 607

39 SWITCH UTILITIES 615

Single Shading Switch 616

Double Shading Switch 621

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Triple Shading Switch 626

40 IMAGE PLANES 633

Quick overview: Creating image planes 633

Image Plane Attributes 636

Placement attributes 641

Placement Extras 649

41 POST PROCESS UTILITIES 653

Quick Overview: Creating optical effects 653

Re-positioning an optical light effect 655

Shader Glow attributes 658

Fixing shader glow flicker 661

Optical FX Attributes 661

Glow Attributes 667

Halo Attributes 669

Lens Flare Attributes 669

Noise Attributes 671

INDEX 673

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 1 INTRODUCTION

The Maya Reference: Rendering book describes rendering attributes and

options and how to use Maya’s editors and windows when rendering. The
information you find in this book should help you determine what the
attributes do and the many options provided to let you change the default
settings.
The Using Maya: Rendering book describes how to perform specific rendering
operations. This is the book to use when learning how to use Maya’s
rendering features.
This chapter outlines the contents of this book and where to find the
information you need.

Rendering editors and windows

Maya provides various ways to edit and fine-tune attributes when
rendering. Using these powerful editors and windows, you can render a
scene and keep track of each step you take. See the following chapters for
information on Maya’s rendering editors and windows.
• Attribute Spread Sheet
• Connection Editor
• Render View and IPR
• Render Globals
• Batch Render Window
• Hardware Render Buffer
• Hardware Render Globals
• Flipbook Options
• Hypershade
• Visor
• Create Render Node

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• Multilister
• Rendering Flags
• Render Relationships
• Shading Group Attributes
• Create Camera Options window
• Attribute Editor Camera attributes
• Camera Tools
• Creating lights

Rendering menus
Maya provides render-specific options throughout the package. Some items
are located in the general Maya menu section, and most are located in the
Rendering menu set. See the following chapters for information about these
menus.
• Render Menu
• Lighting/Shading
• View Panel Menus

Materials, textures, and utilities

The following lists the chapters that describe the attributes for materials,
textures, and utility nodes.

Introduction to Materials
• Surface Materials
• Volumetric Materials
• Displacement Mapping

Introduction to Textures
• 2D Textures
• 3D Textures
• Environment Textures

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Introduction to Utilities
• General Utilities—these utilities include Array Mapper, Condition, Light
Info, Multiply Divide, Plus Minus Average, Reverse, Sampler Info, Set
Range, and Vector Product.
• Color Utilities
• Bump 2d & Bump 3d Utilities
• Place 2d & Place 3d Utilities
• Projection & Stencil Utilities
• Switch Utilities
• Image Planes
• Post Process Utilities

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2 GENERAL EDITORS

This chapter provides information on using some of Maya’s general editors

when editing rendering attributes.
To access render-specific editors, select the item from Maya’s Window >
General Editors menu:
See Using Maya: Essentials for details about editors in general.
In this chapter:

Attribute Editor

Attribute Spread Sheet

• Attribute Spreadsheet Menus
• Attribute Spreadsheet Tabs

Connection Editor
• Connection Editor Menus
• Connection Editor Buttons

Tool Settings

Camera Tools
For information about the options in the Tool Settings window for the
Camera tools, see Chapter 19, “Cameras”.

Shading Group Tool

Shading Group Tool options

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Attribute Editor

Texture Placement Tool

ATTRIBUTE EDITOR
The Attribute Editor can display the attributes for all selected nodes in your
scene. For example, you can use the Attribute Editor to display and edit the
attributes for a NURBS surface, a shading group, a camera, a light, or a
texture.
You can also display and edit node attributes in the Attribute Spread Sheet.
or the Channel Box, although only certain attributes are displayed in the
Channel Box. All attributes are displayed in the Attribute Editor and
Attribute Spread Sheet.
Throughout this book and the Using Maya: Rendering book, you will find
that most of the adjustments you make to rendering nodes are made through
the Attribute Editor. Although you can interactively adjust most attributes,
you can also verify and enter values that correspond to the attributes you
interactively adjust which can result in a better final render.

Attribute Editor tabs

Each tab in the Attribute editor represents an individual node and contains
the attributes for that node. When you perform some render functions, such
as create a 2D or 3D texture, Maya automatically adds the attributes for a 2D
or 3D texture placement node. This gives you quick and direct access to the
attributes you need when placing textures on surfaces.

Attribute Editor menus

There are currently five menus at the top of the Attribute Editor: List,
Selected, Copy, Focus, and Add.

List and Selected menus

The List menu lets you choose which nodes are listed in the Selected menu
or Object menu.
If Auto Load Selected Attributes is on (on by default), you can select items in
the view or swatches in Hypershade and those items display in the Selected
menu. Select several items using the Shift-click select method.

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Attribute Editor

Items selected
in Hypershade.

Items selected in view.

If Auto Load Selected Attributes is off, you can select which items you want
to appear in the Object menu. Click the arrows to display the a Dynamics,
Kinematics, Deformers, Lights, or Shading node menu to select the items
you want in the Object menu.

Object menu
If you choose Lights or Shading from the List menu, the Object menu
displays. Make a selection from the Lights or Shading menu, then select
from the Object menu to display the attributes.
For example, a scene contains a few lights and two 2D textures assigned to
the surfaces. If you want to display the attributes for the lights, select a light
shape from the List menu.

Since there are two directional lights in this scene, both display in the Object
menu. Select the one for which you want to view the attributes. The
Attribute Editor changes its focus to the selected light’s attributes.

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Attribute Editor

You can do the same thing for the shading groups and textures in your
scenes.

Copy menu
The Tear Off Copy option creates a new Attribute Editor containing the
attributes for the node currently displayed in the Attribute Editor. This can
be useful should you need access to the information while you are adjusting
attributes for other nodes, but can take up precious screen space.

Focus menu
This menu contains a list of existing focus nodes.The nodes are arranged in
order from the top which displays the most recently accessed node.

Attributes menu
The Attributes menu contains the Add, Delete, and Rename Attributes
options. These options let you add, delete, or rename a pre-defined or user-
defined attribute to the Extra Attributes section of the node currently
displayed in the Attribute Editor.

To add, rename, or delete a new attribute:

1 Choose Attributes > Add Attributes to display the Add Attributes window.

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Attribute Editor

2 Enter a name for the attribute, adjust the settings if required, then press the
OK or Add button.
3 Press the tab that contains the initial attributes for the item (such as
spotLight2 in the example) and open the Extra Attributes section to see the
new attribute.

• To rename the attribute, select Attributes > Rename Attributes. In the

window that displays, type a New attribute name for the attribute you
choose from the list, press Enter, then press the Close button.
• To delete the attribute, select Attributes > Delete Attributes. In the window
that displays, select the attributes you want to delete, press the Delete
button, then press the Close button.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

ATTRIBUTE SPREAD SHEET

The Attribute Spread Sheet displays the attributes for any node in your
scene. For example, you can use the Attribute Spread Sheet to display and
edit the attributes for a shading group, a camera, a light, or a texture. You
can also use the Attribute Spread Sheet to simultaneously change an node
attribute values or settings.
See “Setting node attributes” in Using Maya: Rendering. See also Using Maya:
Essentials.

The following shows how to simply set multiple node attributes using the
Attribute Spread Sheet. For details about rendering nodes, see Using Maya:
Rendering.

To set an attribute for multiple nodes in the Attribute Spreadsheet:

1 Select the surfaces or rendering nodes whose attributes you want to adjust.
2 Select Window > General Editors > Attribute Spread Sheet.
The Keyable tab contains the render node attributes. The Render tab
contains the attributes that determine how a surface is rendered. See
Attribute Spreadsheet Tabs for details.
3 Select the top menu label to choose the entire column.
4 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. You can also set
an attribute for multiple nodes using the Rendering Flags window (Chapter
14, “Rendering Flags,”, Setting attributes for multiple nodes), or the Channel
Box.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

Attribute Spreadsheet Menus

The Attribute Spread Sheet contains the following menus:
• “Names menu” on page 11
• “Layouts menu” on page 11
• “Key menu” on page 12.

Names menu
The Names menu controls whether short or long attribute names are
displayed in the Attribute Spread Sheet.
Short Attribute
Names Displays abbreviated attribute names in the Attribute
Spread Sheet.
Long Attribute
Names Displays the full attribute names in the Attribute Spread
Sheet.

Layouts menu
Use the Layouts menu to control which tabs display in the Attribute Spread
Sheet and which attributes display on each tab.
Show Selected
Columns Only Displays only the selected column(s) in the current tab.
(Unselected columns in the current tab are hidden.) This
layout remains until you select another tab, or until you
close the Attribute Spread Sheet.
Remember This
Layout Saves the layout of the current tab under a new tab which
you can name.
Delete Current
Layout Deletes the current tab. If you delete a tab you created
(using Layouts > Remember This Layout), the tab is
permanently deleted. If you delete one of the default tabs
(for example, Render), it is only temporarily deleted and
will return the next time you open the Attribute Spread
Sheet.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

Key menu
Key Selected Sets a key for all selected cells in the Attribute Spread
Sheet.

Attribute Spreadsheet Tabs

The following tabs in the Attribute Spread Sheet relate to rendering. For
information on other Attribute Spread Sheet tabs and attributes, see the
appropriate Using Maya book.

Render tab
Double Sided Determines whether the surface is double sided. If a
surface is single sided, memory use can be decreased, and
you can use the Opposite option. See below.
Opposite Double Sided must be turned off to set Opposite. Opposite
flips the surface normals.
Smooth
Shading When Smooth Shading is off, objects render faceted
instead of the smooth. That means every triangle is
rendered using the triangle’s normal, not the underlying
NURBS surface normal or smoothed polymesh normal.
Smooth Shading is on by default.
Motion Blur Turns on motion blur for the surface. You must also turn
on Motion Blur in the Render Globals window. See
“Motion Blur” on page 76 of this book.
Visible in
Reflections When Visible in Reflections is turned on, the surface is
reflected in reflective surfaces. When turned off, the
surface is not reflected.
Visible in
Refractions When Visible in Refractions is turned on, the surface is be
refracted in transparent surfaces. When turned off, the
surface is not refracted.
Casts Shadows Turns on the shadow casting ability of the surface. See
Casts Shadows.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

Primary
Visibility When on, the surface is visible in the view and renders.
When off, the surface is not visible in the view and does
not render. A surface’s shadow renders, however, if its
Primary Visibility is turned off and Cast Shadows is
turned on.
Geometry
Antialiasing
Override When on, the surface overrides the geometry anti-aliasing
settings (see below).
Antialiasing
Level Level 1 - is the default. It takes 32 visibility samples.
Level 2 - takes 96 visibility samples.
Level 3 - takes 288 visibility samples.
Level 4 - takes 512 visibility samples.
Level 5 - takes 800 visibility samples.
Therefore, level 5 produces the best edge antialiasing
quality, but it is also the most expensive (in both memory
and speed).
Shading
Samples
Override When on, the surface overrides the global shading sample
settings (see below).
Shading
Samples Sets the number of times Maya shades each fragment in a
pixel. A fragment is a representation of an object within a
pixel, including how much of the pixel that object covers.
A single shaded pixel may contain many fragments, each
of which is shaded independently, with the resulting
contributions composited together to yield the final color
of the pixel.
For example, if set to 1, Maya shades each fragment in a
pixel once; if set to 8, Maya shades each pixel fragment 8
times. The Shading Samples computation is very
expensive, so you should try adjusting the Max Shading
Samples first. See Max Shading Samples.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

Max Shading
Samples Sets the maximum number of times a pixel is shaded
during the second pass of a Highest Quality render. The
higher the number, the longer the rendering takes, but the
resulting image is more accurate.

Tip
Sometimes, skinny highlights can exhibit roping or flickering artifacts. Try
increasing the Max Shading Samples setting. You may also need to increase
the Shading Samples setting, but you can set it on a per-object basis.

Note
Max Shading Samples take effect only when used in conjunction with
Highest Quality edge anti-aliasing. Also, depending on the requirements to
compute an accurate solution, the number of Shading Samples taken can
be less than the number of Max Shading Samples.

Volume
Samples
Override When on, the object overrides the global volume shading
settings.
Volume
samples Adjusts the number of samples placed inside the fog
volume.
Max Visibility
Samples
Override When on, the surface overrides the Max 3D Blur Visib.
setting in the Render Globals window. See 3D Blur Visib.

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Attribute Spread Sheet

Note
Max Visibility Samples Override and Max Visib. Samples only apply when
3D Motion Blur is turned on in the Render Globals window and when
Highest Quality edge anti-aliasing is used.

Max Visib
Samples The maximum number of times a pixel is sampled for
visibility when Motion Blur is on. See 3D Blur Visib.
If an object is moving slowly (for example, if an object
moves by one or two pixels per frame), and you detect
poor aliasing on the object’s edges, try increasing the Max
Visibility Samples (on the object, not globally).
Bounding Box
Scale Determines the bounding box scale for a displacement
map. See also Bounding Box Scale.
Fix Texture
Warp Fix Texture Warp massages a texture’s UV parameters so
the texture does not rely on an object’s UV
parameterization. This alleviates texture warp on objects
with 2D textures.
Fix Texture Warp also enables chord length mapping for
NURBS. When you toggle Fix Texture Warp on, Maya
texture maps a 2D NURBS surface based on the chord
length of a grid placed on the surface. Open the Texture
Map section of the object’s Attribute Editor, turn Fix
Texture Warp on and you can change the Grid Div Per
Span U and V attributes.
See also Fix Texture Warp.
Grid Div Per
Span U Specifies the number of divisions per span of the Chord
Length grid along the U parameter. See also Use Chord
Height and Fix Texture Warp of this book.

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Connection Editor

Grid Div Per

Span V Specifies the number of divisions per span of the Chord
Length grid along the V parameter. See also Use Chord
Height and Fix Texture Warp of this book.

Tessellation tab
The Tessellation tab contains attributes that relate to surface tessellation. For
information on individual attributes, see Surface Render Attributes.

CONNECTION EDITOR
The Connection Editor provides node network information in a side-by-side
layout allowing you to view two nodes that are connected in a node
network. You can make and break connections between any types of nodes
in the Connection Editor. This editor is particularly useful for fine-tuning a
shading network. This book and the Using Maya: Rendering book uses the
Connection editor in many of its examples and procedures.
The Connection Editor is the best a tool for making non-default connections
because you can easily and quickly traverse from node to node in a network.
You can configure the Connection Editor to show a node’s outputs or inputs,
which means you can make connections in either direction in a node
network.
For more information, see Using Maya: Rendering.
In the Connection Editor, you can navigate up a network to a fork, and then
navigate down a different prong, as in the case where you have a texture
outputting to two shading groups.
Select an output node from the left column and an input node from the right
column.

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Connection Editor

Close the Connection Editor. The connections display in Hypershade.

The Connection Editor contains the following sections:

• Connection Editor Menus
• Connection Editor Buttons
• Node network navigating buttons

Connection Editor Menus

The Connection Editor contains the following menus.

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Connection Editor

Options menu
Auto-connect When on, you can make and break connections
automatically by clicking on input attributes.
When off, you can make and break connections manually
by selecting attributes and using the Break and Make
buttons to make and break connections.

Left Side Filters menu, Right Side Filters menu

Show Readable Lists all the readable attributes (attributes that are outputs
or both outputs and inputs).
Show Outputs
Only Lists only the node’s output attributes.
Show Inputs
Only Lists only the node’s input attributes.
Show Non-
Keyable When off, shows only the node’s keyable attributes. When
on, shows both keyable and non-keyable attributes.
Show
Connected
Only Lists only the node’s connected attributes.
Show Hidden When off, hidden attributes are not shown. When on, both
hidden and visible attributes are shown.

Connection Editor Buttons

Reload Left,
Reload Right Loads the currently selected node(s) into the left or right
side of the editor.
from −> to Changes the direction in which you make connections. By
default, node outputs appear on the left side with node
inputs on the right. Clicking the from −> to button
reverses this setup.

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Connection Editor

The from −> to button changes the direction in which you make connections.

When the direction of the connection is from When the direction is reversed, inputs display
the left side to the right side, outputs display on the left and outputs display on the right.
on the left and inputs display on the right
of the editor.

Node network navigating buttons

Navigating buttons

Loads the next node in the node network into the Input and Output sides of
the editor.
For example, if you load a Phong material in the right side of the editor and
click the downstream button, the Phong material loads in the left side of the
editor and the Phong shading group node loads into the right side.

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Connection Editor

Tip
You can click the right mouse button over the Navigating buttons to see
what other nodes are connected in the node network, and to navigate to
those nodes.

Clear All Removes all the nodes from both sides of the Connection
Editor.
Remove Removes the node(s) from the side of the Connection
Editor that was last selected. You can traverse upstream or
downstream from the remaining node after you remove a
node.
Break You can manually break connections. Options > Auto-
connect must be off to use this option.
Make You can manually make connections. Options > Auto-
connect must be turned off to use this option.
Close Closes the Connection Editor.
See Using Maya: Rendering for more information on using the Connection
Editor.

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 GENERAL EDITORS | 2
Tool Settings

TOOL SETTINGS
Tool Settings determine how a tool behaves. Selecting the Tool Settings
menu item displays a window from which you can set various options for
Maya’s tools including ones that you use to transform and view objects, such
as the Dolly Tool or the Zoom Tool.
You can also change the settings for the Shading Group Tool or the Texture
Placement Tool in a Tool Settings window. The Tool Settings options
window changes focus depending on the tool you are using.
The following Tool Settings options windows relate to cameras and
rendering.

Camera Tools
These tools can be accessed from any view panel’s View menu
(View > Camera Tools).

For information about the options in the Tool Settings window for the
Camera tools, see Chapter 19, “Cameras”.
For information on other tool setting windows, see the appropriate Using
Maya book.

Shading Group Tool

This tool is only available in the Multilister.

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Tool Settings

The Shading Group Tool settings let you select a shading group and Maya
automatically selects all surfaces assigned to that shading group, or let you
select a surface and Maya automatically selects the shading group to which
the surface is assigned. You can also use this tool to assign textures to a
shading group.

To access the Shading Group Tool,

click the first button at the left
of the Multilister.

See also Shading Group Tool in Chapter 13, “Multilister”.

Shading Group Tool options

shading-centric
Mode If Mode is shading-centric, when you select a shading
group in the Multilister, Maya automatically selects all
surfaces assigned to that shading group. Selecting surfaces
adds them to the shading group.
geometry-
centric Mode If Mode is geometry-centric, when you select a surface,
Maya automatically selects the shading group to which it
is assigned in the Multilister. After selecting a surface, if
you select a shading group in the Multilister, the surface is
assigned to that shading group.

Texture Placement Tool

Maya’s Texture Placement Tool provides you with a 2D texture placement
manipulator for the selected surface. When you create a 2D texture and click
the Interactive Placement button for the texture’s 2dplacement in the
Attribute Editor, an icon for the Texture Placement Tool displays in the mini-
bar.

Texture Placement Tool icon

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Tool Settings

Double-click this icon to open the Tool Settings window for the
Texture Placement Tool.
You can also select Shading >NURBS Texture Placement Tool to access the
tool.

Texture Placement Options

Select Lighting/Shading > NURBS Texture Placement Tool ❐ to display the
Tool Settings options window.
Modify texture Controls which of the texture’s 2D Texture Placement
attributes (surface placement attributes or label mapping
attributes) you can adjust.
See 2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement for details.

Note
This tool only works on 2D textures. See Interactively placing 2D textures
and Interactively placing 3D textures to find out how to place 2D and 3D
textures on surfaces.

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Tool Settings

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3 INTRODUCTION TO
RENDERING EDITORS

This chapter lists the various editors you can use when rendering and where
to find them. Select an item from the Window menu or from the
Window > Rendering Editors cascading menu to access the following
rendering editors:

See the following chapters for information on the

Window > Rendering Editors menu items. See also Shading Group
Attributes.

Editor Description

Chapter 4, “Render View Use Render View to interactively tune

and IPR” rendering attributes and test render single
frames.

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Editor Description

Chapter 7, “Hardware Use the Hardware Render Buffer to preview

Render Buffer” animations, or to render certain types of
particle effects.

Chapter 14, “Rendering The Rendering Flags window lets you list
Flags” the elements in your scene and provides you
with a way to set the attributes for the nodes
you select.

Chapter 13, “Multilister” Through the Multilister you can create,

delete, assign, and connect rendering nodes.

See the following chapters for information on the Window menu render-
related editors:

Editor Description

Chapter 15, “Render Use the Relationship Editor to edit sets,

Relationships” partitions, display layers, shading groups,
and light links.

Chapter 16, “Shading The Attribute Editor displays the attributes

Group Attributes” for any node in your scene.

Chapter 5, “Render The Render Globals window contains

Globals” options for setting how a scene will render.

Chapter 8, “Hardware The hardware Render Globals editor

Render Globals” provides a special Attribute Editor that lets
you control how the Hardware Render
Buffer renders images.

Chapter 10, “Hypershade” Use the Hypershade to create and edit

rendering nodes, such as materials, textures,
and utilities, and to view and edit rendering
(or shading) networks.

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Editor Description

Chapter 11, “Visor” The Visor is a visual outliner and file

browser. It displays images of shading
nodes you can create, of those already in
your scene, and of those in your project
directory.

Shading Group Attributes

The Shading Group Attributes item opens the Attribute Editor for a selected
object. See Shading Group Tool and Chapter 16, “Shading Group
Attributes”for details.

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4 RENDER VIEW AND IPR

The Render View renders and IPR renders your scenes immediately and lets
you adjust such elements as lighting, textures, quality, or any other effects so
you can preview your render before the final result.

Note
Maya gives priority to the renderer when you perform a render. You will
have to wait until the render is complete before continuing work in your
Maya session. You can press Esc to cancel the render.

In this chapter:

Quick overview: Using the Render View

• Improving the Render View test render quality

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• Rendering only part of the scene

Quick overview: Using IPR

Render View icons

• Redo Previous Render
• Redo Previous IPR Render
• Refresh the IPR Image
• Display RGB Channels
• Display Alpha Channel
• Display Real Size
• Keep Image
• Remove Image
• Grab Swatch to Hypershade/ Visor
• Close IPR File and Stop Tuning

Render View panel

Render View menus

Before you begin

You should do the following before test rendering:
• Place lights in your scene. The Render View or IPR result does not display
unless there are lights in the scene.
• If you want to adjust the lighting in the view before you test render, select
Lighting > Use All Lights in the view and adjust the lighting as desired.
• If you want to see an accurate result of your test render (even though it may
take a little longer), adjust the Resolution and Antialiasing attributes in the
Render Globals window (see Improving the Render View test render quality
for details).

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Quick overview: Using the Render View

QUICK OVERVIEW: USING THE RENDER VIEW

Use Render View to interactively tune rendering attributes and test render
single frames. To find out more about using the Render View, see Using
Maya: Rendering.

To test render using Render View:

1 Position the camera you want to render (the view). In other words, click to
focus in the view you want to render.
2 Select Render > Render into New Window to open the Render View (or click
the Render into a new Render View window icon at the top-right of the
Status Line).
3 If you decide you want to render another view, in the Render View window,
select Render > Render and choose the view you want to render from the
pull-down menu.

Tip
Click the Redo Previous Render icon on the Render View’s tool bar if you
want to re-render the same camera.

Improving the Render View test render quality

The following example shows a default rendered image in the Render View.
Notice the quality of the result. Sometimes this can happen when you do not
select the 1:1 (Real Size) option in the Render View’s status line and zoom in
(Alt-middle-left mouse button) to get a better view.

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Quick overview: Using the Render View

To correct this, and to be on the safe side when you’re ready to see an
accurate result of your rendered scene, open the Render Globals window
(Window > Render Globals) and change the following settings to your
liking. Remember—the higher the quality the slower the render time.

Press the Redo Previous Render button either in the Render View or select
Redo Previous Render from Maya’s main window Render menu or the
Render View’s Render menu to see the result.

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Quick overview: Using the Render View

Tips
• When you set the Render Globals attributes, even if you zoom in or
out, the results are still quite accurate.
• If you place a Resolution Gate around the objects you want to render,
only those display in the Render View.

Rendering only part of the scene

If you want to render only part of the scene after you have made changes,
left-mouse drag a marquee where you want to see the result and click the
Render Region button.
You can also toggle on Auto Render Region from the Options menu, make
the changes you want, then drag a marquee around the area you want to test
render. Maya automatically starts the render when the marquee is drawn.
See the following example. Only the marqueed area of the surface re-renders
showing the results of the adjustment.

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Quick overview: Using IPR

Drag a marquee, make changes

to the scene, then select Render
Region or Options > Auto Render
Region.

QUICK OVERVIEW: USING IPR

To test render using IPR:
1 Position the camera you want to render (the view). In other words, click to
focus on the modeling view you want to render.
2 Select Render > IPR Render into New Window to open the Render View (or
click the IPR Render into a new Render View window icon at the top-right of
the Status Line).
3 If you decide you want to render another view, in the Render View window,
select IPR > IPR Render and choose the view you want to render from the
pull-down menu.
IPR means Interactive Photorealistic Rendering. When you render a scene using
this powerful feature, you can interactively update portions or all of your
scene and get the feedback immediately. Simply left-mouse button drag a
marquee around all or part of the scene.
If you change the view (such as tumble or zoom or add new elements to the
scene) press the Redo Previous IPR Render button in the Render View or
from the Render menu in Maya’s main menu bar to update the result.
In the following, Maya updates only the area you marquee and the rest of
the rendered result remains intact.

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Quick overview: Using IPR

Drag to select the area you want to change. When you make the changes, the feedback
is immediate.

Improving the IPR test render quality

The difference between using Render View and IPR is that you cannot use
the Display Real Size function to zoom into the view. If you do zoom into
the view or resize the Render View window, the result is not very good.
What you have to do first is zoom in or out of the modeling view for which
you are performing an IPR render then set the attributes to give you the
results you need.
Select IPR Render Globals from the IPR menu in the Render View. Not only
can you set the attributes specific to IPR rendering in the Render Globals
window, you can also adjust the Resolution and Antialiasing Quality for
your scene (see Improving the Render View test render quality for details).
Once you have adjusted the settings, marquee a region or the whole scene
and change anything in the view (meaning, you can zoom in or out or
change the scene). When satisfied with the scene in the view, select the Redo
Previous IPR Render icon in the Render View window.

IPR Limitations
The IPR file you save is like a snapshot of the data in your scene at the
moment you perform the IPR render. Changes you make to geometry in
your scene, for example if you import StudioPaint UVs into Maya or if you

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Quick overview: Using IPR

change an object’s UVs or the distribution of isoparms on a NURBS surface,

you will not see the changes until you perform a new IPR render. This is
because these scene changes must be saved to disk prior to selecting a tuning
region.

Features not supported:

• Ray Tracing
• Particles
• 3d motion blur.
• Antialiasing: EAS, adaptive shading, multipixel filtering
• Global override of the “enable depth map shadows” attribute will not
function properly.
• Output to only IFF (deep raster) format.

Image plane limitations:

• Only supported file mode, not texture mode.
• Changes to file mode do not IPR render properly unless the “update image
plane” is invoked per change.

Shader + Texture limitations:

• Use Background surface material 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 regeneration of the deep raster.
• Turning on advanced filters (for example, quadratic, cubic, quassian) in the
file texture will require the deep raster to be regenerated because much more
information needs to be passed to the sampleData, unless the deep raster
was generated with the advanced filter turned on.

Geometry (NURBS, Poly, Subdiv) changes that need the deep raster to
be regenerated to be correct:
• Addition or deletion of geometry.
• Transformations or morphing of geometry.
• Changed tessellation attributes.

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Render View icons

• Toggling on/off the “fix texture warp”, or modifying any “fix texture warp”
attributes, will not result in a proper IPR render unless the deep raster is
regenerated. 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:
• The light is transformed.
• Toggle on/off the “use auto focus”.
• For a spot light, change the cone angle, 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 deep raster 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.

Others:
Changing blurbyframe will not update the IPR unless the deep raster is
regenerated.

RENDER VIEW ICONS

You can use the following icons at the top left of the Maya window, or use
the icons at the top of the Render View to perform the following operations.

This shows the icons at the top of the Render View. A description of each
icon follows. Click the italicized icon names to jump to their descriptions.

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Render View icons

Refresh the IPR Image

Display RGB Channels Close IPR File
Redo Previous Render and Stop Tuning
Display Alpha Channel

Render Region Display Real Size Grab Swatch to Hypershade/ Visor

Keep Image Show Render Diagnostics in the Script Editor

Redo Previous IPR Render Remove Image

Redo Previous
Render Renders the same view you rendered last. If you rendered
a region the last time, Redo Previous Render renders the
entire image.
Render Region When you draw a marquee around an area in the Render
View window, select this option to render only that area.
This is useful if you’ve made a change to part of the
surface on which you want to perform a quick test render.
See Rendering only part of the scene for details.
Redo Previous
IPR Render IPR renders the same view last IPR rendered.
Refresh the IPR
Image Completely updates (re-shades) your entire image based
on all changes you have made. The refresh occurs a bit at a
time, because loading all the samples for the entire image
may use too much memory.
Display RGB
Channels Displays the image with the RGB channels. This is the
default display mode.
Display Alpha
Channel Displays the image’s alpha channel only. See Use
Background and Matte Opacity for a few examples of how
this option is used.

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Render View icons

Display Real
Size Displays the image at its real resolution. See also
Improving the Render View test render quality.
Keep Image Keeps the current image so you can view it later. When
you keep more than one image, a slider displays at the
bottom of the window. Drag this slider to bring a specific
image into view without loading the image.

The images are lost when you end your Maya session.
Remove Image Releases the currently viewed image (and the memory it
needs) from the Render View. Select the image you want
to remove by using the slider bar at the bottom of the
window.
Show Render
Diagnostics in
the Script Editor Click the Show Render Diagnostics in the Script Editor
icon after you tune objects, and before you render.

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Render View icons

The Script Editor that displays 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.
See Render Diagnostics for more details about what this
window provides.
Grab Swatch to
Hypershade/
Visor Allows you to customize the swatches in Hypershade.
Click the icon, then marquee a region (you will see the
white marquee lines) and middle-mouse drag it to a
swatch in Hypershade or Visor. The swatch displays the
image you dragged from Render View.

Click the icon, drag a marquee

around the region you
want to display on a swatch,
then middle-mouse drag from
Render View over the swatch
in Hypershade.

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Render View panel

This can be useful if you want to remember a scene and all

the attributes associated with it.
Close IPR File
and Stop
Tuning Closes the current IPR file and ends the current IPR
session. This releases the memory used by IPR to tune the
region you have marqueed.
The amount of memory used during an IPR session may
be considerable. You can see an estimate of how much
memory is being used for the current IPR tuning region in
the upper right corner of Render View.

RENDER VIEW PANEL

The Render View panel is like most other Maya view panels. You can zoom
and track the view using the same keyboard shortcuts: Alt-middle-mouse
button to track the view, and Alt-middle-left mouse buttons to zoom in or
out.

Tip
If you select the Keep Image button for more than one of your rendered
images, you can drag the slider that displays at the bottom of the Render
View window to the left or right to view each successive image you
loaded. The images display one at a time in the order in which you loaded
them. Thus, you can avoid having to reload images.

Render View menus

You can specify how to display an image (Display menu), how to view an
image (View menu), and how to open and save an image (File menu) by
using the following menu items. With the right mouse button in Render
View, you can also access these items in popup menus.

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Render View panel

File menu
Open Image Lets you load and view images from disk into Render
View. Images usually end with suffixes indicating their
image format.
Save Image Saves the image to disk in the /images directory (as
specified by your current project management settings).
Open IPR File Opens the file browser to the iprImages directory, from
where you can open a saved IPR file into Render View.
Make sure the IPR file you load corresponds to your
current scene file. If the name of a surface in your IPR file
doesn’t match a corresponding surface in your current
scene, you will be unable to tune the shading
characteristics of that surface.
Save IPR File Saves the current IPR file to the iprImages directory. You
can retrieve the file into Render View by selecting File >
Open IPR File in Render View.
Close IPR File Closes an IPR file that you are currently working on, and
ends your current IPR session. This releases the memory
used by IPR to tune the region you have marqueed.
The amount of memory used during an IPR session may
be considerable. You can see an estimate of how much
memory is being used for the current IPR tuning region in
the upper right corner of Render View.
Render
Diagnostics Run Render Diagnostics after you tune objects, and before
you render. This window provides valuable information
about how you can improve performance or avoid certain
limitations. You can run the diagnostics while
experimenting with your rendering settings, or before you
start your final rendering.
The following displays part of a render diagnostics window. Use the scroll
bar to scroll up, down, or sideways to read the rest of the information:

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Render View panel

The limitations and recommendations Render Diagnostics displays include

messages about the following topics:
• motion blur limitations
• output image file format restrictions
• fractional by frame requiring modify ext
• no renderable cameras or weird combination
• large far/near clipping plane values cause artifacts
• reflection gets incorrect normal when bumped
• instanced light nonfunctional
• zeroscale items not rendered
• no lights warning
• composite rendering warning
• RT global flag on but no real RT being requested
• small filter value warning
• file texture name delimited by “.” warning
• Shading Group with no ports connected

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Render View panel

• object with no Shading Group associated

• screenspace tessellation resulting in flicker
• dangling volume primitives (fog/glow)
• Ray Tracing warning, and Ray Tracing limits
• high shading sample warning
• high visibility sample warning
• multipixel filtering expensive warning
• lots of textures not using file caching warning
• avoid Ray Tracing shadows
• avoid large filter size values for shadow map
• avoid large shadow map resolution
• output objects with high tessellation count
• degree 1 tessellation suggestion
Keep Image in
Render View Keeps the current image so you can view it later. When
you keep more than one image, a slider appears at the
bottom of the window, letting you bring a specific image
into view without loading the image. The images are lost
when you end your Maya session.
Remove Image
from Render
View Releases the currently viewed image (and the memory
needed by it) from the Render View. Select the image that
you want to remove by using the slider.

Render menu
Use the Render menu to render entire frames or parts of frames. See also
Using Maya: Rendering for details.
Redo Previous
Render Renders the same view that you last rendered. If you
rendered a region the last time, Redo Previous Render
renders the entire image.

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Render View panel

Render Region When you draw a marquee around an area in the Render
View window, select this option to render only that area.
This is useful if you’ve made a change to part of the
surface on which you want to perform a quick test render.
See Rendering only part of the scene for details.
Render Opens a cascading menu, from which you can choose the
view to render (current, persp, front, side, or top). The
render starts automatically.
Snapshot Opens a cascading menu from which you can choose the
view to take a snapshot (current, persp, front, side, or
top).This does not work for IPR rendering.
This feature is meant to allow you to aim for a region
marquee without doing a full render first.
A wireframe snapshot is taken of the view you select and
loaded as a background into the Render View. You can
then marquee a region to render in front of the snapshot
background and select the Render Region icon.

Tip
Zoom into the modeling view you select if you want to see the results up
close.

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Render View panel

IPR menu
Use IPR menu items to tune IPR rendering attributes and preview your
scene.
Redo Previous
IPR Render IPR renders the same view that was last IPR rendered.
IPR Render Opens a cascading menu, from which you can choose the
view to IPR render (current, persp, front, side, or top)
IPR Render performs all the visibility calculations on your
scene, saving the results to a large file on disk. You are
now ready to tune your image (by modifying your
rendering attributes and watching IPR rapidly update the
image), as soon as you marquee a region to tune.
Update Shadow
Maps Regenerates your shadow maps, and updates the IPR
image. You cannot interactively tune your shadow maps.
Update Image
Planes/
Background Updates the marquee IPR region with changes that you
have made to the image plane. If you don’t select this
option after you make changes to an image plane, the
effects of the changes are not evident in IPR until you
either perform a new IPR render or marquee a new tuning
region.
Refresh IPR
Image Completely updates (re-shades) your entire image based
on all changes you have made. The refresh occurs a bit at a
time, because loading all the samples for the entire image
would often use too much memory.

IPR Tuning Options

Specifies what characteristics of your scene update interactively as you tune.
These options are related to the IPR Options in the Render Globals. For
example, if you turn off Render Shading, Lighting, and Glow in the Render
Globals, you cannot tune them.

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• Update Shading and Lighting Indicates whether or not your IPR image will
update as you tune shading and lighting attributes of your scene. If this
option is on, your IPR image will update whenever you tune an attribute of
your shading network, an attribute of your light, or when you make shading
group assignments, or move lights.
• Update Shader Glow Indicates whether or not your IPR image will undergo
a post-processing pass to show the effects of shader glow characteristics in
your scene. If this option is turned on, your IPR image will update whenever
you tune an attribute of your shader glow.
• Update Light Glow Indicates whether or not your IPR image will undergo a
post-processing pass to show the effects of light glow characteristics in your
scene. If this option is turned on, your IPR image will update whenever you
tune lighting or light glow attributes, or move a light.
• Update Motion Blur Indicates whether or not your IPR image will undergo
a post-processing pass to show the effects of 2D motion blur characteristics
of your scene. If this option is turned on, your IPR image will update
whenever you tune 2D motion blur attributes. Modifying the animation of
your scene (to make an object move faster, and therefore blur more, for
example) will not affect the motion blur of your IPR image because
modifying the animation changes the information that was generated during
the IPR render (motion vectors are changed), which is essentially a change in
the visibility calculation. You will have to perform a new IPR render to see
the results in this situation.

IPR Render Globals

Displays the IPR Options section in the Render Globals window.

These attributes determine which shading elements are saved to disk when
you perform an IPR render. This allows you to save time and disk space if
you want to tune 2D motion blur, for example, which would be a much
smaller file than if you choose to IPR render shading, lighting, glows, and
shadow maps.

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• Render Shading, Lighting, and Glow Determines whether or not you will
be able to tune the shading, lighting and glow characteristics of your next
IPR Render.
• Render Shadow Maps Indicates whether or not depth map shadows will be
visible in your scene and whether or not you will be able to update them
when tuning. Because generating a depth map is a large operation (akin to a
full rendering from the light’s point of view), IPR does not automatically
generate depth maps when attributes affecting how they are built get
changed.

Notes
Attributes in the first part of the Depth Map Shadow Attributes section of a
lights Attribute Editor affect how the depth map is created; you must select
IPR > Update Shadow Maps to see the effect of changes you make to these
attributes.
Attributes in the second part of the Depth Map Shadow Attributes section
of a light’s Attribute Editor affect how the depth map is used; you can tune
these attributes, and see the results immediately in your IPR session.

• Render 2D Motion Blur Indicates whether or not you will be able to tune
the motion blur of your next IPR Render. Only 2D motion blur is tunable.

Options menu
Render Globals Opens the Render Globals window when using Render
View (not IPR).
Test Resolution Select the resolution at which you want to render your
image in the Render View window. Use a reduced
resolution to test render your scene if possible. See
Improving the Render View test render quality.
Auto Resize Prevents the Render View window from resizing the
image each time you render.
When on, always displays the rendered image in the
center of the Render View window, and at real size (one to
one pixel matching). When off, the image always displays
in the same place according to the last view.

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Auto Render
Region When set, renders the image as soon as you finish
dragging a marquee in the Render View window.
When on, makes rendering a region a one-step process:
use the left mouse button to drag a render region, release
the mouse button, and the region is automatically
rendered. When off, rendering a region is a two-step
process.

View menu
Use the View options to display and control what part of the image you
want to frame in Render View.
Frame Image Frames the image you are rendering, so the image is fit to
the Render View.
Frame Region Frames the region you marquee, so the image is fit to the
Render View.
Real Size Automatically adjusts the view so the zoom factor is 1.0,
and each pixel of the image occupies one pixel on the
display.
Show Region
Marquee Displays the red render region marquee in the Render
View window.
Reset Region
Marquee Resets the render region marquee to surround the entire
image.
Grab Swatch to
Hypershade/
Visor Allows you to marquee a region (you will see the white
marquee lines), and drag it to a swatch in Hypershade or
Visor. The swatch then takes on the image that you
dragged from Render View.

Display menu
In the Render View, select the Display menu and choose any of these
commands.

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Red Plane,
Green Plane,
Blue Plane Displays the red, green, or blue plane only.
All Planes Displays RGB planes.
Luminance Displays a weighted average of R, G, and B planes that
define the luminance level of the image.
Mask Plane Displays the mask channel only.
Dithered In general, turn off Dithered to display the best version of
a image. Turn on Dithered to display a dithered image.
Toolbar Shows/hides the Render View window tool bar.

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The Render Globals window contains options for setting how a scene will
render.
In this chapter:

Render Globals Edit menu

Hardware Render Globals

Render Globals attributes

• File Name
• Image File Output
• Resolution
• Field Options
• Anti-aliasing Quality
• Raytracing Quality
• Modify Extension
• Renumber Frames
• Motion Blur
• Render Options
• Memory and Performance Options
• IPR Options
• Render Layer/Pass Control
• Render Pass management spreadsheet

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Render Globals Edit menu

RENDER GLOBALS EDIT MENU

There is only one Edit menu option—Hardware Render Globals.

Hardware Render Globals

Selecting this item provides a special Attribute Editor that lets you control
how the Hardware Render Buffer renders images. See Hardware Render
Globals for details.

RENDER GLOBALS ATTRIBUTES

The following discusses the elements of the Render Globals window. To
open each section of the window, press the arrow to access the attributes.

File Name
Displays a preview of the file name for rendered images.

Image File Output

The Image File Output attributes control the file name and extension of
rendered image files.
File Name
Prefix The base name for all rendered image files in an
animation.

Note
When choosing basic file names for an animation, avoid using periods.
Instead use underscores. For example, use
xxx_yyy.iff.1
instead of
xxx.yyy.iff.1

Frame/
Animation Ext Select the format (syntax) of rendered image file names.

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name.#.ext
file format extension
frame number extension
file name

Important
If you select an option that does not contain #, Maya renders a single frame.
If you select an option that contains #, Maya renders an animation. The top
of the Render Globals window provides feedback for the output files.

Option Example

name rocket

name.ext rocket.iff

name.#.ext rocket.1.iff

name.ext.# rocket.iff.1

name.# rocket.1

Start Frame, End

Frame The first frame (Start Frame) and last frame (End Frame)
that you want to render. Start Frame and End Frame are
only available if Frame/Animation Ext is set to an option
that contains #. The default value for Start Frame is 1; the
default value for End Frame is 10.
By Frame The increment between frames that you want to render.
By Frame is only available if Frame/Animation Ext is set
to an option that contains #. The default value is 1.

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Frame Padding The number of digits you want in frame number

extensions. For example, if Frame/Animation Ext is set to
name.ext, and Frame Padding is 3, rendered image files
will be named name.001, name.002, and so on. The default
value is 1.
Image Format

The following table lists the file format of rendered images.

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.

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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.

Maya16 IFF (iff) Maya Image File Format with 16 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.

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.

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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 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.

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.

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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 Bitmap Windows bitmap image file format. Maya saves

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

Renderable
Objects Controls whether Maya renders all objects (Render All) or
only selected objects (Render Active). The default setting
is Render All.
Camera Controls which camera generates an image during
rendering. The default setting is persp.
Channels Controls whether rendered images contain color, mask,
and/or depth channels. The default setting is RGB
Channel (Color) on, Alpha Channel (Mask) on, and Depth
Channel (Z Depth) off.

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Depth channel (or Z depth or Z buffer channels)

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 (such as 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.
Maya stores depth values as -1/z. These represent the near and far clipping
values.

To create a Depth file:

1 Turn on Depth Channel (Z Depth).
2 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.

Resolution
The Resolution attributes control the resolution and pixel aspect ratio of
rendered images. For more information, see Using Maya: Rendering.
Presets Lets you select a film or video industry standard
resolution. When you select an option from the Presets
pull-down menu, Maya automatically sets the Width,
Height, Device Aspect Ratio, and Pixel Aspect Ratio.

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Render Resolution Width Height Device Pixel

Aspect Aspect
Ratio Ratio

Custom any any any any

320x240 320 240 1.333 1.000

640x480 640 480 1.333 1.000

1k Square 1024 1024 1.000 1.000

2k Square 2048 2048 1.000 1.000

3k Square 3072 3072 1.000 1.000

4k Square 4096 4096 1.000 1.000

CCIR 601 720 486 1.333 0.900

CCIR PAL 720 576 1.333 1.066

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Render Resolution Width Height Device Pixel

Aspect Aspect
Ratio Ratio

DigitalVideo (see CCIR 601) 720 486 1.333 0.900

Full 1024 1024 768 1.333 1.000

Full 1280 1280 1024 1.333 1.066

HD 720 1280 720 1.777 1.000

HD 1080 1920 1080 1.777 1.000

NTSC 4d 646 485 1.333 1.001

PAL 768 768 576 1.333 1.000

PAL 780 780 576 1.333 0.984

Quantel PAL (qtl) 720 576 1.333 1.066

(see CCIR PAL)

Quantel NTSC (qtl) 720 486 1.333 0.900

(see CCIR 601)

Screen (see Full 1280) 1280 1024 1.333 1.066

Targa 486 (tga) 512 486 1.333 1.265

Targa NTSC (tga) 512 482 1.333 1.255

Targa PAL (tga) 512 576 1.333 1.500

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Note
The following options are identical:
• CCIR 601, DigitalVideo, and Quantel NTSC (qtl)
• CCIR PAL and Quantel PAL (qtl)
• Full 1280 and Screen
If you select DigitalVideo or Quantel NTSC (qtl), Maya will select CCIR
601. If you select Quantel PAL (qtl), Maya will select CCIR PAL. If you
select Screen, Maya will select Full 1280.

You can also add a Presets option if you want to output to a device that is
not listed.

To add a Presets option:

1 Create a file called userImageFormats.mel.
2 Put this file in the /maya/scripts directory.
3 Include in this file the descriptions of all the render resolutions you want to
add to the Render Globals, using the text below as a starting place.
global string $gUserImageFormatData[] =
{
// name width height aspect ratio
// -----------------------------------------------
"1320x1240 1320 1240 1.333",
"5k_Square_Exactly 5000 5000 1.000"
};
4 You must close any current Maya sessions, and restart Maya.
The next time you run Maya, the new resolutions display in both the
software Render Globals window and in the default Hardware Render
Globals Attribute Editor.

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Maintain Width/
Height Ratio When on, Maya automatically updates the Height (and
vice versa) when you set the Width. If off, Maya does not
update the Height (or vice versa) when you set the Width;
Maya updates the Pixel Aspect Ratio or the Pixel Aspect
Ratio and the Device Aspect Ratio (if Lock Device Aspect
Ratio is off). Maintain Width/Height Ratio is on by
default.
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 and the Pixel Aspect Ratio (if Lock Device
Aspect Ratio is off).
Lock Device
Aspect Ratio If off, Maya automatically updates Pixel Aspect Ratio and
Device Aspect Ratio when you set Width or Height. If off,
neither are updated because a specific device and pixel
aspect ratio is expected. The default setting is off.
Device Aspect
Ratio The aspect ratio of the display device on which you will
be viewing the rendered image. 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.
For example, NTSC is 720x486, but you need the Device
Aspect Ratio to be 4/3 (NTSC standard). This is when you
lock the Device Aspect Ratio so that 4/3 is the result
setting and not 720x486.
Pixel Aspect
Ratio The aspect ratio of the individual pixels of the display
device on which you will be viewing the rendered image.
Most display devices (for example, a computer monitor)
have square pixels, and their Pixel Aspect Ratio is 1. Some

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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.

Resolution tip
When test rendering into the Render View (see Chapter 4, “Render View and
IPR”), to achieve a clear and larger render than what you see in the view:

Set the Resolution options to:

• Presets to 640x480,
• toggle on Maintain Width/Height Ration,

Set the Anti-Aliasing Quality options to:

• Presets to Production Quality (which automatically selects the Highest
Quality Edge Anti-aliasing).
• or Custom and set the Edge Anti-aliasing to High Quality or Highest
Quality.

Field Options
The Field Options control how Maya renders images as fields.

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Fields

Controls whether Maya renders images as frames or fields. Select an option

from the pull-down menu. Options include:
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”, or Even Fields at time “x” and odd fields at time “x+0.5”.

Note
If the Render Field Option is set to Frames, the Field Dominance options
are not available. If set to Both Fields Interlaced, Maya sets the appropriate
field dominance based on the format standard (NTSC or PAL).

To render fields for NTSC systems, set Field Dominance to Odd Field first.
To render fields for PAL systems, set Field Dominance to Even Field first.

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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.

Note
If the Render Field Option is set to Frames or Both Fields, Interlaced, the
Zeroth Scanline options are not available. Maya chooses the appropriate
setting based on the format standard, NTSC or PAL.

At Top/At
Bottom Set the At Top option (unless you encounter problems
with a test rendered animation). At Top is set by default.
If you encounter problems in an animation where objects
vibrate up and down, change the Zeroth Scanline setting,
and 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 render the animation until the problem is
solved.
No Field
Extension No extension is added to odd and even field file names.
Default Field
Extension (o
and e) 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. For example,
name.001e.iff and name.001o.iff. This is the default
setting.

Custom Extension
Set this option on to specify custom extensions to add to odd and even field
file names.
For example, if you type x, the result is name.001x.iff.
Odd Field The extension to add to odd field file names.

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Even Field The extension to add to even field file names.

Anti-aliasing Quality
The Anti-aliasing Quality attributes control how Maya anti-aliases objects
during rendering.

Presets
Lets you select a preset anti-aliasing quality from the pull-down menu.

When you select a preset, Maya automatically sets all Anti-aliasing Quality
attributes. The default setting is Custom.
Custom When you change any of the Anti-aliasing attributes,
Maya automatically sets Presets to Custom.

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Preview Quality Good for test rendering scenes.

Intermediate
Quality Good for test rendering scenes that can produce slightly
better quality.
Production
Quality Good for test rendering, or for final rendering scenes that
do not contain 3D motion blur or scenes that are not high
contrast.
Contrast
Sensitive
Production Good for test rendering or final rendering high contrast
scenes such as when you Ray Trace a scene.
3D Motion Blur
Production Good for test rendering or final rendering scenes that
contain 3D motion blur. See “Motion Blur” on page 76.

Edge Anti-aliasing
Controls how the edges of objects are anti-aliased during rendering. Select a
quality setting from the pull-down menu.

If set to Low Quality, object edges appear jagged, but render faster.
If set to Highest Quality, object edges appear smooth, but rendering takes
longer.
Once you select an Edge Anti-aliasing quality from the pull-down menu,
Maya automatically sets all Anti-aliasing Quality attributes.
Low Quality Fastest anti-aliasing setting. For each pixel being rendered,
two points are analyzed, and used to determine which
part of the object is visible, producing low quality edge
anti-aliasing. This setting is mostly good for quick test
renders of complex scenes, and it produces very low
quality anti-aliased edges.

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Medium
Quality For each pixel being rendered, eight points are analyzed,
and used to determine which part of the object is visible,
producing medium quality edge anti-aliasing. This quality
is a little slower and gives moderately good edge anti-
aliasing. This quality level is good for test rendering
moderately complex scenes.
High Quality For each pixel being rendered, thirty-two points are
analyzed, and used to determine which part of the object
is visible, producing high quality edge anti-aliasing. This
quality level can be used for testing as well as production
rendering.
Highest Quality Must be used in conjunction with Max Shading Sample.
This quality level improves on the High Quality shading,
and is excellent for picking up highlights that may be
missed by a single pass using the default value of High
Quality computation. Highest Quality anti-aliasing
computes the image in two passes, looking for color
contrasts within pixels and in surrounding pixels, such as
highlights. The first pass is the High Quality computation,
and the second pass looks for color contrast in the results
of the first pass. In the regions where color contrast is high
(for example, in regions containing highlights), more
shading samples are taken.
See also Shading Samples and Max Shading Samples.

Number of Samples
Shading The number of shading samples for all surfaces.
This option works in conjunction with Shading Samples,
an attribute available from the Render Stats section of a
surface’s Attribute Editor.

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Shading Samples sets the number of times Maya shades

each fragment in a pixel.
For details, see Shading Samples.
Max Shading The maximum number of shading samples for all surfaces.
This option works in conjunction with Max Shading
Samples, an attribute available from the Render Stats
section of a surface’s Attribute Editor.
MaxShading Samples sets the maximum number of times
a pixel is shaded during the second pass of a Highest
Quality render. The higher the number, the longer the
rendering will take, but the more accurate the resulting
image.
For more details, see Max Shading Samples.

Note
This option is not available if you choose Preview Quality from the Presets
menu as the Anti-aliasing Quality.

3D Blur Visib. The number of visibility samples Maya takes in order to

accurately compute a moving object’s visibility as it passes
over another object.

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This option works in conjunction with Max Visib Samples,

an attribute available in the 3D Motion Blur section of a
surface’s attribute editor.
Max Visib Samples is the maximum number of times a
pixel is sampled for visibility when Motion Blur is turned
on.
For details, see 3D Motion Blur.
Max 3D Blur
Visib. The maximum number of times a pixel is sampled for
visibility when Motion Blur is turned on.
This option works with Max Visib Samples, an attribute
available in the 3D Motion Blur section of a surface’s
attribute editor.
Max Visib Samples is the maximum number of times a
pixel is sampled for visibility when Motion Blur is turned
on.
For details, see 3D Motion Blur.

Note
3D Blur Visib. and Max 3D Blur Visib. are only available when you toggle
3D Motion Blur on in the Motion Blur section of the Render Globals
window. Max 3D Blur Visib. is only enabled when you use Highest Quality
Edge Anti-aliasing.

Particles The number of shading samples for particles.

This option works with Shading Samples, an attribute
available from the Render Stats section of a surface’s
Attribute Editor. Shading samples sets the number of
times Maya shades each fragment in a pixel. See Shading
Samples for more details.

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Multipixel Filtering
Multipixel filtering blurs or softens the entire rendered image to help
eliminate aliasing or jagged edges in rendered images, or roping or flicking
in rendered animations.

Note
These options are only available when the Edge Anti-aliasing quality is set
to either High Quality or Highest Quality.

Use Multi Pixel

Filter If toggled on, Maya blurs or softens the entire rendered
image. Maya does this by blurring each pixel in the
rendered image with its neighboring pixels, based on the
Pixel Filter Type, and the Pixel Filter Width X, Y settings.

Tips
• You may want to use multipixel filtering to eliminate aliasing or
jagged edges in rendered images, or roping or flicking in rendered
animations.
• If you are rendering fields, Maya does not blur rendered images,
even if Use Multi Pixel Filter is on.

Pixel Filter Type Controls how much the rendered image is blurred or
softened when Use Multi Pixel Filter is on. There are five
preset filters to choose from:

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Box Filter (very soft), Triangle Filter (soft), Gaussian Filter

(only slightly soft), Quadratic B-Spline Filter (the filter
used in Maya 1.0) and Plug-in Filter. The default is
Triangle Filter.
To use a custom filter, select Plug-in Filter (see To create a
plug-in multipixel filter: next).

Tip
Typically, the Gaussian Filter is best for eliminating aliasing without
softening the overall image too much. To eliminate roping artifacts from an
image, try the Gaussian Filter. If that doesn’t produce the desired result, try
the Triangle Filter (if the overall image becomes too soft, reduce the Pixel
Filter Width X and Pixel Filter Width Y values).

To create a plug-in multipixel filter:

See also the Maya Developer’s Tool Kit online documentation.
The Plug-in Filter Weight attribute is connected with the plug-in filter node
and its value will be used as the filter weight. The filter does not have to be
normalized.
You can define a plug-in DG node with at least two input attributes and one
output attribute with a float type. The input attributes require the short
name X and Y.
The output attribute has to be connected to the Plug In Filter Weight
attribute in the renderQuality node.
When the plug in filter type is selected, the plug-in node is evaluated
multiple times with different x and y weights, ranging in [-1..1].
The plug-in filter should be defined in the normalized domain
[-1..1,-1..1]. The filter width change only affects the mapping of the
normalized filter to the pixel coverage.

To load a plug-in multipixel filter:

This workflow assumes that you have already created a multipixel filter
plug-in.

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1 Copy the filter plug-in .so file to /maya/bin/plug-ins or to a directory where the
Plug-in Manager can read them.
2 Start Maya and in Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager you
should see the plug-in you created. Load the plug-in.

To connect a plug-in multipixel filter to the Plug In Filter Weight:

1 In the Script Editor, create a plug-in node by typing:
createNode <yourPluginNodeType>
A node will be created for the plug-in.
2 Select the plug-in node by typing in the script editor:
select <yourPluginNodeType>
3 With the plug-in node selected, open the Connection Editor (Windows >
General Editors > Connection Editor). Load the plug-in node to the left side
of the Connection Editor.
4 Repeat steps 4 and 5 to load the defaultRenderQuality or user-created
renderQuality node to the right side of the Connection Editor.
5 Connect the plug-in node’s weight to the defaultRenderQuality Plug In
Filter Weight attribute. You are now ready to use the multipixel filter plug-
in.

Pixel Filter Width

X, Y Controls the filter width used to soften each pixel in the
rendered image when Use Multi Pixel Filter is on. If larger
than 1, it uses information from neighboring pixels. The
larger the value, the more the image will be blurred. The
Pixel Filter Width X and Pixel Filter Width Y values do not
need to be the same; however, to blur the rendered image
equally in both directions, these values should be the
same.
The valid range is 1 to 3. The default value is 1.8.

Contrast Threshold
The Contrast Threshold attributes help you control the contrast of rendered
images.

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Red, Green,
Blue The number of shading samples taken during the second
pass computation when Edge Anti-aliasing is set to
Highest Quality.
Reducing these numbers help bring out interesting
features in rendered images (for example, small highlights
or shadow boundaries), but also increases rendering
times.
The valid range is 0 to 1. The default values are 0.4 (Red),
0.3 (Green), and 0.6 (Blue)
If Presets is set to Contrast Sensitive Production, the
default values are 0.2 (Red), 0.15 (Green), and 0.3 (Blue).

Tip
In relatively colorless images that exhibit shading aliasing (for example,
gray shadows that look ropy), try setting Red to 0.3, Green to 0.2, and Blue
to 0.5.

Coverage The number of Visibility Samples taken during 3d motion

blur computation. For example, reducing this number
helps the renderer detect the change of visible objects in a
pixel, but also increases rendering times.
This attribute is only available when 3d Motion Blur is
toggled on. The valid range is 0 to 1. The default value is
0.125.

Raytracing Quality
The Raytracing Quality attributes control whether a scene is raytraced
during rendering, and control the quality of raytraced images.

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Raytracing If on, Maya raytraces the scene during rendering.

Raytracing can produce accurate reflections, refractions,
and shadows, but increases rendering times considerably.
Reflections The maximum number of times a light ray can be
reflected. The Reflections value overrides (lowers) all
materials’ Reflection Limit values. The valid range is 0 to
10. The default value is 1.
For details, see Reflection Limit.
Refractions The maximum number of times a light ray can be
refracted. The Refractions value overrides (lowers) all
materials’ Refraction Limit values. The valid range is 0 to
10. The default value is 6.
For details, see Refraction Limit.
Shadows The maximum number of times a light ray can be reflected
and/or refracted and still cause an object to cast a shadow.
The Shadows value overrides (lowers) all lights’ Ray
Depth Limit values. A value of 0 turns off shadows.
For details, see Ray Depth Limit.
For example, if the Shadows value is 2, only light rays that
have been reflected and/or refracted once cause an object
to cast a shadow. The valid range is 0 to 10. The default
value is 2.
Bias If your scene contains 3d motion blurred objects and
raytraced shadows, you may notice dark areas or incorrect
shadows on the motion blurred objects. To solve this
problem, set the Bias value between 0.05 and 0.1.
If your scene does not contain 3d motion blurred objects
and raytraced shadows, leave the Bias value as 0.

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The valid range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.

Modify Extension

Use Custom
Extension Lets you use a custom file format extension for rendered
image file names by turning on Use Custom Extension,
and entering the extension in the field.

Renumber Frames
The Renumber Frames attributes let you change the numbering of rendered
image files for an animation. The Renumber Frames attributes are only
available if Frame/Animation Ext is set to an option with # (such as
name.#.ext).

Renumber
Frames Using If on, Maya uses the frame number extensions beginning
at Start Number and increasing by By Frame for rendered
image file names.
Start Number The frame number extension you want the first rendered
image file name to have.
By Frame The increment between frame number extensions you
want rendered image file names to have.

Motion Blur
When you render an animation, motion blur gives the effect of speed and
movement by blurring objects in the scene. You can turn Motion Blur on or
off for objects. Maya uses the relationship between the Shutter Angle and
Motion Blur attributes to determine how much blur affects an object.
See Shutter Angle for details.

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Motion Blur
checked on.
2D selected.

Motion Blur If toggled on, moving objects that have the Motion Blur
attribute set on appear blurred. If off, moving objects
appear sharp. Motion Blur is off by default.
See also Motion Blur.
Motion Blur
Type The method Maya uses to motion blur objects (2D or 3D).
2D motion blur is a post-process; Maya blurs each object
in the image after rendering the entire image based on the
object’s motion vector (its speed and direction).
3D motion blur is similar to real-world motion blur, but
takes longer to render than 2D motion blur. The default
setting is 3D.
Blur By Frame The amount that moving objects are blurred. The higher
the value the more motion blur is applied to objects.
For example, if you motion blur by 1 frame, blur is
calculated based on the motion of objects from one frame
to the next; if you motion blur by 4 frames, blur is
calculated based on the motion of objects every four
frames, during which time much motion is detected, and
therefore much blur is applied. The amount that moving
objects are blurred is also based on the Shutter Angle of
the camera. The default value is 1.
See also Shutter Angle.
Blur Length Scales the amount that moving objects are blurred.
Blur Length is only available when Motion Blur Type is
2D. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The default value is 0.

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Blur Sharpness The sharpness of motion blurred objects. The larger the
Blur Sharpness, the more spread out the blur.
Blur Sharpness is only available when Motion Blur Type is
2D. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The default value is 0.
Smooth Value The amount that the edges of motion blur are anti-aliased.
The larger the value, the more the motion blur is anti-
aliased. Increasing the Smooth Value may also blur the
edges of static objects, so if you do not want this effect, set
Smooth Value to 0.
Smooth Value is only available when Motion Blur Type is
2D. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The default value is 2.
Smooth Color There are cases when the anti-aliasing done by the Smooth
Value attribute can fail and produce artifacts
corresponding to edges in the alpha channel of the
unblurred image. One example of where this may happen
is when bright opaque objects pass in front of dark light
fog. Turning on Smooth Color in such cases eliminates the
artifacts by additionally blurring the objects. The extra
blurring may not normally be desired, so only use this
attribute when necessary. You can also try setting Smooth
Value to 0, which results in less anti-aliasing, but that may
only be acceptable in some situations.
Smooth Color is only available when Motion Blur Type is
2D. Smooth Color is off by default.
Keep Motion
Vectors If on, Maya saves the motion vector information for all
visible objects with the rendered image but does not blur
the image. This allows you to blur the unblurred rendered
images using other 2D blur software (for example blur2d).
See also “blur2d” in Maya Rendering Utilities.
If Keep Motion Vectors is off, Maya blurs the rendered
image and does not save the motion vector information.
Keep Motion Vectors is only available when Motion Blur
Type is 2D. Keep Motion Vectors is off by default.

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Limitations/Notes
• Moving transparent objects with a background: The background
will also be blurred in this case even though it should not be. The
solution is to blur the transparent object separately and composite
with the rest of the scene. This workaround can be difficult for
complex scenes with lots of transparency, or for transparent
particles.
• Detailed background behind moving objects: Some details may
be lost because assumptions must be made about the background
area occluded by the moving objects. The solution is to blur the
moving objects without the background and then composite the
results.
• Rotating objects: May not look exactly right, because assumptions
about what the back sides of these objects should look like must be
made.
• Objects entering from outside the image or leaving the image:
The edges of frames may not get the correct detail, because
assumptions must be made about the object color that is just
outside a frame. The solution is to render a slightly larger image
which covers the original image and then crop it to the desired
size.
• Rendered results from 3D and 2D are quite different. It is not a
good idea to mix the rendered images from these two different
kinds of blurring operations.
• 2D Motion Blur does not work with fogs or particles.

Render Options
The Render Options attributes control several miscellaneous aspects of
rendering.

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Plug-in Format If you are using a IMF plug-in (to render images in a
format that is not supported by Maya), enter the plug-in
name in the Plugin Format field.
Pre Render MEL,
Post Render
MEL A MEL command or script to run before (Pre Render
MEL) or after (Post Render MEL) rendering.

Note
Do not enter the .mel extension when entering the name of the script. You
will get an error message similar to the following:
Error: Cannot link to "name.mel". Check number and types of
arguments expected on procedure definition.

Environment
Fog Creates an environment fog node.
Shadows Obey
Light Linking If on, shadow casting surfaces only cast shadows from
shadow casting lights with which they are linked. If off, all
shadow casting surfaces cast shadows from all shadow
casting lights, even if they are not linked together.
Shadows Obey Light Linking is on by default.

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Enable Depth
Maps If on, Maya renders all depth map shadows. If off, Maya
does not render depth map shadows. Enable Depth Maps
is on by default.
Ignore Film
Gate If on, Maya renders the area of the scene visible in the
Resolution Gate. If off, Maya renders the area of the scene
visible in the Film Gate. Ignore Film Gate is on by default.
See Display Resolution and Display Film Gate for details.
Clip Final
Shaded Color If on, all color values in the rendered image are kept
between 0 and 1. This ensures that no parts of the image
(for example, foreground objects) are overexposed.If off,
color values in the rendered image may be greater than 1.
Clip Final Shaded Color is on by default.
Gamma
Correction Color corrects rendered images according to the following
formulas. The default value is 1 (no color correction).

gamma_correction
R
R = 255 x ( if R > 255, then R = 255
255 )
gamma_correction
G
G = 255 x ( if G > 255, then G = 255
255 )
gamma_correction
B
B = 255 x ( if B > 255, then B = 255
255 )
Composite If on, Maya renders objects so that they are not anti-aliased
against the background. For example, a pixel on the edge
of an object is not mixed with the background color. (In
TIFF terms, Maya generates unassociated alpha.) If off,
Maya anti-aliases objects against the background.
Composite is off by default.

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Tip
If you are rendering images for use in film or video, turn Composite off. If
you are rendering images for use in a video game, turn Composite on.

Composite
Threshold Controls the amount of edge anti-aliasing in a matte if
Composite is on. If you are rendering images for use in a
video game, and you are using 8 or 16 bit color, set
Composite Threshold to 1 for smooth matte edges, with
no jagged edges. The default value is 0.

Memory and Performance Options

The Memory and Performance Options attributes help you optimize
rendering to make scenes render faster.

Tessellation
The Tessellation attributes help you manage how Maya handles tessellation
information for surfaces.
Use File Cache Enables the storing of geometry information into a
“cache” file in the directory specified by the UNIX
environment variable TMPDIR to reduce the amount of
memory used to store geometric data. Turning on this
option lets the renderer perform its own swapping.

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Note on temporary directories

TMayaEnviornment.cpp has been modified so that it will set a TMPDIR
regardless:
• IRIX: if TMPDIR is set, it checks for write permissions, and if not writable, it
defaults to /usr/tmp. If still not able to write to /usr/tmp, a warning
message displays.
• NT: if TEMP is set, it uses that directory provided it's writable. If not, it
resorts to GetTempPath(). If still not writable, it a warning message displays.
If the above still fails to find a temporary directory, a final attempt will be
made to set the current directory you are working in as the temporary
directory.

Note
Use File Cache helps when you have an I/O-bound process that can max
out your bandwidth and disk space on multi-processor machines.
Before rendering really huge scenes, type:
setenv TMPDIR<NAMEOFDIR>
where <NAMEOFDIR> is the location of a partition with lots of disk space.

Optimize
Instances If on and the scene contains several identical surfaces (for
example, instanced surfaces or identical surfaces created
independently), Maya tessellates only one of them, saving
time and disk space. Optimize Instances is on by default.
Reuse
Tessellations If on, Maya temporarily saves tessellation information to
disk for each frame. This is primarily useful if a scene
contains depth map shadows. For example, Maya
tessellates surfaces when generating the depth map for a
light (and saves the tessellation information to disk), and
then re-uses the tessellation information when generating
depth maps for other lights and when rendering the

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frame. (Maya removes the tessellation information from

disk, and recalculates it for the next frame.) Reuse
Tessellations is on by default.

Note
Reuse Tessellations is an I/O-bound process that can max out the
bandwidth when running multiple render jobs on the same machine.
Reuse Tessellations is useful when running up to four jobs on a multi-
processor machine. You can also try turning off Render Globals > Use File
Cache.

Use
Displacement
Bounding Box Rendering can take a long time when you use
displacement mapping because before rendering tiles,
Maya tessellates all the displacement-mapped surfaces
and calculates their bounding boxes. When you turn on
Use Displacement Bounding Box, Maya calculates the
bounding box scale that you define for all displacement-
mapped surfaces. This makes rendering faster. When
turned off, Maya pre-tessellates all the displacement-
mapped objects before rendering.
See Bounding Box Scale for details.

Ray Tracing
The Ray Tracing attributes help you control raytracing. For more
information, see Raytracing.
Recursion
Depth Determines how many levels of recursion to use for the
raytracing voxel data structure of the rendering. For very
complex scenes, this should be set to 2 or 3. For less-
complicated scenes, a setting of 1 should be fine. The
default is 2.
Leaf Primitives Determines the maximum number of triangles to allow in
a voxel before going to the next recursive level. The
default is 35.

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Subdivision
Power Represents the power that the number of triangles in a
voxel is raised to in order to calculate how many voxels
should be created when recursion is required. The default
is 0.2500, which should be appropriate for most scenes.
For extremely complex scenes or scenes with complex
parts, this value can be increased slightly.

Multi-Processing
Multi-threaded interactive rendering is available for the Render View. It
provides the same kind of performance gain for the batch renderer. The
number of CPUs to use for interactive rendering and IPR can be set. Maya
saves the value you set with the scene which can be very helpful should you
have MP problems.

Default setting:
Use all available CPUs
toggled on.
Slider and field enabled when
Use all available CPUs toggled off.

Use all available

CPUs By default, all available CPUs are used. If toggled off, the
slider below the option is enabled.
Number of CPUs
to use The slider can be dragged from values 1 to 8, but larger
values up to 256 can be entered if needed. Entering a
value of 0 or toggling the option on enables all CPUs for
interactive rendering.

Batch Render window and Multi-thread interactive rendering

If you want an MP batch render, set the number of processors to use in the
Batch Render window, or use the -n flag.

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Notes
• If IPR is in use, the number of CPUs cannot be changed until the
current IPR session is closed. The following warning displays:
// Warning: IPR will need to be closed before this change in
CPUs will take effect. //
• There is no environment variable to set the number of threads of
CPUs. Setting MAYA_IPR_THREADS has no effect.

IPR Options
The IPR Options control which elements are included in IPR renders.

Render Shading,
Lighting and
Glow Shading, light and glows are included in IPR renders.
Render Shadow
Maps Depth map shadows are included in IPR renders.
Render 2D
Motion Blur 2D motion blur is included in IPR renders.

Render Layer/Pass Control

Enable Render
Layers Tells the renderer to render only the layers for which
renderable is toggled on.

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In interactive mode, all layers with renderable toggled on

are rendered into a single image.
In batch mode, each layer is output to a file named:
camera_filename_layername_passname.ext
Enable Render
Layer Passes This option is available when Enable Render Layers is
toggled on and allows for individual passes to be
rendered for each layer.
Enable Global
Passes This option is available when Enable Render Layers is
toggled off and allows for passes to be rendered for the
entire scene.
Output to
Subdirectories This option places files from each separate layer and/or
pass into their own directory, and any given directory
only contains files from the specific layer or pass. Files are
named:
.../layerName/passName/camera_filename_layername_passname.ext

Render Pass management spreadsheet

Depending on the settings for layers and passes, this spreadsheet provides
control over all current rendering options. This is a quick way to control all
the render layers and/or passes. You can choose rendering passes for each
layer (layer passes), or rendering a specific pass for all objects in a scene
(global passes).
Toggle on either Enable Render Layer Passes or Enable Global Passes to
display the spreadsheet.
This spreadsheet provides access to the passes, Beauty, Color, and Shadow,
for the appropriate layers.
When toggled on, Enable Global Passes makes only one layer, the Global
Layer, available. When Enable Layer Passes is toggled on, all layers are
available.
Beauty The Beauty pass is used by default and produces a
complete rendering of all the components.

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Color The Color pass produces only the color component of the
image. No shadow information is produced.
Shadow The Shadow pass produces only the shadow component
of the image. No color information is produced.
When combined, the Color and Shadow components produce the same
image as the Beauty pass. The benefit is that you can now tweak the
shadows independently in a compositing/paint package.

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 6 BATCH RENDER WINDOW

The Batch Render Window lets you render an animation on a local or remote
computer, or on a computer that has several processors.
This chapter discusses Maya’s Batch Render Window and batch render
options.

Note
Maya NT does not support the Remote rendering option.

Batch Render Window options

Select Render > (Save) Batch Render ❐ to open the Batch Render Window.
Rendering CPU
(IRIX only) Determines whether rendering takes place on the local
computer (Local) or on another computer across a
network (Remote). If you select Remote, set Remote
Machine name to the name of the computer you want to
render on. The default setting is Local.
Remote
Machine Name
(IRIX only) When set to Remote, type the name of the computer on
which the rendering will take place and press Enter. If you
do not, the render occurs on the local machine.
Use all available
processors If on, rendering uses all processors available on the
computer.
If off, rendering only uses the number or processors
indicated by Number of Processors to Use. Use all
available processors is off by default.

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Number of
Processors to
Use The number or processors used for rendering when Use
all available processors is off. The default value is 1.
See also Batch rendering from the command line in the online
manual, Maya Rendering Utilities.

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7 HARDWARE RENDER
BUFFER

The Hardware Render Buffer lets you render an animation using your
computer’s display hardware. Hardware rendering is much faster than
software rendering, although the result may be of lower quality.
You can use the Hardware Render Buffer to preview animations, or to
render certain types of particle effects. See Using Maya: Dynamics for details.
To open the Hardware Render Buffer, select
Window > Rendering Editors > Hardware Render Buffer.

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In this chapter:

Hardware Render Buffer menus

• “File menu” on page 92
• “Render menu” on page 92
• “Camera menu” on page 94
• “Flipbooks menu” on page 95

Time slider and transport controls

Note
The Hardware Render Buffer renders images based on your monitor’s
display (using screen captures). Before rendering from the Hardware
Render Buffer, make sure the Hardware Render Buffer fits on your
monitor, make sure no other window overlaps the Hardware Render
Buffer, and disable your computer’s screen saver.

HARDWARE RENDER BUFFER MENUS

File menu
The File menu contains the Close option. You can either click the box at the
top right of the window or select this option to close the Hardware Render
Buffer window.

Render menu
The Render menu contains options for setting rendering attributes,
rendering a frame or sequence of frames, and controlling the display of the
Hardware Render Buffer.

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Attributes Opens the Attribute Editor and displays the Hardware

Render Globals attributes. See also Hardware Render
Global attributes for details.
Test Render Select this option to test render the current frame in the
Hardware Render Buffer.

Click on the rendered image to return to the workspace

view.
Render
Sequence Select this option to render the current animation.
Scale Buffer Scales the size of the Hardware Render Buffer so the
rendered image is 100%, 70%, 50%, 30%, or 10% of the
Resolution.

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Scaling down the size of the rendered image decreases the

amount of rendering time required and increases the
speed of playback.
A dimmed Scale Buffer option (percentage) means that the
rendered image would either be too large to display on
your screen, or too small to see adequately. Set Scale
Buffer to 100% if you are rendering for final production
(for example, particles).
Time Slider Displays the time slider and transport controls at the
bottom of the Hardware Render Buffer. Click to toggle the
Time Slider at the bottom of the window on or off.

Camera menu
The view in the Hardware Render Buffer is actually a copy of the
corresponding camera view in the main Maya window. For example, if the
camera view in the main Maya window displays the resolution gate, then
the Hardware Render Buffer view will also display the resolution gate.
You can select and move objects in the Hardware Render Buffer view just as
you would in a view in the main Maya window. You can also adjust the
camera in the Hardware Render Buffer using the Alt key and the left and/or
right mouse buttons.
When you playback an animation in the Hardware Render Buffer, it also
plays back in the corresponding view in the main Maya window. To make
an animation playback only in the Hardware Render Buffer, click anywhere
in the Hardware Render Buffer view while the animation is playing.

Important Note
Make sure nothing on the screen covers any part of the Hardware Render
Buffer during rendering. (Hardware rendering uses screen captures to
create rendered frames.)

The Cameras menu contains a list of all cameras in your scene. Select a
camera view by selecting it from the Cameras menu.

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Hardware Render Buffer menus

For example, if you select camera 1, the Hardware Render Buffer displays
the view as seen from the camera. If side, it displays the side view.

Flipbooks menu
The Flipbooks menu contains the list of sequences you rendered in the
Hardware Render Buffer (if you selected Render Sequence from the Render
menu) as well as two options: Clear Flipbook Menu and Flipbook Flags (see
descriptions next). To playback a rendered sequence of images, select it from
the Flipbooks menu. The sequence is displayed using the fcheck utility.

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Options
The Flipbooks Options control how sequences of images rendered from the
Hardware Render Buffer display and displays the Flipbook Options
window.

Clear Flipbook
Menu Removes any rendered sequences of images from the
Flipbooks menu.
Flipbook Flags Displays the Flipbook Options window.

The Options box lets you enter fcheck options to be used when you playback
a hardware rendered sequence of images (by selecting the sequence from the
Flipbooks menu of the Hardware Render Buffer).

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Hardware Render Buffer menus

See “fcheck” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online documentation for

information on fcheck options.

Time slider and transport controls

The time slider and transport controls in the Hardware Render Buffer are
similar to the time slider and transport controls in the main Maya window.
See Using Maya: Animation for details about the Time Slider.

Hardware Render Global attributes

Select Attributes from the Render menu in the Hardware Render Buffer to
display the Attribute Editor for Hardware Render Global attributes. See
Chapter 8, “Hardware Render Globals” for details.

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 8 HARDWARE RENDER
GLOBALS

The Hardware Render Globals window is a special Attribute Editor that lets
you control how the Hardware Render Buffer renders images.
The Hardware Render Buffer’s Render > Attributes provides access to the
Hardware Render Globals window. You can also access this window
through the Render Globals window’s Edit menu.
For information on rendering hardware particles, see Using Maya: Dynamics.
In this chapter:

Image Output Files

Render Modes

Multi-Pass Render Options

Display Options

IMAGE OUTPUT FILES

The Image Output Files attributes control the format of hardware rendered
image files.

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Image Output Files

Filename The base name for all hardware rendered image files. The
default file name is im.
Extension The format of the extension(s) added to the base name for
all rendered image files. Options with “ext” will include
the Image Format in the extension. The default setting is
name.001.
Start Frame,
End Frame The first frame and last frame to render. The default value
for Start Frame is 1. The default value for End Frame is 10.
By Frame The increment between frames that you want to render.
For example, if By Frame is 1, the Hardware Render Buffer
will render frames 1, 2, 3, and so on. If By Frame is 2, it
will render 1, 3, 5, and so on. The default value is 1.
Image Format The format for saving hardware rendered image files. See
also Image Format. The default setting is Maya IFF.
Resolution The resolution of hardware rendered image files. See also
Resolution.
Click the Select button to select a preset image resolution, or type a custom
image resolution in the Resolution field using the following format:
<formatName> <width> <height> <deviceAspectRatio>
For example, type:
JohnFormat 400 200 2
When you change the Resolution, the Hardware Render Buffer changes to
that size. The default setting is:

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Image Output Files

ntsc_4d 646 485 1.33

Alpha Source The type of alpha information saved with the hardware
rendered images.
Alpha information represents the opacity of each pixel,
and is used for compositing images using a compositor
such as Maya Composer or Maya Fusion. (Alpha
information is also referred to as alpha channel, mask,
matte, or alpha buffer.)
If you do not plan to composite hardware rendered
images, set Alpha Source Off. The default setting is Off.

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Image Output Files

Off Alpha information is not included in hardware

rendered images.

Hardware Alpha Assigns each pixel an alpha value based on its opacity,
regardless of its brightness or color. The more opaque
a pixel is, the more opaque it will appear in the image’s
alpha channel.
Setting Alpha Source to Hardware Alpha only has an
effect if your computer has a hardware alpha buffer. If
your computer does not have a hardware alpha buffer
and you set Alpha Source to Hardware Alpha, the
alpha channel of hardware rendered images will be
fully opaque.

Luminance Assigns each pixel an alpha value based on its

brightness. The brighter a pixel is, the more opaque it
will appear in the image’s alpha channel.

Red Channel Assigns each pixel an alpha value equal to the value of
its RGB red component. The higher a pixel’s red value
is, the more opaque it will appear in the image’s alpha
channel.

Green Channel Assigns each pixel an alpha value equal to the value of
its RGB green component. The higher a pixel’s green
value is, the more opaque it will appear in the image’s
alpha channel.

Blue Channel Assigns each pixel an alpha value equal to the value of
its RGB blue component. The higher a pixel’s blue
value is, the more opaque it will appear in the image’s
alpha channel.

Clamp Assigns each rendered pixel an alpha value of 1 (fully

opaque), and each unrendered pixel an alpha value of 0
(fully transparent).

Inverse Clamp Assigns each rendered pixel an alpha value of 0 (fully

transparent), and each unrendered pixel an alpha value
of 1 (fully opaque).

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Render Modes

Write ZDepth If Write ZDepth is on, the hardware rendered images will
contain depth information (that is, the distance of objects
from the camera). Depth information is sometimes
necessary when compositing images (for example,
compositing hardware rendered particles that pass behind
a software rendered transparent object).
If you do not plan to composite hardware rendered
images, or do not require depth information for
compositing, turn off Write ZDepth. Write ZDepth is off
by default.

RENDER MODES
The Render Modes attributes control the quality of hardware rendered
images.
Lighting Mode Controls how objects are lit during hardware rendering.
The default setting is Default Light.

Default Light A default directional light illuminates the scene in the

direction that the camera faces.

All Lights The lights in your scene (up to a maximum of eight

lights) illuminate the scene.

Selected Lights The lights in your scene that you’ve selected (for
example, in the Outliner) illuminate the scene.

Draw Style Controls how objects are hardware rendered. (If Geometry
Mask is on, Draw Style has no effect.) The default setting
is Smooth Shaded.

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Render Modes

Points NURBS surfaces are rendered as points evenly spaced

along surface, polygonal surfaces are rendered as
points (corresponding to vertices), and particles are
rendered as points.

Wireframe Surfaces are rendered in wireframe.

Flat Shaded Surfaces are rendered as flat shaded polygons.

Smooth Shaded Surfaces are rendered as smooth shaded polygons

using a Phong material.

Texturing If Texturing is on, textures are hardware rendered. If

Texturing is off, textures are not hardware rendered.
Texturing is on by default.
Line Smoothing If Line Smoothing is on, sharp, jagged edges on surfaces
and streaks on Streak or MultiStreak particles are
softened. Line Smoothing is off by default.
Full Image
Resolution If Full Image Resolution is on and Resolution is greater
than your monitor’s resolution (that is, the hardware
rendered images cannot fit on your screen), the Hardware
Render Buffer divides the image into tiles, renders each
tile separately, and then assembles the tiles together when
it saves the image to disk. If you are rendering an
animation, the Hardware Render Buffer displays each tile
as it renders it.
If Full Image Resolution is off and Resolution is greater
than your monitor’s resolution, the Hardware Render
Buffer only renders the part of the image that is displayed
on your monitor.
Geometry Mask Geometry Mask is off, surfaces are hardware rendered. If
Geometry Mask is on, surfaces are not hardware rendered.
Pixels in the parts of the rendered image where surfaces
are have zero opacity in the image’s alpha channel.
Geometry Mask is off by default.

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Multi-Pass Render Options

MULTI-PASS RENDER OPTIONS

The Multi-Pass Render Options control the quality of hardware rendered
images.
Multi Pass
Rendering If off, the Hardware Render Buffer renders each frame
using one pass.
If on, the Hardware Render Buffer renders each frame
using more than one pass (based on the Render Passes
setting). This softens or blurs particles with a Render Type
of MultiStreak or MultiPoint. Multi Pass Rendering is off
by default.
Render Passes The number of passes the Hardware Render Buffer uses to
render each frame. The more passes per frame, the greater
the softening or blurring of particles with a Render Type
of MultiStreak or MultiPoint (and the longer the rendering
time).
If the Motion Blur value is greater than 0, set the Render
Passes value to at least the Motion Blur value minus 1.
(For example, if the Motion Blur value is 4, set the Render
Passes value to at least 3.) Render Passes is only available
if Multi Pass Rendering is on. The default setting is 3.
Anti-Alias
Polygons If on, sharp, jagged surface edges are softened (anti-
aliased) during hardware rendering. This option only
works if Multi Pass Rendering is on and your computer
hardware supports anti-aliasing. Anti-Alias Polygons is
off by default.
Edge
Smoothing Controls how much sharp, jagged surface edges are
softened (anti-aliased) during hardware rendering when
Anti-Alias Polygons is on. The higher the value, the softer
the edges. Set Edge Smoothing to 1 for clear, smooth
edges. If Edge Smoothing is too large (for example, 5),
surface edges will be excessively blurred. An Edge
Smoothing value of 0 has the same effect as turning off
Anti-Alias Polygons. The default value is 1.

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Display Options

Motion Blur Controls how much objects are motion blurred. The higher
the Motion Blur value, the greater the motion blur effect.
A Motion Blur value of 0 means no motion blur. A value
of 0.5 means the shutter is open for half the frame
duration.
If the Motion Blur value is greater than 0, set the Render
Passes value to at least the Motion Blur value minus 1.
(For example, if the Motion Blur value is 4, set the Render
Passes value to at least 3.) The default value is 1.

DISPLAY OPTIONS
The Display Options control which icons are hardware rendered, and the
background color for hardware rendered images.
Grid If Grid is on, the grid is hardware rendered. Grid is off by
default.
Camera Icons If Camera Icons is on, any camera icons visible in the
Hardware Render Buffer are rendered. Camera Icons is off
by default.
Light Icons If Light Icons is on, any light icons visible in the Hardware
Render Buffer are rendered. Light Icons is off by default.
Emitter Icons If Emitter Icons is on, any emitter icons visible in the
Hardware Render Buffer are rendered. Emitter Icons is off
by default.
Field Icons If Field Icons is on, any field icons visible in the Hardware
Render Buffer are rendered. Field Icons is off by default.
Collision Icons If Collision Icons is on, any collision icons visible in the
Hardware Render Buffer are rendered. Collision Icons is
off by default.
Transform Icons If Transform Icons is on, any transform icons (from the
translate, rotate, or scale tools) visible in the Hardware
Render Buffer are rendered. Transform Icons is off by
default.

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Display Options

Background
Color The background color for hardware rendered images. If
you plan to composite hardware rendered images, set the
Background Color to black. The default color is black.

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Display Options

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9 FLIPBOOK OPTIONS

The Flipbook Options control how sequences of images rendered from the
Hardware Render Buffer will be displayed.
See also Hardware Render Buffer.

Options
Lets you enter fcheck options to be used when you playback a hardware
rendered sequence of images (by selecting the sequence from the Flipbooks
menu of the Hardware Render Buffer).
Flipbooks menu See also “fcheck” in the Maya Rendering Utilities online
documentation for information on fcheck options.

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10 HYPERSHADE

Use Hypershade to create and edit rendering nodes, and to view and edit
rendering (or shading) networks.
You access Hypershade from Window > Hypershade. Hypershade contains
two panels; the Hypershade panel at the right and the Visor panel at the left.
The Visor is a render-centric file browser. From Visor, you can drag
rendering nodes into Hypershade or directly onto your geometry in views.
To quickly get to the descriptions, click the italicized names in the following:

Hypershade menus Hypershade buttons

Shading Group swatches.

Texture swatches.

Material swatches.

Utility swatches.

Visor and folders. Hypershade panel and swatches.

In this chapter:

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Hypershade panel
• “Creating nodes” on page 112
• “Mousing through the Hypershade” on page 114

Hypershade menus
• “File Menu” on page 120
• “Edit menu” on page 121
• “Create menu” on page 122
• “Graph menu” on page 123
• “Window menu” on page 124
• “Options menu” on page 124
• “Hypershade buttons” on page 125

Hypershade buttons

HYPERSHADE PANEL
There are many ways to create and edit rendering elements in Hypershade.
The following overview introduces you to the basic Hypershade user
interface.

Creating nodes
There are three ways to select and create the node you need:
• Press the right mouse button while in Hypershade to display a pop-up
menu, drag to the Create cascading menu, click the arrow to select a node,
then click in Hypershade.

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• In Visor (the panel on the left), click to open a folder and use the middle
mouse button to drag a swatch onto the Hypershade.

• Select what you need from Hypershade’s Create menu, then click in
Hypershade.
• Select Create > Create Render Node and select what you need from the
Create Render Node window.

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Connecting nodes
The easiest way to connect nodes in Hypershade is to drag-and-drop
swatches onto one another. For example, if you want to connect a texture to
a material’s color, simply middle-mouse drag the texture swatch from Visor
over the material swatch in Hypershade and select the Color attribute from
the menu that displays.
There is also a shortcut. You can use the Ctrl key when you drag and drop
nodes and Maya makes a “Best Guess” connection. So, for instance, if you
Ctrl-middle-mouse drag a 2D or 3D texture swatch over a material swatch,
Maya connects the texture to the Color attribute. If you Ctrl-middle-mouse
drag a bump2d General utility node over a material swatch, Maya connects
the bump map to the material’s Bump Mapping attribute.
Some utility nodes can only connect to a material’s attributes through the
Connection Editor. When you drop the utility swatch over the material
swatch, the Connection Editor displays. You can then select an item from the
Outputs column (the utility node you selected) and select an item from the
Inputs column (the material attributes) to connect them.

Tip
Use the Shift key when dragging and dropping any node type onto
material swatches to display the Connection Editor.

See Connection Editor for details.

Mousing through the Hypershade

• Use the generic mouse moves to zoom or track the Hypershade or Visor
panel views (Alt-Middle to track, Alt-Left-Middle to zoom).
• If the view is too small (for instance, if you have zoomed way out because
you have a lot of swatches), drag the cursor over Visor or Hypershade panel
swatches to display the swatch names.
• Use the Shift button to select more than one swatch.

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Inputs and Outputs pull-down menus

There are three context-sensitive menus. Right-mouse click on a swatch to
display a pull-down menu. You use these menus to make connections from a
specific attribute of one node to a specific attribute of another node.
In addition to input and output information and access to its attributes, each
pull-down menu provides access to the node description (the Help on menu
item).
See also “Nodes and node networks” in Using Maya: Rendering.

Inputs pull-down menu

Right-click over the left-most arrow to display the Input pull-down menu.
This menu displays input attributes as Single or Triple.

Outputs pull-down menu

If you position the cursor over the right-most arrow, the output pull-down
menu displays. This menu displays the node’s output attributes.

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Nodes pull-down menu

Left-mouse-click or right-mouse-click over the middle arrow to display a
pull-down menu with information about the node and access to its
attributes.
Depending on the type of node (Material, Texture, Utility, etc.), this pull-
down menu offers different options. For example, in the following, you can
assign a Material to a selected object.

If you display the Texture or Utility node’s Nodes pull-down menu, the
options are limited to those node types only.

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Connection lines
The colored connection lines between nodes indicate what type of data flows
through the connection.
For example, single, double, triple, data, and array data each have an
assigned default color.
If a connection is drawn in gray, it means a connected node is not being
drawn.

To change the default color of connection lines:

Select Window > Settings/Preferences > Colors to open the Colors window.
Open the Hypergraph/Hypershade section to view a list of the default
connection colors. You can change these colors by moving the slider bars, or
by clicking on the color swatch to open the Color Chooser.

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Connection
lines between
swatches in
Hypershade.

Drag the cursor over these lines to view the connections. In the following,
the selected line represents the Rotate Frame attribute for the place2dtexture
node connected to the File texture.

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If you select and double-click a line, the Connection Editor displays allowing
you to connect attributes.

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HYPERSHADE MENUS
File Menu
These menu items let you import or export textures, lights, or rendered
scenes to your directory. The file browser opens to a specific directory
within the current project. You can point the file browser to any directory.

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Import Reads elements from another file and loads them into the
current file.
Export
Selection Exports the selected item into a new file. The file browser
opens to its best guess directory, but can browse to any
directory, or cancel, before exporting.

Edit menu
Delete Deletes the selected node or nodes. When you delete a
node from Hypershade, Maya deletes it from the session.
Delete Unused
Nodes Deletes nodes that are not assigned to geometry or
particles.
Delete All by
Type Deletes all nodes of the type you select, whether they are
assigned or not.
Revert Selected
Swatches Reverts the selected swatches to their default shapes.
Select All by
Type Highlights all the node swatches you select from this
menu.
Duplicate Duplicates the selected node or node network.

Convert to File Texture

Creates file texture(s) matching materials of selected objects. You must select
a texture/material and surface to perform this operation. Click the ❐ to open
the options window.

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Anti-alias If on, sharp, jagged edges within the solid texture become
blurred or anti-aliased.
Bake Shading
Group Lighting Bakes the lights that illuminate the selected surface into the
new image file when you convert a texture or material
into an image file. The new image file looks like it is lit by
the same lights linked to the surface in the scene. This
option is ideal for color matching. You must select a
surface and a shading group (not a material) when you use
Bake Shading Group Lighting.
See Chapter 17, “Convert to File Texture” for more
information.
X Resolution,
Y Resolution The horizontal and vertical resolution of the image file,
measured in pixels. The slider range is 1 to 512. The
default value is 256.

Create menu
You can create materials, textures, lights, and utilities using this menu. Select
Create > and press the arrow next to one of the menu options to display a
cascading menu from which you can choose to create a material, texture,
light, or utility. The drag icon displays, and you must click within the
Hypershade panel or onto another node to create the node. If you drop the
new node onto an existing node, a connection menu displays.
Materials Create a new material and click in the Hypershade panel
to place it in your network or connect it to an existing
node.
See also:
• Chapter 24, “Introduction to Materials”
• Chapter 25, “Surface Materials”
• Chapter 26, “Volumetric Materials”
• Chapter 27, “Displacement Mapping”
Textures Create a new texture and click in the Hypershade panel to
place it in your network or connect it to an existing node.
See also:

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• Chapter 28, “Introduction to Textures”

• Chapter 29, “2D Textures”
• Chapter 30, “3D Textures”
• Chapter 32, “Environment Textures”
Lights Create a new light and click in the Hypershade panel to
place it in your network or connect it to an existing node.
See also Chapter 23, “Lights”.
Utilities Create a new utility and click in the Hypershade panel to
place it in your network or connect it to an existing node.
See also:
• Chapter 33, “Introduction to Utilities”
• Chapter 34, “General Utilities”
• Chapter 35, “Color Utilities”
• Chapter 36, “Bump 2d & Bump 3d Utilities”
• Chapter 37, “Place 2d & Place 3d Utilities”
• Chapter 38, “Projection & Stencil Utilities”
• Chapter 39, “Switch Utilities”
• Chapter 40, “Image Planes”
• Chapter 41, “Post Process Utilities”
Create Render
Node Opens the Create Render Node window. See Chapter 12,
“Create Render Node” for details.

Graph menu
Graph Materials
on Selected
Objects Displays the shading group networks of selected objects.
Clear View Clears the Hypershade of all nodes and node networks.
Frame Selected Frames the selected node or node network in Hypershade.
Frame All Frames all the nodes displayed in the current Hypershade
layout.

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Up and
Downstream
Connections Displays the up and downstream connections of the
selected nodes.
Upstream
Connections Displays only the upstream connections of the selected
nodes.
Downstream
Connections Displays only the downstream connections of the selected
nodes.
Rearrange
Graph Rearranges the nodes in the current layout so you can see
all the nodes and network without overlaps.

Window menu
Attribute Editor Displays the Attribute Editor of the selected node.
Attribute Spread
Sheet Displays the Attribute Spread Sheet and loads it with the
selected nodes so you can edit attributes for all nodes at
one time.
Connection
Editor Displays the Connection Editor (without pre-loading any
node in either column).
Connect
Selected Displays the Connection Editor with the selected node
loaded in the Outputs column.

Options menu
Swatches Always Update re-renders swatches in the Hypershade
when you zoom.
Keep Fixed Size does not re-render swatches in the
Hypershade when you zoom. When you have many
swatches in a Hypershade layout, select Keep Fixed Size
to save time when tracking or zooming in Hypershade.

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Clear Before
Graphing Clears the Hypershade layout when you choose to graph
Upstream and/or Downstream, or Graph Materials on
Selected Objects before displaying a new graph.

HYPERSHADE BUTTONS
Show Up and Downstream Connections
Show Downstream Connections
Show Upstream Connections

Previous Layout menu Next

Visor

Graph Materials on
Selected Objects
Hypershade Clear View
Rearrange Graph

Visor Opens and closes the Visor panel within the Hypershade.
Visor is a visual outliner and file browser that displays
images of shading nodes you can create, of those already
in your scene, and of those in your project directory.
You can zoom in and out using Alt-right-middle mouse
buttons. See also Visor.

To open a Visor panel through the Hypershade:

1 Open the Hypershade (select Window > Hypershade).
2 Click a button at the top left of the Hypershade to toggle between Visor and
Hypershade panels. These buttons represent the state of the Hypershade
view.

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Click to show/hide Click to show/hide

Visor panel. Hypershade panel.

Hypershade Opens and closes Hypershade panel within Hypershade.

Clear View Clears the current Hypershade layout. Nodes are not
deleted—the layout is cleared.
Rearrange
Graph Rearranges the nodes in the current layout so you can see
all the nodes and networks without overlaps.
Graph Materials
on Selected
Objects Displays the Hypershade layout of nodes and/or node
networks for the selected objects.
Layout menu Lists all the layouts you created, including the Work Area
layout, which is there by default. Selecting a layout from
this menu displays the layout in the Hypershade.
Previous Displays the previously viewed Hypershade layout based
on the position of the current layout in the Layout menu.
Next Displays the next Hypershade layout based on the
position of the current layout in the Display menu.

Showing connections
The three buttons at the top-right of Hypershade provide you with a way to
view placement and shading group icons. This can be useful in situations
where these icons do not display (for instance, if you drag to assign a texture
to a material from Visor).

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No connections showing.

To show connections:
Select the swatch for which you want to see the connections and click one of
the buttons at the top-right of Hypershade. The following examples display
the connections for a Blinn material whose Color attribute is mapped to a 3D
Wood texture.
Show Upstream
Connections Displays the upstream connections of the selected nodes.
Upstream connections are those Maya automatically
creates depending on the node type (for example, a 3D
texture has an associated place3Dtexture utility by
default).

Show Upstream Connections

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Show
Downstream
Connections Displays the downstream connections of the selected
nodes. Downstream connections show the Shading Group
Node. Double-click the Shading Group swatch to open it’s
Attribute Editor. See Chapter 16, “Shading Group
Attributes” for details.

Show Downstream Connections

Show Up and
Downstream
Connections Displays both the up and downstream connections of the
selected nodes.

Show Up and Downstream Connections

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Showing connections for any node

Any swatch you select contains up and downstream connections. The
examples show the connections for a material node, but you can select any
node in Hypershade, such as the Shading Group node swatch, and display
its connections.
The following displays the Show Up and Downstream Connections for a
Shading Group node whose scene consists of one NURBS object and default
lights.

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11 VISOR

Visor is a visual outliner and file browser. It displays images of shading

nodes you can create, of those already in your scene, and of those in your
project directory. You can zoom in and out using the Ctrl-right-middle
mouse buttons.

To open a Visor panel through the Hypershade:

1 Open the Hypershade (Window > Hypershade).
2 Click a button at the top-left of the Hypershade to toggle between Visor and
Hypershade panels. These buttons represent the state of the Hypershade
view.

Click to show/hide Click to show/hide

Visor panel. Hypershade panel.

The following shows the default Hypershade and Visor panels.

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Default Hypershade
and Visor panels.

Visor panel only.

To open a separate Visor:

Select Window > Visor to display Visor as a separate window.

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Visor panel sections

Note
Visor has no menus when it is not a panel in Hypershade, though it shares
menus with Hypershade when it is a panel in Hypershade. See
Hypershade panel for details.

VISOR PANEL SECTIONS

Rendering
Displays the current scene’s folders and their contents. You can drag from
Visor into Hypershade to change Hypershade’s focus.

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Visor panel sections

Create
Displays the equivalent of the Create Render Node window. You can drag
nodes from the Create section to Hypershade to create nodes.

Project directory
Displays the contents of your current project directory and its subdirectories.
You can drag from Visor to Hypershade to create file textures as well as
import nodes from other scenes in the project.

Accessing your directories from Visor

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

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Visor panel sections

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

Viewing images using Visor

Double-click an image file in the /images directory in Visor to view the
image in fcheck.

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Visor panel sections

Double-click this
swatch to display
the image in fcheck.

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12 CREATE RENDER NODE

In addition to selecting rendering nodes from Visor or the right-mouse pop-

up menu while in Hypershade or Multilister, you can use the Create Render
Node window to create materials, textures, lights, or utilities. You also use
this window to assign textures to materials.
You access the Create Render Node window through the Hypershade or the
Multilister.
• Window > Hypershade > Create > Create Render Node
• Window > Rendering > Editors > Multilister > Edit > Create
In this chapter:

Using the Create Render Node window

Common Create Render Node options

• With Shading Group
• With New Texture Placement

Where to look for more information

The Create Render Node window contains the following tabs. See the
appropriate chapter for attribute descriptions.
• Chapter 23, “Lights”
• Chapter 24, “Introduction to Materials”
• Chapter 29, “2D Textures”
• Chapter 30, “3D Textures”
• Chapter 32, “Environment Textures”
• Chapter 34, “General Utilities”
• Chapter 39, “Switch Utilities”

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Using the Create Render Node window

• Chapter 35, “Color Utilities”

• Chapter 40, “Image Planes”
• Chapter 41, “Post Process Utilities”

USING THE CREATE RENDER NODE WINDOW

The Create Render Node window displays when you click the box next to a
node in the Attribute Editor so that you can assign textures, materials, lights,
or utilities to a specific node.
The following example shows how to assign a simple texture to a material.

To assign a texture to a material:

1 Create a material, such as Blinn.
Either select Create > Materials from the Hypershade’s menu bar, right-
mouse click in the Hypershade panel, or use the middle mouse button to
drag a material from the Visor to the Hypershade.
2 Double-click the material swatch in the Hypershade to open its Attribute
Editor.
3 Click the box beside Color to open the Create Render Node window.

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Using the Create Render Node window

Click this box

to open the
Create Render Node
window.

4 Select a texture, such as the 2D Checker texture.

Select a 2D Checker texture.

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Using the Create Render Node window

Notice the extra swatches in the Hypershade and how the Attribute Editor
changes focus to display Checker texture attributes.

5 Select the surface and the texture swatch.

6 Press the right mouse button while the cursor is over the texture swatch and
select Assign Material to Selection from the pop-up menu.

Tip
Make sure Smooth Shading and Hardware Texturing are toggled on in the
view panel’s Shading menu.

The surface updates in the view.

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Common Create Render Node options

COMMON CREATE RENDER NODE OPTIONS

These options display at the top of the Create Render Node window. You
must select either the Materials or Textures tab to access these options.

With Shading Group

Click the Materials tab to display this toggle.

When toggled on, Maya automatically creates a shading group when you
create a material render node. The default setting is on.
If you create a material with a shading group, Maya automatically selects all
surfaces assigned to that shading group, or when you select a surface, Maya
automatically selects the shading group to which it is assigned.
To display the shading group icon in the Hypershade panel, click the Show
Up and Downstream Connections button in the Hypershade’s menu bar.

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Common Create Render Node options

Show Up and Downstream Connections

With New Texture Placement

Click the Textures tab to access this toggle.

When toggled on, Maya automatically creates a texture placement node

when you create a texture render node. The default setting is on.

Normal
For normal textures, Maya applies a texture map according to the geometry
characteristics—textures are placed onto polygons based on UV information
and placed onto NURBS surfaces based on parametrized information.

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Common Create Render Node options

As projection
To create projection textures, Maya applies a texture map to the surface of a
three-dimensional object by projecting a 2D texture into 3D space—projects
the texture maps independently of the geometry characteristics.
For textures created with the As projection parameter turned on, you also
need to explicitly connect the texture to the bump so that the texture is
visible in the bump map.

As stencil
The stencil texture allows you to place an image file or texture on a surface
and manipulate its placement and size to look like a label. You can use
masking techniques to hide unwanted parts of the image.

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Common Create Render Node options

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13 MULTILISTER

You can also use the Multilister to perform operations on rendering nodes.
Through the Multilister you can create, delete, assign, and connect rendering
nodes.
You may prefer, however, to use Hypershade instead of the Multilister;
Hypershade is more powerful and easier to use than the Multilister. See
Chapter 10, “Hypershade” for details.

In this chapter:

Multilister Menus
• “File menu” on page 146

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Multilister Menus

• “Edit menu” on page 148

• “Select menu” on page 151
• “Display menu” on page 152
• “Window menu” on page 155
• “Filter menu” on page 155.

Multilister Buttons
• “Shading Group Tool” on page 158
• “Select Tool” on page 158
• “Pin/Unpin Appearance of New Nodes” on page 158
• “Folder View” on page 158
• “List View” on page 158
• “Columns View” on page 158
• “Stop/Start Thumbnail Updates” on page 159
• “Hide/Show The Work Area” on page 159
• “Small Thumbnail Images” on page 159
• “Medium Thumbnail Images” on page 159
• “Large Thumbnail Images” on page 159

Multilister Swatches

Multilister Tabs

MULTILISTER MENUS
Some menu items require you to first add a swatch or swatches to the
Multilister Highlight List. See also Multilister Swatches.

File menu
The File menu contains options that read and write information to disk,
including Multilister preferences.

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Multilister Menus

Import Reads elements from another file and loads them into the
current file.
Items in this menu open a file browser to a specific
directory within the current project. You can point the file
browser to any directory.

Texture/Material/ Opens a file browser to the current project’s

Shading Group textures directory.

Light Opens a file browser to the current project’s lights

directory.

Render Scene Opens a file browser to the current project’s render

directory.

Export
Highlighted Exports the contents of the active lister’s Highlight List
into a new file. The file browser opens to its best guess
directory, but can browse to any directory, or cancel,
before exporting.
Export as The same as Export Highlighted, except you can choose
the project directory where you want to save the file.

Texture/Material/ Opens a file browser to the current project’s

Shading Group textures directory.

Light Opens a file browser to the current project’s lights

directory.

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Multilister Menus

Render Scene Opens a file browser to the current project’s render

directory.

Preferences Multilister preferences include: the number and location

of tabs, their labels, filters, sort information, new cell
placement, pin state, whether work area and toolbar are
showing, and window proportions of the visible listers.
Information not included in preferences settings: default
shading group, Highlight List, work area proportion if it is
not showing, work area contents (contents are only lost
between Maya sessions).

Save Multilister Saves the Multilister’s current preferences.

Revert To Default Returns the Multilister to its default preferences.

This is useful when you open a project that
contains someone else’s preferences.

Edit menu
Contains options that edit parts of the current scene, usually affecting
specific nodes within the Multilister and objects in Maya’s Selection List.
Assign Assigns an object or objects in the modeling view to a
highlighted shading group in the Multilister. You must
have a shading group highlighted and geometry selected
for this option to work.
Create Displays the Create Render Node window, from which
you create materials, textures, lights, and rendering
utilities.
Key Set a key on the highlighted object or objects. This option
has one sub-menu for each highlighted node, which
contains the node’s keyable attributes. Choosing one sets
the key.

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Multilister Menus

Delete
Highlighted Deletes all nodes in the Multilister Highlight List.
Delete Unused Deletes all nodes in the Multilister that are not assigned or
connected to shading groups. This includes shading
groups, materials, textures, utilities, and image planes.
Delete By Type Deletes specific types of objects.

All in Tab Deletes every node in the active tab.

Textures Deletes every texture node.

Shading Groups and Deletes all shading groups and materials.

Materials

Lights Deletes all lights.

Duplicate Duplicates the selected node or node network.

Set Default
Shading Group Sets the highlighted shading group as the default shading
group. All new geometry is shaded with the default
shading group. Changing the default shading group does
not change the color of existing geometry, only geometry
created after the change. The default shading group is not
a Multilister preference, and is not saved when you end
the Maya session.
Map
Displacement Requires that a single shading group is highlighted.
Displays the Create Render Node window and maps the
node you create as a displacement shader on the shading
group.
Map Surface Requires that a single shading group is highlighted.
Displays the Create Render Node window and makes a
default connection between the shading group or its
material and the node.

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Multilister Menus

Map Volume Requires that you highlight a single shading group.

Displays the Create Render Node window and makes a
default connection between the shading group or the
volume shader itself and the node.
Particle Age
Map Contains options for shading software-rendered particles.
Useful for using a ramp texture to define the color of a
particle over the course of its life. Requires either a single
particle cloud material, or a single particle cloud and an
existing texture.

Color Lets you create a texture or use an existing texture

to define the color of a particle as a function of the
particle’s age.

Transparency Lets you create a texture or use an existing texture

to define the transparency of a particle as a
function of the particle’s age.

Incandescence Lets you create a texture or use an existing texture

to define the incandescence of a particle as a
function of the particle’s age.

Convert to File
Texture Requires a 3D texture on the Highlight List and surfaces
on the Selection List. Takes a 3D texture and creates file
textures, one for each mappable surface on the object.
Useful to prevent an animated object from swimming
through a 3D texture. See also Convert to File Texture.

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Multilister Menus

Tip
If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try using Convert to File Texture, then increase the Filter
and/or Filter Offset values to achieve a slightly blurred effect and to
reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You can also try
increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

Parent Texture
to Selected Requires that you highlight a 3D Texture Placement and
select geometry in the view. Creates a connection between
the placement and the geometry so that translating the
object will not result in the object swimming through the
texture.

Note
If you deform the object, this option will not prevent the swimming. Use
reference objects instead. See Texture Reference Objects for details.

Select menu
The Select menu contains options that manipulate the Selection List or the
Multilister Highlight List.
Select Assigned Requires you to highlight any part of one or more shading
groups in the Multilister. Selects the geometry that is
assigned to the highlighted shading group.
Highlight
Selected Highlights any nodes in the active tab that are connected
to the selected geometry in the view.
Select Default
Shaded Selects all geometry currently shaded by the default
shading group. Also highlights the default shading group.

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Multilister Menus

Highlight Mode When turned on, nodes selected in the Multilister are
added to the Highlight List. When turned off, nodes
selected in the Multilister are added to Maya’s Selection
List.

Note
You can use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select multiple, nonadjacent nodes in
the Multilister tabs.

Display menu
The Display menu contains options that control the display of swatches in
the Multilister.
Expand/
Collapse Contains options for changing the expand/collapse state
of the highlighted nodes.

Expand Expands all highlighted nodes and displays all

items in the selected shading networks.

Expand All Expands all nodes and displays all items in the
shading networks.

Collapse Collapses all highlighted nodes.

Collapse All Collapses all nodes.

Swatch
Primitive Changes the swatch primitive of highlighted materials
only. Shading groups are always spheres, and textures are
always flat planes.

Ball Changes highlighted material swatch primitives to

a ball shape.

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Multilister Menus

Box Changes highlighted material swatch primitives to

a box shape.

Cone Changes highlighted material swatch primitives to

a cone shape.

Tube Changes highlighted material swatch primitives to

a tube shape.

Swatch Quality Affects the sampling rate and the render time of all
swatches. The default is Low.
Swatch
Resolution Lets you select Very Coarse, Coarse, Fine, or Very Fine
swatch resolution.
Tabs Contains options concerning the creation, deletion, and
location of tabs in the Multilister. To rename a tab, double-
click the tab label, type a new name, then press Enter.

Create Creates a new tab and puts it in the top tab group.

Create Filtered Creates a new tab and puts it in the top tab group.
Allows the filter to be specified before creating the
tab. Double-click the new Custom tab to rename it.

Move Tab Up Deletes the active tab from the bottom group and
adds it to the top.

Move Tab Down Deletes the active tab from the top group and adds
it to the bottom.

Remove Deletes the active tab on the top group.

New Items First Places newly created nodes in the top-left corner of the
Multilister. By default, new items go in the bottom-right
corner of the Multilister.

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Multilister Menus

Always Sort When new nodes are created, they appear in their sorted
positions.
Sort If Always Sort is turned off, Sort will sort all nodes in the
active tab using the Sort By option.
Sort By Controls how node swatches are sorted in the Multilister.

Name Sorts nodes alphabetically, by name.

Type Sorts nodes alphabetically, by node type.

Reverse Order Sorts nodes in reverse alphabetical order, from Z

to A.

Show Toolbar Shows/hides the column of buttons on the left side of the
Multilister.
Show Work
Area Shows/hides the work area, which is a clipboard-like area
at the bottom of the Multilister. The work area is a lister,
and you can use the middle mouse button to drag nodes
to and from it as in any other lister in the Multilister.
as Icons Displays nodes as icons or swatches, arranged from top
left to lower right, in the Multilister. This is the default
display.
as List Displays nodes as columns of text in the Multilister.
as Columns Displays nodes as icons or swatches, arranged in columns,
in the Multilister.
as Small Icons Displays nodes as small icons or swatches.
as Medium
Icons Displays nodes as medium-sized icons or swatches.
as Large Icons Displays nodes as large icons or swatches.

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Multilister Menus

Window menu
All the options in this menu display other windows that relate to nodes in
the highlighted in the Multilister.
Attribute Editor Displays the attribute editor for the first node on the
Highlight List.
Attribute Spread
Sheet Displays the Attribute Spread Sheet containing all nodes
on the Highlight List.
Connection
Editor Displays the Connection Editor. You can load the
Connection Editor by using the middle mouse button to
drag swatches from the Multilister to the panels of the
Connection Editor.
Connect
Highlighted Displays the Connection Editor with the first highlighted
node on the left and the second highlighted node on the
right. If more than two nodes are highlighted, only the
first two are loaded. If less than two nodes are
highlighted, the Connection Editor does not open.
Shading Groups
Editor Displays the Shading Groups Editor.
Hypershade
Highlighted Displays the Hypershade, and shows up- and
downstream connections of the highlighted node.

Filter menu
The Filter menu contains options that affect the contents of the active tab.
Reload Removes the current contents and reloads the tab with all
nodes that the tab’s filter allows.
Show Selected Removes all nodes that are connected to the currently
selected geometry in the view.
Show
Highlighted Removes all nodes that are not highlighted.
Hide
Highlighted Removes all nodes that are highlighted.

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Multilister Menus

Hide All Removes all nodes from the tab.

Always Filter When turned on, displays only new nodes that pass the
current filter. When turned off, any new rendering node
created is displayed. The default is on.
Apply Filter Applies only if Always Filter is turned off. Applies the
tab’s filter to the contents of the tab.
Basic Displays only shading groups, lights, textures, and
utilities.
Materials Displays all nodes attached to the material classifier node.
By default, this filter applies to all nodes in the Materials
tab in the Create Render Node window.
Textures Displays all nodes attached to the texture classifier node.
By default, this filter applies to all nodes in the Textures
tab in the Create Render Node window.
Using Image
Files Displays all nodes that have that currently use an image
file somewhere in their history.
Shading
Groups Controls which nodes are displayed with shading groups
in the Multilister.

Show All Displays all shading groups, materials, and

textures connected to shading groups.

Show All with Displays shading groups and their textures.

Textures

Show All with Lights Displays shading groups and light nodes.

Lights Controls which lights are displayed in the Multilister.

Show Lights Displays all lights that are in the scene.

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Multilister Buttons

Show Linked Displays only linked lights.

Show Exclusive Displays only exclusive lights.

Show Non Exclusive Displays only lights that are part of the
defaultLightList.

Show Non Displays only lights that are being ignored.

Illuminating

Cameras Displays cameras and image planes.

Image Planes Displays only image planes.
Utilities Displays all nodes attached to the utility classifier node.
By default, this filter applies to all nodes in the Utilities
tab in the Create Render Node window.
All Types Displays shading groups, lights, materials, textures, and
render utility nodes.
Other This is a list of other pre-made filters which have
descriptive labels.
Highlight into
Work Area Loads all nodes in the Highlight List into the work area.
The Work Area is a convenient place to organize nodes
you work with often or nodes that are conceptually
connected.

MULTILISTER BUTTONS
The Multilister contains several buttons.

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Multilister Buttons

Shading Group Tool

Select Tool
Pin/Unpin Appearance of New Nodes

Show Cells With Thumbnails And Text Below In Rows

Show Cells With Text Only In Columns
Show Cells With Thumbnails and Text Below In Columns

Stop/Start Thumbnail Updates

Hide/Show The Work Area

Small Thumbnail Images

Medium Thumbnail Images
Large Thumbnail Images

Shading Group
Tool Lets you either select a shading group and Maya
automatically selects all surfaces assigned to that shading
group, or select a surface and Maya automatically selects
the shading group it is assigned to.
Double-click this button to open the Tool Settings options
window for the Shading Group Tool. See Shading Group
Tool to find out how to change this tool’s settings.
Select Tool Lets you select objects.
Pin/Unpin
Appearance of
New Nodes When pressed, new nodes added to the Multilister do not
appear in the pinned tab. When you unpin the tab, all the
nodes are displayed.
Folder View Same as Display > As Icons.
List View Same as Display > As List.
Columns View Same as Display > As Columns.

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Multilister Swatches

Stop/Start
Thumbnail
Updates When pressed, prevents all swatches in the Multilister
from updating when upstream changes are made. This is
particularly useful when you are making many changes to
the nodes and you do not want to wait for the Multilister
to update after every change. When turned off, the
Multilister swatches update normally, whenever you
make an upstream change to a node.
Hide/Show The
Work Area Same as Display > Show Work Area.
Small Thumbnail
Images Same as Display > as Small Icons.
Medium
Thumbnail
Images Same as Display > as Medium Icons.
Large Thumbnail
Images Same as Display > as Large Icons.

MULTILISTER SWATCHES
When you select a swatch or swatches in the Multilister, a yellow border
appears around the selections. (You can select multiple, nonadjacent
swatches by using the Shift key and adjacent objects by dragging.) The
Highlight List contains all the swatches highlighted in yellow. Some menu
items depend on you selecting objects in this manner. Your Highlight List
can include swatches from different tabs in the Multilister.
You can work in both the Multilister and the views at the same time. For
example, one way to connect a shading group to an object in a view is to first
select the object in the view (this adds the object to the Maya Selection List),
and then highlight a swatch in the Multilister (which adds the swatch to the
Multilister Highlight List). The Multilister Highlight List and the Maya
Selection List are two distinct lists, each containing different data.
You can add items in the Multilister to the Selection List, but to do this you
must turn off Highlight Mode (in the Multilister, Select > Highlight Mode).
When Highlight Mode is turned off, swatches you select in the Multilister
are added to the Maya Selection List, not to the Multilister Highlight List,

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Multilister Tabs

and they are outlined in blue instead of yellow. There are three swatches in
the General tab by default when you open the Multilister. These swatches,
which are visual representations of nodes that carry specific attributes, are
applied to newly created objects in your scene. For example, when you
create a sphere, the sphere is assigned to the initialShadingGroup, which is
by default a gray Lambert shading group. Swatches update every time you
make a change in the swatch’s node network, so you can see the results of
your changes immediately.
Swatches are more than visual representations. They also provide a
convenient way into the attribute editors of the nodes. For example, if you
create a Spot light, a Spot light swatch is created in the Multilister. When
you want to adjust any of the Spot light’s attribute, for example if you want
to adjust the Cone Angle, double-click on the Spot light swatch to display
the light’s attribute editor.
You can expand and collapse swatches. Since the shading group is the
highest level rendering node, that is, it is the visual culmination of all the
nodes in a render node network, you may want to see a node that is
connected to the shading group. By clicking on the expand button, you can
quickly see which nodes are connected in a network. Double-click on any of
the nodes in a network to display the attribute editor. Collapse the nodes to
clean up the look of the Multilister.

MULTILISTER TABS
The Multilister is actually several listers combined into one window. Think
of listers in terms of the tabs you see in the Multilister when you first open it.
When you click on a tab, the active tab appears on top of the others and
highlights with a blue border by default.
As you move the cursor from lister to lister in the Multilister, and click in
each region, you will notice the blue border outlines the lister that you click
in. The active tab is the one that will be affected when you perform certain
actions in the Multilister, for example, when you set Display options.

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14 RENDERING FLAGS

The Rendering Flags window lets you lists the elements in your scene and
provides you with a way to set the attributes for the nodes you select.

Rendering Flags Show menu

Click the down arrow to display the Show menu. Select an item or items for
which you want a list of attributes. The attributes for these items are listed in
the right panel where you can change and set them, much like the Channel
Box.

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Channel Box

Rendering Flags window

Rendering Flags window Panels

The Rendering Flags window contains two panels. The left panel lists the
items you select from the Show menu, and the right panel lists the attributes
for the selected items.
In the left panel, click the list item for which you want to change or set the
attributes and the details display in the right panel.

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Setting attributes for multiple nodes

You can change or set attributes for several related objects by selecting them
in the left panel, and then setting the attribute value in the right panel. For
example, if you want to turn off the visibility of two NURBS spheres in your
scene, select both spheres from the left-hand panel and type off beside
Visibility in the right-hand panel.

Tip
If the items are not listed concurrently, Ctrl-click the headings. Otherwise,
Shift-drag to select multiple items.

Once you change an attribute for a selected item, the heading changes color
in the list reminding you of the change.

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15 RENDER RELATIONSHIPS

You use the Relationship Editor to edit sets, partitions, display render layers,
shading groups, link UVs and textures and link lights and objects.
Only the parts of the Relationship Editor that relate to rendering are
described in this chapter. For complete information on the Relationship
Editor and how to use it, see Using Maya: Essentials.
In the Relationship Editor, clicking the left mouse button on items in the
menu bar gives you access to the commands. You can also selectively show
or hide items by clicking the right mouse button within a panel to display a
pop-up menu from which you can toggle the display on or off.

Right mouse click

to display pop-up
menu.

In this chapter:

Linking UVs and textures

UV-Centric linking
Applying layered textures to UV sets

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Texture-Centric linking

Linking lights and objects

Light-Centric linking
Object-Centric linking

LINKING UVS AND TEXTURES

You can create and edit multiple UV sets for working with multitextured
objects which can be viewed in hardware shaded display mode as well as
software rendered. New UV sets can be created and named when using
polygonal UV projection tools.
Multitexturing is the layering and blending of multiple textures on an object,
potentially using a distinct UV set for each layer. The texture uses a
particular set of UVs of a piece of geometry when applied to that piece of
geometry.

UV-Centric linking
The following workflow shows you how to create UV sets, layer textures,
and how to manage the correspondence between texture layers and UV sets
using the Relationship Editor.
See also Chapter 31, “Layered Textures” for detailed information on the
Layered Texture node and its attributes.

To create UV sets:.
1 In the top view, create a polygonal plane, scale it larger than the default, and
select it.

Tip
From the top view panel’s menu, select Shading > Smooth Shade All and
Hardware Texturing to see the results when you have completed the
texture assignment.

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2 Select Edit Polygons > Texture > Planar Mapping -❐ to open the Planar
Projections Options window.
3 Set the Mapping Direction to Camera, toggle on Create New UV Set, and
enter a new set name, such as polyplaneset1, then press the Project button.
The plane should now display the projection map manipulators.

Note on the Relationship Editor and UV linking

When linking UVs (UV-centric or Texture-centric), the Relationship Editor
looks at the current selection to determine what to list in the columns. The
UV sets which live on the selected geometry are shown in the UV Sets
column. The materials assigned to the selected geometry are shown in the
Textures column along with any textures upstream from the materials
which use the UVs (3D textures do not display because they do not use
UVs).

4 Select Window > Relationship Editors >UV Linking > UV-Centric.

5 Click map1 to make it current.

6 Select Edit > Rename UV Set and rename the set in the Rename UV Set
options window. Type polyplaneset2. The Relationship Editor displays both
UV sets.

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7 Select half the faces on the plane and then select

Edit Polygons >Texture > Unitize UVs to tile the UVs for the polyplaneset2
UV set.

To create texture layers:

1 In Hypershade, create a material and assign it to the plane (click the Select
by object type icon in the Status Line to return to object selection mode when
assigning the material).
2 Middle-mouse-drag the Layered Texture swatch from Visor onto the
material swatch in Hypershade and connect it to one of the material’s
attributes (such as Color).

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or
Select Create > Textures > Other > Layered Texture, click in Hypershade and
middle-mouse-button drag the texture swatch over the material swatch to
connect it to an attribute.
3 In the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor, map the Color to a 2D texture.
Rename this texture Texture1.
4 Click in the top-most area of the Layered Texture Attributes section of the
Attribute Editor to create a second layer and map another texture to the
Color attribute. Rename this texture Texture2. The Hypershade should
resemble the following.

5 In the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor, select the Texture1 swatch and set
the Blend Mode to Illuminate, then select the Texture2 swatch and set the
Blend Mode to None (the default). The following shows the result.

The order of layers within the Layered Texture Attribute Editor is important
since you want one of the textures to blend on top of the other.

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Applying layered textures to UV sets

To connect the UVs to the textures:
1 Open the Relationship Editor in UV-Centric mode
(Window > UV Linking > UV - Centric).
2 Select the plane to update the Relationship Editor.
3 Click a set in the left column, and click the texture items in the right column
to compare results. See the following examples.

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Texture-Centric linking
If you select Texture-Centric UV Linking, the Relationship Editor displays
the textures on the left and the sets on the right.

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You can create a new layered texture, and assign a new texture to its color in
the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor.
Now when you open the Relationship Editor, you can click this new texture
and select one of the UV sets you created to link them together.
In the following, a fractal texture is mapped, Layer is Visible is checked off
for Texture 2, and the Blend Mode for the fractal texture is set to Add.

See also Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling for more detailed information.

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Linking lights and objects

LINKING LIGHTS AND OBJECTS

You can 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.
Selecting a Light Linking option opens the Relationship Editor in either
Light-Centric or Object-Centric mode.
See also Chapter 21, “Lighting/Shading” for information on shading groups
and linking lights and objects using the Relationship Editor.

Light-Centric linking
To create a light set:
1 Select Window > Relationship Editors > Light-Centric.
2 In the Relationship Editor’s 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.

Object-Centric linking
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 add or remove an object (or light) from a set:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Set Editing from the pull-down menu.
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.
See also Chapter 21, “Lighting/Shading” in this book for details.

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Creating and displaying Render Layers

CREATING AND DISPLAYING RENDER LAYERS

The following lists the items you will find in the Relationship Editor that you
use to create and display render layers:

Create Render Layer

Creates a new render layer that contains all selected objects.
When you select a layer, the objects in the layer are highlighted. By
highlighting or unhighlighting objects in the right panel, you can control
which objects are in the selected layer. See the following for information on
Render Layers.

Render Layers
Click the icon that represents a render layer to open its Attribute Editor, or
select Render Layer Attributes from the Layer Bar.

Render Layer Options

If Renderable is toggled on, it means the render layer can be affected by the
following render layer and pass options:
• Each object can only be in one layer and all objects are in a layer.
• Objects only cast shadows on other objects in the same layer.
• Objects not in the current layer are oblivious to the renderer—it treats each
layer as if it came from a separate scene.
• In interactive mode, when you request a test render, all layers with
renderable attributes set on are rendered into the window.
• In batch mode, each layer is rendered to a separate file for off-line
compositing.
You can control which passes are rendered from the pull-down menu
associated with each layer in the render layer bar. These options can only be
used if Enable Render Layers is toggled on in the Render Layer/Pass
Control section of the Render Globals window. See Render Layer/Pass
Control and Render Pass management spreadsheet for more information.

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Creating and displaying Render Layers

You can also use the Render Pass management spreadsheet to quickly
control the rendering state of the layers. Options include Beauty, Color, and
Shadow. The layer portion of this spread sheet is available when either
Enable Render Layers or Enable Global Passes are toggled on in the Render
Globals window.

Render Pass Options

These options are also available from the Render Globals window.
Beauty The Beauty pass is used by default and produces a
complete rendering of all the components.
Color The Color pass produces only the color component of the
image. No shadow information is produced.
Shadow The Shadow pass produces only the shadow component
of the image. No color information is produced.
When combined, the Color and Shadow components produce the same
image as the Beauty pass. The benefit is that you can now tweak the
shadows independently in a compositing/paint package.

Global Render
If selected in the Relationship Editor, the Attribute Editor switches focus to
globalRender. This allows for passes to be rendered for the entire scene.

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16 SHADING GROUP
ATTRIBUTES

This chapter provides a general overview and workflow of the Shading

Group Attributes available for shading group nodes.
To view the attributes for a shading group, select the shaded surface, then
select Lighting/Shading > Shading Group Attributes, or double-click the
shading group swatch in Hypershade. If you cannot see the shading group
swatch, click the material swatch then select the Show Up and Downstream
Connections icon in Hypershade’s tool bar.

Double-click to open
the shading group’s
Attribute Editor.

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Assigning effects to shading groups

This Attribute Editor lets you assign different effects for one shading group.
The Surface Material, Volume Material, and Displacement Material boxes
display the names of the material swatches in Hypershade. The boxes at the
end of these attributes let you quickly connect to the Attribute Editor for the
material type you assign to the surface material.
• Use the Surface Material to map textures to NURBS and Polygonal surfaces.
• Use the Volume Material to create effects such as fog, particles, or optical
effects.
• Use the Displacement Material to perform displacement mapping on the
Surface Material you create.

To assign several effects to one shading group:

To try this simple example, place a NURBS sphere in a view and assign the
Surface Material of your choice. Also remember to IPR Render the scene and
marquee a region to view the interactive results.
1 Create a material, such as Phong, and select the Show Up and Downstream
Connections button in Hypershade’s tool bar to display the shading group
swatch. Double-click the shading group swatch in Hypershade.
2 In Shading Group Attributes, click the box at the end of the Surface Material
name. The phong material’s Attribute Editor displays.
3 Click the box next to Color to assign a marble texture to phong’s Color
attribute.
4 Double-click the shading group swatch in Hypershade.
5 In Shading Group Attributes, click the box next to Volume Material and
select the Volume Shader from the Create Render Node window that
displays.
6 Click the box next to Out Transparency and assign the Optical FX Utility.
Adjust the default settings to create the effects you like.

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Tip
IPR Render the scene in the Render View and marquee a region to
interactively see the results as you update the attributes.

7 Double-click the shading group swatch in Hypershade again.

8 In Shading Group Attributes, click the box next to Displacement Mat. select
a texture (marble for this example). This displaces the object using the
marble texture’s attributes. The following can give you a visual sense of the
procedure.

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Create a surface material,

then double-click it’s
shading group swatch in
Hypershade to display the
Shading Group Attributes.

Click this box to adjust

the attributes for the
surface material.

Click these boxes to create

Volume and Displacement
materials.

Once created, click these

For example, click the Volume Material’s box
boxes again to access their
and map an Optical FX utility to one of its attributes.
Attribute Editors in which
you can adjust settings and
assign textures or utilities.

Optical FX mapped
to Out Transparency.

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Essentially, each time you double-click the shading group swatch, you have
quick access to the attributes for the materials in the shading group Attribute
Editor. Simply click the boxes next to the material names.
The following shows the Hypershade and the result in Render View.

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17 CONVERT TO FILE TEXTURE

Convert to File Texture takes a 3D texture (a solid texture, such as wood or

marble) and creates file textures, one for each mappable surface on the
object.

Tips
This operation can be useful if you want to prevent an animated object from
swimming through a 3D texture.
If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try:
• Increasing the Filter and/or Filter Offset values to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming.
• Use the Convert to File Texture feature to create a file texture, then increase
the Filter and/or Filter Offset values to try to achieve a slightly blurred effect
and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You can also try
increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

CONVERTING A SOLID TEXTURE TO A FILE TEXTURE

One of the disadvantages of using a solid texture is apparent during
animation. When you animate a surface mapped with a solid texture, the
surface appears to flow through the solid material. One method of solving
this problem is to convert the solid texture into a File texture.

To convert a solid texture into a File texture:

Once you have mapped a texture to a surface and want to save it as a file
texture:
1 Pick the surface in the view and the material swatch in Hypershade for
which you want to create a new file texture.

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Converting a solid texture to a file texture

2 Select Edit > Convert to File Texture in Hypershade or the Multilister.

3 If necessary, open the options window and adjust the options to suit your
needs, then press Convert Texture.

Rendered result.

Hypershade view.

1. Shift-select the textured surface in the view

and the material swatch in Hypershade.

2. Select Edit > Convert to File Texture.

Hypershade Visor includes

view of new new file texture.
render node
connections.

Convert to File Texture options

The Convert to File Texture options let you control how a solid texture is
converted into an image file texture. To access the options window, select
Convert to File Texture from the Edit menu in Hypershade, or Convert to
File Texture from the Edit menu in the Multilister.

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Converting a solid texture to a file texture

Note
When working in the Multilister, you must have a 3D texture on the
Highlight List and surfaces on the Selection List to successfully convert a
solid texture.

Anti-alias If on, sharp, jagged edges within the solid texture are
blurred or anti-aliased.
Bake Shading
Group Lighting Bakes the lights that illuminate the selected surface into the
new image file when you convert a texture or material
into an image file. The new image file looks like it is lit by
the same lights that are linked to the surface in the scene.
This option is ideal for color matching. You must select a
surface and a shading group (not a material) when you use
Bake Shading Group Lighting.
X Resolution,
Y Resolution The horizontal and vertical resolution of the image file,
measured in pixels. The slider range is 1 to 512. The
default value is 256.

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18 SURFACE RENDER
ATTRIBUTES

The Attribute Editor provides attributes for your surfaces with which you
can determine and fine-tune the render result. The following shows the
Attribute Editor for a NURBS sphere:

Rendering attributes

The Tessellation, Texture Map, and Render Stats sections of the Attribute
Editor contain rendering attributes.
In this chapter:

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Tessellation attributes

Tessellation attributes
• “Explicit Tessellation Attributes” on page 191
• “Primary Tessellation Attributes” on page 191
• “Secondary Tessellation Attributes” on page 192

Texture Map
• “Fix Texture Warp” on page 195

Render Stats
• “3D Motion Blur” on page 203
• “Displacement Map” on page 204

Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces)

• “Changing tessellation attributes” on page 206
• “Changing the component display” on page 207

TESSELLATION ATTRIBUTES
The following tessellation attributes only apply to NURBS surfaces.

Warning
Do not turn on all the secondary tessellation controls randomly to increase
image quality. This will very likely overshoot the tessellation. Use the
controls selectively, based on the information in this section.

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Tessellation attributes

Display Render
Tessellation
(in Hardware
Shading Mode) This preview tool lets you preview NURBS tessellation
settings on your surfaces.
Refresh
Screen Space Updates the Display Render Tessellation in the views after
you change the Min Screen value. See also Use Min
Screen.
Triangle Count Returns the render tessellation triangle count (if known).
(For UI informational purposes only.)
Min No. of
Triangles Displays the minimum number of triangles that Maya
produces to represent a surface with the current Primary
Tessellation Attributes settings. Any Secondary
Tessellation Attributes criteria can increase this number,
sometimes significantly.
Curvature
Tolerance Assigns the defaults so that you can determine how
smooth the nickeling of the tessellation needs to be. The
default is Medium Quality. At Highest Quality, the result
should produce very smooth edges with no nickeling. At
Medium Quality, there may be some nickeling, but
produced at a significantly less polygon count. In more
complex scenes with many little objects, it is usually
worthwhile to set the smaller objects to Medium Quality.

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Tessellation attributes

When you select No Curvature Check, there is no attempt

to smooth out the nickeling and only the initial sampling
for the tessellation is done.
U Divisions
Factor/
V Divisions
Factor A multiplier on top of our intelligent guess for the initial
sampling rate. The higher the factors, the more polygons
produced.

Tip
Before tuning these factors, adjust the Curvature Tolerance first to get the
results you want. It is also recommended that the U Divisions Factor and V
Divisions Factor attributes contain approximately the same value.

Smooth Edge If rendered NURBS objects look chunky along their edges,
it may be because they are not tessellated enough to
produce smooth edges.Use this attribute to smooth the
edges and also to avoid cracks between shared curves of
adjacent surfaces.

Tip
Turn Display Render Tessellation on to see the results in hardware shaded
mode.

The Smooth Edge option lets you increase the tessellation

quality (number of triangles) only along the boundary of
an object (to avoid nickeling artifacts along the edges),
without incurring the high rendering time cost of
increasing the tessellation level uniformly across the entire
object.
The greatest advantage of using this feature is that it lets
you increase the tessellation only along the boundary
without forcing additional detail across the entire surface.

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Tessellation attributes

The default is 0.95. The higher the ratio, the smoother the
edges and the higher the polygon count.
Smooth Edge
Ratio Adds more triangles mainly where they are needed in
areas of curvature along the edges of the surface. In this
case, edge means the boundary of the NURBS surface,
where one of the U or V parameters takes on its most
extreme value. This does not address the silhouette edges
based on how the object is viewed from the camera. While
extra triangles are primarily added along the edge, some
are also added to the interior of the surface as needed to
prevent cracking at T-junctions within the surface.
Edge Swap Helps to divide quadrilateral surface spans into optimal
triangles by allowing swapping of the two vertices on a
quadrilateral used to create triangles. This is a secondary
criteria, but it uses minimal resources.

Explicit Tessellation Attributes

When on, the Primary and Secondary Tessellation Attributes are enabled,
and the U/V Divisions Factor and Curvature Tolerance attributes are
disabled. The default is off, which allows you to adjust the simpler
tessellation attributes, based on intelligent and dynamic defaults.

Primary Tessellation Attributes

The Primary Tessellation Attributes only apply to NURBS surfaces. They
relate to the parametric (UV) space of a NURBS object. You must select the
Mode and Number for both U and V.

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Tessellation attributes

Mode U,
Mode V You set both U and V modes. The U and V mode settings
can be different. The U and V correspond to the U and V
parametric dimensions of the NURBS object.

Per Surf # of Isoparms

Ignores the number of spans on your surface and lets you specify the
number of subdivisions you want to create. This lets you get a sparser
number of isoparms on your surface than there are number of spans on your
surface. This mode is particularly good for addressing surfaces with lots of
compressions.

Per Surf # of Isoparms in 3D

Same as Per Surf # of Isoparms, but attempts to space the isoparms equally
in 3D space (as opposed to parametric space). Good for converting NURBS
to polygons. This mode produces more evenly distributed triangles than
other modes.

Per Span # of Isoparms

Divides each span, no matter how large or small, into the same number of
subdivisions. Therefore, very small spans are divided into the same number
of subdivisions as very large spans. This is the most common mode. The
default setting is 3.

Best Guess Based on Screen Size

Creates a bounding box around the NURBS surface, projects it into screen
space, and calculates the number of pixels in the space. Maya uses this
number to guess at the per surface # of isoparms. The maximum value is 40.
The more screen space the object uses, the higher the number that is set by
using this mode.
Number U,
Number V These are the actual values that are associated with the
modes, as listed previously. It is better if the U and V
settings are similar.

Secondary Tessellation Attributes

The Secondary Tessellation Attributes only apply to NURBS surfaces.

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Use Chord Height

Directs Maya to consider chord height during tessellation. Chord height is
the distance between the maximum height of a curve on a surface and the
baseline of a triangle that is trying to approximate the curve of the surface.

chord height
d
curve, intersecting triangle at points 0 and 1
0 D 1

The default is 0.1. Therefore when Maya calculates the chord heights, if any
of them are larger than 0.1, Maya subdivides the triangles and then
recomputes. Maya continues this subdivision process until all the triangles
meet this criteria. The smaller the chord height, the better the approximation
of the triangle to the surface curve.
This is most useful for industrial designers, who are concerned with the
accuracy of their model in relation to a prototype model. Chord height is
measured in Object Space.

Important note
Do not build your models too small. Chord height is measured in Object
Space. If you build models on a very small scale, and then scale them up,
the chord length will always be relative to the object, not to World Space,
which means this tessellation criteria can be very expensive on small
objects. For small or scaled objects, use the Use Chord Height Ratio option.

Chord Height Specifies the maximum distance the center of a tessellated

span can be from the actual NURBS surface (technically
called chord height).

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Use Chord
Height Ratio Takes the ratio between the chord height (d) and the
Distance (D) between the two points where the triangle
intersects the surface, and subtracts it from 1, as shown in
the equation:
Chord Height Ratio = 1 - d/D
A Chord Height Ratio value of 0.997 and above produces
very smoothly tessellated surfaces. The default is 0.9830,
which means that d is very small compared to D (i.e.
0.9830 = 1 - d/D). The closer this control is to 1, the tighter
the fit of the triangle to the surface. This criteria is best
used in animations.
Chord Height
Ratio Specifies the maximum ratio between the length of a span
and the distance the center of that span is from the actual
NURBS surface.
Use Min Screen Use Min Screen tessellates a surface based on how far it is
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 turned on, the
tessellation will change over time, and the displaced
texture will “pop.” To avoid displacement texture
“popping,” make sure the surface’s Use Min Screen
attribute is turned off.
Min Screen Default is 14 pixels. This means that all triangles must fit
within a 14X14 pixel area on the screen. Triangles that do
not meet this criteria are subdivided iteratively until they
fall within the specified area. The smaller you set this
value, the smaller the triangles must be to satisfy this
criteria. Lowering this value can dramatically increase
memory, so use caution.

Note
Do not use Min Screen in animations; only use it when creating stills.

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Texture Map

TEXTURE MAP
The Texture Map attributes only apply to NURBS surfaces.

Fix Texture Warp

Fix Texture Warp adjusts a texture’s UV parameters and the texture does not
rely on an object’s UV parameterization. This alleviates texture warp on
objects with 2D textures.
Texturing a NURBS surface relies on the parameterization of the surface to
determine the UV values. These UV values, however, do not represent the
arc-length—the exact distance along the surface—and the texturing may
appear squashed or stretched in certain areas when you transform the
surface.
For example, if you want to build and animate a flag with a checker texture,
you can create a NURBS plane on which to map a checker texture, transform
the CVs and turn Fix Texture Warp on in the object’s Attribute Editor. When
you animate the flag by moving some of the CVs to simulate the wind
blowing the flag, the checker pattern on the flag expands and shrinks
appropriately.

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Texture Map

Surface
parameterization
after adjusting CVs.
Fix Texture Warp off.

Fix Texture Warp on.

Note
To see the textured surfaces update when using this attribute, you must
view them in the Render View (Render > Render into New Window). Re-
render the scene to see the fixed texture.

Another example—if you transform the CVs of the tablecloth in this next
image and Fix Texture Warp is off, the checker and mountain texture
patterns warp according to the transformations you make. If Fix Texture
Warp is on, the folds and bulges look realistic because the texture conforms
to your transformations.

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Texture Map

Fix Texture Warp off. Fix Texture Warp on.

Because computing exact arc-lengths is very expensive, Fix Texture Warp is

a compromise used to achieve well spaced UV texture values with chord
length (which measures the length of a line drawn between two points on
the surface). In essence, use this feature to apply textures more evenly on
surfaces with uneven parameterization.

Note
Fix Texture Warp is applied on a per-NURBS surface basis.

When you toggle Fix Texture Warp on, Maya texture maps a 2D NURBS
surface based on the chord length of a grid placed on the surface.
You can determine the size of the grid by the value you specify in the
Grid Division Per Span U and Grid Division Per Span V and the
corresponding number of spans on the surface.
For instance, if the surface span in the UV direction is 3 and 5, the default
grid size in the UV direction is 12 and 20. Maya now maps the texture based
on the chord length on the surface instead of the default—the surface
parameter values.
Grid Div
Per Span U Specifies the number of divisions per span of the Chord
Length grid along the U parameter.

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Render Stats

Grid Div
Per Span V Specifies the number of divisions per span of the Chord
Length grid along the V parameter.

RENDER STATS

Casts Shadows Turns on the shadow casting ability of the surface.

Motion Blur Turns on motion blur for the surface. You must also turn
on Motion Blur in the Render Globals window.
Primary
Visibility When on, the surface is visible in the view and renders.
When off, you cannot see the surface in the view and it
does not render.

Tip
A surface’s shadow will render, however, if its Primary Visibility is off and
Cast Shadows is on.

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Render Stats

Smooth
Shading When off, objects render faceted (or flat shaded) instead of
smooth shaded. Every triangle renders using the triangle’s
normal, not the underlying NURBS surface normal or
smoothed polygon normal. Smooth Shading is on by
default.
See also Smooth Shade All and Flat Shade All.

NURBS

Polygons

Smooth Shaded Flat Shaded

Visible in
Reflections When on, the surface reflects in reflective surfaces. When
off, the surface does not reflect.
Visible in
Refractions When on, the surface refracts in transparent surfaces.
When off, the surface does not refract.
Double Sided Determines whether the surface is double sided. If single
sided, you can decrease your memory use and you can
use the Opposite option. See the following.
Opposite Double Sided must be turned off to set Opposite. Opposite
flips the surface normals.
Geometry
Antialiasing
Override When on, the surface overrides the geometry anti-aliasing
settings.

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Render Stats

Fixing shader glow flicker

Sometimes if object’s are too small, you may experience flickering glows. If
the above procedure does not work to eliminate this problem:

in the Attribute Spread Sheet:

• Open the Attribute Spread Sheet
(Window > General Editors > Attribute Spread Sheet).
• Select the object or objects.
• Click the Render tab.
• Scroll to Geometry Antialiasing Override and turn it on (type on).
• Increase the Antialiasing Level.

in the object’s Attribute Editor:

• Select the object or objects.
• Open the object’s Attribute Editor’s Render Stats section.
• Turn on Geometry Antialiasing Override.
• Increase the Antialiasing Level (the maximum is 5).

Tip
Motion-blurred objects will ignore any changes to the Geometry
Antialiasing Override settings. The blur will generally hide any aliasing
artifacts. If aliasing is still a problem on motion-blurred objects, try
increasing the Max Visibility Samples when rendering at highest quality.

Antialiasing
Level Level 1 - is the default. It takes 32 visibility samples.
Level 2 - takes 96 visibility samples.
Level 3 - takes 288 visibility samples.
Level 4 - takes 512 visibility samples.
Level 5 - takes 800 visibility samples.

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Render Stats

So level 5 gives the best edge antialiasing quality, but it is

also the most expensive (in both memory and speed).
Shading
Samples
Override When on, the surface overrides the global shading sample
settings in the Render Globals window.
Shading
Samples Sets the number of times Maya shades each fragment in a
pixel. A fragment is a representation of an object within a
pixel, including how much of the pixel that object covers.
A single pixel being shaded may contain many fragments,
each of which is shaded independently, with the resulting
contributions being composited together to yield the final
color of the pixel.
For example, if set to 1, Maya shades each fragment in a
pixel once; if set to 8, Maya shades each pixel fragment 8
times. The Shading Samples computation is very
expensive, so you should try adjusting the Max Shading
Samples first. See Max Shading Samples.

Tip
Using high Shading Samples values is extremely resource-intensive. The
number of shading samples taken per pixel is limited by the number of
visibility samples performed by the Edge Anti-Aliasing computation. For
example, if you are using Medium Quality (which performs 8 visibility
samples per pixel), you cannot ever get more than 8 shading samples,
regardless of the setting of the Shading Samples attribute.

Note
When Motion Blur is turned on, the Shading Samples attribute is the
number of samples Maya takes in the time interval that an object is visible.

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Render Stats

If, for example, you have a fast-moving shining object, and instead of seeing
a streak from its moving highlight, you see one distinct highlight, try
increasing the number of Shading Samples.
Sometimes, skinny highlights can exhibit roping or flickering artifacts. Try
increasing the Max Shading Samples setting. You may also need to increase
the Shading Samples setting, but you can set it on a per-object basis.
Max Shading
Samples Sets the maximum number of times a pixel is shaded
during the second pass of a Highest Quality render
(adaptive shading pass). The higher the number, the
longer the rendering will take, but the more accurate the
resulting image will be.

Note
Max Shading Samples will have an effect only when used in conjunction
with Highest Quality edge anti-aliasing. Also, depending on the
requirements to compute an accurate solution, the number of Shading
Samples taken can be less than the number of Max Shading Samples.

Occasionally, when an object is moving, the object’s textured edges look

distorted. To resolve this, try increasing the number of Max Shading
Samples.
Sometimes, skinny highlights can exhibit roping or flickering artifacts. Try
increasing the Max Shading Samples setting. You may also need to increase
the Shading Samples setting, but you can set it on a per-object basis.
Volume
Samples
Override When on, the object overrides the global volume shading
settings.
Volume
samples Adjusts the number of samples placed inside the fog
volume.

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Render Stats

3D Motion Blur
If you have surfaces in your scene that don’t move or barely move, do not
motion blur them. Being selective about what you motion blur will decrease
rendering times. Motion blur can be turned on and off on a per-object basis
(turn on/off Motion Blur for a surface in the Render Stats section of the
surface’s Attribute Editor).
Motion Blur attributes only have an affect when you use one of the
animation extensions in the Frame/Animation Ext menu in the Render
Globals window. See Frame/Animation Ext.

Note
When Motion Blur is turned on, the Shading Samples attribute is the
number of samples Maya takes in the time interval that an object is visible.

Max Visibility
Samples
Override When on, the surface overrides the Max 3D Blur Visib.
setting in the Render Globals window. See also 3D Blur
Visib.

Note
Max Visibility Samples Override and Max Visib. Samples only apply when
3D Motion Blur is on in the Render Globals window and when Highest
Quality edge anti-aliasing is used.

Max Visib
Samples The maximum number of times a pixel is sampled for
visibility when Motion Blur is turned on. See also 3D Blur
Visib.

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Render Stats

If an object is moving slowly (for example, if an object

moves by one or two pixels per frame), and you detect
poor aliasing on the object’s edges, try increasing the Max
Visibility Samples (on the object, not globally).

Displacement Map
The Displacement Map attributes provide you with a number of adjustable
attributes as well as a way to estimate the size of the bounding box, which
can help reduce rendering times. See Displacement Mapping for details
about these attributes and how to use the Displacement Material node.

Current UV Set Whenever you create a polygonal primitive, a UV set is

created by default. You must create a UV set if you either
create polygonal geometry, or a NURBS to Polygons
operation.
See Chapter 27, “Displacement Mapping”.
See also UV-Centric linking for information on creating
UV sets and Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling.
Feature
Displacement If on (the 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.

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Render Stats

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.
See also Non-Feature-based displacement mapping and
Setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes in Using Maya:
Rendering for information on displacement mapping when
this attribute is off.
Initial Sample
Rate This rate is used to check the texture values to determine
the difference between displacement heights and where to
introduce new vertices. It defines a regular sampling grid
in each original tessellation triangle. For example, with the
default value of 6, the sample grid is 6x6.
Try to keep this sample rate to a reasonable value since it
does take longer to render the higher the value. See
Setting sample rates for details. For each tessellation
triangle, notice how much texture height variation is in the
triangle and estimate how many initial samples are
required to include these features when displacement
mapping.
Extra Sample
Rate This rate is used to take extra samples to refine the new
vertices introduced during displacement mapping. This
rate is used to adjust the vertices to be better aligned with
the feature. Always try to set this value at 0 first if the
result looks too jagged, then increase the value to get the
results you need. The default value is 5. A value of 20 is
usually enough. See Setting sample rates for details. For
each tessellation triangle, notice how sharp the features
are and how many curvy features there are. The sharper
the features, the higher the Extra Sample Rate needs to be.
Texture
Threshold This value is used to eliminate small height variation in
the displacement (such as noise). This is a threshold of the
percentage of the maximum height variation. Any feature
that is smaller than this value will not be considered. The
default value is 0.

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Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces)

Note
It is recommended that you pre-process your texture so that it contains as
little noise as possible and leaving this value at the default of 0.

Normal
Threshold This value is used to determine the angle threshold of the
normal difference between two adjacent triangles. If the
normal difference is higher than the threshold, the edge
between these two triangles is recognized as a sharp edge.
If lower, the normals are averaged which produces
smooth edges. The default value is 30.

Note
It is recommended that you leave this value at the default of 30.

Bounding Box
Scale Determines the bounding box scale for a displacement
map and helps to compute the bounding box scale
automatically by tessellating the object.

TESSELLATION ATTRIBUTES (POLYGONAL SURFACES)

There are several polygonal surface tessellation attributes that control
surface quality. These can be very useful when Painting textures and
displacement mapping polygons.

Changing tessellation attributes

Click the arrow to open the Tessellation Attributes section of the Attribute
Editor for polygonal geometry.

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Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces)

If displacement mapping, these attributes take effect only if the polygon is

displacement mapped and its Feature Displacement attribute is toggled off
in the Displacement Map section of the Attribute Editor.
Max Triangles/
Max Subd The maximum number of subdivisions.
Min Screen The minimum screen size of a polygon edge before
stopping the polygon’s subdivision.
Max Uv The maximum U and V an edge can span before further
subdivisions.
Min Edge
Length This is the minimum edge length before stopping the
polygon’s subdivision.
Max Edge
Length This is the maximum edge length allowed before a
subdivision is required.

Changing the component display

Click the arrow to open the Mesh Component Display section of the
Attribute Editor.

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Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces)

These attributes can be toggled on or off and you can select items from the
pull-down menus depending on what you want displayed on the polygonal
object. For details about these attributes and other polygonal modeling
features, see Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling.
Display
Vertices Click to toggle the display of vertices on the polygonal
object on or off.
Vertex
Backface
Culling This attribute is toggled on by default. If Display Vertices
is toggled on, you can toggle the display of vertices off or
on when performing a backface culling operation.

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Tessellation attributes (polygonal surfaces)

Backface Culling
Backface Culling is used to select and only draw what is in front in the 3D
view. Click to select an option from the pull-down menu.
wire If you select wire, Maya culls back the faces but draws the
back faces in wireframe. The main difference between off
(the default setting) and wire is that you can still select the
back faces in off mode. In wire mode, the back faces are
displayed but are unpickable.
hard If you select hard, Maya culls back the faces but draws
only the hard edges, and not the back faces, in wireframe.
full If you select full, Maya culls back faces entirely—the back
faces are not drawn and cannot be selected.
Display Borders Toggle this on to highlight the polygonal borders and to
change their widths.
Display Edges Toggle this on to highlight polygonal edges and select
items from the pull-down menu to specify how you want
to display them.

Displaying components on edges

Toggle Display Center, Display UVs, and Display Triangles on or off to
specify which component you want displayed on the edges.

Display Normal
Toggle this on to display normals on the polygonal object. When toggled on,
you can change the size of the normals and select an item from the Normal
Type pull-down menu to specify which normal you want displayed—face
normals, vertex normals, or vertex/face normals.
Normal Size The following shows the default normal size (1.0) and
how the normals display when you change the value to
2.0.
Normal Type Select an item from the Normal Type pull-down menu to
specify where you want the normals displayed.

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19 CAMERAS

Camera options and attributes control the basic optical properties of a

camera.
In this chapter:

Create > Camera

Camera Overview

Creating a camera to animate

Camera nodes

Camera icons and manipulators

Create Camera Options window

Attribute Editor Camera attributes

Camera Tools

CREATE > CAMERA

The Camera menu item in the Create menu creates a new camera.

To create a new camera:

1 Select Create > Camera. A camera icon displays.
2 Use Maya’s transformation tools, Move, Rotate, and Scale, to resize and
reposition the camera if necessary.

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Create > Camera

3 Use the Show Manipulator Tool to interactively adjust attributes such as the
camera position, look at position, camera tumble point (also known as the
rotate pivot), or clipping planes. See Camera icons and manipulators for
details.

Three ways to display camera manipulators:

- Click the Show Manipulator Tool icon
or
- Select Display > Show > Camera Manipulators.
or
- Press the hotkey t

You can create a camera from Maya’s view panel menu (by default, a
perspective camera view) or from the view of another camera
(orthographic—front, top, side).
To create an orthographic camera, change the Create Camera Options before
you select Create > Camera (see Orthographic Views for details).

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Camera Overview

CAMERA OVERVIEW
The following overview briefly explains some of the concepts and terms we
use when working with cameras.

Angle of View
The angle (in degrees) of the camera’s view of a scene. Increasing the Angle
of View zooms the camera out and decreases the size of objects in the
camera’s view. Decreasing the Angle of View zooms the camera in and
increases the size of objects in the camera’s view.
The Angle of View and Focal Length are related. If you change one, Maya
automatically changes the other. In general, increasing the Angle of View
decreases the Focal Length. The Camera Aperture determines the exact
relationship between Angle of View and Focal Length.
Angle of View also influences a camera’s depth of field. See Depth of Field
for details.
The valid range is 1 to 165. The default value is 54.43 (which corresponds to
the default Focal Length of 35).

Focal Length
The focal length of the camera, measured in millimeters. Increasing the Focal
Length zooms the camera in and increases the size of objects in the camera’s
view. Decreasing the Focal Length zooms the camera out and decreases the
size of objects in the camera’s view.
The Focal Length and Angle of View are related. If you change one, Maya
automatically changes the other. In general, increasing the Focal Length
decreases the Angle of View. The Camera Aperture determines the exact
relationship between Focal Length and Angle of View.
Focal Length also influences a camera’s depth of field. See Depth of Field.
The valid range is 2.5 to 3500. The default value is 35.

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Camera Overview

Camera Scale
Scales the size of the camera relative to the scene. For example, if Camera
Scale is 0.5, the camera’s view will cover an area half as large, but objects in
the camera’s view will be twice as large. If the Focal Length is 35, the
effective focal length for the camera would be 70.
Use Camera Scale to scale your camera to a scene that is not its actual size.
For example, if a scene contains a model of a city that is only 10 centimeters
high, you can scale the camera down so that it views the city as though it
were 100 meters high.

Auto Render Clip Plane

If Auto Render Clip Plane is on, Maya automatically sets the near and far
clipping planes so that they enclose all objects within the camera’s view. All
objects render and depth precision problems are eliminated. Clipping planes
are only available to the software renderer (not visible in the views).
If Auto Render Clip Plane is off, the near and far clipping planes are set to
the Near Clip Plane and Far Clip Plane values.
Auto Render Clip Plane is on by default. In some cases, however, you
should turn off Auto Render Clip Plane:
• to ensure frames rendered from Maya 2.0 exactly match frames rendered
from Maya 1.0.
• to limit which objects will render based on their distance from the camera.

Near Clip Plane, Far Clip Plane

The distance of the near and far clipping planes from either the perspective
and orthographic cameras.
The near and far clipping planes are imaginary planes located at two
particular distances from the camera along the 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.

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Creating a camera to animate

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.

Usually the objects you want to render are within a certain range from the
camera. By setting the near and far clipping planes so that they are just
slightly beyond the limits of the objects in your scene, you can help reduce
rendering times.

Note
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 and Far Clip Plane
attributes to the lowest value that produces the desired result.

By default, Auto Render Clip Plane is on, and the Near Clip Plane and Far
Clip Plane values do not determine the position of the clipping planes for
software rendering. The default setting for Near Clip Plane is 0.1 and for Far
Clip Plane is 1000.

CREATING A CAMERA TO ANIMATE

The following explains more about camera components and what it means
to animate them. When animating the camera, think of the camera in terms
of three component parts:

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Camera eye Camera up vector

Camera view

Camera eye
The camera eye is the camera unit itself, which travels along the motion path to
which it is attached. 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. So, for example, if you move and the look at point
does not move, you rotate your head to keep it in view. 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. By assigning the camera up vector to an
independent motion path, the camera can be pivoted to any angle up to 360
degrees. Most real cameras are limited by the tripod.

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Camera nodes

CAMERA NODES
You can create one, two, or three node cameras. The following example
shows the three camera icons in the view and how they are represented in
Hypergraph.

Two-node

One-node Three-node

See One-node cameras and Multi-node cameras for details about these
camera nodes and how they work.

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 or
Attribute Editor, select One, Two, or Three.

3 Click the Create button.

See also Camera icons and manipulators.

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Camera nodes

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. That means you can either move the camera’s origin and center of
interest, or just the camera.
A one-node camera is 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 at
which the camera looks (the center of interest point) or the camera’s up
direction (camera up-vector).

Camera Origin

Center of Interest

One-node camera, When you choose the Move Tool, you can
Show Manipulator Tool selected. only move the camera origin
You can move both the camera - not the center of interest point.
origin and center of interest points.

To animate a one-node camera and control the center of interest point or the
camera’s up direction, use constraints. A constraint lets you control, or
constrain, 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.

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Camera nodes

Using a two-node camera, you can control its position and direction. With a
three-node camera you can also control the camera’s position and direction,
plus the camera’s up angle or twist. These extra nodes let you control the
point the camera looks at and the camera’s up direction and makes
animating the camera easier.

Note
After you create a camera, you cannot later decide to make it a camera with
a different number of nodes.

Use the Show Manipulator Tool as well as the Select and Move Tools to
position the camera and the center of interest points.

Two-node camera

Two-node camera, Using the Move Tool, you can move the camera origin
Show Manipulator Tool selected. or center of interest points independently.

Pressing the Shift key lets you move

both the camera origin and
center of interest points together.

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Camera nodes

Three-node camera

Zoomed-in view
of camera up vector.

Three-node camera, Show Manipulator Tool selected.

A center of interest (Camera view) point as well as an up

direction point (Camera up vector) are created.

Move the camera up vector Move the center of interest point

to adjust the camera’s angle. to adjust the camera’s view point.

Multi-node camera attributes

When you create a two or three node camera, an Attribute Editor for the
camera group becomes available. These attributes are useful to help control
the up vector for two and three node cameras.

Note
The lookAt attributes are not available for a one-node camera.

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Camera nodes

lookAt attributes
To access the attributes, double-click the multi-node camera swatch in
Hypershade, or click the multi-node camera icon in a view and select
Attribute Editor from the Window menu. Once in the Attribute Editor, click
the camera#_group tab (where # represents the camera you select, such as
camera1_group).
See also Using Maya: Character Setup for more information on constraints.

Up Vector Properties
World Up Type
Specifies the role of the world up vector. Selections include Scene Up, Object
Up, Object Rotation Up, Vector, and None.
Scene Up Tries to align the up vector with the scene's up axis
instead of the world up vector.The world up vector is
ignored. You can specify the scene's up axis in Options >
General Preferences, in the General tab's World
Coordinate System section. The default scene up axis is
the world space positive Y-axis.
Object Up Tries to aim the up vector at the origin of a specified object
instead of aligning with the world up vector. The world
up vector is ignored. The object whose origin at which the
up vector tries to aim is called the world up object. You can
specify the world up object with the aimConstraint MEL
command (use -wuo flag). If no world up object is
specified, the up vector tries to aim at the origin of the
scene's world space.
Object Rotation
Up The world up vector is defined relative to an object's local
space instead of the scene's world space. The up vector
tries to align with the world up vector after transforming
it relative to the scene's world space. The object whose
origin at which the up vector tries to aim is called the
world up object. You can specify the world up object with
the aimConstraint MEL command (use -wuo flag). If no
world up object is specified, the world up vector is
defined relative to the scene's world space.

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Camera nodes

Vector Tries to align the up vector with world up vector as

closely as possible. The world up vector is defined relative
to the scene's world space. (This is the default.)
None Specifies no calculation of the constrained object's
orientation about the aim vector. The orientation
continues as whatever the orientation is right before you
specify None. With None selected, the constrained object
becomes motion history dependent.

World Up Vector
Specifies the direction of the world up vector relative to the scene's world
space. Because Maya's world space is “Y-up” by default, the default world
up vector points in the direction of the world space's positive Y-axis (0.0000,
1.0000, 0.0000).

Twist
This value represents the angle to rotate up around the aim vector.

Constraint Properties
The following attributes let you control how you constrain the camera’s look
at point.

Distance Between
This value represents the output distance between the object and target
(object space).

Aim Vector
Specifies the direction of the aim vector relative to the constrained object's
local space. The aim vector points at the target point, forcing the constrained
object to orient itself accordingly. The default specifies that the object's local
rotation positive X-axis aligns with the aim vector to point at the target point
(1.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000).

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Camera icons and manipulators

Up Vector
Specifies the direction of the up vector relative to the constrained object's
local space. The default specifies that the object's local rotation positive Y-
axis aligns with the up vector. In turn, by default, the up vector tries to align
with the world up vector. Further, by default, the world up vector points in
the direction of the world space's positive Y-axis (0.0000, 1.0000, 0.0000).
If you define the up vector to point in the same direction as the aim vector,
the constrained object will be motion history dependent.

Display Connector
Click to turn the display of the line that connects the camera and the center
of interest point on or off.

Verifying the camera’s position

You can select the camera name from the Panels menu to verify its position.
When you select the camera name, the view zooms in to display the view
from the look-at point.
You can also select another camera from the Panels menu in any view. For
instance, if you create an orthographic camera in the front view and you are
currently in the perspective view, select Panels > Orthographic > camera2.

CAMERA ICONS AND MANIPULATORS

You usually adjust a camera while looking through its view. However, you
can display camera icons and manipulators to visualize and adjust a
camera’s view without having to actually look through its view.

Camera icons
A camera icon represents the position and direction of a camera in a view.
Camera icons are not visible by default; only the default camera is invisible.

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Camera icons and manipulators

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.

Perspective Camera Orthographic Camera

A circle on a one, two, or three-node camera icon represents the view point
(center of interest), and an additional circle on a three-node camera
represents the camera’s up direction.

Camera up vector

Camera view
(Center of Interest)

Two-Node Camera Three-Node Camera

See also Multi-node cameras for details.

To display and hide camera icons:

• To display camera icons, select Display > Show > Cameras.
• To hide camera icons, select Display > Hide > Cameras.

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• To hide or display all camera icons in a specific view, in the view panel,
select Show > Cameras.

Camera manipulators
Camera manipulators allow you to interactively adjust certain camera
attributes. To see these manipulators, make sure you select the Show
Manipulator Tool.

Cycling index
Click the Cycling Index manipulator dash to access each type of camera’s
manipulators: Center of interest/Camera Origin, Pivot, and Clipping planes.
The position of the dash on the Cycling Index indicates which manipulator is
displayed. The following examples use a three-node camera.

None Center of Interest/

Camera Origin

Pivot Clipping Planes

Center of interest/Camera Origin

Move the two manipulator handles, Center of Interest and Camera Origin, to
change the camera’s location and direction.

Camera Origin Center of Interest

Change the camera’s Change the camera’s

origin (location). center of interest
(look-at direction).

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Pivot
Move the Pivot manipulator and then click on it to change the point that the
camera pivots about when you move the camera origin or center of interest.
Click the Pivot manipulator handle again to disable the pivot point.

Close-up view of pivot.

Clipping planes
Move the two parts of the Clipping Planes manipulator to change the
location of the near and far clipping planes.

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Zoom-in to the camera icon

to see and select the Near
Clip Plane manipulator
handle.

Drag to increase the near

clipping plane value.

Close-up of near clipping plane Open the camera’s

manipulator handle. Attribute Editor to enter
exact values.

To see the Far Clip Plane’s manipulator

handle, reduce it’s default value in the
camera’s Attribute Editor then select and drag
the manipulator handle to adjust it.

You can also enter exact values in the

camera’s Attribute Editor.

To display or hide camera manipulators:

• To display camera manipulators, select a camera 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).

CREATE CAMERA OPTIONS WINDOW

The Create Camera Options let you set the properties of a camera before you
create it. Press the ❐ next to the Camera menu item to display the options
window (Create > Camera-❐).

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See the following for option descriptions:

• Camera Properties
• Lens Properties
• Film Back Properties
• Motion Blur
• Clipping Planes
• Orthographic Views
• Animation Options

Camera Properties
The camera viewing tools (tumble, track, and dolly) use this value to
determine the look at point when the camera is a one-node camera.

Center of
Interest The distance from the camera to the center of interest,
measured in your scene’s linear working unit.

Lens Properties

Focal Length The focal length of the camera, measured in millimeters.

Increasing the Focal Length zooms the camera in and
increases the size of objects in the camera’s view.
Decreasing the Focal Length zooms the camera out and
decreases the size of objects in the camera’s view.
The Focal Length and Angle of View are related. If you
change one, Maya automatically changes the other. In
general, increasing the Focal Length decreases the Angle
of View. The Camera Aperture determines the exact
relationship between Focal Length and Angle of View.

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Focal Length also influences a camera’s depth of field.

Increasing the Focal Length decreases the depth of field.
See Depth of Field.
The valid range is 2.5 to 3500. The default value is 35.
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. The
default value is 1.
Camera Scale Scales the size of the camera relative to the scene. For
example, if Camera Scale is 0.5, the camera’s view will
cover an area half as large, but objects in the camera’s
view will be twice as large. If the Focal Length is 35, the
effective focal length for the camera would be 70.
Use Camera Scale to scale your camera to a scene that is
not its actual size. For example, if a scene contains a model
of a city that is only 10 centimeters high, you can scale the
camera down so that it views the city as though it were
100 meters high.

Film Back Properties

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Horizontal Film
Aperture,
Vertical Film
Aperture The height and width of the camera’s aperture or film
back, measured in inches. The Camera Aperture
determines the relationship between Focal Length and
Angle of View. The default values are 1.417 and 0.945.
Horizontal Film
Offset, Vertical
Film Offset Vertically and horizontally offsets the resolution gate and
the film gate relative to the scene. Changing the Film
Offset produces a two-dimensional track. Film Offset is
measured in inches. The default setting is 0.
See also Horizontal and Vertical.
Film Fit Controls the size of the resolution gate relative to the film
gate. If the resolution gate and the film gate has the same
aspect ratio, then the Film Fit setting has no effect. The
default setting is Fill. See the following table.

Fill Fits the resolution gate within the film gate.

Horizontal Fits the resolution gate horizontally within the film gate.

Vertical Fits the resolution gate vertically within the film gate.

Overscan Fits the film gate within the resolution gate.

You can also set Film Fit in the camera view’s View >
Camera Settings sub-menu. See Camera Settings.
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). Film Fit Offset has no effect if Film Fit is
Fill or Overscan. Film Fit Offset is measured in inches. The
default setting is 0.

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Overscan Scales the size of your scene in the camera’s view only, not
in the rendered image. Adjust the Overscan value to see
more or less of your scene than will actually render. If you
have view guides displayed, changing the Overscan value
will change the amount of space surrounding the view
guides, making them easier to see. The default value is 1.

1 The view guide fills the view. The edges of the view guide may be
exactly aligned with the edges of the view, in which case the view
guide will not be visible.

>1 The higher the value, the more space is outside the view guide.

See also Overscan.

Motion Blur

Shutter Angle Motion Blur must be set on in the Render Globals window
and in at least one object’s Attribute Editor for the Shutter
Angle to have any effect.
The Shutter Angle controls the blurriness of motion
blurred objects. In a real-world camera, the shutter is
actually a metal disk that is missing a pie-shaped section.
This disk sits between the lens and the film, and rotates at
a constant rate. When the missing section is in front of the
film, it allows light from the lens to pass through and
expose the film. The larger the angle of the pie-shaped
section, the longer the exposure time, and more blurry
moving objects appear.
Shutter Angle is measured in degrees. The valid range is 1
to 360. The default value is 144.

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Clipping Planes

Near Clip Plane,

Far Clip Plane Determines the distance of the near and far clipping
planes from the camera, measured in your scene’s linear
working unit.
The near and far clipping planes are imaginary planes located at two
particular distances from the camera along the 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 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.

Usually the objects you want to render are within a certain range from the
camera. By setting the near and far clipping planes so that they are just
slightly beyond the limits of the objects in your scene, you can help reduce
rendering times.

Note
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 and Far Clip Plane
attributes to the lowest value that produces the desired result.

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By default, Auto Render Clip Plane is on, and the Near Clip Plane and Far
Clip Plane values do not determine the position of the clipping planes. The
default setting for Near Clip Plane is 0.1 and for Far Clip Plane is 1000.

Orthographic Views
By default, when you create a camera from the Create menu, the view is
perspective. If you want an orthographic camera view, click the
Orthographic check box and change the Orthographic Width if necessary.

The Orthographic Views attributes control whether a camera is perspective

or orthographic (top, front, or side), and also lets you control the field of
view for orthographic cameras. See also Orthographic Views.
Orthographic If Orthographic is on, the camera is an orthographic
camera. If Orthographic is off, the camera is a perspective
camera. Orthographic is off by default.

Tip
The default cameras are aligned to the major axis. You can create an off-
axis orthographic camera by rotating the orthographic camera or changing
the default tumble options and using the tumble tool.

Orthographic
Width The width (in inches) of the orthographic camera. The
width of an orthographic camera controls how much of a
scene the camera can see. Changing the width of an
orthographic camera has the same effect as zooming a
perspective camera.

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Tip
If you want to create a new perspective camera and get out of orthographic
view mode, select Edit > Reset Settings and click the Apply button.

Animation Options

Nodes The number of nodes that control a camera’s position and

direction. 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. The default setting is One.

ATTRIBUTE EDITOR CAMERA ATTRIBUTES

After you create a camera, you can further adjust its settings by changing
attributes in its Attribute Editor. Select the camera for which you want to
change settings then open its Attribute Editor (select
Window > Attribute Editor).

Note
If you click the boxes at the right of some of the attributes in this editor, the
Create Render Node window displays providing you with the ability to
map certain render nodes to the camera attributes.

See the following for attribute descriptions:

• Camera Attributes

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• Depth of Field
• Output Settings
• Environment
• Special Effects
• Display Options
• Orthographic Views

Tip
Depending on the camera you have selected, you can also open its
Attribute Editor by selecting View > Camera Attribute Editor from any
panel’s View menu.

Camera Attributes

Focal Length and Angle of View note

See also Camera Overview for a general explanation.
Focal length and angle of view are two different methods of defining the
same lens property:
• A long focal length represents a narrow angle of view (for example, a
telescope, or a camera zoom lens). Objects that are far from the camera,
appear large or close to the camera.
• A short focal length represents a wide angle of view (for example, a camera
wide angle lens). Objects that are close to the camera appear small or far
away. Objects that are very close to the camera may appear
disproportionately large relative to objects that are only slightly farther away
from the camera.

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Focal Length = 20 Focal Length = 50

Angle of View = 83.97 Angle of View = 39.60

Angle of View The horizontal angle of the view seen by the film. The
valid/slider range is 0.2 to 179.
The angle of view is also known as the lens angle. It
represents the width of the film back as seen through the
lens, expressed as an angle.
The Angle of View value is related to the Focal Length setting, and the Film
Back value:
• If you change the Angle of View value, the Focal Length value automatically
changes. The Film Back values do not change.
• If you change the Focal Length value, the Angle of View value automatically
changes. The Film Back values do not change.
• If you change the Film Back values, the Angle of View value automatically
changes. The Focal Length value does not change.
Focal Length The focal length of the camera, measured in millimeters.
Increasing the Focal Length zooms the camera in and
increases the size of objects in the camera’s view.
Decreasing the Focal Length zooms the camera out and
decreases the size of objects in the camera’s view.
The Focal Length and Angle of View are related. If you
change one, Maya automatically changes the other. In
general, increasing the Focal Length decreases the Angle
of View. The Camera Aperture determines the exact
relationship between Focal Length and Angle of View.

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Focal Length also influences a camera’s depth of field.

Increasing the Focal Length decreases the depth of field.
See “Depth of Field” on page 240.
The valid range is 2.5 to 3500. The default value is 35.
Camera Scale Scales the size of the camera relative to the scene. For
example, if Camera Scale is 0.5, the camera’s view will
cover an area half as large, but objects in the camera’s
view will be twice as large. If the Focal Length is 35, the
effective focal length for the camera would be 70.
Use Camera Scale to scale your camera to a scene that is
not its actual size. For example, if a scene contains a model
of a city that is only 10 centimeters high, you can scale the
camera down so that it views the city as though it were
100 meters high.
Auto Render
Clip Plane By default, Auto Render Clip Plane is on, and the Near
Clip Plane and Far Clip Plane values do not determine the
position of the clipping planes.
Near Clip Plane,
Far Clip Plane This determines the distance of the near and far clipping
planes from the camera (for perspective cameras) or the
origin (for orthographic cameras), measured in your
scene’s linear working unit. The default setting for Near
Clip Plane is 0.1 and for Far Clip Plane is 1000.
The near and far clipping planes are imaginary planes located at two
particular distances from the camera along the 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.

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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.

Usually the objects you want to render are within a certain range from the
camera. By setting the near and far clipping planes so that they are just
slightly beyond the limits of the objects in your scene, you can help reduce
rendering times.

Note
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 and Far Clip Plane
attributes to the lowest value that produces the desired result. If you set
Auto Render Clip Plane on, you do not have to worry about distances.

Film Back

The Film Back attributes control the basic properties of a camera (for
example, the camera’s film format: 16mm, 35mm, 70mm).

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Film Gate Lets you select a preset camera type: 16mm Theatrical,
Super 16mm, 35mm Academy, 35mm TV Projection,
35mm Full Aperture, 35mm 1.85 Projection, 35mm
Anamorphic, 70mm Projection, VistaVision, and Imax.
When you select a preset Film Gate, Maya automatically
sets the Camera Aperture, Film Aspect Ratio, and Lens
Squeeze Ratio. To set these attributes individually, set
Film Gate to User. The default setting is User.
Camera
Aperture The height and width of the camera’s aperture or film
back, measured in inches. The Camera Aperture
determines the relationship between Focal Length and
Angle of View. The default values are 1.417 and 0.945.
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). The valid range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is
1.5.
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. The
default value is 1.
Film Fit Controls the size of the resolution gate relative to the film
gate. If the resolution gate and the film gate has the same
aspect ratio, then the Film Fit setting has no effect. The
default setting is Fill.

Fill Fits the resolution gate within the film gate.

Horizontal Fits the resolution gate horizontally within the film gate.

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Vertical Fits the resolution gate vertically within the film gate.

Overscan Fits the film gate within the resolution gate.

You can also set Film Fit in the camera view’s

View > Camera Settings sub-menu.
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). Film Fit Offset has no effect if Film Fit is
Fill or Overscan. Film Fit Offset is measured in inches. The
default setting is 0.
Film Offset Vertically and horizontally offsets the resolution gate and
the film gate relative to the scene. Changing the Film
Offset produces a two-dimensional track. Film Offset is
measured in inches. The default setting is 0.
Overscan Scales the size of your scene in the camera’s view only, not
in the rendered image. Adjust the Overscan value to see
more or less of your scene than will actually render. If you
have view guides displayed, changing the Overscan value
will change the amount of space surrounding the view
guides, making them easier to see. The default value is 1.

1 The view guide fills the view. The edges of the view guide may be
exactly aligned with the edges of the view, in which case the view
guide will not be visible.

>1 The higher the value, the more space is outside the view guide.

Depth of Field

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The Depth of Field attributes control a camera’s depth of field, how certain
objects will be sharply focused and other objects will be blurred or out of
focus.

Note
The Angle of View and Focal Length attributes also influence depth of
field. Decreasing the Angle of View, or increasing the Focal Length,
decreases the depth of field.

Tip
The more out of focus an image is, the longer it takes to generate the final
rendered image (that is, the post-render blur will take longer.)

Depth Of Field If Depth Of Field is on, some objects in your scene are
sharply focused and other objects are blurred or out of
focus, based on their distance from the camera.
If off, all objects in your scene are sharply focused. Depth
Of Field is off by default.
Focus Distance The distance from the camera at which objects appear in
sharp focus, measured in your scene’s linear working unit.
Decreasing the Focus Distance also decreases the depth of
field. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The default value is 5.
F Stop Controls the range of distances from the camera within
which objects appear in sharp focus (the depth of field).
The range of distances is centered on the Focus Distance.
The range is smaller toward the camera and larger away
from the camera. The valid range is 1 (small depth of field)
to 64 (large depth of field). The default value is 5.6.
Focus Region
Scale Scales the Focus Distance value. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The default value is 1.

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Output Settings

The Output Settings control whether a camera generates an image during

rendering, and what types of images the camera renders.
Renderable If Renderable is on, the camera can create an image file,
mask file, and/or depth file during rendering. By default,
Renderable is on for the default perspective camera, and
off for all other cameras.

Note
Changing the Camera attribute in the Image File Output section of the
Render Globals window can change the Renderable setting in a camera’s
Attribute Editor. See also Camera.

Image If Image is on (and Renderable is on), the camera will

create an image file during rendering. The default setting
is on.
Mask If Mask is on (and Renderable is on), the camera will
create a mask during rendering. A mask is an 8-bit
channel (the alpha channel) in the image file that
represents the presence of objects by shades of gray. Black
areas represent areas where there are no objects (or fully
transparent objects), and white areas represent areas
where there are (solid) objects. Masks are used primarily
for compositing.
If the Image Format in the Render Globals window is not
set to Maya IFF, Maya16 IFF, RLA, SGI, Tiff, or Tiff16,
then the camera does not include the mask information in
the alpha channel of the image file. Instead, it creates a
separate mask file. See also Image Format.

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Depth If Depth is on (and Renderable is on), the camera will

create a depth file during rendering. A depth file is a type
of image file that represents the distance of objects from
the camera by shades of gray. Depth files are used
primarily for compositing. When on, the Depth Type
attributes (next) are enabled.
Depth Type Determines which objects Maya uses to create the Depth
file.
Closest Visible Depth uses the closest object to the camera.
In cases where transparent objects are located in front of
other objects, you can turn on Transparency Based Depth
to ignore the transparent object.
Furthest Visible Depth is most often used in Particle
Effects cases where the Particle Effect is occluded by an
opaque object. In this case, Maya uses the Furthest Visible
Depth to create a Depth file.
Transparency
Based Depth Turns on Threshold, which determines which object is
closest to the camera, based on transparency.
Transparency Based Depth is only enabled when you
select Closest Visible Depth.
In cases where transparent objects are located in front of
other objects, you can turn on Transparency Based Depth
to ignore the transparent object.
Threshold Used when compositing multiple layers of transparency
(which varies from 0 to 1). For example, if Threshold is 0.9
(the default), when transparent surfaces add up to 0.9 or
larger, the surface becomes opaque.

Environment
The Environment attributes control the appearance of the scene’s
background as seen from the camera. Different cameras can use different
backgrounds.

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Background
Color The color of the scene’s background. The default color is
black.
Image Plane Creates an image plane and attaches it to the camera.
Clicking the Create button automatically changes the
focus of the Attribute Editor to include attributes for an
image plane. See Image Planes for details about Image
Plane attributes.

Special Effects

Shutter Angle Controls the blurriness of motion blurred objects. In a real-

world camera, the shutter is actually a metal disk that is
missing a pie-shaped section. This disk sits between the
lens and the film, and rotates at a constant rate. When the
missing section is in front of the film, it allows light from
the lens to pass through and expose the film. The larger
the angle of the pie-shaped section, the longer the
exposure time, and more blurry moving objects appear.
Motion Blur must be on in the Render Globals window
and in at least one object’s Attribute Editor in order for the
Shutter Angle to have any effect.
Shutter Angle is measured in degrees. The valid range is 1
to 360. The default value is 144.

Display Options
The Display Options control the display of view guides in the camera’s
view, and options for moving the camera. You can also access most of these
attributes in any panel’s View > Camera Settings sub- menu.

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See also Chapter 22, “View Panel Menus” of this book.

Display Film Gate Displays a rectangle that 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. See also Film Gate.

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Display
Resolution Displays a rectangle that 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.
See also Resolution Gate.
Display Field
Chart Displays a grid that represents the twelve standard cel
animation field sizes. The largest field size (number 12) is
identical to the rendering resolution (the resolution gate).
See also Field Chart.
Display Safe
Action Displays a rectangle that 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). See also Safe Action.
Display Safe
Title Displays a rectangle that 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). See also Safe Title.
Journal
Command If Journal Command is on, all camera movements are
written to the Script Editor and become part of the undo
queue, allowing you to undo or redo them. This also
allows you to copy camera movements and use them for
other cameras or scenes.
If Journal Command is off, you cannot undo or redo
camera movements. Use Previous View or Next View
instead. Journal Command is off by default. See also
Journal.
Center of
Interest The distance from the camera to the center of interest,
measured in your scene’s linear working unit.

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Tumble Pivot The point that the Tumble tool pivots the camera about
when Tumble Camera About is set to Tumble Pivot in the
Tumble Tool settings window. See also Tumble Tool.

Orthographic Views
By default, when you create a camera from the Create menu, the view is
perspective. If you want an orthographic camera view, click the
Orthographic check box and change the Orthographic Width if necessary.
The Orthographic Views attributes control whether a camera is perspective
or orthographic (top, front, or side), and also lets you control the field of
view for orthographic cameras.

Orthographic If Orthographic is on, the camera is an orthographic

camera. If Orthographic is off, the camera is a perspective
camera.
Orthographic
Width The width (in linear units) of the orthographic camera.
The width of an orthographic camera controls how much
of a scene the camera can see. Changing the width of an
orthographic camera has the same effect as zooming a
perspective camera.

Animation Options
Select a Node to create either a One, Two, or Three node camera. One is the
default animation camera node setting. See Creating a camera to animate,
One-node cameras, and Multi-node cameras for details.

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Camera Tools

CAMERA TOOLS
You can access Camera Tools from any panel’s View menu.

Tips
• If you change the default settings in the camera tool options windows,
remember to press the Reset Tool button to reset the tool defaults for
your next operation. If you want to keep the settings for a particular
camera operation, middle-mouse-drag the camera tool setting icon
from the mini bar into the Shelf and click this icon for specific
operations.

• Select View > Default Home if you zoom and tumble the view
repeatedly and then need to see the default camera’s view.

Azimuth Elevation Tool

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.)

Note
This tool differs from the Tumble tool in that the camera rolls as the tool is
used (the camera’s up is not maintained).

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Camera Tools

Azimuth Elevation Tool options

Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is 1.
Rotation type Controls whether the camera movement is an Azimuth
Elevation movement or a Yaw Pitch movement (see also
Yaw-Pitch Tool).

Tip
Press Shift to constrain the camera’s movement.

Dolly Tool
The Dolly tool moves into or away from the view. Notice the Help Line
when dollying in the perspective or orthographic views. When dollying in a
perspective view, distance values display. When dollying in an orthographic
view, width values display.
Dollying a perspective camera moves the camera towards 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.
When dollying an orthographic camera, you are changing the Orthographic
Width.

Dolly mousing
When you drag the mouse to the right, you zoom in. When you drag the
mouse to the left, you zoom out.

Dolly keyboard shortcuts

• When you haven’t selected the Dolly Tool specifically, use the left mouse
button to dolly.
• Use Alt-left and middle mouse buttons to perform a non-specific dolly
operation.
• Use Ctrl-Alt-left mouse button to drag a marquee in the area in which you
want to dolly.

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Dolly Tool options

Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is 1.

Dolly
Local If on, drag in the camera’s view to move the camera
toward or away from its center of interest. If off, drag in
the camera’s view to move both the camera and its center
of interest along the camera’s sight line. Local is on by
default.
Center of
Interest If Center of Interest is on, drag with the middle mouse
button in the camera’s view to move the camera’s center
of interest toward or away from the camera. If off, drag in
the camera’s view to move the camera toward or away
from its center of interest. Use the left mouse button to
marquee a region and snap the center of interest to the
center of those objects.
If Center of Interest (and/or Local) and Bounding box are
on, when you drag in the views, a red line with a small x
at the end points to indicate the Center of Interest. Center
of Interest is off by default.

Snap box dolly to

A box dolly moves the center of interest to the marquee region when you
use the Ctrl-Alt-drag method to dolly the camera.
Surface If on, when you perform a box dolly (Ctrl-drag) on an
object, the center of interest moves onto the surface of the
object.Calculating the surface point will be slower if
Smooth Shade mode is off (and especially if there are
many visible objects in the scene).
Bounding box If on, when you perform a box dolly (Ctrl-drag) on an
object, the center of interest moves to the center of the
object’s bounding box. Bounding Box is on by default.

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Camera Tools

Roll Tool
Rolling a camera means rotating the camera about its sight line (the line
connecting the camera to its center of interest).

Roll Tool option

Roll Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is 1.

Track Tool
Tracking a camera means moving the camera left, right, up, or down.

Track keyboard shortcuts

• When you haven’t selected the Track Tool specifically, use Alt-middle-
mouse drag to track.
• Press the Shift key to constrain movement in horizontal or vertical
directions.

Track Tool options

Track
Geometry If off, as the camera moves, an object moves at a speed
that may be different than the speed of the cursor. This
problem occurs with objects far from the camera. Track
Geometry is off by default.
If on, as the camera moves, an object moves at the same
speed as the cursor. The object selected at the beginning of
the Track operation remains under the cursor.Tracking
will be slower (especially if there are many objects in the
scene) if Track Geometry is on.
Track Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0 to 100. The default value is 1.

Tumble Tool
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.

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Tumble keyboard shortcuts

• When you haven’t selected the Tumble Tool specifically, use Alt-left-mouse
drag to tumble.
• Press the Shift key to constrain the camera movement.

Tumble Tool options

Tumble scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is 1.

Tumble camera about

Center of
interest If set to Center of interest, the camera tumbles about its
center of interest. Tumble camera about is set to Center of
interest by default.
Tumble pivot If set to Tumble pivot, the camera will tumble about its
pivot point. This tumble pivot can also be set in the
camera’s Attribute Editor (see Tumble Pivot for
details).These values are stored in world space
coordinates. View operations such as Frame Selection,
Frame All, Look at Selection, Default Home, and
Bookmarks all set the tumble pivot.

Orthographic views
Locked If on, you cannot tumble an orthographic camera.
If off, you can tumble an orthographic camera. Locked is
on by default.
Stepped If on, you can tumble an orthographic camera in discrete
steps. The Stepped operation lets you easily return to the
Default Home positions.
If off, you can tumble an orthographic camera smoothly.
Stepped is only available if Locked is off. Stepped is on by
default.
Ortho step The angle of steps (in degrees) that you can tumble an
orthographic camera when Locked is off and Stepped is
on. The valid range is 0.01 to 180. The default value is 5.

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Camera Tools

Yaw-Pitch Tool
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.)

Yaw Pitch Tool options

Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 10. The default value is 1.
Rotation type Controls whether the camera movement is a Yaw Pitch
movement or an Azimuth Elevation movement (see also
Azimuth Elevation Tool).

Tip
Press Shift to constrain the camera’s movement.

Zoom Tool
Zooming a camera means changing the lens’s focal length for a perspective
camera or the orthographic width for an orthographic camera; 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.

Zoom Tool option

Zoom Scale Scales the speed of the camera movement. The slider
range is 0.01 to 3. The default value is 1.

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20 RENDER MENU

The Render menu contains options for rendering a scene.

In this chapter:
• Render into New Window
• Redo Previous Render
• IPR Render into New Window
• Redo Previous IPR Render
• Test Resolution
• Render Diagnostics
• (Save) Batch Render
• Cancel Batch Render
• Show Batch Render
• (Save) Distributed Render

RENDER INTO NEW WINDOW

The Render View window renders the scene from the current view. Use
Render View to interactively tune rendering attributes and test render single
frames.
To find out more about using the Render View to do this, see “Interactively
previewing and tuning a scene” in Using Maya: Rendering. You can also use
Render View in conjunction with Render Globals to set up the resolution
and quality of your work.

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Render into New Window

See also Render View and IPR and Camera Settings to learn more about how
to set up your view to render in the Render View.

Redo Previous Render

Opens the Render View window and renders the scene from the view that
was selected the last time you rendered the scene.

IPR Render into New Window

Opens the Render View window and IPR renders the scene from the current
view. IPR means Interactive Photorealistic Rendering. When you render a scene
using this powerful feature, you can interactively update portions or all of
your scene and get the feedback immediately.

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Render into New Window

See also Render View and IPRand Camera Settings to learn more about how
to set up your view to render in the Render View.

Redo Previous IPR Render

Opens the Render View window and IPR renders the scene from the view
that was selected the last time you IPR rendered the scene.

Test Resolution

The resolution that your image renders at in the Render View window. Use
a reduced resolution to test render your scene.

Camera Panel Renders at the resolution of the current view.

Render Globals Renders at the Resolution set in the Render

Globals window (see Resolution). The default
setting is 320x240.

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Render into New Window

50% Globals Renders at 50% of the Resolution set in the Render

Globals window. The default setting is 160x120.

25% Globals Renders at 25% of the Resolution set in the Render

Globals window. The default setting is 80x60.

10% Globals Renders at 10% of the Resolution set in the Render

Globals window. The default setting is 32x24.

Render Diagnostics
Run Render Diagnostics after you tune objects, and before you render. It
provides valuable information about how you can improve performance and
avoid limitations. You can run the diagnostics while experimenting with
your rendering settings, or before you start your final rendering.
The following displays part of a render diagnostics window. Scroll up and
down or sideways to read the rest of the information:

The limitations and recommendations that Render Diagnostics displays

include messages about the following topics:

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Render into New Window

• motion blur limitations

• output image file format restrictions
• fractional by frame requiring modify ext
• no renderable cameras or weird combination
• large far/near clipping plane values cause artifacts
• reflection gets incorrect normal when bumped
• instanced light non-functional
• zero-scale items not rendered
• no lights warning
• composite rendering warning
• RT global flag on but no real RT being requested
• small filter value warning
• file texture name delimited by “.” warning
• SG with no ports connected
• object with no SG associated
• screen-space tessellation resulting in flicker
• dangling volume primitives (fog/glow)
• RT warning, and RT limits
• high shading sample warning
• high visibility sample warning
• multi-pixel filtering expensive warning
• lots of textures not using file caching warning
• avoid RT shadows
• avoid large filter size values for shadow map
• avoid large shadow map resolution
• output objects with high tessellation count
• degree 1 tessellation suggestion

(Save) Batch Render

Saves the current scene to a file and renders that file in the background.

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Render into New Window

A -rep command line option avoids rendering onto a filename that already
exists.
See also Batch Render Window for the Batch Render window option
descriptions.

Cancel Batch Render

Cancels any background rendering initiated by selecting
Render > (Save) Batch Render.
See also Batch Render Window for the Batch Render window option
descriptions.

Show Batch Render

Opens an fcheck display window and displays the image(s) rendered by
selecting Render > (Save) Batch Render.
See also Using Maya: Rendering and “fcheck” in the Maya Rendering Utilities
online documentation.
See also Batch Render Window for the Batch Render window option
descriptions.

(Save) Distributed Render

Saves the current scene to a file and opens Dispatcher, which allows you to
render across a network of computers (UNIX only).
See also Using Maya: Rendering and “dispatcher” in the Maya Rendering
Utilities online documentation.

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21 LIGHTING/SHADING

The Lighting/Shading menu provides options to link lights and surfaces

together, as well as create, edit, and assign shading groups, displace textures
to polygonal models, create, delete, and select texture reference objects, and
use the NURBS Texture Placement Tool.
In this chapter:

Link and select light options

• Select Objects Illuminated by Light
• Select Lights Illuminating Object
• Make Light Links
• Break Light Links
• Light Linking

Shading Group Attributes

Assign Shading Group

Displacement to Polygon

Texture Reference Objects

• Create Texture Reference Object
• Delete Texture Reference Object
• Select Texture Reference Object

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Link and select light options

NURBS Texture Placement Tool

LINK AND SELECT LIGHT OPTIONS

The following describes the options available from the Rendering set Lights/
Shaders menu with which you can select and link lights.

Select Objects Illuminated by Light

To select all surfaces illuminated by a specific light:
1 Select a specific light.
2 Select Lights > Select Objects Illuminated by Light. All objects illuminated
by the selected light highlight.

Select Lights Illuminating Object

To select all lights that illuminate a specific surface:
1 Select the surface.
2 Select Lights > Select Lights Illuminating Object. All lights illuminating the
specified surface highlight.

Make Light Links

To link selected lights and surfaces:
1 Select the lights and surfaces you want to link.
2 Select Lights > Make Light Links.

Break Light Links

To link selected lights and surfaces:
1 Select the lights and surfaces you want to unlink.
2 Select Lights > Break Light Links.

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Link and select light options

Light Linking
When you create a light, the new light illuminates all surfaces in your scene
by default (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.
Selecting a Light Linking option opens the Relationship Editor in either
Light-Centric or Object-Centric mode.

Light-Centric linking
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.

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Link and select light options

Object-Centric linking
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.

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Link and select light options

To add or remove an object (or light) from a set:

1 In the Relationship Editor, select Set Editing from the pull-down menu.

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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.

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Link and select light options

For more information on sets, see Using Maya: Essentials.

See Render Relationships in this book, Using Maya: Rendering and Using
Maya: Essentials for information on using the Relationship Editor.

Linking 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

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Shading Group Attributes

For more information on the lightlink command, see the Using Maya: MEL
online documentation.

SHADING GROUP ATTRIBUTES

Select this menu item to open the Attribute Editor for the shading group
assigned to the selected surface. The following example shows the Attribute
Editor for a phong shading group assigned to a NURBS sphere.

Click the box next to the attribute to map a Surface, Volume, or

Displacement material to the shading group node.
For more information about using the Shading Group Attributes and where
to find the information you need about materials, see the following:
• Shading Group Attributes
• Common Material Attributes
• Volumetric Materials
• Displacement Mapping

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Assign Shading Group

ASSIGN SHADING GROUP

Assigns one of the shading groups in the Assign Shading Group sub-menu
to all selected surfaces.This menu updates depending on the materials you
create.

Clicking the ❐ next to a shading group name opens the Attribute Editor
associated to the shading group.

DISPLACEMENT TO POLYGON
This tool allows you to use a displacement map as a rendering tool. Use the
Displacement to Polygon tool to view the tessellation triangles after you
displace a surface.

Tip
This tool can also be used for non-displaced surfaces. For example, to
tessellate the result for a subdivision surface.

To bake a displacement map (into polygonal geometry):

1 Select a displacement-mapped NURBS, polygonal, or subdivision surface.
2 Select Lighting/Shading > Displacement to Polygon. Maya creates Polygonal
geometry with the displaced result.
The following shows a simple NURBS plane mapped with a Cloth 2D
texture. The Cloth texture is also used as the displacement map texture.

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Displacement to Polygon

Hypershade view.

Rendered result.

Displacement to Polygon
result (in view).

You may also want to convert a displacement-mapped object into a new

object whose geometry reflects the effect of the displacement.

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Displacement to Polygon

Assign the texture to the displaced geometry.

Change the texture attributes if you want.

This can be useful if you want to export the resulting geometry to another
system, or because applying the displacement map and generating the
resulting geometry once is more efficient than rendering the displacement
mapped object each frame (for non-animated displacements on non-
deforming geometry).
Displacement to Polygon bakes the displacement-map and lets you determine
the location of displacement mapped surfaces so you can animate spatially
correctly. For example, you can use a displacement map to create a
mountain range on a NURBS ground plane and animate a helicopter flying
through the mountains. The conversion helps you visualize the mountain
range as you animate. You can always delete the polygonal geometry later if
you prefer to use the displaced NURBS geometry.
For rigid bodies, the Displacement to Polygon operation may be helpful for
two reasons:
• It allows collisions on the real displaced surface.
• It makes the simulation run a lot faster than when using NURBS surfaces.

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Texture Reference Objects

TEXTURE REFERENCE OBJECTS

Maya provides the following Lighting/Shading menu items to create, delete,
or select texture reference objects.

Create Texture Reference Object

Select this item to create a texture reference object for the selected surface to
lock a 3D texture or projected 2D texture to the surface. As the surface
animates or deforms, the texture stays with the surface, producing a very
natural looking result.

Important Notes
Note the following when using reference objects:
• You must create a reference object before you animate or deform the original
surface (see the next bullet).
• 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.

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Texture Reference Objects

Note
To select a reference object, either use Select Texture Reference Object, or
click the reference object’s heading in the Channel Box.

To create a reference object:

1 Select the surface.
2 Assign the 3D texture to 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).
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.

Delete Texture Reference Object

Deletes the texture reference object for the selected surface if one exists.

Note
To select a reference object for a selected surface to delete it, either use
Select Texture Reference Object, or click the reference object’s heading in
the Channel Box.

Select Texture Reference Object

Selects the texture reference object for the selected surface if one exists. You
can also click it’s heading in the Channel Box.

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NURBS Texture Placement Tool

NURBS TEXTURE PLACEMENT TOOL

Maya’s Lighting/Shading > NURBS Texture Placement Tool provides you
with a 2D texture placement manipulator for the selected surface.
or
When you create a 2D texture, an icon for the Texture Placement Tool
displays in the mini-bar.

Texture Placement Tool icon

Double-click this icon to open the Tool Settings window for the
Texture Placement Tool.

Texture Placement Options

You can also press the ❐ next to NURBS Texture Placement Tool to display
the options window.
Modify texture Controls which of the texture’s 2D Texture Placement
attributes you can interactively adjust, Surface mapping or
Label Mapping.

Notes
• The NURBS Texture Placement Tool only works on 2D textures.
See 2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement to read
about this handy utility.
• See Interactively placing 3D textures to find out how to place 3D
textures on surfaces.

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22 VIEW PANEL MENUS

Maya’s view panels contain a menu bar that provide some valuable render-
related tools.

View panel menu bar.

In this chapter:

View menu

Shading menu

Lighting menu

Panels menu

VIEW MENU
The View menu contains options to create and control cameras and views.

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View menu

Select Camera
Selects the view’s corresponding camera. The attributes for this camera
display in both the Channel Box and the Attribute Editor. This is useful
because you cannot select the camera you are looking through. Selecting the
camera is also useful if you want the look-at and camera up nodes associated
with the camera. See Chapter 19, “Cameras” for details about Maya’s
cameras.

Click to open a
camera’s editor.

For information about camera attributes, see Attribute Editor Camera

attributes.

Previous View, Next View

Changes the camera’s view either to the previous view or the next view in
the list of views.
Keyboard shortcuts: press [ for Previous View and ] for Next View.

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View menu

Default Home
Changes the camera’s view to its default view. This is especially useful if
you zoom and tumble the view repeatedly and then need to see the original
camera’s view.

Look at Selection
Tilts and pans the camera so that selected objects are in the center of the
camera’s view.

Frame Selection
Tracks and dollies the camera so that selected objects fill the camera’s view.
Keyboard shortcut: press f to frame selection in the current view, and F to
frame selection in all views.

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View menu

Frame All
Tracks and dollies the camera so that all objects in the scene (including lights
and cameras if their icons are displayed in the view) fill the camera’s view.
Keyboard shortcut: press a to frame all in the current view, and A to frame
all in all views.

Predefined Bookmarks
Sets the camera’s view to one of the four default views: perspective, front,
top, or side.

Bookmarks
Sets the camera’s view to a saved (bookmarked) view. See also Using Maya:
Rendering.

Camera Settings
Perspective If Perspective is on, the camera is a perspective camera.
For example, If you are working in an orthographic view
(such as top) and toggle Perspective on, the perspective
camera replaces the orthographic camera.This can be
helpful should you want to tumble the camera in an
orthographic view. See also Orthographic Views.

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View menu

Journal If Journal is on, all camera movements are written to the

Script Editor and become part of the undo queue, allowing
you to undo or redo them. This also allows you to copy
camera movements and use them for other cameras or
scenes.
If Journal is off, you cannot undo or redo camera
movements. Use Previous View or Next View instead.
Journal is off by default.
See also Journal Command.
No Gate Turns off the Film Gate and Resolution Gate display.
Film Gate Displays a rectangle indicating 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 is not the rendered
region. The Camera Aperture, Film Fit, rendering
Resolution, Lock Device Aspect Ratio, and Device Aspect
Ratio, all effect what Maya renders.
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. See the
following example.

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View menu

Horizontal and Vertical Film Aspect Ratio adjusted in Channel Box

to view almost the whole scene in Render View.

Resolution settings in
Render Globals.

See also Display Film Gate.

Resolution Gate Displays a rectangle that 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.

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View menu

You can change these dimensions from the Resolution

section of the Render Globals window.
See also Display Resolution.

Change the Resolution attributes from

the Render Globals window. See
Render Globals.

Field Chart Displays a grid that represents the twelve standard cel
animation field sizes. The largest field size (number 12) is
identical to the rendering resolution (the resolution gate).
See also Display Field Chart.

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View menu

Safe Action Displays a rectangle indicating 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).
For example, in the following, a close-up of part of the
dancer’s face is required in this scene.

Resolution
Gate.

Safe Action.

See also Display Safe Action.

Safe Title Displays a rectangle indicating 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). See also Display Safe Title.

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Shading menu

For example, the title DANCER does not fit within the
Safe Title area. Track the scene until the title fits within the
rectangle.

Resolution
Gate.

Safe Title.

The following options control the size of the resolution gate relative to the
film gate. If the resolution gate and the film gate have the same aspect ratio,
these settings have no effect. The default setting is Fill.
See also Film Fit.
Fill Fits the resolution gate within the film gate.
Horizontal Fits the resolution gate horizontally within the film gate.
Vertical Fits the resolution gate vertically within the film gate.
Overscan Fits the film gate within the resolution gate.

Camera Attribute Editor

Opens the camera’s Attribute Editor. See Shading Group Attributes and
Attribute Editor Camera attributes.

Camera Tools
Selects one of the camera tools. See Camera Tools.

SHADING MENU
The Shading menu contains options for displaying surface shading in views.

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Wireframe
Displays surfaces as wireframes. This is the default.

Smooth Shade All

Displays all surfaces as smoothly shaded. The surface color and shading
properties (such as shininess) are taken from the surface’s shading network
(Lighting/Shading > Shading Group Attributes).

Smooth Shade Selected Items

Displays selected surfaces as smoothly shaded. All other surfaces remain in
wireframe mode.When you click on another surface, it becomes smooth
shaded.

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Flat Shade All

Displays all surfaces as flat shaded. That means there are no specular
highlights.

Flat Shade Selected Items

Displays selected surfaces as flat shaded. All other surfaces remain in
wireframe mode. When you click on another surface it becomes flat shaded.

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Shading menu

Bounding Box
The bounding box replaces the object display.

Points
Displays surfaces as points.

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Shade Options
Wireframe on
Shaded Displays shaded surfaces with wireframes that overlay the
smooth shaded surface.

XRay Displays shaded surfaces as semi-transparent.

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Shading menu

Interactive Shading

Displays surfaces as wireframes (Wireframe), bounding boxes (Bounding

Box), or points (Points) only while you adjust the camera’s view.

Dense Wireframe Acceleration

For NT only.
Only works in Wireframe mode. This is a performance option used to
improve the drawing speed. Only the objects changing are redrawn. Static
surfaces are cached as an image.

Color Index Mode

For IRIX only.
Only works in Wireframe mode. This is a performance option used to
improve the drawing speed. By default, this option is on.

Back Face Culling

When on, hides any model back faces (these areas become invisible in areas
where the normal is pointing away from the camera).

You should turn this option on if you know your surfaces are closed. If they
are open (for example, a plane), when you tumble the view to the other side
of the plane, the surface disappears. This is a performance option used to
improve the refresh speed.

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Lighting menu

Hardware Texturing
Displays smoothly shaded surfaces with textures. If you want to see your
textures on your surfaces in the view, make sure you toggle on this option.
Use the material’s Hardware Texturing attributes to control which texture
channel is displayed (Textured channel) and the quality with which it is
displayed (Texture quality). See also Hardware Texturing.

Apply Current to All

Applies the current 3D view’s shading style to all objects in the scene.

LIGHTING MENU
The Lighting menu contains options for controlling how surfaces appear
illuminated in the views.
You can also use some of these options to test the lighting on surfaces before
you test render in the Render View or IPR window.

Use Default Lighting

Surfaces appear fully illuminated in the view panel by Maya’s default lights.

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Note
Default lighting does not illuminate the scene in the Render View or IPR
window. If you want to test render a scene in the Render View or IPR
window, you must provide the lighting.

Use All Lights

Surfaces appear illuminated by all lights in the scene. If there are no lights in
the scene, the surface appears black.

Once you create lights, you can interactively place them and view your scene
with lighting before you render it.The following shows what happens when
you place a directional light in the scene and rotate it to adjust the lighting
on the surface.

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Tip
This can be very useful when setting up a scene to test render in the
Render View or IPR window. See Render View and IPR to find out more
about these windows.

Use Selected Lights

Surfaces appear illuminated by selected lights in the view panel and the
Render View and IPR window.

Ambient light

Point light
Use Selected Lights chosen.

Use Previously Specified Lights

Surfaces appear illuminated by those lights that you previously selected.

Two Sided Lighting

When toggled on, illuminates both sides of an object. Two Sided Lighting is
on by default.

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Two Sided Lighting on. Two Sided Lighting off.

Specify Selected Lights

Lets you choose preset lighting for the scene by specifying the selected
lights. Once specified, you can use the Use Previously Specified Lights
option.

Tip
OpenGL only supports eight lights.

PANELS MENU
The Panels menu contains options for controlling panels and views in Maya.
While all of these menu items are described in Using Maya: Essentials, the
options you are most likely to use when rendering are described here.

Perspective
Lets you select a view from an existing perspective camera, or create a new
perspective camera (New).

Orthographic
Lets you select a view from an existing orthographic camera, or create a new
orthographic camera (New).

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Look Through Selected

Displays the view from the selected camera, light, or other object. The view
is taken along the -z axis of the object.

Panel
Lets you select the view or window to display in the panel.

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23 LIGHTS

This chapter describes light options and attributes. See the following for
information about the various settings you can change in both the option
windows and Attribute Editor.

Creating lights
• Positioning and setting lights interactively

Common light attributes and options

• Spot light attributes

Light descriptions
• Area Light
• Ambient Light
• Directional Light
• Point Light
• Spot Light

Light Effects attributes

• Light Fog
• Light Glow

Shadows Attributes
• Shadow Color
• Decay Regions attributes
• Depth Map Shadow attributes
• Raytrace Shadow attributes

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CREATING LIGHTS
From the Create > Lights menu, select the type of light you want to create.
Click the ❐ next to the name of the light to set its options before you create
it. The appropriate options window displays.
To change a light’s attributes after you have created it, either select the light
icon in a view and select Window > Attribute Editor, double-click the light
icon in Hypershade, or use the light icon’s manipulator handles to change its
settings.

Tip
Although you can see the light effects in the view, it may be a good idea to
either use the Render View or IPR render your scene to view the results.

Positioning and setting lights interactively

Each light is represented by an icon in the views.

Ambient Point Area

Directional Spot

If you click the Show Manipulator icon in the mini bar, you can interactively
position and change a light’s settings. These settings correspond to the
settings you find in the Attribute Editor.
The following example shows a spot light’s manipulator handles. Click the
Cycling Index icon to flip from one manipulator to another.

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Origin

Cycling Index

Center of Interest (coi)

See the following examples of what happens when you click-drag the Cone
Angle and Penumbra Angle manipulator handles. See also Decay Regions
attributes for information on the Decay Region manipulator.

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Center of Interest in view

and rendered result.

Cone Angle in view

and rendered result.

Penumbra Angle in view

and rendered result.

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COMMON LIGHT ATTRIBUTES AND OPTIONS

All light types share the following common attributes and options.

Type
This option is only available in the light’s Attribute Editor— not the option
windows.
In the Attribute Editor, you can click the arrow to choose a light type from a
pull-down menu.
When you change a light’s type, only those attributes common to both types
will retain their previous values or settings. Values and settings for non-
common attributes will be lost. When you change a light’s light type, the
light’s position is also preserved.

Color
Determines the light’s color. Click this swatch to either change the light’s
color in the Color Chooser, or map a texture to the light. If you map a
texture, the light projects it (depending on the light Type.) The default
setting is white.
The following shows the rendered result when you map a Ramp texture to
an Ambient light’s Color attribute.

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Intensity
This value represents the brightness of the light. A light with an Intensity
value of 0 produces no light. A light with a negative Intensity value removes
light from a scene in the area of the light’s influence. The range is 0 to 10.
The default value is 1.

Tip
Use a negative Intensity value to reduce or remove hot-spots or glare.

Illuminates by Default
This option is only available in the light’s Attribute Editor— not the option
windows.
If toggled on, the light illuminates all objects and is included in the
defaultLightSet.
If toggled off, the light only illuminates objects to which it is linked.
Illuminates by Default is on by default.

Decay Rate
Controls how quickly the light’s intensity decreases with distance. The
Decay Rate setting has no effect at distances less than 1 unit. The default
setting is No Decay.

Tip
The Decay Rate also controls how fog brightness decreases with distance
from the light source.

In the Attribute Editor, click the arrow to display the pull-down menu and
select a Decay Rate. In the options window, type a value or use the slider.

No Decay no decay; light reaches everything

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Linear light intensity decreases directly (linearly) with distance

(slower than real world light)

Quadratic light intensity decreases proportionally with the square of

distance (the same as real world light)

Cubic light intensity decreases proportionally with the cube of

distance (faster than real world light)

Cast Shadows
This option is only available in the light’s option windows — not the Attribute
Editor.
All lights can cast both depth map and raytraced shadows (however,
Ambient lights can only cast raytraced shadows).
If toggled on, the light produces either depth map shadows (for directional,
point, or spot lights) or raytraced shadows (for ambient lights). Cast
Shadows if off by default.
Depth map shadows are typically used for quick render tests when the
quality is not important. Raytraced shadows produce more accurate results
and can handle transparency, but can be slower.
See Shadows Attributes for details about shadow attributes.

Shadow Color
The color of shadows produced by the light. Use a colored shadow to
simulate shadows produced by transparent, colored surfaces (for example,
colored glass). The default setting is black.
See also the Shadow Color description in this chapter.

Ambient Shade
This option is available for Ambient lights only.
The proportion of directional light to omnidirectional (ambient) light. The
slider range is 0 (light comes from all directions) to 1 (light comes only from
the position of the light). The default value is 0.45.

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Shadow Rays
This option is available for Ambient lights only.
Controls the graininess of soft shadow edges. Increasing the number of
Shadow Rays also increases rendering times, so set it to the lowest value that
produces acceptable results. The slider range is 1 to 40.
The default setting is 1.

Spot light attributes

The following options and attributes are available for spot lights only.

Spot light Light Shape sample

Spot light tabs in the Attribute Editor also contain a Light Shape sample.
This sample displays the shape the spotlight will cast and the light’s
intensity. The following shows the default shape and intensity.

If, for example you change the Barn Doors settings, the shape changes in the
sample.
Cone Angle The angle (in degrees) from edge to edge of the spot
light’s beam. The valid range is 0.006 to 179.994. The
default value is 40.
Penumbra
Angle The angle (in degrees) from the edge of the spot light’s
beam over which the intensity of the spot light falls off
linearly to zero.
For example, if the Cone Angle value is 50 and the
Penumbra Angle value is 10, the spot light has an effective
spread of 60 (50 + 10) degrees; however, the spot light
intensity decreases to 0 between the angles of 50 and 60
degrees.

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If the Cone Angle value is 50 and the Penumbra Angle

value is -10, the spot light has an effective spread of 50
degrees and the spot light intensity decreases to 0 between
the angles of 40 and 50 degrees.
The valid range is -179.994 to 179.994. The slider range is
-10 to 10. The default value is 0.
Dropoff Controls the rate at which light intensity decreases from
the center to the edge of the spot light beam. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 255.
Typical values are between 0 and 50. Values of 1 and less
produce almost identical results (no discernible intensity
decrease along the radius of the beam). The default value
is 0 (no dropoff).

Spot light Light Effects

The following Light Effects are available for spot lights only. See Light
Effects attributes for descriptions of common Light Effects attributes.
See also “Creating intensity curves and color curves” and “Precision
lighting” in Using Maya: Rendering.
Intensity Curve Creates an intensity curve used to control the intensity
decay for a spot light. This attribute is only available for
spot lights.
Color Curves Creates a color curve used to control how a spot light’s
color changes with distance. This attribute is only
available for spot lights.

Barn Doors
The Barn Doors attributes are located in the Light Effects section of a spot
light’s Attribute Editor. Barn doors are shutters applied to a spot light’s
beam. This can be a useful effect if, for example, you want to create the effect
of light pouring out of a half opened door.
When you use the Barn Doors settings, the lightShape sample changes at the
top of the Attribute Editor.

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Barn Doors are off by default.

Left, Right, Top,
Bottom Barn
Door The angle (in degrees) from the center of the spot light’s
beam to the position of each barn door. The valid/slider
range is -89.997 to 89.997. The default value is 20.

LIGHT DESCRIPTIONS
The following describes each light type.

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.
Area lights are physically based, therefore there is no need for a decay
option. The angles formed with the Area light and the point that is shaded
determine the illumination. As the point moves further away from the Area
light, the angle decreases and illumination decreases, much like decay.

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Light descriptions

Control the specular highlight size and orientation

Position and scale the Area light using Maya transformation tools (such as
standard or light-specific manipulators, through the Channel Box, Attribute
Editor, etc.). You can use the IPR window to view the specular highlight
interactively.

Tip
Make sure you use a specular material (any material other than Lambert).

Soft lighting distribution

The size and orientation of the area light icon controls the light distribution.
A large area light emits more light. The light can be non-proportionally
scaled to modulate the distribution. The farther away the object is from the
light, the less light is cast onto the object.

Realistic shadows
Only available through raytracing. Make sure to toggle Raytracing on in the
Render Globals window, then toggle on Use Ray Trace Shadows in the Area
light's Attribute Editor. The size and orientation of the light controls the
shadow color distribution.

Note
You may have to increase the number of sample rays to ensure high
quality shadows. This can be expensive.

Depthmap shadows also work, but you cannot achieve shadows varying
from hard to soft. Adjust the filter size to control the uniform softness of the
shadow.

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Light descriptions

Optical Effects
Any light visible to the camera lens has the potential to produce an optical
effect (light glow) on the film. An Area light is no exception.Optical effects
for an Area light reflect the shape of the Area light. This is particularly
evident in a halo effect.

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 in all directions from all directions (as if emitted from the
inner surface of an infinitely large 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).

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).

Tip
Use Directional lights for test rendering, especially when using IPR. These
lights are easy to transform to get the initial light effect you need.

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).

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LIGHT EFFECTS ATTRIBUTES

The Light Effects attributes control the appearance of illuminated (light) fog
and optical light effects.
For information on optical effects, see Optical FX Attributes.

Light Fog
Light Fog attributes are only available for Point and Spot lights.
When you click the map button beside Light Fog, Maya creates a light fog
node and connects it to the light. A fog icon, basically an extension to the
light icon, displays in the views.
After you have connected Light Fog to a light, click the button at the end of
the field to access the light fog attributes.

Note
When you render a scene with light fog, do not perform an IPR render.
Select Render > Render into New Window instead.

The following examples show a Light Fog applied to a Spot light using the
default settings of 1.0, and the Fog Spread and Fog Intensity setting changed
to 2.0.

See Volume Shader and “Creating illuminated fog” in Using Maya:

Rendering.

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Fog Spread Determines how the fog brightness varies across the spot
light or point light beam.
A high Fog Spread value produces fog with uniform
brightness shooting from the cone of a spot light. A low
Fog Spread value produces fog which is brighter at the
center of the spot light beam and foggier at the end.
Fog Radius The Fog Radius value determines how much the fog
spreads in every direction from a point light’s beam.

The spot or point light’s Decay Rate controls how fog

brightness decreases with distance from the light source.
The slider range for a spot light is 0 to 5. The default value
is 1. The slider range for a point light is 0 to 10.The default
value is 1.

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Fog Intensity The brightness of the fog. (The light’s Intensity also
influences the brightness of illuminated fog.) The slider
range is 0 to 5. The default value is 1.

Light Glow
The Light Glow attribute is available for Point, Spot, and Area lights only.
When you click the map button beside Light Glow, Maya creates an optical
FX node and connects it to the light (a glow, halo, or lens flare). An optical
FX icon attached to the light icon displays in the views.
After you have connected and optical FX to a light, click the button at the
end of the field to access the Optical FX Attributes. See Optical FX Attributes
for details about setting these attributes.
The following example shows a Glow attached to a Point light.

SHADOWS ATTRIBUTES
The following attributes are available for all lights.

Shadow Color
The color of shadows produced by the light. Use a colored shadow to
simulate shadows produced by transparent, colored surfaces (for example,
colored glass). The default setting is black.

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You can also map textures to your shadows to create interesting effects. The
following example shows a Checker texture mapped to the Shadow Color of
a Spot Light.

If you decide to map a texture that has color (such as the Stucco texture in
the following example), change the texture’s color to black and white if
desired.

Decay Regions attributes

The Decay Regions attributes let you separate a spot light’s beam into
regions which are illuminated and regions which are not illuminated. These
attributes are only available for spot lights.
Click Use Decay Regions to toggle it on and to set the Region 1, 2 and 3 Start
and End distances for the spot light. Use Decay Regions is off by default.
See also “Precision lighting” in Using Maya: Rendering.

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Region 1, Region 2, and Region 3 attributes

The Region 1, Region 2, and Region 3 attributes control the size and location
of each illuminated region within a spot light’s beam.

Start Distance1, End Distance1

The Start and End Distance values determine the distance from the spot light
where each illuminated region begins and ends.

To interactively set decay regions:

You can also interactively set decay regions. If you do, notice how the values
change in the Attribute Editor according to the regions you set in the view.
1 Click the Show Manipulator icon for a selected spot light.

2 Click the Cycling Index icon until you can see the Decay Regions on the spot
light’s icon.

3 Click-drag the Decay Region rings to set start and end distances. If you
want, you can verify and fine-tune these values in the Attribute Editor.

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Depth Map Shadow attributes

The Depth Map Shadow Attributes control the appearance of depth map
shadows produced by the light.
Use Depth Map
Shadows If Use Depth Map Shadows is on, the light produces depth
map shadows. Use Depth Map Shadows if off by default.
Dmap
Resolution The resolution of the light’s shadow depth map.
If the Dmap Resolution is too low, shadow edges appear
jagged or pixelated. Increasing the Dmap Resolution also
increases rendering times, so set it to the lowest value that
produces shadows of acceptable quality.
As a starting point, set Dmap Resolution to your
rendering resolution. If the light moves during an
animation, you may need to increase the Dmap Resolution
to avoid flickering shadows. The slider range is 16 to 8192.
The default value is 512.
Use Mid Dist
Dmap If off, Maya calculates the distance from the light to the
nearest shadow casting surface for each pixel in the depth
map. If the distance from the light to another shadow
casting surface is greater than the depth map distance,
that surface will be in shadow.

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Note
If Use Mid Dist Dmap is off, dark spots or streaks may appear on
illuminated shadow casting surfaces because the distance from the light to
the surface is equal to the depth map distance, and the depth map has a
finite resolution. This may be particularly noticeable for a curved surface,
or for a surface illuminated by light not perpendicular to the surface.
Although you can reduce this effect by increasing the Dmap Resolution,
this will also increase rendering times. A better solution is to turn on Use
Mid Dist Dmap.

If on, for each pixel in the depth map, Maya calculates the
distance from the light to the nearest shadow casting
surface and the distance from the light to the next nearest
shadow casting surface and averages them.
If the distance from the light to another shadow casting
surface is greater than the depth map distance, that
surface will be in shadow. Use Mid Dist Dmap is on by
default.

Note
If Use Mid Dist Dmap is on, Maya calculates the mid distance between
shadow casting surfaces only (that is, surfaces which have their Casts
Shadows attribute on).

Use Dmap Auto

Focus If on, Maya automatically scales the depth map so that it
only fills the area of the light’s illumination that contains
shadow casting objects.
For example, if shadow casting objects are only in the
center of a spot light’s beam, the depth map only covers
the region occupied by those objects. Because the Dmap
Resolution is an absolute resolution (that is, pixels, not
pixels per inch), decreasing the size of the depth map

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effectively increases the resolution of the depth map and

the quality of the shadows without increasing rendering
times.
If off, you can manually scale the depth map within the
area of the light’s illumination using the Dmap Focus
attribute (for point lights and spot lights) or the Dmap
Width Focus attribute (for directional lights).
Use Dmap Auto Focus is on by default.
Dmap Focus,
Dmap Width
Focus The angle (Dmap Focus) or width (Dmap Width Focus) to
scale the depth map within the area of the light’s
illumination. (You can scale the depth map automatically
by turning on Use Dmap Auto Focus.)
Because the Dmap Resolution is an absolute resolution
(that is, pixels, not pixels per inch), decreasing the size of
the depth map effectively increases the resolution of the
depth map and the quality of the shadows without
increasing rendering times.
Dmap Focus is only available for point lights and spot
lights if Use Dmap Auto Focus is off. The slider range is 0
to 360. The default value is 90.
Dmap Width Focus is only available for directional lights
if Use Dmap Auto Focus is off. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The default value is 100.
Use Light
Position If on, only objects in front of the directional light’s icon
casts shadows. If off, objects both in front of and behind
the directional light’s icon casts shadows.
Use Light Position is only available for directional lights.
Use Light Position is off by default.
Dmap Filter Size Controls the softness of shadow edges. (The softness of
shadow edges is also influenced by the size of the shadow
and the Dmap Resolution.) Increasing Dmap Filter Size
also increases rendering times, so set it to the lowest value

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that produces acceptable results. A Dmap Filter Size of 3

or less is usually sufficient. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 5. The default value is 1.
Dmap Bias Offsets the depth map toward or away from the light.
Adjust the Dmap Bias only if you encounter the following
problems and cannot resolve them by adjusting other
attributes:
• If dark spots or streaks appear on illuminated surfaces, gradually increase
the Dmap Bias value until the spots or streaks disappear.
• If a shadow appears to be detached from the shadow casting surface,
gradually decrease the Dmap Bias value until the shadow looks correct.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.001.
Fog Shadow
Intensity Controls the darkness of shadows appearing in
illuminated (light) fog. The valid range is 1 to 10. The
default value is 1.
Fog Shadow
Samples Controls the graininess of shadows appearing in
illuminated (light) fog. Increasing Fog Shadows Samples
also increases rendering times, so set it to the lowest value
that produces acceptable results. Shadows that are cast
from very narrow objects into illuminated fog may shift
during an animation. In this case, increase the Vol Shadow
Samples value. The default value is 20.
Disk Based
Dmaps Lets you save a light’s depth maps to disk and reuse them
during subsequent renders. By saving depth maps to disk,
and reusing them later, you can decrease the time it takes
to render your scene. Depth maps are saved in the depth
directory.

Off Maya creates new depth maps during

rendering. Maya does not read depth maps
from disk. Maya does not save depth maps
to disk.

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Overwrite Existing Dmap(s) Maya creates new depth maps, and saves
them to disk. If depth maps already exist
on disk, Maya overwrites them.

Reuse Existing Dmap(s) Maya checks to see if depth maps have

previously been saved to disk. If so, Maya
uses them instead of creating new depth
maps. If not, Maya creates new depth
maps and saves them to disk.

Tip
If you are saving depth maps to disk, check the depth directory
occasionally, and remove any unnecessary depth map files.

Dmap Name The name of the depth map file that Maya will save to
disk. The name of the depth map may also include the
scene name (if Dmap Scene Name is on), the light name (if
Dmap Light Name is on), and the frame extension (if
Dmap Frame Ext is on). Dmap Name is only available if
Disk Based Dmaps is set to either Overwrite Existing
Dmap(s) or Reuse Existing Dmap(s). Depth maps are
saved in the depth directory. The default depth map name
is depthmap.
Dmap Scene
Name Adds the scene name to the name of the depth map file
that Maya will save to disk. Dmap Scene Name is off by
default.
Dmap Light
Name Adds the light name to the name of the depth map file
that Maya will save to disk. Dmap Light Name is on by
default.
Dmap Frame
Ext If Dmap Frame Ext is on, Maya saves a depth map for
each frame, and adds the frame extension to the name of
the depth map file.

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If Dmap Frame Ext is off, Maya saves one depth map file
for the entire animation and does not add the frame
extension to the name of the depth map file. Dmap Frame
Ext is off by default.
Dmap Use
Macro Dmap Use Macro is only available when Disk Based
Dmaps is set to Reuse Existing Dmap(s).
The path and name of a macro script that Maya runs to
update a depth map when it reads it from disk. Dmap Use
Macro is useful mainly for troubleshooting.
The macro gets all the information for creating or processing depth maps on
disk. The following example is written in Perl. The macro post-processes or
creates the maps. You can modify or create maps of any width or height.
Maya looks at the sizes specified in the IFF Z-depth map file and uses them.
The macro is called each time a map is going to be read from disk. For
example, the map may be called several times in the case of a point light,
which can use up to six maps.
The arguments are named so that new arguments can be added easily. The
arguments currently supplied to the script by Maya are:
mapname=FullPathMapName,middistmapname=FullPathMidDistMapNam
e,
lightname=LightShapeNameUsed,pathname=ShadowMapPathUsed,
readanimextname=RedExtUsed,curranimextname=CurrExt,
lastdumpanimextname=lastExtDumped,bias=biasValue
An example of a Perl script macro is as follows:
#!/bin/perl

#
# Example of a callback macro called before reading shadow
maps from disk
#

#
# One argument with fields separated by '&'
# each field being 'variableName=variableValue
#
# Creates a vartab hash table out of the ARGV[0] argument
#

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# print "\n------------------\n",$ARGV[0],"\n--------------
----\n";

if( $#ARGV == 0 )
{
@fields = split( /\,/, $ARGV[0] );
$nbfields = $#fields + 1;
foreach $field( @fields )
{
@varvalue = split( /\=/, $field );
$vartab{$varvalue[0]} = $varvalue[1];
}

$mapname = $vartab{"mapname"};
$middistmapname = $vartab{"middistmapname"};
$lightname = $vartab{"lightname"};
$pathname = $vartab{"pathname"};
$readanimextname = $vartab{"readanimextname"};
$curranimextname = $vartab{"curranimextname"};
$lastdumpanimextname =
$vartab{"lastdumpanimextname"};
$bias = $vartab{"bias"};

print "\tmapname = ",$mapname,"\n";

print "\tmiddistmapname = ",$middistmapname,"\n";
print "\tlightname = ",$lightname,"\n";
print "\tpathname = ",$pathname,"\n";
print "\treadanimextname = ",$readanimextname,"\n";
print "\tcurranimextname = ",$curranimextname,"\n";
print "\tlastdumpanimextname =
",$lastdumpanimextname,"\n";
print "\tbias = ",$bias,"\n";

#
# List the shadow map files to be postprocessed
#
print "\n";
if ( -e $mapname ) {
print "PostProcess shadow depth map file
",$mapname,"\n";
}
if ( -e $middistmapname ) {

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print "PostProcess shadow depth map file

",$middistmapname,"\n";
}

#
# return 0 to confirm everything is ok
#
exit 0;
}
Use Only Single Dmap
Use Only Single Dmap is only available for spot lights. Use Only Single
Dmap is on by default.
If Use Only Single Dmap is on, Maya generates a single depth map for the
spot light. A single depth map is usually sufficient if the Cone Angle is less
than 90, but if the Cone Angle is large, the Dmap Resolution may not be high
enough to produce high quality shadows (shadow edges may appear
jagged). If the Cone Angle is large, turn off Use Only Single Dmap.
If Use Only Single Dmap is off, Maya generates up to five separate depth
maps for the spot light. Each depth map extends from the light in one of six
possible directions: positive or negative X-axis directions, positive or
negative Y-axis directions, and positive or negative Z-axis directions. The
resolution of each depth map is the Dmap Resolution.
If Use Only Single Dmap is off, the spot light will produce high quality
shadows even if the Cone Angle is large. Rendering times may also increase,
though, because Maya is generating several depth maps for the light.
However, you can control the number and direction of depth maps that
Maya generates by turning on or off the Use XYZ+- Dmap attributes.
Use X+ Dmap, Use Y+ Dmap, Use Z+ Dmap, Use X- Dmap, Use Y- Dmap, Use Z- Dmap
These attributes are only available for spot lights (if Use Only Single Dmap
is off) and point lights. The default setting for all attributes is on.
These attributes control the number and direction of depth maps Maya
generates for the light. For example, if X+ Dmap is on, Maya generates a
depth map for the light in the direction of the positive X-axis.
Maya can generate up to five depth maps for a spot light and up to six depth
maps for a point light. However, usually you only need the light to cast
shadows in a few specific directions. By turning off depth maps in certain
directions, you can help reduce rendering times. For example, if you have a

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point light at the top of your scene, and all shadow casting objects are below
the light, you can turn off Use Y+ Dmap (assuming your scene uses a Y-up
coordinate system).
Maya will not generate a depth map in the direction of the positive Y axis
(up).

Raytrace Shadow attributes

The Raytrace Shadow Attributes control the appearance of raytraced
shadows produced by the light.
Use Ray Trace
Shadows If on, the light produces raytraced shadows when the scene
is raytraced (that is, when Raytracing is on in the Render
Globals window). Use Ray Trace Shadows if off by
default.
Shadow Radius,
Light Radius,
Light Angle Controls the softness of shadow edges by setting the size
(Shadow Radius or Light Radius) or angle (Light Angle) of
the light. For example, a large light produces softer
shadows than a small light.
The Shadow Radius attribute is only available for ambient
lights. The Light Radius attribute is only available for
point lights and spot lights.
The slider range is 0 (hard shadows) to 1 (soft shadows).
The default value is 0.
The Light Angle attribute is only available for directional
lights. The slider range is 0 (hard shadows) to 180 (soft
shadows). The default value is 0.
Shadow Rays Controls the graininess of soft shadow edges. Increasing
the number of Shadow Rays also increases rendering
times, so set it to the lowest value that produces
acceptable results. The slider range is 1 to 40. The default
setting is 1.
Ray Depth Limit The maximum number of times, less 1, that a light ray
from the light can be reflected and/or refracted and still
cause an object to cast a shadow. For example, if the Ray

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Depth Limit is 2, only light rays that have been reflected

and/or refracted once will cause an object to cast a
shadow. The slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 1.

Tips
• If you get strange looking or missing shadows when rendering
cloud or tube particles with raytraced shadows, it may be that the
Ray Depth Limit is too low. Increase the Ray Depth Limit for the
light that is using the raytraced shadows by and increment of 1 per
software-rendered particle shape.
• The Shadows attribute in the Render Globals window is the
maximum number of times, less 1, that a light ray from any light
can be reflected and/or refracted and still cause an object to cast a
shadow.

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24 INTRODUCTION TO
MATERIALS

Surface textures are two-dimensional textures that simulate various types of

surface materials by using either an image file (the File and Stencil textures),
or a computer graphic procedure.
In this chapter:

Creating materials

Assigning materials to surfaces: overview

Common Material Attributes

• Type
• Color
• Transparency
• Ambient Color
• Incandescence
• Bump Mapping
• Diffuse
• Translucence

Shared material attributes

The following are shared between most surface materials:

Special Effects
• Hide Source
• Glow Intensity

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Creating materials

Matte Opacity
• Matte Opacity Mode
• Matte Opacity

Raytrace Options
• Refractions
• Refractive Index
• Refraction Limit
• Reflection Limit
• Reflection Specularity
• Hardware Texturing
• Textured channel
• Texture quality

CREATING MATERIALS
In Hypershade:
There are four ways to create a material in the Hypershade:
• Right-mouse click in Hypershade and select a material from the pop-up
menu (Create > Materials).
• Select a material from the Create menu from Hypershade’s menu bar.
• In Visor, middle-mouse-drag a material swatch from the Create section to
Hypershade.
• Select a material from the Create Render Node window, accessible through
Hypershade (Create > Create Render Node).

Note
You cannot create a Displacement material using the above methods. You
must select it from the Create Render Node window.

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Assigning materials to surfaces: overview

In the Multilister:
There are two ways to create a material in the Multilister:
• Select Edit > Create from the Multilister menu bar to open the Create Render
Node window and select a material;
• Right-mouse click in the Multilister panel, select Edit > Create from the pop-
up menu to open the Create Render Node window, and select a material.

Material tabs
The Material tab in the Create Render Node window includes Surface
Materials, Volumetric Materials, and Displacement Materials.
The following lists the chapters where you can find the information about
specific materials and their attributes.
• Chapter 25, “Surface Materials”
• Chapter 26, “Volumetric Materials”
• Chapter 27, “Displacement Mapping”

Material swatches
Material swatches also display in the Create section of Visor. Click to open
the folder to view the swatches. Once you create a material, you can access
its attributes from the Attribute Editor by double-clicking the material
swatch in Hypershade.

ASSIGNING MATERIALS TO SURFACES: OVERVIEW

The following shows you two quick ways to assign a material to a surface.
Once you create a material, you can change it’s attributes before assigning it
to a surface. In the following, a Water texture was mapped to the Phong
material’s Color attribute.

To assign a material to a surface:

This is the quickest way to assign a material to a surface:
• In the view, select the surface to which you want to assign the material.

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• In Hypershade, middle-mouse drag the material swatch over the selected

surface.
You can also use this method:
1 In the view, Shift-select the surface to which you want to assign the material
and in Hypershade, click the material swatch.
2 While the cursor is over the material swatch in Hypershade, right-mouse
click and drag to select Assign Material to Selection from the pop-up menu.

Rendered result.

COMMON MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES

The following attributes are common to most surface materials.

Type
The material’s basic type (for example, Blinn, or Phong).

When you change a material’s type, only those attributes that are common to
both types will retain their previous values or settings. Values and settings
for non-common attributes will be lost.

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For example, if you change the material type from Blinn (which has a Color
attribute and a Specular Color attribute) to Lambert (which has a Color
attribute but no Specular Color attribute), the Color setting will be
preserved, but the Specular Color setting will be lost.

Note
You cannot change the material type of the default material.

Color
The color of the material.

Transparency
The color and level of transparency of a material. For example, if the
Transparency Value is 0 (black), the surface is totally opaque; if the
Transparency value is 1 (white), the surface is totally transparent. To make
an object transparent, set the Transparency color to a shade of grey or to the
same color as the material Color. The default value is 0 (black).
If you change Transparency from the default black (0), the background of the
material’s Hypershade swatch will become a checkered pattern. This is a
visual aid and will not be rendered in your scene.

Ambient Color
Uses black by default, which means it does not affect the material’s Color.
As the Ambient Color becomes lighter, it affects the material’s Color by
lightening it and blending the two colors.

Incandescence
The color and brightness of light that a material appears to be emitting.
(Incandescent objects do not illuminate other objects.) For example, to
simulate lava, use a bright red Incandescence. The default color Value is 0
(black).

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Tip
Use a little Incandescence for vegetation to make it look alive.

Bump Mapping
Makes the surface appear rough or bumpy by altering surface normals
(during rendering) according to the intensity of the pixels in the bump map
texture. See Bump 2d & Bump 3d Utilities.
A bump map does not actually alter the surface. A silhouette of the surface
will appear smooth.

Diffuse
The ability of the material to reflect light in all directions. The Diffuse value
acts like a scaling factor applied to the Color setting: the higher the Diffuse
value, the closer the actual surface color will be to the Color setting. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no light is reflected in all
directions) to 1. The default color Value is 0.8.

Translucence
The surface’s ability to transmit and diffuse light. Light falling on a
translucent surface is first absorbed beneath the surface, and then diffused in
all directions. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.
The Translucence value of a surface lit by a non-shadow-casting light is
effectively zero or infinite (all non-zero values).
If your scene combines a translucent surface with a shadow casting
spotlight, faint grid-like artifacts may become visible. If this happens,
increase the spotlight Dmap Filter Size or lower the Dmap Resolution.
For high values of Translucence, lower Diffuse accordingly to avoid
washout.
A surface’s actual translucence is based on the illumination it receives from
lights, and is not related to its transparency. However, as an object becomes
more transparent, its translucent (and diffuse) illumination gets dimmer.
Ambient lights have no effect on translucent (or diffuse) illumination.

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Tip
Use Translucence to simulate clouds, fur, hair, marble, jade, wax, paper,
leaves, flower petals, or frosted light bulbs.

SHARED MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES

The following sections of the Attribute Editor provide attributes that are
shared between most materials.

Special Effects
The Special Effects attributes control the appearance of glows produced from
light reflecting off a surface, or from surface incandescence.
Special Effects attributes are available for Anisotropic, Blinn, Lambert,
Phong, and PhongE material types.
See Post Process Utilities for details.

Hide Source
Causes the surface to become invisible when rendered (if the Glow Intensity
value is non-zero), showing only the glow effect. Hide Source is off by
default.

Glow Intensity
The brightness of the surface glow effect. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.
Mapping a texture to the Glow Intensity can create very interesting effects.
Turn on Hide Source to view the results.

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Default Blinn Glow Intensity Result when

material, color mapped to Hide Source
applied. Bulge texture, is turned on.
Hide Source off.

Matte Opacity
You can control the mask value for individual objects. Matt Opacity
attributes are available for Anisotropic, Blinn, Lambert, Layered Shader,
Phong, PhongE, Shading Map and Use Background material types.

Matte Opacity Mode

Click to display the three Matte Opacity Modes from the pull-down menu.
For best results when adjusting these attributes, select the Display Alpha
Channel icon in the Render View to view the mask channels when re-
rendering the scene.
Opacity Gain Opacity Gain is the default Matte Opacity Mode. This
mode displays both reflections and shadows.
The matte channel is first calculated in the usual way (for
example, 1.0 for an opaque surface that completely covers
a pixel, less if it covers part of a pixel, and the value is
reduced appropriately for transparent objects), and then
multiplied by the specified Matte Opacity value. The
Opacity Gain value is used as a gain control on the usual
matte value contribution of this material.
The Matte Opacity Mode value is also keyable. The
Opacity Gain range is from completely transparent to no
effect (rendered as usual).

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Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value of 0.5

Solid Matte Solid Matte makes the value of the matte channel constant
for all pixels covered by these surfaces (for instance, the
independent transparency of a surface). The value you
specify in the Matte Opacity slider is used.
Use Solid Matte to adjust the density of the Use
Background material.

Solid Matte set to 0.0

Solid Matte set to 0.5

Black Hole When you select the Black Hole mode, the matte channel
for all pixels covered by the object is set to 0 (fully
transparent), even if the object is transparent, and
regardless of what is behind the object if it is transparent.
This creates a black hole where the object is in the image,
to “knock out” the matte. In this mode, the Matte Opacity
slider is disabled and its value ignored.

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Rendered result with

Matte Opacity Mode
set to Black Hole.

Note
For the Opacity Gain and Solid Matte modes, if an object has non-zero
Transparency, objects behind it will make their usual contribution to the
matte channel’s values. This is the difference between setting Matte
Opacity to 0.0 in these modes, and choosing the Black Hole mode.

Matte Opacity
This value behaves in different ways based on which Matte Opacity Mode is
selected (Opacity Gain or Solid Matte).
For example, for the Opacity Gain mode, the Matte Opacity slider value
indicates the transparent multiplier amount for the alpha channel. The
default is 1, which means that any opaque object registers a full alpha value.
If the Matte Opacity value is 1, a 0 alpha value is registered for a fully
transparent object. Any values between 0 and 1 act as a multiplier to the
alpha channel value to arrive at a new alpha value.
Use the slider or enter a value to adjust the density of the mask channels.

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Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value of 1.0

Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value of 0.5

Raytrace Options
The Raytrace Options attributes control the appearance of a surface during
raytracing only.

Raytrace Options attributes are available for Anisotropic, Blinn, Lambert,

Phong, and PhongE material types.

Refractions
When turned on, the renderer raytraces the material. When turned off,
renderer does not raytrace the material. Raytracing materials takes more
time than if you do not raytrace.

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Refractive Index
The amount that light rays bend when passing through a transparent object.
A Refractive Index value of 1 does not bend light rays at all. Refractive Index
values for common materials are: glass (1.6), air (1), water (1.333), crystal (2),
diamond (2.417). The valid range is 0.01 to ∞. The slider range is 0.01 to 3.
The default setting is 1.6.

Tips
• The material’s Hypershade swatch only approximates the effect of
the Refractive Index attribute.
• Surfaces must have thickness for Refractive Index to have any
effect. If a surface does not have thickness (for example, a plane or
face element), set the Refractive Index value to 1.
• For best results, make sure there are suitable objects in the
background to be refracted.

Refraction Limit
The maximum number of times the surface allows a light ray to be refracted.
For example, if the Refraction Limit value is 10, the surface refracts light rays
that have previously been refracted and/or reflected (off itself or off other
surfaces) 9 times or less; the surface will not refract light rays that have
previously been refracted and/or reflected 10 or more times. The valid range
is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 6.
In the following example, a glass sits in front of a mirror.

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mirror: material must have a Reflection Limit of at least 5

eye point

5 4 3 1
2

8 9
7
6
glass: material must have a
Refraction Limit of at least 9

The number of refractions includes both the entry and exit of a light ray
from a surface having thickness.
The physical property Total Internal Reflection (TIR) can make some
transparent objects appear not to refract light. This is a real-world property
caused by light rays reflecting inside the thickness of the object. If this occurs
in your model, increasing Refraction Limit will have no effect, because the
Reflection Limit is stopping light rays before they can exit the surface.
However, because TIR is a real-world property, you may want to keep this
effect.

Tip
To simulate realistic looking glass, set the Refraction Limit value to 9 or 10.

Reflection Limit
The maximum number of times the surface allows a light ray to be reflected.
For example, if the Reflection Limit value is 4, the surface reflects light rays
that have previously been reflected (off itself or off other surfaces) 3 times or
less; the surface will not reflect light rays that have previously been reflected
4 or more times. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 10. The
default value is 1.

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Set the Reflection Limit value according to the material’s Reflectivity value.
For example, if the Reflectivity value is between 0 and 0.5, set the Reflection
Limit value between 1 and 2. If the Reflectivity value is between 0.5 and 1,
set the Reflection Limit value between 2 and 5.
High values for Reflection Limit greatly increase rendering time. Test render
your scene using various settings, and use the lowest values that give you
acceptable results. Even highly reflective surfaces will rarely need a
Reflection Limit value as high as 10 or more.

Reflection Specularity
This attribute is available for Blinn, Anisotropic, Phong, and PhongE
materials.
Use Reflection Specularity to avoid highlight aliasing artifacts produced in
reflections during ray tracing because of very thin or small highlights.
Maya adds Reflection Specularity to each material to control the contribution
of the specular highlights in reflections. The valid range is 0 to 1. The default
is 1 (full contribution).

Hardware Texturing
Lets you preview your materials and textures in views. Hardware Texturing
attributes are available for Anisotropic, Blinn, Lambert, Phong, and PhongE
material types.

Textured channel
The textured Channel pull-down menu displays the attributes for a
particular material you can hardware texture.
To view an attribute, it must be mapped with a texture. Mapped attributes
are accessible from the menu; unmapped attributes are disabled.
This attribute can be useful if you map several textures to your materials and
want to view them one by one. It is important because only the Color
attribute’s texture is seen in hardware texturing so this allows other textures
to be seen as well, meaning you can interactively place textures.

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For example, if you map a Checker texture to the Blinn material’s Color
attribute, you can select Color from the pull-down menu and the surface
updates in the view. See Texture quality to find out how to improve the
hardware rendered result.

Click to select a texture from

the create Render Node window.

Adjust the attributes to suit your needs, then select Color from the
Textured Channel pull-down menu.

Checker texture
mapped to Color.

Any other mapped texture can be accessed this way. See the following
examples.

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Crater texture mapped to

Incandescence.

Ramp texture mapped to

Transparency.

Hypershade view. File texture mapped to

Ambient Color.

The top of the material’s Attribute Editor also provides tabs for each texture
so you can select and edit the texture and watch the results in the view.

Mapped texture tabs.

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Texture quality

Lets you choose to view the textured object in hardware shading (in the
modeling views) with varying degrees of accuracy and clarity. See the
following.

Default Highest

Notes
• Some effects, such as bump mapping or glows, cannot be seen in
hardware texture mode (in the modeling views). Use the Render
View to view the results.
• The Texture Quality options only improve the quality of the
hardware textured image in the modeling views. You cannot use
these options to improve the quality of your test renders (in the
Render View or for IPR renders). Instead, open the Render Globals
window (Window > Render Globals) and change the Resolution
and Anti-aliasing Quality settings to your liking. Remember—the
higher the quality the slower the render time. See Render View
and IPR in this book for details.

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25 SURFACE MATERIALS

Surface materials describe the physical appearance of surfaces.

In this chapter:

Anisotropic

Blinn

Lambert

Layered Shader

Phong

Phong E

Shading Map

Surface Shader

Use Background

Where to look for more information

For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,
see the following in Chapter 24, “Introduction to Materials”:

Common Material Attributes

• Type
• Color
• Transparency
• Ambient Color

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Anisotropic

• Incandescence
• Bump Mapping
• Diffuse
• Translucence

Special Effects
• Hide Source
• Glow Intensity

Matte Opacity
• Matte Opacity Mode
• Matte Opacity

Raytrace Options
• Refractions
• Refractive Index
• Refraction Limit
• Reflection Limit
• Reflection Specularity

Hardware Texturing
• Textured channel
• Texture quality

ANISOTROPIC

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Anisotropic

The Anisotropic surface material represents surfaces covered with

microscopic grooves. The appearance of specular highlights on an
anisotropic material depends on the properties of these grooves (angle,
spacing, roughness) and their orientation relative to an observer.
An isotropic material (for example, Phong or Blinn) reflects specular light
identically in all directions. If you spin an isotropic sphere, its specular
highlight remains still.
An anisotropic material reflects specular light differently in different
directions. If you spin an anisotropic sphere, its specular highlight will
change.
Examples of anisotropic materials include hair, feathers, certain types of
cloth (velvet, satin), brushed metal, and compact disks.
For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,
see:
• Common Material Attributes
• Special Effects
• Matte Opacity
• Raytrace Options
• Hardware Texturing

Specular Shading attributes (Anisotropic)

The Specular Shading attributes control the appearance of specular
highlights on a surface. Each material type has a different set of Specular
Shading attributes.
Angle The Angle is the local rotation in the UV plane within a
range of 0.0 to 360.0. The default is 0.0. It is used to
determine the X direction and Y direction used for the
non-uniform specular highlight. The following illustrates
these relationships.

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Angle

y
U

Spread X The Spread X value determines how much the grooves

spread out in the X direction within a range of 0.1 to 100.0.
The default is 13.
Large values correspond to surfaces which vary smoothly
in the X direction (the U direction rotated counter-clock-
wise by the specified Angle degrees), while small values
correspond to surfaces that have fine structure.
When this value is increased, the specular highlight in the
X direction shrinks in size. When decreased, the specular
highlight in the X direction spreads out.
Spread Y The Spread Y value determines how much the grooves
spread out in the Y direction within a range of 0.1 to 100.0.
The default is 3.0.
The Y direction is perpendicular to the X direction in the
UV space. Large values correspond to surfaces that vary
smoothly in the Y direction while small values correspond
to surfaces that have fine structure.
When this value is increased, the specular highlight in the
Y direction shrinks in size. When decreased, the specular
highlight in the Y direction spreads out.
Roughness The Roughness value determines the overall roughness of
the surface within a range of 0.01 to 1.0. The default is 0.7.
Smaller values correspond to smoother surfaces and the
specular highlights are more concentrated.

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Larger values correspond to rougher surfaces and the

specular highlights are more spread out—similar to being
diffused.

Spread and Roughness attributes

When the Spread X value is equal to the Spread Y value, the surface becomes
isotropic—equally smooth in all directions.
When the Spread X value is more than the Spread Y value, the surface has a
micro-structure which is smooth in the X direction and rough in the Y
direction. This kind of surface has many long micro-cylinders aligned in the
X direction, like a hair surface with hair strands running along the X
direction. Another example could be the fibers of a piece of cloth that run
along the X direction. When these surfaces are shaded, the highlights will
non-uniformly spread out with more highlights along the Y direction.
The following example shows the rendered result on a sphere using the
following Spread and Roughness values:
Spread X = 6
Spread Y = 0.5
Roughness = 0.4477
with the X direction running parallel with the lines of longitude:

Fresnel Index A fresnel is a flat lens consisting of a number of concentric

rings that reduces spherical abnormalities. The Fresnel
Index value computes the fresnel factor that connects the

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Anisotropic

reflected light wave to the incoming light wave. For

example, the Fresnel Index for water is 1.33. Values range
from 1.0 to 20.0.
Specular Color The color of shiny highlights on the surface. A black
Specular Color produces no surface highlights. The
default color Value is 0.5.

Tip
For glossy plastic surfaces, use a whitish Specular Color. For metallic
surfaces, use a Specular Color similar to the surface color.

Reflectivity The ability of the surface to reflect its surroundings (the

environment, other surfaces), or the Reflected Color.
Reflectivity values for common surface materials are: car
paint (0.4), glass (0.7), mirror (1), chrome (1). To help
visualize the effect of Reflectivity in the material swatch,
temporarily assign a texture to Reflected Color.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no
reflections) to 1 (clear reflections). The default value is 0.5.

Note
Real reflections are only calculated during raytracing.

You must turn off Anisotropic Reflectivity to be able to

change this value.
Reflected Color Affects the color of light reflected from the material. If you
are raytracing, Maya multiplies the color with the color of
light that is reflected mirror-like from the surface. This can
be used to tint a reflection.
If you are not raytracing, you can map an image, texture,
or environment map to this attribute to create fake
reflections, which are less expensive than raytracing. This is
called reflection mapping.

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Anisotropic

Anisotropic
Reflectivity If on, Maya automatically calculates Reflectivity as a
fraction of Roughness. By default, Reflectivity is turned
on.
If off, Maya uses the specified Reflectivity value for the
environment map (mapped on the Reflected Color
attribute), similar to how the Phong and Blinn materials
work.
If on, the Reflectivity input is dimmed out and the
reflectivity of an environment map is computed
automatically by the anisotropic material based on how
rough the surface is, which is controlled by the specified
Roughness value.
The following images are rendered with Anisotropic
Reflectivity turned on, an environment map on the
Reflected Color, and the Roughness set to 0.01, 0.05, 0.1,
and 1.0 (from very smooth to very rough).

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Blinn

Roughness = 0.01 Roughness=0.05

very smooth

Roughness=0.1 Roughness=1.0, very rough

Extra Attributes (for Anisotropic only)

Tangent
UCamera The U-tangent value at the sample point.
Tangent
VCamera The V-tangent value at the sample point.

BLINN

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Blinn

The Blinn surface material represents metallic surfaces (for example, brass,
aluminum) which typically have soft specular highlights.

Tip
The soft highlights on Blinn surfaces are less likely to exhibit roping or
flickering for thin highlights than the harder highlights on Phong surfaces.
Use the Blinn surface material for surfaces with bump or displacement
maps to reduce highlight roping or flickering.

For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,

see:
• Common Material Attributes
• Special Effects
• Matte Opacity
• Raytrace Options
• Hardware Texturing

Specular Shading attributes (Blinn)

The Specular Shading attributes control the appearance of specular
highlights on a surface. Each material type has a different set of Specular
Shading attributes.
Eccentricity Controls the size of shiny highlights on the surface. This
attribute is only available for Blinn materials. The valid
range is 0 (no highlight) to 0.999 (broad highlight, not very
shiny surface). A value of 0.1 produces a small highlight
(very shiny surface). The default value is 0.3.
Specular Roll
Off The ability of the surface to reflect its surroundings (the
environment, other surfaces), or the Reflected Color, when
viewed at oblique angles. This attribute is only available
for Blinn materials. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default
value is 0.7.

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Blinn

To help visualize the effect of Specular Roll Off in the

material swatch, temporarily assign a texture to the
Reflected Color.

Tip
Use a Specular Roll Off value of 0.3 to simulate a wet surface (for example,
wet paint).

Specular Color The color of shiny highlights on the surface. A black

Specular Color produces no surface highlights. The
default color Value is 0.5.
Reflectivity The ability of the surface to reflect its surroundings (the
environment, other surfaces), or the Reflected Color.
Reflectivity values for common surface materials are: car
paint (0.4), glass (0.7), mirror (1), chrome (1). To help
visualize the effect of Reflectivity in the material swatch,
temporarily assign a texture to Reflected Color.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no
reflections) to 1 (clear reflections). The default value is 0.5.

Note
Real reflections are only calculated during raytracing.

Reflected Color Maps an image file or texture onto the surface to simulate
reflections.

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Lambert

LAMBERT

The Lambert surface material represents matte surfaces (for example, chalk,
matte paint, unpolished surfaces) which have no specular highlight. The
initial (default) shading group uses a Lambert surface material.
For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,
see:
• Common Material Attributes
• Special Effects
• Matte Opacity
• Raytrace Options
• Hardware Texturing

LAYERED SHADER

The Layered Shader surface material represents a single surface material (or
texture) composed of several different surface materials (or textures) layered
on top of one another.

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Layered Shader

Tip
Layering textures tend to be more efficient and faster than layering
shaders, mostly because you can use the same material when layering
textures.See Layered Textures for details.

Image by Owen Demers

Using the Layered Shader surface material

Metals can be complex looking, especially when they are oxidized or old and
dirty. The Layered Shader surface material is perfect for creating complex
surfaces like the one that follows.
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, oxidized
iron or copper.
The pot is composed of three separate surface materials that are 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 that each one contributes:

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Layered Shader

Blinn layer Lambert layer PhongE layer

The Layered Shader also lets you share textures and files and their attributes
between layers. In this way, very subtle characteristics are shared between
layers, which results in very natural-looking effects.

Layered Shader Attributes

Color Defines the surface color of the material. The default color
is green.
Transparency Sets the material’s transparency. By default the material is
semi-transparent.
Compositing
Flag Composites the layers using layered shader mode or
layered texture.
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 texture mode means that the
transparency for layer “n” will be used at layer “n.”

Hardware Shading Attributes

Hardware Color Helps you distinguish the objects assigned to a layered
shader. The hardware shading is tuned for performance,
thus preventing an accurate representation of layered
shader nodes.

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Phong

PHONG

The Phong surface material represents glassy or glossy surfaces (for

example, ABS or SAN copolymers, which are often used for car moldings,
telephones, bathroom fittings) which have a hard specular highlight.

Tip
The soft highlights on Blinn surfaces are less likely to exhibit roping or
flickering for thin highlights than the harder highlights on Phong surfaces.
Use the Blinn surface material for surfaces with bump or displacement
maps to reduce highlight roping or flickering.

For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,

see:
• Common Material Attributes
• Special Effects
• Matte Opacity
• Raytrace Options
• Hardware Texturing

Specular Shading attributes (Phong)

The Specular Shading attributes control the appearance of specular
highlights on a surface. Each material type has a different set of Specular
Shading attributes.

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Phong

Cosine Power Controls the size of shiny highlights on the surface. This
attribute is only available for Phong materials. The valid
range is 2 to ∞. The slider range is 2 (broad highlight, not
very shiny surface) to 100 (small highlight, very shiny
surface). The default value is 20.
Specular Color The color of shiny highlights on the surface. A black
Specular Color produces no surface highlights. The
default color Value is 0.5.
Reflectivity The ability of the surface to reflect its surroundings (the
environment, other surfaces), or the Reflected Color.
Reflectivity values for common surface materials are: car
paint (0.4), glass (0.7), mirror (1), chrome (1). To help
visualize the effect of Reflectivity in the material swatch,
temporarily assign a texture to Reflected Color.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no
reflections) to 1 (clear reflections). The default value is 0.5.

Note
Real reflections are only calculated during raytracing.

Reflected Color Reflected Color affects the color of light reflected from the
material.
If you are raytracing, the color is multiplied with the color
of light that is reflected mirror-like from the surface. This
can be used to tint a reflection.
If you are not raytracing, you can map an image or texture
or environment map to this attribute in order to make fake
reflections, which are less expensive than raytracing. This is
called reflection mapping.

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Phong E

PHONG E

The Phong E surface material is a simpler version of the Phong surface

material. The specular highlights on Phong E surfaces are softer than the
highlights on Phong surfaces. Phong E surfaces render slightly faster than
Phong surfaces.
See also Phong of this chapter.
For information on attributes shared between most other surface materials,
see:
• Common Material Attributes
• Special Effects
• Matte Opacity
• Raytrace Options
• Hardware Texturing

Specular Shading attributes (Phong E)

The Specular Shading attributes control the appearance of specular
highlights on a surface. Each material type has a different set of Specular
Shading attributes.
Roughness Controls the focus of the specularity.
Highlight Size Controls the amount of specular highlight.
Whiteness Controls the color of the specular highlight. The default is
white, but you can choose any color. You can texture map
this value.
Specular Color The color of shiny highlights on the surface. A black
Specular Color produces no surface highlights. The
default color Value is 0.5.

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Phong E

Tip
For glossy plastic surfaces, use a whitish Specular Color. For metallic
surfaces, use a Specular Color similar to the surface color.

Reflectivity The ability of the surface to reflect its surroundings (the

environment, other surfaces), or the Reflected Color.
Reflectivity values for common surface materials are: car
paint (0.4), glass (0.7), mirror (1), chrome (1). To help
visualize the effect of Reflectivity in the material swatch,
temporarily assign a texture to Reflected Color. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no reflections) to 1
(clear reflections). The default value is 0.5.

Note
Real reflections are only calculated during raytracing.

Reflected Color Reflected Color affects the color of light reflected from the
material.
If you are raytracing, the color is multiplied with the color
of light that is reflected mirror-like from the surface. This
can be used to tint a reflection.
If you are not raytracing, you can map an image or texture
or environment map to this attribute in order to make fake
reflections, which are less expensive than raytracing. This is
called reflection mapping.

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Shading Map

SHADING MAP

The Shading Map surface material represents a color map you apply to the
surfaces it is assigned to after they are rendered.
The Shading Map surface material is useful for creating non-photorealistic
effects (for example, cartoon shading) or for highlighting threshold values in
the rendered image.
See also Matte Opacity for information on Matte Opacity attributes.

Shading Map Attributes

Shading Map
Color Defines the color of the material. The default is gray.
Shader You can map any material to the Shading Map material.

SURFACE SHADER
The Surface Shader is a wrapper node, meaning you can connect any
keyable attribute to this shading group, and then connect the shading group
to an object.
For example, you can connect an object’s Translate Position to a Surface
Shader’s Out Color attribute to determine the object’s color by the object’s
position.
The Volume Shader and Surface Shader materials have only two and three
attributes, respectively.
In the following, the sphere on the left appears flat (two-dimensional)
because it is shaded by a Surface Shader. Notice the absence of shadow on
top of this sphere compared to the one on the right. The light fog on the right

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Use Background

appears flat because it is shaded by a Volume Shader. Notice the absence of

volume shadows compared to the light fog on the left. See Volume Shader
for details about the Volume Shader.

Image by Kelvin Sung

Surface Shader Attributes

Out Color The color of the material. The default is black.
Out
Transparency The transparency of the material. The default is black
(opaque).
Out Glow Color The glow color of the material. The default is black,
without glow.

Out Matte Opacity (Surface Shader only)

Connect another attribute to this to control the opacity of the material’s
matte (alpha) channel. Applies to the Surface Shader material only.

USE BACKGROUND
The Use Background surface material is an excellent compositing tool. You
use it to set the object’s Matte channel to 1 or 0, or create a Matte for
shadows and reflections on the surface. Basically, this material applies the
same color as the objects in the background image to stand-in surfaces.
See also Matte Opacity for information about the Matte Opacity attributes.

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Use Background

A Use Background material

applied to a stand-in beach
plane. The CG ball casts a
shadow on the background
beach scene.

Image by Changyaw Wang

To see shadows in an Alpha Channel using Use Background:

The following is a simple example. The object visibility is turned off so that
when you view the Alpha (or matte) channel in the Render View, you can
see the shadows on the background material. You can also do this for live
action image planes.
1 In Hypershade, create a Use Background material and assign it to the
ground plane in the scene.

The plane displays in black in the view.

2 Create and position lights in your scene.

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3 Toggle on the Use Depth Map Shadows attribute in the Shadows section of
the light’s Attribute Editor.
4 Select each object in the scene and in their respective Attribute Editors, turn
Primary Visibility off in the Render Stats section.

Toggle off Primary Visibility

5 Click the Display Alpha Channel icon in the Render View and re-render the
scene.

Display Alpha Channel

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Tip
To see the shadows better, change the Shadow Color to white.

To assign a Use Background material to stand-in geometry:

Create an image plane using the scene in which you want to place the stand-
in geometry:
1 Open the Camera’s Attribute Editor. Select View > Camera Attribute Editor
from the view panel’s menu.
2 Open the Environment section of the Attribute Editor and press the Create
button. A placement icon displays in the current view and the Image Plane
Attribute Editor opens.
3 Select Image File from the Type pull-down menu, then click the folder icon
next to Image Name to open your directories and load your scene into the
view.

Tips
Make sure you select the Image Plane Attached to Camera option to position
the ground plane where you want it before you create a stand-in object.

4 Make sure you set the following attributes in the Image Plane Attributes
section:
Display - looking through camera
Image Plane - Attached to Camera
5 Adjust the ground plane to position it approximately where you want to
place the object.

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6 Create and position a NURBS or polygonal plane on which to cast shadows

and reflections.
7 Create the object you want to use as stand-in geometry and place it on the
plane.

8 In Hypershade, create a Use Background material and assign it to the plane.

You can assign another material to the stand-in geometry, but this is
optional.

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9 Create and position lights in your scene. Toggle on the Use Depth Map
Shadows attribute in the Shadows section of the light’s Attribute Editor to
see the shadows in the rendered result.

Render the scene in the Render View (for best results, do not perform an IPR
render).

Adjust the location of the geometry, the ground plane, the lights, and the
Use Background attributes if necessary and then re-render the scene at any
time. See the following example.

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In the view, adjust the plane

the geometry, or the lighting
if necessary.
Change the
Use Background
attributes.

Re-render the
scene in
Render View.

Tips
• To cast a shadow through a transparent object, set the light’s
Raytrace Shadow Attributes.
• To see more of a reflection, increase the Reflectivity and Reflection
Limit values in the Use Background’s Attribute Editor.

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Use Background Attributes

Use these attributes to adjust the Use Background material’s reaction to the
light, shadows, reflections, and the geometry placement in your scene.
Specular Color Defines the material’s specular color. If you change this
color or assign a texture to it, the reflections in the scene
display your changes. For instance, if you map a checker
texture to the Specular Color, the reflection displays in a
checkered pattern. Drag the slider to set the Specular
Color to white if you want to see very clear reflections in
the rendered result. The default is gray.
Reflectivity Determines how much of the object’s texture reflects on
the Use Background material. For instance, if the floor is
very shiny, bump up this value. The default is 0.5.
Reflection Limit Determines the distance of the reflection. The default is 2.
Shadow Mask Determines the density of the material’s shadow mask. If
you change this value, the shadow masks becomes darker
or lighter, allowing you to better verify the shadows and
reflections in the scene when viewing the mask channels
in the Render View.

Click to display RGB channels. Click to display mask channels.

The default value is 1.0. If set to 0.0, the shadow does not display. See the
following examples.

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Shadow Mask = 0.0

Shadow Mask = 1.0

Shadow Mask = 0.5

Matte Opacity
For best results when adjusting these attributes, select the Display Alpha
Channel icon in the Render View to view the mask channels when re-
rendering the scene.
Matte Opacity
Mode

Opacity Gain- Displays both reflections and shadows.

Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value
of 0.5

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Solid Matte- Use to adjust the density of the Use

Background material.

Solid Matte set to 0.0

Solid Matte set to 0.5

Black Hole- Selecting this option disables the Matte

Opacity value since the result is simply a black matte.

Rendered result with

Matte Opacity Mode
set to Black Hole.

Matte Opacity Use the slider or enter a value to adjust the density of the
mask channels.

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Use Background

Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value of 1.0

Opacity Gain with a

Matte Opacity value of 0.5

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26 VOLUMETRIC MATERIALS

Volumetric materials describe the physical appearance of phenomena which

occupy a volume of space (for example, fog or particles).
In this chapter:

Common Volumetric material attributes

• Matte Opacity

Env Fog
• Simple Fog
• Physical Fog
• Fog
• Air
• Water
• Sun

Light Fog

Particle Cloud

Volume Shader

Where to find more information

For information on common or shared material attributes, see the following
in Chapter 24, “Introduction to Materials”.

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Common Volumetric material attributes

Common Material Attributes

Special Effects

Matte Opacity

Raytrace Options

Hardware Texturing

COMMON VOLUMETRIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES

The following attributes are common to the Environment Fog and Light fog
Volumetric materials:

Matte Opacity
You can control the mask value for individual objects. See Matte Opacity.
Matt Opacity attributes are available for Anisotropic, Blinn, Lambert,
Layered Shader, Phong, PhongE, Shading Map and Use Background
material types.

Matte Opacity Mode

Click to display the three Matte Opacity Modes from the pull-down menu.
Opacity Gain Opacity Gain is the default Matte Opacity Mode. The
matte channel is first calculated in the usual way (for
example, 1.0 for an opaque surface that completely covers
a pixel, less if it covers part of a pixel, and the value is
reduced appropriately for transparent objects), and then
multiplied by the specified Matte Opacity value. The
Opacity Gain value is used as a gain control on the usual
matte value contribution of this material.
The Matte Opacity Mode value is also keyable. The
Opacity Gain range is from completely transparent to no
effect (rendered as usual).

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Env Fog

Solid Matte Solid Matte makes the value of the matte channel constant
for all pixels covered by these surfaces. The value you
specify in the Matte Opacity slider is used.
Black Hole When you select the Black Hole mode, the matte channel
for all pixels covered by the object is set to 0 (fully
transparent), even if the object is transparent, and
regardless of what is behind the object if it is transparent.
This creates a black hole where the object is in the image,
to “knock out” the matte. In this mode, the Matte Opacity
slider is disabled and its value ignored.

Note
For the Opacity Gain and Solid Matte modes, if an object has non-zero
Transparency, objects behind it will make their usual contribution to the
matte channel’s values. This is the difference between setting Matte
Opacity to 0.0 in these modes, and choosing the Black Hole mode.

Matte Opacity
This value behaves in different ways based on which Matte Opacity Mode is
selected (Opacity Gain or Solid Matte).
For example, for the Opacity Gain mode, the Matte Opacity slider value
indicates the transparent multiplier amount for the alpha channel. The
default is 1, which means that any opaque object registers a full alpha value.
If the Matte Opacity value is 1, a 0 alpha value is registered. Any values
between 0 and 1 act as a multiplier to the alpha channel value to arrive at a
new alpha value.

ENV FOG

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Env Fog

Environment fog simulates the effect of fine particles in the air (for example,
fog, smoke, dust). Environment fog cannot cast shadows. If you want to cast
shadows use Light Fog (see Light Fog).
See also Matte Opacity.

Simple Fog
Color The color of environment fog. Change Color to simulate
smog (brown fog), or to create the illusion of great
distance (blue fog). The default setting is white.
Color Based
Transparency If Color Based Transparency is off, objects obscured by
environment fog appear as flat-shaded silhouettes. If
Color Based Transparency is on, objects obscured by
environment fog are fully shaded, not just flat-shaded
silhouettes. If the fog Color is dark (for example, black),
turn off Color Based Transparency (otherwise the fog will
not be visible). Color Based Transparency is on by default.
Saturation
Distance The distance (measured in your scene’s linear working
unit) from the camera at which environment fog becomes
fully saturated (that is, its color value reaches the Color
setting). The Saturation Distance affects how much objects
within or behind the fog are obscured. The slider range is
0.001 to 200. The default value is 100.
Use Layer If Use Layer is on, you can assign a texture to the Layer
attribute to create variations in the density and color of
environment fog across the camera’s view (that is, in two
dimensions). If Use Layer is off, constant density
environment fog fills the camera’s view. Use Layer is off
by default.
Layer Lets you map a texture to the fog, which gives the effect of
patchiness in the fog’s density.
The most common application is mapping the Density to a
3D texture, like a Solid Fractal, and mapping a Ramp
texture to the Layer attribute. Make the Ramp black and
white, so you get a contrast of transparency and opacity.
Use Layer is off by default.

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Env Fog

Use Height If Use Height is on, environment fog will exist between
the Min Height and Max Height. If Use Height if off,
environment fog will fill the camera’s view. Use Height is
off by default.
Min Height, Max
Height The minimum and maximum height (measured in your
scene’s linear working unit) from the origin within which
environment fog exists (when Use Height is on). (If Max
Height is less than Min Height, environment fog will
extend from Min Height to infinity.) The slider range is -10
to 10. The default value is -1 for Min Height and 1 for Max
Height.
Blend Range The vertical distance (measured in your scene’s linear
working unit) over which environment fog gradually
fades from full density to zero density. (The edges of the
fog are defined by the Min Height and Max Height
values.) The slider range is 0 (fog suddenly ends at Min
Height and Max Height) to 1 (fog gradually fades at Min
Height and Max Height). The default value is 0.

Physical Fog
You must click the Physical Fog check box to access the following attributes.

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Physical Fog attributes

Fog Type
Fog Type controls how Maya simulates the fog in your scene. It has a
number of different settings, depending on what kind of fog effect you want.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is turned on. The settings
are:
Uniform Fog The fog has uniform density in all directions.
Atmospheric The fog is thickest near the ground, and thins out (decays)
as you move upwards.
Sky This simulates the effect of a whole sky, with fog blending
properly at the horizon, etc. Use this to provide a
complete background to a foggy scene. It is especially
useful for scenes where you can see a long distance, for
example, to the horizon.
Water This simulates the effect of water, scattering light that is
shining in from above it. This is useful for underwater
shots, or for shots where objects are visible in a pool of
water from above.
Water/Fog Allows you to have water in your scene, with Uniform
Fog above the water.
Water/Atmos Allows you to have water in your scene, with
Atmospheric Fog above the water.
Water/Sky Allows you to have water in your scene, with the full Sky
Fog simulation above it.

Fog Axis
Fog Axis controls the direction that the fog simulation will use for the up
direction. You can choose any of the X, Y, or Z axes in the positive or
negative direction.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is turned on, and the Fog
Type is not Uniform.

Planet Radius
Available for the Atmospheric, Sky, Water/Atmos, Water/Sky Fog Types.

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Fog
Depending on the Fog Type you select, Fog attributes are either available or
disabled. The following table lists the Fog attributes available for the Fog
Type.

Attribute Fog Type

Uniform Atmospheric Sky Water Water/ Water/ Water/

Fog Atmos Sky

Fog Color YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Fog Opacity YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Fog Density YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Fog Min Height NO YES YES NO NO YES YES

Fog Max Height NO YES YES NO NO YES YES

Fog Decay NO NO YES NO NO NO YES

Fog Light Scatter YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Fog Attributes
Fog Color Fog Color controls the color of light that is scattered by the
fog. When light passes through a medium such as air or
fog, some frequencies (colors) pass directly through, while
other frequencies are scattered. The frequencies that are
scattered give the fog its distinctive color.
Fog Opacity Fog Opacity controls what frequencies (colors) of light are
absorbed as they pass through the fog. This will affect the
way that objects in the background appear to be tinted by
the fog.
Fog Density Fog Density controls the optical density of vapor in the
fog layer. Increase this value to make the fog seem thicker.

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Fog Min Height Fog Min Height controls the height of the bottom of the
fog layer.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Fog Max Height Fog Max Height controls the height of the fog layer.
If the Fog Type is Atmospheric (or Water/Atmos) then the
density of the fog decreases exponentially from Fog Min
Height upwards. In this case, Fog Max Height is the
height at which density has decreased to half the value it
has at the fog base. (You might think of this as the half-life
height.)
If the Fog Type is Sky (or Water/Sky) then Fog Max
Height is the height of the top of the fog layer.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Fog Decay Fog Decay controls the rate that the fog thins out at higher
altitudes. A value of 0.5 will make the fog decay linearly.
Values between 0.5 and 1 will make the fog fairly even
near the ground, then drop off suddenly at the top. Values
between 0 and 0.5 will cause the fog to thin out very
rapidly near its base.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Fog Light
Scatter Fog Light Scatter: This controls how evenly the light is
scattered in the fog. A value of 1 means that the light is
uniformly scattered, and will appear to be spread
throughout the fog. Lower values will cause the fog to be
brighter near the position of the sun.

Air
Depending on the Fog Type you select, Air attributes are either available or
disabled. The following table lists the Air attributes available for the Fog
Type.

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Attribute Fog Type

Uniform Atmospheric Sky Water Water/ Water/ Water/

Fog Atmos Sky

Air Color YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Air Opacity YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Air Density YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Air Min Height NO YES YES NO NO YES YES

Air Max Height NO YES YES NO NO YES YES

Air Decay NO NO YES NO NO NO YES

Air Light Scatter YES YES YES NO YES YES YES

Air Attributes
Air Color Air Color controls the color of light that is scattered by the
air. When light passes through a medium such as air or
fog, some frequencies (colors) pass directly through, while
other frequencies are scattered. The frequencies that are
scattered are what give the sky, for example, its distinctive
color.
Air Opacity Air Opacity controls what frequencies (colors) of light are
absorbed as they pass through the air. This will affect the
way that objects in the background appear to be tinted by
the air. (for example, objects on the horizon often appear
bluish in real life).
Air Density Air Density controls the optical density of air our in the
fog simulation. Increase this value to make the air seem
more dense.
Air Min Height Air Min Height controls the height of the bottom of the air
layer.

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This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is

turned on and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Air Max Height Air Max Height controls the height of the air layer.
If the Fog Type is Atmospheric (or Water/Atmos) then the
density of the air decreases exponentially from Air Min
Height upwards. In this case, Air Max Height is the height
at which air density has decreased to half the value it has
at Air Min Height. (You might think of this as the half-life
height.)
If the Fog Type is Sky (or Water/Sky) then Air Max
Height is the height of the top of the air layer.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Air Decay Air Decay controls the rate that the air thins out at higher
altitudes. A value of 0.5 will make the air decay linearly.
Values between 0.5 and 1 will make the air fairly even
near the ground, then drop off suddenly at the top. Values
between 0 and 0.5 will cause the air to thin out very
rapidly near the ground.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is not Uniform.
Air Light Scatter Air Light Scatter: This controls how evenly the light is
scattered in the air. A value of 1 means that the light is
uniformly scattered, and will appear to be spread
throughout the air. Lower values will cause the
atmosphere to appear brighter around the sun position.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on.

Water
These attributes become available if the Fog Type is either Water, Water/
Fog, Water/Atmos, or Water/Sky.

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Water Attributes
Water Color Water Color controls the color of light that is scattered by
the water. When light passes through a medium such as
air or water, some frequencies (colors) pass directly
through, while other frequencies are scattered. The
frequencies that are scattered are what give the water its
distinctive color.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Opacity Water Opacity controls what frequencies (colors) of light
are absorbed as they pass through the water. This will
affect the way that objects in the background appear to be
tinted by the water.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Density Water Density controls the optical density of water in the
fog simulation. Increase this value to make the underwater
fog seem more dense.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Level Water Level is the height of the surface of the water.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Depth Water Depth is the depth of the water in the scene.
Increase this to make the water deeper.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Light
Decay Water Light Decay controls the rate that the illumination
drops off with depth.
Set this to 0 if you don’t want the light to decay (that is,
you don’t want it to get darker as you go deeper). A
setting of 1.0 will give a linear decay, and higher values
will make it get darker faster.

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This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is

turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.
Water Light
Scatter Controls how evenly the light is scattered in the water. A
value of 1 means that the light is uniformly scattered, and
will appear to be spread throughout the water. Lower
values will cause the water to appear brighter near the
surface, where the light is coming from.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on and Fog Type is set to one of the Water types.

Sun
Sun Intensity controls the overall brightness of the sunlight illuminating fog.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is turned on, and the Fog
Type is not Uniform.

Sun Attributes
Sun Color Sun Color controls the color of the sunlight illuminating
the fog.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and the Fog Type is not Uniform.
Sun Azimuth Sun Azimuth controls the position (angle) of the sun along
an imaginary circle that goes around the Fog Axis.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and the Fog Type is not Uniform.
Sun Elevation Sun Elevation controls the position (angle) of the sun
along a line from the horizon to directly overhead. A
value of 90 puts the sun directly above (actually, directly
in the position pointed to by the Fog Axis) and a value of 0
puts the sun at the horizon.
This attribute is only available when Physical Fog is
turned on, and the Fog Type is not Uniform.

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Light Fog

Clipping Planes
Distance Clip
Planes If Distance Clip Planes is set to Fog Near/Far,
environment fog will exist between the Fog Near Distance
and the Fog Far Distance. If Distance Clip Planes is set to
Camera Near/Far, environment fog will exist between
camera’s near and far clipping planes. The default setting
is Fog Near/Far.
Fog Near
Distance, Fog
Far Distance The minimum and maximum distance (measured in your
scene’s linear working unit) from the camera within which
environment fog exists (when Distance Clip Planes is set
to Fog Near/Far). (If Fog Far Distance is less than Fog
Near Distance, environment fog will extend from the For
Near Distance to infinity.) The slider range is 0 to 200. The
default value is 0 for Fog Near Distance and 200 for Fog
Far Distance.

LIGHT FOG

Light fog simulates particles in the air (for example, fog, smoke, dust) that
are illuminated by a particular light. You can add light fog to spot lights or
point lights. Light Fog can cast depth map shadows. Environment Fog
cannot.

Light Fog Attributes

The Light Fog Attributes control the appearance of light fog. See also Matte
Opacity.

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Light Fog

Color The color of illuminated fog. (The light’s Color also

influences the color of illuminated fog.) The default color
is white.
Density The density of illuminated fog. The higher the density, the
more obscured the objects within or behind the fog. (The
density also influences the brightness of illuminated fog.)
Color Based Transparency and Fast Drop Off also
influence how objects are obscured by illuminated fog.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Color Based
Transparency If on, the amount that objects within or behind the fog are
obscured is based on the Density value and the Color
value. Objects obscured by the fog are fully shaded, not
just flat-shaded silhouettes.
If the fog Color is dark (for example, black), turn off Color
Based Transparency (otherwise the fog will not be visible).
Color Based Transparency is on by default.
Fast Drop Off If off, all objects within or behind the fog are obscured by
the same amount, based on the Density value.
If on, each object within or behind the fog is obscured by a
different amount, based on the Density value and the
object’s distance from the camera (that is, the amount of
fog between the camera and the object). An object (or part
of an object) which has more fog between it and the
camera appears more obscured than an object (or part of
an object) which has less fog between it and the camera.
This is the way real-world fog behaves. Fast Drop Off is
off by default.

Note
If Fast Drop Off is on, objects within the fog that are further from the
camera may be obscured too much, so you may want to reduce the Density
value.

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Particle Cloud

PARTICLE CLOUD

The Particle Cloud is a volume material which can be connected to the

volume port of a shading group. The initialParticleSE is a shading group that
has a lambert material connected to its Surface port, and a particle cloud
material connected to its Volume port. You can connect the particle cloud
shading group to a particle emitter to achieve effects such as gas or clouds.
You can software render particles as thin gas, cloud, thick cloud, blobby
surface or tube.

Particle Cloud Attributes

Color, Transparency, and Incandescence can be set to a fixed value, or
texture mapped over the particles’ lifetime. If mapped, the V values of the
map are mapped onto the particles’ lifetime.
Color The basic color of the particle cloud. The default color is a
green-blue.
Transparency Controls how much you can see through the particle
cloud. It is a color, so that you can control the
transparency of the red, green, and blue channels
separately. To make the cloud more opaque, set
transparency to be darker. To make the cloud more
transparent, set transparency to be brighter.
Incandescence Use Incandescence to make the particle cloud brighter, as
though it were a light source. By default, Incandescence is
black, meaning no glow will be added.

Note
When Incandescence is turned on, although the particle cloud will glow, it
will not cast light on other objects in the scene.

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Life Color, Life Transparency, and Life Incandescence are driven by the
particle age (the texture defines color, transparency, and incandescence, all
of which get their UV information from the Particle Age Mapper utility
node). The Particle Age Mapper utility node is created automatically at the
time the texture is created.
Life Color Determines the color at a particular time in the life of the
particle. You can use the Particle Sampler Info node to
animate this attribute over a particle’s lifetime.
Life
Transparency Determines the transparency at a particular time in the life
of the particle.You can use the Particle Sampler Info node
to animate this attribute over a particle’s lifetime.
Life
Incandescence Determines the incandescence at a particular time in the
life of the particle.You can use the Particle Sampler Info
node to animate this attribute over a particle’s lifetime.
Glow Intensity Controls how much of a halo-like glow effect will be
added to the particle cloud. This glow effect is added as a
post-process, after the rendering is completed. Glow
Intensity is zero by default, meaning that no glow is
added.

Transparency
Density Similar to transparency; it controls how dense the cloud of
particles appears to be, and therefore how much of the
background can be seen through it. Increase this value to
make the cloud more dense.
Blob Map Specifies a scaling factor applied to the transparency of the
particle cloud. You can connect a 3d texture to it in order
to give some internal texture or shape to the cloud beyond
what it gets from the particles.
Roundness Controls the noise’s irregularity. The smaller the value, the
less rounded the shape.
Translucence Specifies a scaling factor for density that is used only to
compute shadows. The larger the translucence value, the
more light penetrates. The formula is:

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density * (1 - translucence)

Built-in Noise
Noise Controls the jitteriness within the particle cloud. If it is set
to zero, the cloud will look very smooth and uniform
throughout. As the amount of noise increases, the cloud
appears noisier, like static on a television screen. Noise is
set to 0.75, by default.
Noise Freq Determines the size of the noise artifacts when Noise is
turned on. Higher values of Noise Frequency produce
smaller, finer artifacts, and lower values produce larger,
coarser artifacts. If Noise Frequency is set to zero, that is
the same as turning Noise off.
Noise Aspect Controls the distribution of the noise (when Noise is
turned on). It is zero by default, meaning the noise is
equally distributed in X and Y. Positive values make the
noise run perpendicular to the particle’s path. Negative
values make the noise run more parallel to the path.
Noise Anim
Rate Specifies a scaling factor that controls the rate of built-in
noise changes during an animation.
Solid Core Size Determines the size of the core, which is the area where
the particle is opaque.

Surface Shading Properties

Diffuse Coeff Controls how much of the light in the scene is reflected
from the particles. Most materials absorb some of the light
falling on them, and scatter the rest.
The default value is 0.0. If you set this to 1.0, all the light
falling on the material is reflected. Use a high value when
creating dense clouds. If you set this to 0.0 (the minimum),
no light is reflected and no surface shading occurs.
The surface color is modulated by the transparency. This
value can be greater than 1.0, so the surface property can
still appear even when the material is transparent.

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Surface Color Specifies the basic color of the particle cloud surface (as
opposed to the inside of the cloud). Diffuse Coeff must be
set to a value greater than 0 to enable this option.
Bump Mapping Makes the surface appear rough or bumpy by altering
surface normals (during rendering) according to the
intensity of the pixels in the bump map texture. Diffuse
Coeff must be set to a value greater than 0 to enable this
option.
A bump map does not actually alter the surface. A
silhouette of the surface appears smooth.
Translucence
Coeff Simulates the way light diffusely penetrates through
translucent objects. This means that when light shines on
one side of the object, the other side is partially
illuminated. You can use this to create effects such as
clouds, fur, hair, marble, jade, wax, paper, leaves, etc. If
you set Translucence Coeff to 0 (the default), no light
shows through the object. If you set Translucence Coeff to
1, all the light shows through. Diffuse Coeff must be set to
a value greater than 0 to enable this option.
Surface Shading
Shadow Determines if the surface shading is combined with the
pre-illumination, which contains shadows, if enabled (see
the Filter Radius attribute description next). Diffuse Coeff
must be set to a value greater than 0 to enable this option.

Pre-illumination Controls
Filter Radius Volumetric particles use pre-illumination, which evaluates
the lighting at each particle’s center by default. This can
sometimes cause popping if the illumination changes too
fast in an animation, and is especially noticeable if Surface
Shading Shadow is on.
Filter radius lets you filter the pre-illumination results so
the value at each particle’s center will be the average of all
the pre-illumination results within the filter radius. Higher
values increase render time but produce smoother images.

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Volume Shader

VOLUME SHADER

Use the Volume Shader when you want to control the color, transparency,
and matte opacity of a volumetric material, such as light fog. This shader
allows you to connect other attributes and effects directly to its color,
transparency, and matte opacity.
The Volume Shader can be used with a Spot Light, Point Light, Environment
Fog, and particles.

Example
Try this simple example. By mapping a Volume Shader to a Spot Light’s
Light Fog, you can map textures to the Volume Shaders’s attributes and
change the fog’s visual effects.

To use the Volume Shader with Light Fog:

Use a spot or point light in your scene. This example uses a spot light.
1 In the spot light’s Attribute Editor’s Light Effects section, click the Light Fog
map button to map it to the light. The spot light’s icon increases in size. If
necessary, bump up the Fog Spread and Fog Intensity values.

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Spot Light with Light Fog in view. Rendered result.

2 In Hypershade, create a Volume Shader material.

3 Middle-mouse drag the Volume Shader material swatch over the Spot Light
swatch and select an attribute, such as color, with which you want to map
the Volume Shader.
4 Open the Volume Shader’s Attribute Editor and map a texture, such as
cloud, to the Out Color attribute. The following shows the rendered result.

Change the Cloud texture’s attributes to change the fog effects if necessary.

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In the next example, the sphere on the left appears flat (two-dimensional)
because it is shaded by a Surface Shader. Notice the absence of shadow on
this sphere compared to the one on the right.
The light fog on the right appears flat because it is shaded by a Volume
Shader. Notice the absence of volume shadows compared to the light fog on
the left.

Image by Kelvin Sung

Volume Shader Attributes

Out Color Defines the out color of the material. The default is black.
Out
Transparency Sets the out Transparency of the material. The default is
black, which is opaque.

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Extra Attributes
The Volume Shader material includes the following Extra Attribute. Click
the down arrow to open the Extra Attributes section of the Attribute Editor.
Out Matte
Opacity Connect another attribute to Out Matte Opacity to control
the opacity of the material’s matte (alpha) channel. Out
Matte Opacity only applies to the Volume Shader.
See Matte Opacity Mode and Matte Opacity for more
details about the Matte Opacity attributes.

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27 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.
In this chapter:
• Pre-filtering textures
• Feature-based Displacement Map attributes
• Setting sample rates
• Non-Feature-based displacement mapping
• Setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes
• Displacement mapping and Layered Shaders

DISPLACEMENT SHADER
To create a displacement map:
1 Create a material in Hypershade and middle-mouse drag the material
swatch onto the object in the view.

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2 Select the material swatch in Hypershade and click the Show Up and
Downstream Connection icon to display it’s shading group swatch.
3 Double-click the shading group swatch to open the Attribute Editor.
4 Click the box beside Displacement Mat. to open the displacement shader’s
Attribute Editor and click the box next to Displacement to map a texture.

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.

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Displacement Shader

Result in Render View.

Hypershade view.

Displacement Shader attribute

The Displacement Shader only has one attribute.
Displacement The amount by which the surface is displaced. The default
displacement value is 0.

Pre-filtering textures
It is important to make sure that your textures do not contain jagged edges
before you displacement map them. To pre-filter your textures, use an image
processing package, such as Maya Fusion, to apply anti-aliasing to your
textures.

Feature-based Displacement Map attributes

When you create primitives or objects in Maya, Displacement Map
Attributes are included in the object’s Attribute Editor. Select the object in
the view and open its Attribute Editor.

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Displacement features are the height variations of the displacement height

field.
Feature
Displacement If on (the 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.
See also Non-Feature-based displacement mapping and
Setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes for information on
displacement mapping when this attribute is off.
Initial Sample
Rate See Setting sample rates before you attempt to change
these settings.
This rate is used to check the texture values to determine
the difference between displacement heights and where to
introduce new vertices. It defines a regular sampling grid
in each original tessellation triangle. For example, with the
default value of 6, the sample grid is 6x6.
Try to keep this sample rate to a reasonable value since it
does take longer to render the higher the value. See
Setting sample rates for details—For each tessellation

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triangle, notice how much texture height variation is in the

triangle and estimate how many initial samples are
required to include these features when displacement
mapping..
Extra Sample
Rate This rate is used to take extra samples to refine the new
vertices introduced during displacement mapping. This
rate is used to adjust the vertices to be better aligned with
the feature. Always try to set this value at 0 first if the
result looks too jagged, then increase the value to get the
results you need. The default value is 5. A value of 20 is
usually enough. See Setting sample rates for details—For
each tessellation triangle, notice how sharp the features
are and how many curvy features there are. The sharper
the features, the higher the Extra Sample Rate needs to be.
In the following examples, the displaced surface on the
left only needs an Extra Sample Rate value of 0, but the
surface on the right needs an Extra Sample Rate of 5.

Image by Christine Beaumont Image by Matt Dougan

Texture
Threshold This value is used to eliminate small height variation in
the displacement (such as noise). This is a threshold of the
percentage of the maximum height variation. Any feature
that is smaller than this value will not be considered. The
default value is 0.

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Note
It is recommended that you pre-process your texture so that it contains as
little noise as possible and leaving this value at the default of 0.

Normal
Threshold This angular value in degrees is used to determine the
angle threshold of the normal difference between two
adjacent triangles. If the normal difference is higher than
the threshold, the edge between these two triangles is
recognized as a sharp edge. If lower, the normals are
averaged which produces smooth edges. The default
value is 30 degrees.

Note
It is recommended that you leave this value at the default of 30.

Bounding Box
Scale This attribute is common to both feature-based and non-
feature-based displacement mapping.
Determines the bounding box scale for a displacement
map and helps to compute the bounding box scale
automatically by tessellating the object.
Bounding Box Scale lets you estimate the size of a
displaced object’s bounding box. It is in world space
because the displacement is applied to vertices in world
space. Based on the bounding box scale, Maya calculates
the new bounding box for the displacement-mapped
object.
When you scale the bounding box, make sure it is not too
small or the displacement may look cut-off or look as
though it has holes. The default bounding box scale (1.5 in
world space) should be adequate in most situations;
however, if you want large-scale displacement, increase

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the bounding box scale significantly. If you do not

increase the size enough, artifacts result in the rendered
image, but if the estimate is too large, Maya may use more
memory to render the object.

To estimate a bounding box scale:

1 In the Memory and Performance Options section of the Render Globals
window, turn on Use Displacement Bounding Box (it is on by default).
2 Estimate how much the surface will grow when it is displacement-mapped.
• If the bounding box of the displaced surface will be more than 50 percent
larger than the bounding box for the original surface in World Space, open
the surface’s Attribute Editor and enlarge the bounding box scale.
• If the bounding box of the displaced surface will be less than 50 percent
larger than the bounding box for the original surface in World Space, open
the surface’s Attribute Editor and reduce the bounding box scale to optimize
the rendering speed and memory.
• If you choose to let Maya automatically compute the proper bounding box
scale for the displaced object, press Calculate Bounding Box Scale in the
Attribute Editor and Maya automatically sets the bounding box scale for the
surface.

Warning
Use this feature with care if you have an animation that changes the
relationship between the displacement and the size of the surface being
displaced. Choose the most extremely-displaced frame to perform the
Calculate Bounding Box Scale operation. Alternatively, animate the value
manually.

3 Render. If the estimated bounding box scale is too small, a warning message
displays in the render log with instructions indicating how to set the
bounding box scale correctly. An example message:

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Warning: The bounding box is too small for shape

“surbsSphereShape1”. Reset the bounding box scale to:
1.56778 1.56778 1.56778. You can use the following mel
commands: setAttr nurbsSphereShape1.boundingBoxScale -type
double3 1.56778 1.56778 1.56778;
4 Adjust the bounding box scale as recommended in the render log message.
5 Render again.

Setting sample rates

To determine how to set the Initial and Extra sample rates:
• Preview the surface tessellation
• Preview the displacement map
• Viewing the triangles and texture together to determine sample rates
• Use Lighting/Shading > Displacement to Polygon to see the result

Preview the surface tessellation

• For NURBS surfaces, select the NURBS surface, then turn on Display Render
Tessellation (in Hardware Shading Mode).
• For triangular polygonal surfaces, the triangles are the original tessellation
triangles. If it is a polygonal object consisting of quads, each quad contains
two original triangles.
• If the surface is a subdivision surface, use Subdiv Surfaces > Tessellate to
convert the subdivision surface to a polygonal surface to use as a temporary
visualization object.

Preview the displacement map

Map the displacement texture temporarily to a material’s channel, such as
Color, which displays the results in the view (with Hardware Texturing
turned on).

Viewing the triangles and texture together to determine

sample rates
Initial Sample Rate—For each tessellation triangle, notice how much texture
height variation is in the triangle and estimate how many initial samples are
required to include these features when displacement mapping.

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• If the original triangle is large and the feature in the triangle is fine, then the
Initial Sample Rate has to be large to include the fine features.
• If the original triangle is small and the features are sparse, the Initial Sample
Rate does not have to be very large. The default of 6 may be enough.
Extra Sample Rate—For each tessellation triangle, notice how sharp the
features are and how many curvy features there are. The sharper the
features, the higher the Extra Sample Rate needs to be.

Use Lighting/Shading > Displacement to Polygon to see

the result
For any surface, after estimating the sampling rates, use the Displacement to
Polygon tool to create a mesh. This mesh is made from the displaced
tessellation.
• If not enough texture details are included, try increasing the Initial Sample
Rate.
• If the mesh is too jagged, try increasing both the Initial Sample Rate and
Extra Sample Rate. You should always set the Extra Sample Rate lower than
the Initial Sample rate.

Non-Feature-based displacement mapping

The following describes displacement mapping textures when Feature
Displacement is off . When off, the attributes cannot be used.
If Feature Displacement is off, the texture’s and the bump map’s Filter Size
and Filter Offset attributes (if they have them) are also automatically
adjusted for optimal results.
When you apply a texture as a displacement map to a shading group, a
bump map is automatically connected to the shader associated with that
shading group.

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Note
If you change the placement or resolution of the texture after you assign
the displacement map, you should update the bump’s Filter Offset and the
texture’s Filter Offset, using the following formula:
1/texture’s resolution * Repeat UV
For example, if you have a texture resolution of 512X512 and a Repeat UV
of 3,3, then you should set the Filter Offset to:
(1/512) * 3 = 0.005859

If the material cannot be bump mapped (for example, Layered Shaders

cannot be bump mapped), the texture will be connected as a displacement
texture and no bump mapping occurs. You should connect this texture as a
bump map where it makes sense (for example, use the displacement texture
as a bump map on the various materials connected to the Layered Shader).
Attach the bump node to all Normal Camera attributes in your shading
network you have just displacement mapped. Also, if you drag a texture
onto a displacement node manually within Hypershade instead of dragging
from Hypershade onto the Displacement Material area in the attribute
editor, no bump map is connected, and the displacement may not look right.

Setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes

For best results when displacement mapping a NURBS surface when Feature
Displacement is off, open the surface’s Attribute Editor, turn on Explicit
Tessellation Attributes, and increase the Number U and Number V values.
There is no hard and fast rule to determine what values to use for the
Number U and Number V attributes, but as a general rule, the noisier the
texture, the more tessellation the object requires. Also, the number of
subdivisions in either U or V should rarely exceed the resolution of the
texture being applied as the displacement. For example, if a 512X512 texture
is being applied, setting both Number U and Number V to 22 is usually
sufficient. Try to keep the tessellation values as low as possible to achieve
the effect you want since the higher you set these criteria, the more memory
it will use and the longer it will take to render.

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Tips
• For help in setting the Primary Tessellation Attributes, watch the
Min Number of Triangles display in the object’s attribute editor as
you set the tessellation attributes. This display shows you the
minimum number of triangles that will be produced on your
object’s surface given the current tessellation settings. Be careful,
though, because setting Explicit Tessellation Attributes can
increase the number of triangles beyond the minimum number
displayed.
• To see the tessellation in the view after you displacement map the
texture, select Lighting/Shading > Displacement to Polygon.
• If you only apply a bump map to the surface, you do not have to
increase the tessellation values to improve results.

Displacement mapping and Layered Shaders

Layered Shaders cannot be displaced directly. Instead, a Luminance color
utility is displaced, and a Layered Shader is connected to it.

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28 INTRODUCTION TO
TEXTURES

Maya provides three sets of textures and a unique texture type used for
multitexturing:

2D Textures
2D textures are two-dimensional patterns that simulate various types of
surface materials by using either an image file (File texture) or a computer
graphic procedure. See 2D Textures.

3D Textures
3D textures are three-dimensional patterns that simulate solid materials (for
example, wood or marble) using a computer graphic procedure. When you
map a 3D texture to a surface, the surface appears to be carved out of that
material. See 3D Textures.

Environment Textures
Environment textures simulate three-dimensional spaces by either using a
series of image files (Env Ball, Env Cube, and Env Sphere textures) or using
a computer graphic procedure (Env Chrome and Env Sky textures).
You map an environment texture either to the camera’s Background Color to
create a background for your scene, or to a material’s Reflected Color to
simulate environmental reflections. However, you are not limited to these
uses; you can also map an environment texture to any texturable attribute.
See Environment Textures.

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Layered Texture
Use the Layered Texture to manage multiple textures. You can drag and
drop file textures onto this node using the middle mouse button, and RGB
and alpha connections are automatically made. You can alternatively drag
textures from Hypershade into the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor. See
Layered Textures for details.

Tips
• If you want realistic and clean images in your view panels,
remember to set the texture quality. See Texture quality for details.
When rendering an image in the Render View window:
• create lights in your view panel (use directional lights when
testing) and select Use All Lights from the Lighting menu in the
view panel menu bar. See Lights and Use All Lights for details.
• set the Render Globals attributes to provide you with clean sharp
images. See Improving the Render View test render quality for
details.

In this chapter:

Creating textures
• Texture tabs
• Texture swatches

Assigning textures to materials: overview

Texture-specific features
• With New Texture Placement
• Normal
• As projection
• As stencil

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Creating textures

Painting textures

Where to find more information

The following lists the chapters where you can find the information about
textures and their attributes.
• Chapter 29, “2D Textures”
• Chapter 30, “3D Textures”
• Chapter 31, “Layered Textures”
• Chapter 32, “Environment Textures”

CREATING TEXTURES
There are five ways to create textures in the Hypershade:
• Right-mouse click in the Hypershade panel and select a texture from the
pop-up menu (Create > Textures > 2D, 3D, or Environment);
• Select a texture from the Create menu from the Hypershade menu bar
(Textures > 2D, 3D, or Environment);
• In the Visor panel, use the middle mouse button to drag a texture swatch
from the Create section to the Hypershade panel.
• Select a texture from the Create Render Node window
(Create > Create Render Node).
• Select the objects or components in the view, right-click on a texture swatch
in the Hypershade, and select Assign Texture's Material to Selected Objects
from the pop-up menu. The texture is assigned to the selected objects and
components in the view. If the texture does not have an associated material,
it automatically creates a Lambert material, assigns the texture to the Color
attribute, and continues with the assignment.

Note
If a texture is associated with multiple materials, or any other ambiguous
shading network, the operation will fail.

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There are two ways to create a texture in the Multilister:

• Select Edit > Create from the Multilister menu bar to open the Create Render
Node window and select a texture;
• Right-mouse click in the Multilister panel, select Edit > Create from the pop-
up menu to open the Create Render Node window, and select a texture.

Texture tabs
The Textures tab in the Create Render Node window contains several types
of textures to choose from. See 2D Textures, 3D Textures, Environment
Textures, and Layered Texture at the beginning of this chapter for a brief
description of these texture types.

Texture swatches
Texture swatches display in the Create section of the Visor panel. When you
create a texture, it also displays in the Rendering section of the Visor.
Once you create a texture, you can access its attributes from the Attribute
Editor by double-clicking the texture swatch in Hypershade.

ASSIGNING TEXTURES TO MATERIALS: OVERVIEW

There are many ways to assign textures to materials. The following shows
you two quick ways to assign a texture to a material’s attribute.
You can assign a texture to almost any material attribute. In the following
example, the texture is assigned to the Blinn material’s Color attribute.

To assign a texture from the Attribute Editor:

1 Double-click a material’s swatch in Hypershade to open its Attribute Editor.
2 Click the box next to the attribute’s name (in this example, Color) and select
the texture from the Create Render Node window that displays.

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Click any one of

these boxes to
open the
Create Render Node
window and select
a texture.

The material swatch updates in the Hypershade panel and the Attribute
Editor changes focus so that you can edit the texture as needed.

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place3dTexture
swatch.

Material Texture
swatch. swatch.

To assign a texture from the Hypershade:

1 Middle-mouse drag a texture swatch from the Create section of Visor over
the material swatch in the Hypershade panel. A pop-up menu displays.
2 Select the attribute to which you want to assign the texture. The material
swatch updates in Hypershade. You can now assign the material to the
surface (see Assigning materials to surfaces: overview for details).

Rendered result.

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Note
When you use this method, the 2D or 3D placement icon does not display
in the Hypershade panel. To display the icon, press the Show Upstream
Connections button at the top right of the Hypershade.

Show Upstream Connections

To assign a texture to a material interactively:

Once you have assigned a material to your object, drag a texture swatch into
Hypershade, then middle-mouse drag the swatch over the object in the view.

To assign a texture to more than one attribute:

The following shows how to assign a Crater texture to both a Blinn
material’s color and bump map attributes.
1 Middle-mouse drag the Crater texture swatch from the Visor panel over the
Blinn material swatch in the Hypershade and select color from the pop-up
menu. The material swatch updates in the Hypershade.

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Rendered result.
2 Repeat the process, but this time select bump map from the pop-up menu.

Notice the new bump3d placement icon and how the material swatch
updates in the Hypershade.

Rendered result.

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If you just want a bumpy surface and do not want to display color, simply
map the Crater texture to the bump map attribute. The following shows the
results.

Rendered result.

To break a connection:
1 Open the material’s Attribute Editor.
2 Place the cursor over the attribute name (such as Bump Mapping) and press
the right mouse button.
3 Select Break Connection from the pop-up menu.

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Texture-specific features

TEXTURE-SPECIFIC FEATURES
When you click the texture tab in the Create Render Node window, the
following features display at the top of the window:

With New Texture Placement

When toggled on, Maya automatically creates a texture placement node
when you create a texture render node. The default setting is on.

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Normal
Normal textures cover surfaces as if the surface were wrapped with paper.
For normal textures, Maya applies a texture map according to the geometry
characteristics—textures are placed onto polygons based on UV information
and placed onto NURBS surfaces based on parametrized information.
The following shows how the swatches display in the Hypershade panel.

As projection
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.
To create projection textures, Maya applies a texture map to the surface of a
three-dimensional object by projecting a 2D texture into 3D space—projects
the texture maps independently of the geometry characteristics. For textures
created with the As projection parameter turned on, you also need to
explicitly connect the texture to the bump so that the texture is visible in the
bump map.
The following shows how the swatches display in the Hypershade panel.

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As stencil
You use Stencil textures to create labels, (for example, to place on a flying
logo or shampoo bottle). Stencil textures typically use a file texture, though
you can also use 2D and 3D textures.
The stencil texture lets you place an image file or texture on a surface and
manipulate its placement and size to look like a label. You can use masking
techniques to hide unwanted parts of the image.
The following shows how the swatches display in the Hypershade panel.

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. See also Chapter 6,
“Painting textures” in Using Maya: Rendering for details and workflows.

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.

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See Using Maya: Essentials for information on how to set other paint options,
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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

Tips
• For increased performance, hide the surfaces you are not painting.
• See Chapter 6, “Painting textures” in Using Maya: Rendering for
details about using this tool.

Paint Textures Tool attributes

Maya provides the following attributes for the Paint Textures tool. All other
Artisan paint-related attributes are described in Using Maya: Essentials.

Color Value
To change the color, click the color band and choose a color from the Color
Chooser that displays. Drag the slider to increase or decrease the value. The
slider is also used to adjust the results of other attributes, such as BumpMap.

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Blend Mode
You can also choose from a variety of Blend Modes when painting, which
are subset of those available in popular packages such as Photoshop. These
blend modes alter the way the paint is applied to the texture.
Default Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This
is the default mode.
Lighten Looks at the color information in each attribute and selects
the base or blend color, whichever is lighter, as the result
color. Pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and
pixels lighter than the blend color do not change.
Darken Looks at the color information in each attribute and selects
the base or blend color, whichever is darker, as the result
color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and
pixels darker that the blend color do not change.
Multiply Looks at the color information in each attribute and
multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result
color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with
black produces black. Multiplying any color with white
leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a
color other than black or white, successive strokes with a
painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The
effect is similar to drawing on the surface with multiple
magic markers.
Screen Looks at each attribute’s color information and multiplies
the inverse of the blend and base colors. The result color is
always a lighter color. Screening with black leaves the
color unchanged. Screening with white produces white.
The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic
slides on top of each other.
Overlay Multiplies, or screens the colors, depending on the base
color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while
preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color.
The base color is not replaced but is mixed with the blend
color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original
color.

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Stamp Profiles
This section provides you with options to adjust the paint stamp and speed,
and control the paint spread.
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.
See the following example.

Default Stamp Spacing=1.0

Stamp Spacing set to 10.0

Stamp Spacing set to 0.5.

Slower feedback.

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.
See the following example.

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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.

File Texture
Maya provides you with a number of attributes you can paint onto your
objects.

Texture attribute availability

Select an attribute from the pull-down menu, then click the Assign Textures
button to paint the attribute onto the object.
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.

Paint Textures Tool buttons

There are three buttons at the bottom of the Tool Settings window.

Assign 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:

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Some surfaces have no file textures assigned.

Save 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.

Reload Textures
Click the Reload Textures button to retrieve any textures you saved (if you
clicked the Save Textures button).

Automatically saving painted textures

Under the Misc tab, 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.
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.

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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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2D textures are two-dimensional patterns that simulate various types of

surface materials by using either an image file (File texture) or a computer
graphic procedure.

Tips
The quickest way to assign textures to attributes: middle-mouse drag the
texture swatch from the Visor panel over the material swatch in the
Hypershade and choose an attribute from the pop-up menu that displays.
See Assigning textures to materials: overview for details.

In this chapter:
• See the following for information on common 2D texture attributes and a
texture placement workflow:

Common 2D texture attributes

Interactively placing 2D textures

• The following lists Maya’s 2D textures and attribute descriptions:

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Common 2D texture attributes

Bulge

Checker

Cloth

File

Fractal

Grid

Mountain

Movie

Ramp

Water

Where to look for more information

For general information on textures, see the following in Chapter 28,
“Introduction to Textures”:
• “Creating textures” on page 407
• “Assigning textures to materials: overview” on page 408
• “Texture-specific features” on page 414

COMMON 2D TEXTURE ATTRIBUTES

The following attributes are common to most 2D textures.

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Color Balance

The Color Balance attributes let you correct the color or intensity of a texture.
Default Color The default color of the texture. If you map a texture to a
material that does not cover the entire surface, the Default
Color will show through.
Color Gain A scaling factor applied to the outColor channel of the
texture. For example, you can color correct a texture that
appears too green by setting the Color Gain color to a
shade of blue.The default color is white (no effect).
Color Offset An offset factor applied to the outColor channel of the
texture. For example, you can brighten a texture that
appears too dark by setting the Color Offset color to a
shade of grey. The default color black (no effect).
Alpha Gain A scaling factor applied to the outAlpha channel of the
texture. Alpha Gain only has an effect if the texture is used
as a bump or displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 1 (no effect).
Alpha Offset An offset factor applied to the outAlpha channel of the
texture. For example, if the Alpha Gain value is -1 and the
Alpha Offset value is 1, the outAlpha channel is inverted.
Alpha Offset only has an effect if the texture is used as a
bump or displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0 (no effect).

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Alpha is
Luminance Is toggled on by default. This option makes the alpha
(mask) output of this node depend on the luminance of
the texture. This means that bright areas of the texture are
more opaque when compositing, and dark areas are more
transparent.

Note
You cannot use Alpha is Luminance for the Cloth, Ramp, or Stencil
textures.

Effects
The following Effects attributes are available for all 2D textures. See Invert
and Color Remap.

The following Effects attributes are available for the Checker, File, Fractal,
Grid, and Mountain 2D textures.

Filter
The Filter value controls the sharpness of the texture.
You use texture filtering as an anti-aliasing technique to refine file textures,
reduce flickering, or to achieve special effects. Often, filtering should be used
in conjunction with other attribute refinements, as discussed in other parts of
this chapter. Experiment liberally since there is a vast range of uses for
applying filters.

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Note
In most cases, you should test render a file texture when using filtering,
because you may not be able to see the results in the modeling views or in
attribute editor swatches.

Essentially, Filter attributes scale the size of the filter and you can specify the
amount of blur in the texture map. If a texture map image is too sharp, it
may reveal some aliasing (staircase) effects in the final rendered image.
By default, Filter is set to a value of 1.0 to help prevent such aliasing
effects.The default value is 1, but you can make this value as large or small
as you want.
In general, to sharpen an image or texture, decrease the Filter setting. For a
softer, more blurry image, increase the Filter setting. The slider control range
is 0.0 through 1.0, where 0.0 produces a sharper image with no blur, but may
result in undesirable aliasing of edges. Lower values are not accepted, but
higher values can be typed into the value field. The effect of Filter is related
directly to eye space. As the object moves further away from your eye, the
more the texture blurs.

Note
When bump mapping, it is usually best to set the Filter parameter to a low
value (under 0.1). As Filter is primarily used for anti-aliasing of textures,
distant or obliquely viewed surfaces are more blurred. This causes a bump
map to become smoother when further away. If smooth bumps are desired,
it is better to use a small amount of Filter Offset for a constant blur applied
to the texture.

If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try:
• Increasing the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming.

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• Using the Convert Solid to Texture feature to create a file texture. Then
increase the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You
can also try increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

Filter Offset
The Filter Offset value controls the texture blur in texture space, not eye
space. Filter Offset should be used when the effect of blurring is desired, as
opposed to the effect of anti-aliasing. A value of 1.00 completely blurs the
texture.
Using the Filter Offset attribute, Maya adds a constant value to the Filter
setting. The default value is 0. Increasing the value increases the texture blur.
For example, setting the Filter to 0 and the Filter Offset to 0.1 results in a
constant filtering for all the points shaded with that texture.

Note
A Filter and Filter Offset of 0.00 results in no blur effect. However, when
choosing the amount of blur to be used in a texture map, a small amount of
blur is good to reduce moiré and aliasing effects.

If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try:
• Increasing the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming.
• Using the Convert Solid to Texture feature to create a file texture. Then
increase the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You
can also try increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

Invert
Use Invert to reverse all texture colors (for instance, black becomes white,
white becomes black). For example, you can change a bump or displacement
map’s raised regions to depressions and vice versa by setting Invert on or
off. Invert is off by default.

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Common 2D texture attributes

The following shows what happens to a File texture when you select Invert.

Color Remap
Applies a color map to the texture and allows you to add or subtract colors
from a texture’s default settings. The U value of the Color Remap texture is
mapped to the original texture’s hue, and the V value is mapped to the
original texture’s intensity (the value defined by [R+G+B]/3). The Color
Remap attribute acts similar to the Shading Map material and uses the Hsv
To Rgb Color Utility.

Hypershade view of
completed Color remap
operation.

To remap a texture:
1 Press the Color Remap button. The texture colors change and a Remap
Ramp Attribute Editor displays.

Bulge texture After

assigned. Color Remap.

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2 Adjust the Ramp texture colors and attributes as desired. For example, the
green color is deleted from the Ramp and the colors have been adjusted.

3 In the Bulge texture’s Attribute Editor, adjust the colors and attributes as
necessary.

After Color remap and changes made in

Bulge texture’s Attribute Editor.

UV Coordinates

UV Coord These are the current UV coordinate values of the current

sample point.

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Bulge

BULGE

The Bulge texture represents a grid of white squares which fade to grey
toward their edges. Use the Bulge texture as a bump or displacement map to
create surface bulges, as a transparency map to simulate windows that are
dirty around the edges, or as a color map to simulate tiles.

Bulge Attributes
Uwidth, Vwidth The width of the texture squares in the U and V
parametric directions. The valid/slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.1.

CHECKER

The Checker texture represents a checkerboard pattern.

Checker Attributes
Color1, Color2 The two colors of the checkerboard squares.
Contrast The contrast between the two texture colors. The valid/
slider range is 0 (the two colors are averaged over the
entire texture) to 1. The default value is 1.

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Cloth

CLOTH

The Cloth texture simulates fabric or other woven materials.

Cloth Attributes
Note the following when adjusting the Cloth Attributes:
• Rendering will be faster if all three randomizing parameters (Randomness,
Width Spread, and Bright Spread) are set to 0.
• Very fine cloth textures may produce aliasing or moiré patterns, especially
when viewed from a distance. If this occurs, set the Randomness value to a
small non-zero value, or use Edit > Convert Solid Texture (from the
Multilister) to convert the cloth texture into an image file.
• If you apply the cloth texture as a bump or displacement, set the U Color
and V Color to white, and the Gap Color to black, and use the Color Balance
attributes (Alpha Gain and Alpha Offset) to control the intensity of the
bump/displacement effect. Decrease the bump node’s Bump Filter value to
provide greater definition in the bump/displacement effect. Generally, the
Alpha Gain and Bump Filter values should be very low (less than 0.1).
Gap Color The color of the area between the warp and weft threads.
The threads’ colors blend into the Gap Color at their
edges, so a lighter Gap Color tends to simulate a cloth
with softer, more translucent threads.
U Color, V
Color The colors of the warp (U direction) and weft (V direction)
threads of the cloth.
U Width, V
Width The width of the warp and weft threads. If the thread
width is 1, then the threads will fully touch with no gap
between them. If the thread width is 0, the thread will

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File

disappear. (You can randomize thread width by setting

the Width Spread attribute.) The valid/slider range is 0 to
1. The default value is 0.75.
U Wave, V
Wave Controls the waviness of the warp and weft threads to
create special weave effects such as herringbone. The
slider range is 0 to 0.5. The default value is 0.
Randomness Smears the texture randomly in the U and V directions.
Adjust the Randomness value to create natural-looking
cloth with irregular threads, or to prevent aliasing and
moiré patterns on very fine cloth textures. The valid range
is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.
Width Spread Randomizes the width of each thread along its length by
subtracting a random amount (between 0 and the Width
Spread value) from the U Width and V Width values. For
example, if the thread widths are 1 and the Width Spread
value is 0.75, the actual thread widths with vary between
0.25 and 1. If the Width Spread value is greater than or
equal to the Width value, then some threads will
disappear entirely at certain points along their length. The
valid/slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.
Bright Spread Randomizes the brightness of each thread along its length
by subtracting a random amount (between 0 and the
Bright Spread value) from U Color and V Color (similar to
Width Spread). The valid/slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.

FILE

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File

The File texture lets you use an image file as a 2D texture. You can create an
image file using a paint package (for example, StudioPaint, Maya Paint
Effects, or VizPaint2D), using a scanner to scan in a photograph, or by
rendering a scene.

File Attributes
Filter Type The anti-aliasing technique applied to the image file
during rendering. The higher order filters (Quadratic,
Quartic, and Gaussian) only work when the File texture is
mapped directly to a shading group. The default setting is
Mipmap.

Off No anti-aliasing. This is useful for game designers who want

to see pixels of a texture without any interpolation by the
renderer.

Mipmap Standard anti-aliasing (as in previous versions of Maya and

Power Animator). This is the default setting.

Box Higher quality anti-aliasing, but slower performance.

Quadratic Higher quality anti-aliasing, but slower performance.

Quartic Higher quality anti-aliasing, but slower performance. Use

only if Quadratic is inadequate (extremely rare).

Gaussian Higher quality anti-aliasing, but slower performance.

Mip Map
Stores values using a pyramidal technique starting with values being
averaged at a large texture map size, and linearly decreasing map sizes
down to a single pixel value. Very inexpensive to use because Maya uses
Mip Mapping as a technique for storing color values by default. The
performance cost associated with using the Mip Map filter type is negligible
compared to using other filter types.

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File

Tips
Square textures usually give the best image quality.
IFF and SGI image file formats are optimal for performance.

Use this filter for previewing, because it is fast and gives moderately high-
quality results. Textures may swim or appear blurry.

Quadratic/Quartic/Gaussian
Types of bell curves, in which the extreme values get much less weight than
values toward the center of the curve. By extreme, we mean points in the
texture near the far edge of the filter’s sample region, and the center of the
curve means the center of the region being filtered. Quadratic and Quartic
approximate the Gaussian filter type, but are optimized for speed.
Use for high-quality rendering, with very sharp results. The Quadratic is the
most efficient of these filter types.

Note
File textures using these filters will work only with straight 2D texture
mapping, not with 2D projection or bump maps.

Box
Places a box over the texture map, so each sample of the map is given the
same shading sample weight. The Box filter uses the sum of the values
sampled divided by the number of samples taken.

Note
File textures using the Box filter will work only with straight 2D texture
mapping, not with 2D projection or bump maps.

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File

Image Name The name of the image file or movie file used by the File
texture.

Use Maximum
Res Mip Maps store multiple resolutions of the texture map.
The highest-res version (the full resolution at which the
file texture was generated) is used when the object is close
and viewed straight-on, and the lower-res versions when
the object is far away or viewed obliquely. When you turn
on Use Maximum Res, you’re telling the renderer to pay
the price of using the highest-res (the full resolution) level
in the Mip Map, even when the textured object might not
normally need it. You’ll get more detail, but the image
might be more aliased, and might take longer to render.
Use Cache When Use Cache is off, Maya loads the entire image file
into memory during rendering. When Use Cache is on,
Maya only loads 8x8 tiles of the image file into memory
when they are needed, and unloads them from memory
when they are no longer needed. This reduces the amount
of memory needed for image file textures, and can make
rendering image file textures much faster.

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File

Using the makebot command

For Maya to efficiently read an image file into memory as tiles, the image
must be a block ordered texture (BOT) file.
If Use Cache is on, and the image file is not a BOT file, Maya creates a
temporary BOT file for that image file during rendering. This can make
rendering image file textures slower (and can increase the amount of disk
space used during rendering), so it is usually better to convert all image file
textures to BOT files before rendering, using the makebot MEL command.
If the file texture references a BOT file, Maya loads 8x8 tiles of the image file
into memory as they are needed, and unloads them from memory when
they are no longer needed (even if Use Cache is off).
Click Library Search under the Library Tools heading on the main online
documentation Library page and type makebot to select the MEL command
online documentation.
Use Frame
Extension Appends the frame extension number (Frame Extension)
to the Image file name. To use a sequence of image files to
create an animation, set Use Frame Extension on and then
animate the Frame Extension value. Use Frame Extension
is off by default.
Frame
Extension The frame extension number that will be appended to the
Image file name. To use a sequence of image files to create
an animation, set Use Frame Extension on and then
animate the Frame Extension value. If Use Frame
Extension is off, Frame Extension is dimmed.

Hardware Texture Cycling Options

This attribute is only available for file textures.

Use the Hardware Texture Cycling Options for caching file textures used in
an animation of textures, to make the animation play at regular speed.

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File

When you play the animation in Maya, with only Hardware Texturing
turned on, each of the necessary file textures will be read one at a time, and
the animation speed will be choppy. When you turn on Use Hardware
Texture Cycling Options, the file textures you specify within the range of the
Start Cycle Extension and End Cycle Extension (taking into account the By
Cycle Increment) are loaded into memory once so that the interactive
animation of the file textures will be faster.
Use Hardware
Texture Cycling Turn this on to get better performance when:
• You are using a sequence of frames for the file textures. (See Use Frame
Extension above).
• You are using Hardware texturing in the 3d view
• You need to scrub along the time line, and see the animated texture update
as you do so.
When Use Hardware Texture Cycling is turned on, you are forcing Maya to
load all (or a subset of) the texture file sequence into memory. This uses up
memory, but significantly improves the update speed. Use the attributes
below to indicate which frames you want loaded in. If you don’t load them
all in, at playback time Maya will use the closest frame available.
The Hardware Texture Cycling attributes have no effect on the look of your
final rendered image. They are only used to speed up what you see
interactively.
Start Cycle
Extension The number of the first frame you want loaded into
memory when Use Hardware Texture Cycling is turned
on.
End Cycle
Extension The number of the last frame you want loaded into
memory when Use Hardware Texture Cycling is turned
on.
By Cycle
Extension Controls which frames will be loaded into memory when
Use Hardware Texture Cycling is turned on. If it is 1, then
every frame between Start Cycle Extension and End Cycle
Extension will be loaded in. If this is 2, every second frame
will be loaded in. If this is 3, every third frame, etc.

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Fractal

During playback or scrubbing, the system will use

whichever loaded frame is the closest to what is needed.

FRACTAL

Bump mapped fractal.

The Fractal texture represents a random function with a particular frequency

distribution (a fractal) and can be used to create many different types of
effects. Use the Fractal texture as a bump or displacement map to simulate
rock or mountains, or as a transparency map to simulate clouds or flames.
The Fractal texture has the same level of roughness at different levels of
magnification (that is, at different distances from the camera).

Fractal Attributes
Amplitude A scaling factor applied to all values in the texture about
the texture’s average value. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Threshold An offset factor applied to all values in the texture. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default
value is 0.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal pattern. The valid/
slider range is 0 (low frequency) to 1 (high frequency). The
default value is 0.707.
Level Min, Level
Max The minimum and maximum number of iterations used to
calculate the fractal pattern. These parameters control how
fine grained the fractal pattern is. The valid range is 0 to
100. The slider range is 0 to 25. The default value is 0 for
Level Min and 9 for Level Max.

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Grid

Animated Allows you to animate the fractal pattern by setting

Animated on and animating the Time value. The Fractal
texture will take longer to calculate when Animated is on.
Animated is off by default.
Time Allows you to animate the fractal pattern by setting
Animated on and animating the Time value. If Animated
is off, the Time attribute is dimmed. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default setting is 0.

GRID

The Grid texture represents a scalar grid pattern.

Grid Attributes
Line Color The color of the grid lines. The default color is white.
Filler Color The color of the spaces between the grid lines. The default
color is black.
U Width, V
Width The width of the grid lines in the U and V parametric
directions. The valid range is 0 to 1. The slider range is 0 to
0.5. The default value is 0.1.
Contrast The contrast between the Line Color and the Filler Color.
The valid/slider range is 0 (the two colors are averaged
over the entire texture) to 1. The default value is 1.

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Mountain

MOUNTAIN

Bump mapped mountain.

The Mountain texture simulates rocky terrain using a two-dimensional

fractal pattern. Use the Mountain texture as both a color map and a bump or
displacement map (on a flat surface) to simulate snow capped mountains.

Mountain Attributes
Use the Mountain texture as both a color map and a bump or displacement
map (on a flat surface) to simulate snow capped mountains.
If you do apply the Mountain texture as both a color map and a bump or
displacement map, note the following:
• The texture calculates the color map based on the bump/displacement map,
so, for example, the location of snow is based on the surface’s displacement.
• The color attributes (Snow Color and Rock Color) of the Mountain texture
relate only to the color map, and have no effect on the bump/displacement
map. Similarly, all non-color attributes of the Mountain texture relate only to
the bump/displacement map, and have no effect on the color map.
• The values of the Boundary, Snow Altitude, Snow Dropoff, Snow Slope, and
Depth Max attributes of the bump/displacement map will override those of
the color map. For example, the Boundary value of the bump/displacement
map will control the raggedness of the snow/rock boundary of the color
map.
Snow Color The color of the snow element of the texture.
Rock Color The color of the rock element of the texture.
Amplitude A scaling factor applied to all values in the texture about
the texture’s average value. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.

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Movie

Snow
Roughness The roughness of the snow element of the texture. The
valid/slider range is 0 (perfectly smooth snow) to 1
(extremely rough snow). The default value is 0.4.
Rock
Roughness The roughness of the rock element of the texture. The
valid/slider range is 0 (perfectly smooth rock) to 1
(extremely rough rock). The default value is 0.707.
Boundary The raggedness of the rock/snow boundary. The valid/
slider range is 0 (perfectly smooth rock/snow boundary)
to 1 (extremely rough rock/snow boundary). The default
value is 1.
Snow Altitude The level (altitude) of the transition between rock and
snow. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1.
The default value is 0.5.
Snow Dropoff The suddenness with which snow no longer sticks to the
mountain. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default value is 2.
Snow Slope The maximum angle (expressed as a decimal value) over
which snow will not stick to the mountain. For example,
where the slope exceeds the Snow Slope value, it would be
bare rock. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to
3. The default value is 0.8.
Depth Max The maximum number of iterations used to calculate the
fractal pattern, which controls how fine grained the fractal
pattern is. The valid/slider range is 0 to 40. The default
value is 20.

MOVIE
The movie material is a file node that:
• assumes that all of a multiple frame sequence is stored in a single multiple
frame file (a movie file) instead of a sequence of individual image files.
• is optimized for reading and displaying those frames interactively as quickly
as possible.

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Movie

Movie Texture attributes

The file node attributes let you animate the texture. These attributes are:
• File Texture Name
• Use Frame Extension
• Frame Extension.
If Use Frame Extension is on, the file node constructs the name of the actual
image file to use from the File Texture Name and the Frame Extension.
The movie node has the exact same attributes and uses them the exact same
way. The only difference is that the movie texture node assumes that all the
frames are stored in the single file named by File Texture Name instead of
separate files.
If Use Frame Extension is on, Frame Extension will be the number of the
frame to load from the movie file.
If Frame Extension specifies a frame before the beginning or after the end of
the movie, the first or last frame will be displayed.
For performance reasons, if any image filter type is specified, it is treated as
if it were a box filter.
This node is intended to allow you to put higher performance but perhaps
lower quality animated images into your scenes. For example, you could
take a movie file and use it as the texture on the face of a television. The
image on the TV should update relatively quickly as frames change.
On the other hand, if you need good quality filtered textures for a final
render, you may want to use a file texture node and a lot of images on disk.

Note
The first time you access a frame from an MPEG file, it may take a while to
load. The movie library has to scan to the end of an MPEG file to see how
many frames are in it as this information is not available in the movie
header.

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Ramp

RAMP

The Ramp texture represents a gradation through a series of colors. The

ramp texture can be used to create many different types of effects (stripes,
geometric patterns, mottled surfaces). Use a ramp texture as a two-
dimensional background, or as the source file for an environmental sphere
texture to simulate a sky and horizon, or as the source file for a projection
texture to simulate wood grain, marble, or rock. The default ramp texture is
blue/green/red.

Note
Very complex ramp textures may experience aliasing during an animation.
If this occurs, convert the ramp texture into an image file (see Convert to
File Texture).

Ramp Attributes
Type Controls the direction of the color ramp. The default
setting is V Ramp.
The following shows what happens when you select the
Circular Type and adjust the colors of the Ramp swatch in
the Attribute Editor (see also Ramp next).

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Ramp

Interpolation Controls the way colors in the ramp are blended. The
default setting is Linear.
For example, because the surface in the above example is
spherical, a Smooth Interpolation type works well.
Ramp Each color component in the ramp has a circular color
handle on the left side of the ramp, and a square color icon
on the right side of the ramp. The active color has a white
border around its color handle and icon. The Selected
Position and Selected Color attributes apply to the active
color only. To edit a color component’s Selected Position
value or Selected Color, you must first click its color
handle to make it the active color component.
Only changes in Type, Interpolation, Selected Position,
and Selected Color are actually displayed in the ramp.
Changes in all attributes are displayed in the Hypershade
or Multilister swatch.

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Ramp

Click the handle to edit

the color component.
Click to delete
Click-drag the handle to the color component.
move the color
component.
Click in the ramp to add a
new color component or
click-drag to add and
interactively position a
new color component.

Selected Color The color of the active color component.

Selected
Position The position of the active color component in the ramp.
The valid/slider range is 0 (bottom of ramp) to 1 (top of
ramp).
U Wave, V
Wave Controls the amplitude of a sine wave offset of the texture
in the U and V directions. Increasing the U Wave or V
Wave value makes the texture appear increasingly wavy.
The slider range is 0 (no wave) to 1. The default value is 0.

Tip
To increase the number of waves in the texture, increase the Repeat UV
values in the 2d texture placement node.

Noise The amount that the texture is offset in the U and V

directions by two-dimensional noise. If the texture repeats
(the Repeat UV values are greater than 1), the noise will
not repeat. That is, each instance of the texture will be
unique. The slider range is 0 (no noise) to 1. The default
value is 0.
Noise Freq Controls how fine-grained the noise is (if the Noise value
is non-zero). The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is
0.5.

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Water

HSV Color Noise

The HSV Color Noise attributes randomize a Ramp texture’s color using
three separate two-dimensional noises which affect the color’s hue,
saturation, and value.
Hue Noise Offsets the color hue (mottles the color). The slider range
is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.
Sat Noise Offsets the color saturation or “whiteness” (creates a
weathered look). The slider range is 0 to 1. The default
value is 0.
Val Noise Offsets the color value or “blackness.” The slider range is
0 to 1. The default value is 0.
Hue Noise Freq,
Sat Noise Freq,
Val Noise Freq Control the graininess of hue, saturation, and value noise.
For each non-zero Freq value, additional calculations are
involved that slow down rendering. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default value is 0.5.

WATER

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Water

The Water texture simulates linear water waves, concentric water ripples
(for example, caused by an object falling into water), or a combination of
waves and ripples. Use the Water texture as a bump or displacement map to
simulate water, or as a color map to simulate light reflections or refractions
from a water surface.

Water Attributes
Number Of
Waves The number of linear waves in the texture. To create water
ripples with no linear waves, set the Number Of Waves
value to 0. To combine linear waves with concentric
ripples, set the Number Of Waves value to a low number
(1 to 3). The valid range is 0 to 100. The slider range is 0 to
32. The default value is 8.
Wave Time Controls the appearance of the waves over time. If you
relate the wave effect to the wake from a boat, the waves
start off at some point with a certain velocity and
amplitude. This is time zero. As time increases, the waves
travel to shore and their appearance changes (their
velocity and amplitude decrease). The slider range is 0 to
1. The default value is 0.
To simulate moving water waves, animate the Wave Time
value. The waves will move as this value increases. The
actual speed of the waves is determined by the Wave
Velocity value and the rate at which you animate the
Wave Time value.
Wave Velocity The speed of the waves. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Wave
Amplitude Scales the height of the waves. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.05.
Fast Fast is an optimization in the Water texture. When it is
turned on, the color tables are computed once per frame.
When it is off, the color tables are computed for every
sample.
The only time you might turn this off is if the water will
be seen very close up in the final scene.

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Water

Wave
Frequency Controls the distance between primary waves. The higher
the Wave Frequency value, the shorter the distance. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 20. The
default value is 4.
Sub Wave
Frequency Controls the distance between any secondary waves that
ride on top of the primary waves (for example, white
caps). The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1.
The default value is 0.125.
Smoothness Controls the intensity of any secondary waves. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 5. The default value
is 2.
Wind UV The strength of wind in the U and V directions (which
determines the overall direction of the linear wave
pattern). The range is from -1 to 1. The default value for U
is 1. The default value for V is 0.

Concentric Ripple Attributes

The Concentric Ripple Attributes control the appearance of concentric water
ripples in a Water texture. The Concentric Ripple Parameters do not affect
the linear wave component of the texture. See “Water” on page 449.
Ripple Time Controls the appearance of ripples over time. For example,
if you relate the ripple effect to that of a water droplet
falling into a glass of still water, at time 0 there is no
ripple; the droplet has not touched the surface of the water
yet. As the time parameter increases to a value greater
than 0, the droplet has fallen onto the water surface and
the ripple wave effect simulates the effect on the water in
the glass at that point in time. When time has reached a
value of 1, the effect of the droplet on the water surface is
nearly complete and the water in the glass becomes still
again.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.

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Water

To simulate moving water ripples, animate the Ripple

Time value. The ripples will move as this value increases.
The actual speed of the ripples is determined by the
Group Velocity value and the rate at which you animate
the Ripple Time value.
Ripple
Frequency Controls the distance between individual ripples. The
higher the Ripple Frequency value, the shorter the
distance. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to
20. The default value is 25.
Ripple
Amplitude Scales the height of the ripples. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.05.
Drop Size The mass of the droplet that starts the water ripples.
(Imagine a water droplet falling into a glass of still water.)
A Drop Size value of 0, produces no ripple effect because
the droplet has no mass. As the Drop Size value increases,
the mass of the drop increases, causing a greater ripple
effect on the water surface. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.3.
Ripple Origin The location of the center of the ripples along the U and V
parametric directions. The range is from 0 to 1. The default
value is 0.5.
Group Velocity The speed of the primary ripple. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 1.
Phase Velocity The speed of sub-ripples. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 2.5.
Spread Start Determines the degree of effect that a droplet will have on
a still water surface at time 0. A concentric ripple starts as
a point of disturbance in parameter space (defined by the
Ripple Origin values) when the Ripple Time value is 0.
The size of the disturbance at time 0 is determined by the
Spread Start value. The greater the Spread Start value, the
greater the effect of the disturbance at time 0. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value
is 0.005.

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Spread Rate The rate at which the primary ripple breaks up into sub-
ripples. (As a ripple expands outward, it breaks up into
sub-ripples.) The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is
0 to 1. The default value is 0.3.
Reflection Box Activates an imaginary reflective bounding box that
ripples can reflect off. This effect, however, is nine times
slower than if there is no reflecting bounding box.
Reflection Box is off by default.
Box Min, Box
Max Defines the bounding box in the U and V parametric
directions. If Reflection Box. is off, these parameters have
no effect. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value for
Box Min is 0; the default value for Box Max is 1.

INTERACTIVELY PLACING 2D TEXTURES

Maya’s Shading > NURBS Texture Placement Tool provides you with a 2D
texture placement manipulator for the selected surface. See 2D texture Label
Mapping and Surface Placement for details.

Note
This tool only works on 2D textures. See Interactively placing 3D textures
to find out how to place 3D textures on surfaces.

When you assign a 2D texture to a surface, its 2D texture placement icon

displays in Hypershade. By selecting this icon and dragging the manipulator
handles with the middle mouse button, you can interactively position a
texture on the surface.

To place a 2D texture on a NURBS surface:

You can place 2D textures in one of two ways:
• Change the attribute settings in the place2dTexture’s Attribute Editor.

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• Click the Interactive Placement button in the place2dTexture’s Attribute

Editor and middle-mouse drag the manipulator handles to adjust texture
placement.
1 To access the 2D texture placement attributes:
• In the 2d texture’s Attribute Editor, click the place2dTexture tab to display
the attributes.
• In Hypershade, click the place2dtexture swatch. If you cannot see the
place2dtexture swatch, select the texture swatch, then press the Show
Upstream Connection button at the top-right of the Hypershade’s menu bar.

2 Either change the 2d texture Placement Attributes, or click the Interactive

Placement button if you want to use the manipulator handles to place the
texture. The 2D placement manipulator displays on the surface.

Tip
It may be difficult to place a 2D texture using only the manipulator. Use
both the manipulator and the Attribute Editor to get the desired result.

3 Use the middle mouse button to drag the manipulator handles in U or V

(indicated on the manipulator) to place the texture.

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Drag these
handles to
move the
texture around
on the surface.

This shows one

possible result.

See also 2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement and Interactive
Placement.

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30 3D TEXTURES

3D textures are three-dimensional patterns that simulate solid materials (for

example, wood or marble) using a computer graphic procedure. When you
map a 3D texture to a surface, the surface will appear to be carved out of
that material.
In this chapter:
• See the following for information on common 3D texture attributes and a
texture placement workflow:

Common 3D texture attributes

Interactively placing 3D textures

• The following lists Maya’s 3D textures and attribute descriptions:

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Brownian

Cloud

Crater

Granite

Leather

Marble

Rock

Snow

Solid Fractal

Stucco

Wood

Brownian

Where to look for more information

For general information on textures, see the following in Chapter 28,
“Introduction to Textures”:
• Creating textures
• Assigning textures to materials: overview
• Texture-specific features

Tip
The quickest way to assign textures to attributes: middle-mouse drag the
texture swatch from Visor over the material swatch in Hypershade and
choose an attribute from the pop-up menu that displays. See Assigning
textures to materials: overview for details.

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COMMON 3D TEXTURE ATTRIBUTES

The following attributes are common to most 3D textures.

Color Balance
The Color Balance attributes let you adjust the color or intensity of a texture.

Default Color The default color of the texture. If you map a texture to a
material that does not cover the entire surface, the Default
Color will show through.
Color Gain A scaling factor applied to the outColor channel of the
texture. For example, you can color correct a texture that
appears too green by setting the Color Gain color to a
shade of blue.The default color is white (no effect).
Color Offset An offset factor applied to the outColor channel of the
texture. For example, you can brighten a texture that
appears too dark by setting the Color Offset color to a
shade of grey. The default color black (no effect).
Alpha Gain A scaling factor applied to the outAlpha channel of the
texture. Alpha Gain only has an effect if the texture is used
as a bump or displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 1 (no effect).
Alpha Offset An offset factor applied to the outAlpha channel of the
texture. For example, if the Alpha Gain value is -1 and the
Alpha Offset value is 1, the outAlpha channel is inverted.
Alpha Offset only has an effect if the texture is used as a
bump or displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0 (no effect).

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Alpha is
Luminance Makes the alpha (mask) output of this node depend on the
luminance of the texture. This means that bright areas of
the texture are more opaque when compositing, and dark
areas are more transparent. This option is on by default.

Effects
The following Effects attributes are available for 3D textures.

Filter
The Filter value controls the sharpness of the texture.
You use texture filtering as an anti-aliasing technique to refine file textures,
reduce flickering, or to achieve special effects. Often, filtering should be used
in conjunction with other attribute refinements, as discussed in other parts of
this chapter. Experiment liberally since there is a vast range of uses for
applying filters.

Note
In most cases, you should test render a file texture when using filtering,
because you may not be able to see the results in the modeling views or in
attribute editor swatches.

Essentially, Filter attributes scale the size of the filter and you can specify the
amount of blur in the texture map. If a texture map image is too sharp, it
may reveal some aliasing (staircase) effects in the final rendered image.
By default, Filter is set to a value of 1.0 to help prevent such aliasing
effects.The default value is 1, but you can make this value as large or small
as you want.

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In general, to sharpen an image or texture, decrease the Filter setting. For a

softer, more blurry image, increase the Filter setting. The slider control range
is 0.0 through 1.0, where 0.0 produces a sharper image with no blur, but may
result in undesirable aliasing of edges. Lower values are not accepted, but
higher values can be typed into the value field. The effect of Filter is related
directly to eye space. As the object moves further away from your eye, the
more the texture blurs.

Note
When bump mapping, it is usually best to set the Filter parameter to a low
value (under 0.1). As Filter is primarily used for anti-aliasing of textures,
distant or obliquely viewed surfaces are more blurred. This causes a bump
map to become smoother when further away. If smooth bumps are desired,
it is better to use a small amount of Filter Offset for a constant blur applied
to the texture.

If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try:
• Increasing the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming.
• Using the Convert Solid to Texture feature to create a file texture. Then
increase the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You
can also try increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

Filter Offset
The Filter Offset value controls the texture blur in texture space, not eye
space. Filter Offset should be used when the effect of blurring is desired, as
opposed to the effect of anti-aliasing. A value of 1.00 completely blurs the
texture.
Using the Filter Offset attribute, Maya adds a constant value to the Filter
setting. The default value is 0. Increasing the value increases the texture blur.
For example, setting the Filter to 0 and the Filter Offset to 0.1 results in a
constant filtering for all the points shaded with that texture.

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Note
A Filter and Filter Offset of 0.00 results in no blur effect. However, when
choosing the amount of blur to be used in a texture map, a small amount of
blur is good to reduce moiré and aliasing effects.

If a procedural texture is very noisy and appears to shift and swim during
an animation, try:
• Increasing the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming.
• Using the Convert Solid to Texture feature to create a file texture. Then
increase the Filter and/or Filter Offset values, to try to achieve a slightly
blurred effect and to reduce the sharpness that causes the swimming. You
can also try increasing the Shading Samples as a last resort.

Invert
Use Invert to reverse all texture colors (for instance, black becomes white,
white becomes black). For example, you can change a bump or displacement
map’s raised regions to depressions and vice versa by setting Invert on or
off. Invert is off by default.
The following shows what happens to a bump mapped texture when you
toggle Invert on.

Local and Wrapped

These two attributes work in tandem.
By default, Wrap is turned on. Wrap maps the texture completely over the
object (or globally).

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Wrap controls how objects are textured outside of the texture placement
cube. If turned off, everything outside of the cube uses the default color.
For example, in the following, Local is on and Wrap is off. If you move
(translate) the texture placement box from the default origin position of 0, 0,
0 to make X equal 1, and leave Y and Z at zero (1, 0, 0), the texture wraps the
objects accordingly.

Move texture placement box by 1 in X. Tumbled view from the back.

Tip:
Change the Translate X
value in the Channel Box.

Hypershade swatches.

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Tip
Some textures, such as the Reverse utility, repeat themselves to achieve
this. Others, such as Marble, extend outwards without repeating.

If you want to adjust the texture placement on all objects at one time, turn
Local on, transform the texture placement icon, then turn Local off again to
see the results.

Rendered result.

Turning on Local also means that you do not have to parent the placement
to the object to make the 3D texture follow it during an animation. If you
transform any of these objects, the 3D texture transforms accordingly.

The sphere was scaled.

Notice how the texture
placement stays intact.

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Blend
The Blend value controls how much of the texture’s Default Color is mixed in
to the texture Color. A value of 0 means that the Default Color does not
affect the texture Color. As you increase the Blend value, more and more of
the Default Color mixes in. This attribute does not work unless Wrap is turned off
and Local is turned on. See also Blend Color Attributes.

To blend colors and textures using the Blend slider:

1 Change the Default Color (in the Color Balance section of the texture’s
Attribute Editor), or map another texture to the Default Color.
2 Make sure Invert and Wrap are off and toggle Local on in the Effects section
of the Attribute Editor.

3 Drag the slider to change the Blend value. In the following, the Default Color
is changed.

You can use the place3dTexture manipulator to interactively adjust the

blend if desired.
The following shows a Marble texture mapped to the Default Color and the
place3dTexture manipulator was used to re-position the Marble texture.

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Color Remap
Applies a color map to the texture and allows you to add or subtract colors
from a texture’s default settings. The U value of the Color Remap texture is
mapped to the original texture’s hue, and the V value is mapped to the
original texture’s intensity (the value defined by [R+G+B]/3). The Color
Remap attribute acts similar to the Shading Map material and uses the Hsv
To Rgb Color Utility.

Hypershade view of
completed Color remap
operation.

To remap a texture:
1 Press the Color Remap button. The texture colors change and a Remap
Ramp Attribute Editor displays.

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Crater texture After

assigned. Color Remap.

2 Adjust the Ramp texture colors and attributes as desired. For example, in the
following, the blue color in a Crater texture has been replaced.

3 In the Crater texture’s Attribute Editor, adjust the colors and attributes as
necessary.

After Color remap and changes made in

Crater texture’s Attribute Editor.

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Brownian

BROWNIAN

You can use the Brownian texture to create the look of a thickly painted
metal. This effect results from connecting a Brownian texture to a bump
node, which in turn is connected to the material node. See To assign a
texture to more than one attribute: for details.

Brownian Attributes
Lacunarity Defines the gap between the various frequencies (Octaves)
you add to form your texture. Normally, noise-based
textures have Lacunarity set to 2.0, but this parameter lets
you adjust the value to create interesting effects.
Increment Determines the ratio for the fractal noise. This value
results in a crispier texture when close to zero, and a
smoother texture when close to 1.
Octaves Sets the upper limit for the iteration of the fractal
algorithm. See also Depth.
Weight3d Determines how wavy the image will be when projected,
by controlling the scale of the fundamental frequency of
any fractal used in the procedure.

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Cloud

CLOUD

The Cloud texture simulates clouds, but can also be used to create steam,
smoke, or fire effects.
Note the following when using the Cloud texture:
• You should only map the Cloud texture to a sphere. The sphere can be
transformed in any way (for example, non-proportionally scaled), as long as
the actual base component is a sphere. You can combine several spheres to
create complex cloud arrangements. If you map the Cloud texture to any
other type of surface, the results may be unpredictable.
• The area surrounding the cloud is always transparent, regardless of the type
of mapping used.
• You can also create smoke and fire effects using lights with fog and 2D
noise, or with particles.

Cloud Attributes
Color1, Color2 The two colors that are blended together to form the
cloud.
Contrast The contrast between Color1 and Color2. For example, if
the Contrast value is -1, Color1 and Color2 are reversed.
The range is from - ∞ (the two colors are averaged over
the entire texture) to + ∞. The default value is 0.5.
Amplitude Controls the strength of the fractal noise used to generate
the Cloud texture. The valid range is 0 (no noise) to + ∞
(strong noise). The default value is 1.
Depth The minimum and maximum number of iterations used to
calculate the texture pattern. This parameter controls how
fine grained the texture is. The range is 0 to + ∞. The
default values are 0 and 8.

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Crater

Ripples Determines how wavy the texture is in the X, Y, and Z

directions. These parameters represent the scale of the
fundamental frequency of the fractal used to generate the
texture. The range is from 0 to + ∞ on X, Y and Z. The
default value is 1.
Soft Edges Gradually increases the transparency of the texture as the
surface it is mapped to turns away from the camera. This
simulates natural looking clouds. If Soft Edges is off, the
texture is entirely opaque, and appears similar to the
Fractal texture. Soft Edges is on by default.
Edge Thresh,
Center Thresh Determines how diffuse or concentrated the edge rolloff
is. If the Center Thresh value is low and the Edge Thresh
value is high, the texture will resemble a dense cotton-ball.
If the Center Thresh value is high and the Edge Thresh
value is low, the texture will resemble a wispy cloud. The
range is from - ∞ to + ∞. The default value is 0 for Center
Thresh and 1 for Edge Thresh.
Transp Range The range over which the texture becomes transparent.
The Transp Range value controls the sharpness/softness
of the edges of the cloud. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 (sharp edges) to 1 (very soft edges). The
default value is 0.5.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal noise used to
generate the Cloud texture. The range is 0 (low frequency)
to + ∞ (high frequency). The default value is 0.707.

CRATER

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Crater

Creates the appearance of both plateaus and craters by mixing a normal

perturbation and a 3D attribute perturbation such as color or transparency.
The Crater texture node gives out a three component attribute (Out Color
RGB) and a Normal output (Out Normal X, Y, and Z).
The Crater node includes the Normal Options attributes that you can use to
control the crater effect.

Crater Attributes
Shaker Controls how perturbed the texture is. Increase Shaker to
make the texture more detailed, as though it has been
shaken up. If the crater node is being used as a bump map,
increase Shaker to increase the number of craters and
valleys.
Channel1 The first of three channels through which information
such as color values passes. You can also supply
information to Channel1 by using a three-channel (RGB)
mapping.
Channel2 The second of three channels through which information
such as color values passes. You can also supply
information to Channel2 by using a three-channel (RGB)
mapping.
Channel3 The third of three channels through which information
such as color values passes. You can also supply
information to Channel3 by using a three-channel (RGB)
mapping.
Melt Controls the softness of the edges between the colors in
the texture. Increase Melt to make the borders between the
colors smoother and wider.
Balance Controls the ratio of the three shaken (or perturbed)
colors.
Frequency Controls the frequency of how many times the texture
colors are shaken (or perturbed).

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Normal Options (Crater)

Norm Depth Controls how deep the craters will be when this texture is
used as a bump map. Increase Norm Depth to make the
craters deeper.
Norm Depth only has an effect if the Out Normal attribute
of this node is connected to the Normal Camera attribute
of a shader.
Norm Melt Controls the softness of the crater edges when this texture
is used as a bump map. Increase Norm Melt to make the
edges softer. Animate this texture to make the cratered
surface look like it is melting.
Norm Melt only has an effect if the Out Normal attribute
of this node is connected to the Normal Camera attribute
of a shader.
Norm Balance Controls the ratio between the low and high normals’
pertrubance, when this texture is used as a bump map.
Norm Balance only has an effect if the Out Normal
attribute of this node is connected to the Normal Camera
attribute of a shader.
Norm
Frequency Norm Frequency controls the amount of rough detail
when this texture is used as a bump map. Increase Norm
Frequency to make the texture rougher, with finer detail.
Decrease it to make the roughness larger-grained.
Norm Frequency only has an effect if the Out Normal
attribute of this node is connected to the Normal Camera
attribute of a shader.

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Granite

GRANITE

The Granite texture simulates granite using a random, three dimensional

array of three different types of spheres suspended in a medium. The
Granite texture is essentially the same as the Leather texture, except that
there are three cell colors instead of one.

Tip
The Granite texture can take a long time to render. To save time when
rendering, convert the granite texture into an image file (see Convert to File
Texture).

Granite Attributes
Color1, Color2,
Color3, Filler
Color The color of the three different types of cells (Color1,
Color2, Color3) and the medium surrounding the cells
(Filler Color).
Cell Size The size of individual cells. The Cell Size value effectively
scales the entire texture. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.15.
Density Controls the spacing of cells in the texture. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1 (fully packed).
The default value is 1.
Mix Ratio Determines which of the three colors is the dominant
color. The valid/slider range is 0 (Color1 is dominant) to 1
(Color3 is dominant). The default value is 0.5 (Color2 is
dominant).

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Leather

Spottyness Randomizes the cell color intensity. (The Threshold value

also influences the cell color intensity.) The valid range is
0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (all cells have the same
intensity) to 1 (cell intensity is entirely random). The
default value is 0.3.
Randomness Randomizes the cell position. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 (cells are arranged in a regular 3D
lattice) to 1 (cell location is entirely random). The default
value is 1.
Threshold Controls how much cell colors and filler color mix into
each other. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0
to 1 (no mixing, cells appear as solid color dots). The
default value is 0.5.
Creases Creates boundaries between individual cells. If Creases is
off, the cells diffuse uniformly into each other. Creases is
on by default.

LEATHER

The Leather texture simulates leather, but can also be used to simulate other
materials, including alligator skin, styrofoam, or concrete, particularly when
used as a bump map. Simply adjust the leather attributes such as color and
cell size to produce different skin and surface textures. If you apply the
texture to the material’s bump map, adjust the bump map attributes.
For example, concrete can be created by applying a bump map to the
material and adjusting the leather’s color and cell size as well as the Bump
Depth attribute of the bump map.

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Leather

In this next example, the Creases attribute was turned off and attributes such
as the color and cell size were adjusted to create an alligator skin-type
texture. The 3D Placement object was also used to adjust the texture on the
surface.

In this next example, a styrofoam-like texture was created by simply

changing the cell and crease colors and cell size.

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Leather

For many situations, an image file of real leather will produce a good leather
simulation. However, it is often impossible to map a file texture to a surface
without distortions and discontinuity. Chord Length or Worldspace texture
mapping may eliminate distortions, but they require some effort and do not
always work. In these cases, use the Leather texture.
The Leather texture uses a three-dimensional array of spheres to simulate
two-dimensional leather. This is unlike real leather because real leather is a
surface, not a solid. However, the Leather texture usually produces very
realistic results. One exception is if the surface is deformed during an
animation, because the surface will appear to move through the solid
texture. In this case, convert the texture into an image file (see Convert to
File Texture).

Leather Attributes
Cell Color,
Crease Color The color of individual cells (Cell Color) and the medium
surrounding the cells (Crease Color).
Cell Size The size of individual cells. The Cell Size value effectively
scales the entire texture. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.5.
Density Controls the spacing of cells in the texture. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1 (fully packed).
The default value is 1.
Spottyness Randomizes the Cell Color intensity. (The Threshold value
also influences the Cell Color intensity.) The valid range is
0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (all cells have the same
intensity) to 1 (cell intensity is entirely random). The
default value is 0.1.
Randomness Randomizes cell position. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 (cells are arranged in a regular 3D lattice)
to 1 (cell location is entirely random). The default value is
0.5.
Threshold Controls how much the Cell Color and Crease Color mix
into each other. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range
is 0 to 1 (no mixing, cells appear as solid color dots). The
default value is 0.83.

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Marble

Creases Creates boundaries between cells that resemble the creases

in leather. If Creases is off, the cells diffuse uniformly into
each other. Creases is on by default.

MARBLE

The Marble texture simulates marble: a vein material sandwiched between

layers of filler material, where the vein material diffuses into the filler
material.

Marble Attributes
Filler Color, Vein
Color The color of the filler material and the vein material.
Vein Width The thickness or width of the veins. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default value is 0.1.
Diffusion Controls the amount that the Vein Color blends into the
Filler Color. (The Contrast value also affects how the two
colors blend together.) The slider range is 0 (no blending)
to 1 (smooth blending). The default value is 0.5.
Contrast The contrast between the Vein Color and Filler Color. The
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.5.

Noise Attributes (Marble)

The Marble texture creates a three dimensional texture by projecting a two
dimensional texture. The Noise Attributes control the randomization (using
fractal noise) of the texture in the direction the texture is projected.

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Rock

Amplitude A scaling factor applied to all values in the fractal noise

about the average value. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 (no noise) to 1 (strong noise). The default
value is 1.5.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal noise. The valid range
is 0 (low frequency) to 1 (high frequency). The default
value is 0.707.
Ripples Determines how wavy the texture is in the X, Y, and Z
directions. These attributes represent the scale of the
fundamental frequency of the fractal used to generate the
texture. The range is from 0 to + ∞ for X, Y, and Z. The
default value is 1.
Depth The minimum and maximum number of iterations used to
calculate the texture pattern. This attribute controls how
fine grained the texture is. The range is from 0 to 20. The
default values are 0 and 20.

ROCK

The Rock texture simulates rock using a random, three dimensional

distribution of two different types of grain material.

Tip
Assign this texture to the material’s bump map to achieve a coarser
simulated texture. See Assigning textures to materials: overview for details.

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Snow

Rock Attributes
Color1, Color2 The color of the two types of grains in the texture.
Grain Size The size of grains in the texture. The Grain Size value
effectively scales the entire texture. The valid range is 0 to
∞. The slider range is 0 (no grains) to 0.1 (large grains).
The default value is 0.01.
Diffusion Controls the amount that Color1 blends into Color2. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no blending) to
1 (smooth blending). The default value is 1.
Mix Ratio Determines which of the two colors is the dominant color.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (Color1 is
totally dominant) to 1 (Color2 is totally dominant). The
default value is 0.5.

SNOW

The Snow texture simulates snow that has fallen on a surface.

To make snow appear on all objects in your scene, apply the Snow texture as
a transparency map on a white material, and then layer this material onto
other shaders. This way, the snow can have its own unique shading
attributes.
Try combining a Fractal bump map with a Snow color map. The snow will
only appear on the peaks and valleys of the bump mapped surface. For best
results, set the Fractal bump map’s Alpha Gain and Filter values to a low
number.
See the following icy looking snowballs.

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Snow

To simulate windswept snow, rotate the Snow texture by rotating the 3D

Placement Object about a horizontal line.

Note
If you assign Snow texture to geometry whose surface normals and
tangents are constant, for example those of a cone, the Snow texture will
appear as a uniform color, and the difference between the Snow Color and
Surface Color will be nonexistent.

Snow Attributes
Snow Color The color of the snow that lies on the top of the surface.
Surface Color The color of the surface that the snow lies on top of.
Threshold Determines the maximum slope that will hold snow. The
valid/slider range is 0 (90 degrees from horizontal) to 1 (0
degrees from horizontal). The default value is 0.5 (45
degrees from horizontal).
Depth Decay The rate at which the snow color blends into the surface
color. The slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 5.
Thickness The apparent depth of the snow. Thickness controls the
opacity of the snow (deeper snow is more opaque). The
valid/slider range is 0 (transparent) to 1 (opaque). The
default value is 1.

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Solid Fractal

SOLID FRACTAL

The Solid Fractal texture represents a three dimensional random function

with a particular frequency distribution (a fractal) and can be used to create
many different types of effects.

Tip
Assign this texture to the material’s bump map to achieve a coarser
simulated texture. See Assigning textures to materials: overview for details.

Solid Fractal Attributes

Threshold An offset factor applied to all values in the texture. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default
value is 0.
Amplitude A scaling factor applied to all values in the texture about
the texture’s average value. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 (no noise) to 1 (strong noise). The default
value is 1.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal noise. The valid/
slider range is 0 (low frequency) to 1 (high frequency). The
default value is 0.707.
Ripples Determines how wavy the texture is in the X, Y, and Z
directions. These attributes represent the scale of the
fundamental frequency of the fractal used to generate the
texture. The slider range is 0 to 20. The default value is 1.

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Stucco

Depth The minimum and maximum number of iterations used to

calculate the texture pattern. This parameter controls how
fine grained the texture is. The slider range is 0 to 25. The
default values are 0 and 20.

STUCCO

The Stucco 3D solid texture randomly disturbs the material mixing two
input attributes, Channel1 and Channel2, to create the final appearance that
looks like stains or clouds.
For example, the following shows the result when you flip the Channel 1
and Channel 2 colors so that the darker color dominates and vice-versa:

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Stucco

This shows the rendered result when you apply the stucco texture to the
Phong material’s bump map.

The Stucco node includes the Normal Options attributes that you can use to
control the stucco effect.

Stucco Attributes
Shaker Controls how perturbed the texture is. Increase Shaker to
make the texture more detailed, as though it has been
shaken up. If the crater node is being used as a bump map,
increase Shaker to increase the number of craters and
valleys.
Channel1 Is the first channel of two channels through which
information such as color values is allowed to pass. You
can also supply information to Channel1 by using a 3-
channel (RGB) mapping.
Channel2 Is the second channel of two channels through which
information such as color values is allowed to pass. You
can also supply information to Channel2 by using a 3-
channel (RGB) mapping.

Normal Options (Stucco)

Normal Depth Controls how deep the craters will be when this texture is
used as a bump map. Increase Normal Depth to make the
craters deeper.
Normal Depth only has an effect if the Out Normal
attribute of this node is connected to the Normal Camera
attribute of a shader.

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Wood

Normal Melt Controls the softness of the crater edges when this texture
is used as a bump map. Increase Normal Melt to make the
edges softer. Animate this texture to make the cratered
surface look like it is melting.
Normal Melt only has an effect if the Out Normal attribute
of this node is connected to the Normal Camera attribute
of a shader.

WOOD

The Wood texture simulates wood by projecting a two dimensional pattern.

This pattern consists of layers or concentric rings defined by veins and filler.
When you map the Wood texture to a surface, the surface will appear to be
carved out of wood. If you map the Wood texture to several surfaces, they
will appear to be carved from a single block of wood.

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Wood

Tips
• There are four Wood attributes that are frame constant, which
means that mapping them with textures or other nodes that
produce different values from point to point may lead to
unpredictable results. These attributes are: Grain Spacing, Layer
Size, Randomness, and Age. You can key all of these attributes to
make their appearance change over time in an animation sequence.
• If you use the Wood texture as a bump map, lower the Grain
Contrast setting to reduce the potential for texture artifacts during
animation.

Wood Attributes
Filler Color The color of the space between veins. The vein color
diffuses into the filler color.
Vein Color The color of veins in the wood. The vein color diffuses
into the filler color.
Vein Spread The amount that the vein color diffuses into the filler
color. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 3.
The default value is 0.25.
Layer Size The average thickness of each layer or ring. (The thickness
of individual layers or rings is also influenced by the
Randomness and Age values.) The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 to 0.5. The default value is 0.02.
Randomness Randomizes the thickness of individual layers or rings.
The valid/slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.5.
Age The age (in years) of the tree from which the wood came.
The Age value determines the total number of layers or
rings in the texture, and influences the relative thickness
of central and outer layers. The central rings of wood are
thinner than the outer rings because a trees’ growth is
slower when it is young. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 100. The default value is 20.
Grain Color The color of the random grain in the wood.

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Wood

Grain Contrast Controls the amount that the Grain Color diffuses into the
surrounding wood color. The valid/slider range is 0 to 1.
The default value is 1.
Grain Spacing The average distance between grain spots. The valid/
slider range is 0.002 to 0.1. The default value is 0.01.
Center The location of the center of the texture’s concentric rings
in the U and V parametric directions. The slider range is -1
to 2. The default values are 0.5 and -0.5.

Tip
Do not set the Center values less than -3 or greater than 3.

Noise Attributes (Wood)

The Wood texture creates a three dimensional texture by projecting a two
dimensional pattern. The Noise Attributes control the randomization (using
fractal noise) of the texture in the direction the pattern is projected.
Amplitude X,
Amplitude Y A scaling factor applied to all values in the fractal noise
about the average value, in the texture’s X and Y
directions. The Wood texture will render faster if the
Amplitude X and Amplitude Y values are both 0. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 (no noise) to 1
(strong noise). The default value is 0.1.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal noise. The valid/
slider range is 0 (low frequency) to 1 (high frequency). The
default value is 0.35.
Ripples Determines how wavy the texture is in the X, Y, and Z
directions. These attributes represent the scale of the
fundamental frequency of the fractal used to generate the
texture. The slider range is 0 to 20. The default value is 1.
Depth The minimum and maximum number of iterations used to
calculate the texture pattern. This parameter controls how
fine grained the texture is. The slider range is 0 to 25. The
default values are 0 and 20.

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Interactively placing 3D textures

INTERACTIVELY PLACING 3D TEXTURES

Maya provides two manipulators that let you interactively place 3D textures
on your NURBS surfaces—Interactive Placement and Fit to group bbox.
When you assign a 3D texture to a surface, its 3D texture placement swatch
displays in Hypershade and a manipulator displays in the view panel.
Double-click this swatch to open the Attribute Editor and select either the
Interactive Placement or Fit to group bbox button.

To place a 3D texture using Interactive Placement:

1 Click the 3D texture placement swatch in Hypershade, then click the
Interactive Placement button in the Attribute Editor.
2 Select the Show Manipulator icon in Maya’s mini bar. A manipulator similar
to a Rotate manipulator displays in the view.
3 Use the manipulator handles to place the texture.

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Wood texture
applied to
a sphere.

Result after
placing the
Wood texture.

To place a 3D texture using Fit to group bbox:

1 Click the 3D texture placement swatch in Hypershade then click the Fit to
group bbox button in the Attribute Editor. A manipulator, similar to a cube,
displays as well as the rotate manipulator. This box is automatically scaled
to the object’s size.
2 Use the manipulator handles and the box to place the texture.

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Tip
You can also use Maya’s transform tools to position the Fit to group bbox
manipulator.

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31 LAYERED TEXTURES

The Layered Texture node provides you with a quick way to layer single
attributes, such as color attributes.
You can 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.
The Layered Shader node, even when used in layered texture mode, consists
of color, transparency (not alpha), and glow—the Layered Texture node
includes both color and alpha. The Layered Shader node also has only one
way to blend/composite layers together— the Layered Texture node
provides numerous choices (see Layer is Visible).

CREATING LAYERED TEXTURES

The following shows you how to create a layered texture node and explains
the Layered Texture node’s attributes.

To create a layered texture node:

1 In Hypershade, use the middle-mouse button to click-drag the Layered
Texture swatch from the Visor panel onto the material swatch in the
Hypershade and connect it to one of the material’s attributes (such as Color).
You can also select Create > Textures > Other > Layered Texture, click in
Hypershade and middle-mouse-button drag the texture swatch over the
material swatch to connect it to an attribute.

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Tip
You can add additional layers directly into the original Layered Texture’s
Attribute Editor by dragging and dropping them from Hypershade, or by
clicking in the top-most area of the Layered Texture Attributes section of
the editor.

2 In the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor, select the current layer you want
to edit.
When you select a layer, Maya updates the Color, Alpha, Blend Mode, and
Layer is Visible attributes to reflect the properties of the selected layer.

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You can also re-order the layers in the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor.
Use the middle mouse button and click-drag the texture swatch to wherever
you need it.

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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. See the following
example.

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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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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 Over 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
Textures can be blended with the texture below them using the Texture
Blend attribute in the Layered Texture’s Attribute Editor.
A number of blend modes are available.

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The Blend Mode specifies how the currently selected layer blends with the
layers behind it. The following lists the blend modes:
Normal Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This
is the default. (Normal mode is called Threshold when
you’re working with a bitmapped or indexed-colored
images).
Over The foreground texture is applied like a decal to the
background. The shape of the decal is determined by the
foreground alpha.
In The background texture is cut in the shape of the
foreground alpha.
Out The result is the opposite of In. It is as if the shape of the
foreground alpha has been cut out of the background.
Add The result color is the foreground color added to the
background color as if being projected on the background
through a slide projector. The result color is then applied
over the background color using the foreground alpha to
define the opacity of the result.
Subtract The result color is the foreground color subtracted from
the background color. The result color is then applied over
the background color using the foreground alpha to define
the opacity of the result.
Multiply Looks at the color information in each channel and
multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result
color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with

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black produces black. Multiplying any color with white

leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a
color other than black or white, successive strokes with a
painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The
effect is similar to drawing on the surface with multiple
magic markers.
Difference Looks at the color information in each channel and
subtracts either the blend color from the base color or the
base color from the blend color, depending on which has
the greatest brightness value. Blending with white inverts
the base color values; blending with black produces no
change.
Lighten Looks at the color information in each channel and selects
the base or blend color, whichever is lighter, as the result
color. Pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and
pixels lighter than the blend color do not change.
Darken Looks at the color information in each channel and selects
the base or blend color, whichever is darker, as the result
color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and
pixels darker that the blend color do not change.
Saturate Creates a result color with the luminance and hue of the
base color and the saturation of the blend color. Painting
with this mode in an area with no (0) saturation (gray)
causes no change.
De-saturate The result color is the background color with saturation
decreased in proportion to the foreground color scaled by
foreground alpha. If the foreground color is red, for
example, the result color will be the background color
with desaturated reds.
Illuminate Creates a result color with the hue and saturation of the
base color and the luminance of the blend color. This
mode creates an inverse effect from that of the Color
mode.
Only one UV set can be edited or shown at a time. Use the right-mouse
marking menu to select the current set in the modeling view, and the
Image > UV Set menu in the Texture View to view a list of existing UV sets.
More than one UV set can reference the same texture.

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Note
If a texture is associated with multiple materials, or any other ambiguous
shading network, the operation will fail.

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32 ENVIRONMENT TEXTURES

Environment textures simulate three-dimensional spaces by either using a

series of image files (Env Ball, Env Cube, and Env Sphere textures) or using
a computer graphic procedure (Env Chrome and Env Sky textures).
Typically, you map an environment texture either to the camera’s
Background Color to create a background for your scene, or to a material’s
Reflected Color to simulate environmental reflections. However, you are not
limited to these uses; you can map an environment texture to any texturable
attribute.
In this chapter:

Common Environment texture attribute

Env Ball

Env Chrome

Env Cube

Env Sky

Env Sphere

Important notes
• To see the results, render the surface in the IPR window. See Render View
and IPR for details about IPR rendering.
• Do not map an environment texture to a material’s Bump or Displacement
parameter. An environment texture mapped to Bump produces
unpredictable results. Maya ignores an environment texture mapped to
Displacement.

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Common Environment texture attribute

• When used to map image planes, environment textures do not use the
reflected direction; they use the camera view direction. This means, for
example, that in an Env Sky texture, if you want to see the sun on the
background, it must appear in the model view in front of the camera. Use
the Env Sky manipulator and rotate it until the line representing the sun is
pointing to the background (you can achieve the same result by playing with
the sun elevation and azimuth).

COMMON ENVIRONMENT TEXTURE ATTRIBUTE

The following attribute is common to all Environment textures.

Effects
Color Remap
Applies a color map to the texture. The U value of the Color Remap texture
is mapped to the original texture’s hue, and the V value is mapped to the
original texture’s intensity (the value defined by [R+G+B]/3). The Color
Remap attribute acts similar to the Shading Map material (see Shading Map).

ENV BALL

The Env Ball texture uses an image of a highly reflective chrome ball in an
environment (real world or computer generated) to re-create that
environment. This is possible because the reflections in the chrome ball
provide a (nearly) 360 degree view of the environment.

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Env Ball

An Env Ball texture background renders faster than a procedural texture

background or a background modeled with surfaces. You can therefore
replace a complex background with an Env Ball texture (by rendering an
image of a chrome ball in that environment) to reduce rendering times.
To use the Env Ball environment texture, you must map the texture’s Image
attribute with the image of a reflective chrome ball in the environment you
want to re-create. You should also create an image plane for the camera and
map the image plane’s Image Name attribute with the image of the
environment without the chrome ball.

To create an image of a chrome ball:

1 Place a highly reflective chrome ball (sphere) in the environment (real world
or computer generated) that you want to re-create.
2 Place the ball at the exact location (in the original environment) where you
want your model to appear (in the re-created environment), and take note of
the ball’s distance from any floor/walls/ceiling or large objects.
3 Photograph (or render) the ball using a telephoto lens, and take note of the
camera’s elevation (the angle between the camera’s view and the
environment’s ground plane), and the camera’s inclination (the angle
between the camera’s view and the environment’s YZ plane).
The photo essentially contains a compressed sample of the entire
environment, except for the area directly behind the ball. The highest
resolution is in the direction of the camera, so the image provides the best
data compression for that point of view.

Limitations
An Env Ball texture that uses a single photograph of a ball has two
limitations:
• the missing area directly behind the ball,
• the decreasing resolution toward the edges of the ball.
You can overcome these limitations by taking a series of photographs of the
ball (up to a maximum of 32). The photographs must be taken on the
horizontal plane of the ball (that is, not above or below the ball), at a
constant distance from the ball, and at equal intervals around the ball.

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Env Ball

The Env Ball texture automatically selects the best image for any particular
view (that is, no missing area and maximum resolution). Name the image
files <filename>.1 through <filename>.n, where the files represent a
sequence going clockwise around the ball when viewed from above.
Remove the ball from the environment, and photograph (or render) the
environment again using the same camera position, elevation, and
inclination, but a wider angle lens (for example, 24mm to 50mm).

Tips
The following tips can help when using Environment textures.

Re-creating environments
The Env Ball texture can best re-create environments that have no objects in
their center (that is, near the chrome ball). For example, rooms and interiors
should not contain furniture, and outdoor scenes should not have trees or
cars near the chrome ball. (In general, outdoor scenes can contain buildings).

To use a single image of a chrome ball:

1 Map a File texture to the Env Ball texture’s Image attribute, and then map
the image file of the ball in the environment to the File texture’s Image
attribute.
2 Map the image of the environment without the chrome ball to the image
plane’s Image attributes.
3 Set the Env Ball texture’s Inclination and Elevation attributes to the
inclination and elevation of the camera used to photograph the ball.

Obtaining accurate reflections

For accurate reflections of the re-created environment on your model, set the
Env Ball texture’s Projection Geometry attributes to values corresponding to
the distance between any floor/walls/ceiling or large objects and the
chrome sphere when it was photographed.

Positioning the image planes’s image

To simplify positioning the image plane’s Image, set the Env Ball texture’s
Eye Space toggle on.

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Env Ball

Modeling background geometry

To model background geometry (for example, so you can add shadows,
lighting effects, or fog to your scene), set the Env Ball texture’s Reflect
attribute off.

Environment Ball Attributes

Image The texture used by the Env Ball texture. To use a single
image of a highly reflective chrome ball in an
environment, map a File texture to the Env Ball texture’s
Image attribute, and then map the image file to the File
texture’s Image Name attribute (see Image Name).
Inclination The rotation (in radians) of the ball image about the
vertical axis. The valid range is 0 to 3.142. The slider range
is 0 to 3.142. The default setting is 0.
Set the Inclination value to the inclination of the camera
(that is, the angle between the camera’s view and the
environment’s YZ plane) used to generate the image file
(by photographing or rendering a reflective ball in an
environment). For example, if the inclination of the camera
is 45 degrees, set the Inclination value to 45. If the camera
is parallel to the YZ plane, set the Inclination value to 0.
When creating the ball image, a camera inclination and
elevation of zero will provide the best resolution for the
view you intend to use.
Elevation The rotation of the ball image about the horizontal axis.
The valid range is -1.511 to 1.511. The slider range is -1.511
to 1.511. The default setting is 0.
Set the Elevation value to the elevation of the camera (that
is, the angle between the camera’s view and the
environment’s ground plane: XZ plane for a Y-up scene)
used to generate the image file (by photographing or
rendering a reflective ball in an environment). For
example, if the elevation of the camera is 90 degrees (that
is, it is directly above the ball), set the Elevation value to
1.511. If the camera is parallel to the ground plane, set the

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Env Ball

Elevation value to 0. When creating the ball image, a

camera inclination and elevation of zero will provide the
best resolution for the view you intend to use.
Eyespace Causes the position of the Env Ball texture’s Image file to
be defined relative to the window, not the camera view. If
Eyespace is on, the Env Ball texture’s Image file
automatically matches the environment’s Backdrop image
file (provided they were both originally photographed/
rendered from the same point of view), even if the camera
view changes. Reflections, however, are based on the
background being infinitely far away; that is, the reflection
planes are ignored (see Projection Geometry below).
Rendering is faster when Eyespace is on. The default
setting is off.
Reflect Causes the Image file to be reflection mapped onto the
background. If Reflect is off, the Image file is mapped
using a solid texture spherical projection. This allows you
to model the geometry of the background image and then
map the background image to this geometry, for example,
to add shadows, lighting effects, or fog to your scene. The
default setting is off.

Projection Geometry
The Projection Geometry attributes controls the appearance of reflections
from an Env Ball texture. They define the location of the sky and/or room
walls of the original environment so that Maya can calculate reflections on
surfaces in the re-created environment.
For example, if the original environment consisted of a ground plane and a
sky, then you would set the Sky Radius value to the radius of the sky, and
the Bottom value to the distance between the ground plane and the reflective
ball. If the original environment consisted of a room, then you would set the
Bottom, Top, Left, Right, Front, and Back values to the distance between
each wall and the reflective ball.
In some cases you may want to use values different than the original
environment. For example, instead of using the Bottom, Top, Left, Right,
Front, and Back values to define the walls of a room, you may simply use
the Sky Radius attribute. Because Sky Radius defines a sphere, reflections on

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Env Chrome

surfaces in the simulated environment will be smoother and less likely to

become blurred. You can also combine Sky Radius with Bottom, Top, Left,
Right, Front, and/or Back.
Sky Radius The radius of the sky of the original environment. The
valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 20. The
default value is 0.
Bottom, Top,
Left, Right, Front,
Back The distance between the reflective ball and each wall of
the original environment. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The
slider range is 0 to 20. The default value is 0.

ENV CHROME

The 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.

Environment Chrome Attributes

The Environment Chrome Attributes control the size and placement of the
simulated fluorescent lights in an Env Chrome texture. (These “lights”
produce reflections in surfaces, but they do not actually illuminate surfaces.)
Light Width,
Light Depth The width and depth of each light. These parameters also
determine spacing between lights. The valid/slider range
is 0 to 1. The default Light Width value is 0.5 and the
default Light Depth value is 0.1.

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Env Chrome

Light Width
Gain, Light
Width Offset The number of lights per unit length. The valid/slider
range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Light Depth
Gain, Light
Depth Offset The light displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.

Sky Attributes
Sky Color The color of the sky at the horizon. Overall sky color is
linearly interpolated between Sky Color and Zenith Color.
Zenith Color The color of the sky at the zenith (straight up). Overall sky
color is linearly interpolated between Sky Color and
Zenith Color.
Light Color The color of the simulated fluorescent lights. These
“lights” produce reflections in surfaces, but they do not
actually illuminate surfaces.

Floor Attributes
Floor Color,
Horizon Color,
Grid Color The color of the floor, the floor’s horizon and the floor’s
grid.
Real Floor If Real Floor is off, the environment’s floor is located at
infinity, so reflections on moving objects and/or
reflections viewed from a moving camera will be
incorrect.
If Real Floor is on, the floor is located relative to the
ground plane (based on the Floor Altitude value), so
reflections on moving objects and/or reflections viewed
from a moving camera will be correct. If Real Floor is on,
make sure surfaces and/or the camera do not go below
the ground plane. Real Floor is on by default.
Floor Altitude The height of the floor relative to the ground plane. Floor
Altitude has no effect if Real Floor is off. The slider range
is -1 to 1. The default value is -1.

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Env Cube

Note
If you set the Floor Altitude too high, the texture swatch becomes red,
indicating that your camera is looking under the floor, which you probably
do not want. Lower the Floor Altitude until the red color disappears.

Grid Placement
Grid Width, Grid
Depth The width and depth of the grid lines. These attriubtes
also determine the spacing between grid lines. The valid/
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.1.
Grid Width Gain,
Grid Depth
Gain The number of grid cells per unit length. The valid/slider
range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Grid Width
Offset, Grid
Depth Offset The grid displacement. The slider range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.

ENV CUBE

The Env Cube texture simulates an environment by mapping six image files
onto the inner surfaces of a large (or infinitely large) cube.

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Env Cube

The Env Cube is perfect for making reflections on a moving surface during
an animation if you do not have time to raytrace because it treats the texture
placement box as being the geometry of the environment, and so respects
changes in the relative size and position of camera, surface, and
environment.
For example, the finite environment cube lets you fake a nice reflection on
the surface of an animated shiny car as it drives into a showroom. This
process is known as reflection mapping.

To make reflections using the Env Cube material:

1 Create a material, and map an Env Cube to its Reflected Color attribute.
2 Make the Env Cube’s texture placement object visible in the modeling views
and scale, rotate, translate it, or even animate the transformations.
Reflections of the Env Cube are rendered as if the six images in the texture
were mapped directly onto the six faces of the placement box.

Note about backward compatibility

To achieve an infinite cube effect for backwards compatibility, turn on
Infinite Cube.

Environment Cube Attributes

Infinite Size When Infinite Size is turned on the images in the cube will
be reflected as though the sides of the cube were infinitely
far away. If you are using images of distant things, such as
the horizon or a starfield, turn on Infinite Size. If the
images are of the interior of a room, or nearby objects,
leave Infinite Size off.
Right, Left, Top,
Bottom, Front,
Back The image files mapped to the right, left, top, bottom,
front, and back inner surfaces of an infinite cube. (The
front of the cube faces the front orthographic view.)
The following example shows a sphere with each surface mapped to a
different color.

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Env Cube

Using the Cube s texture placement object

Use Maya’s transform tools with the Cube’s texture placement object to
adjust the placement of the texture on the object. To see the results, render
the surface in the IPR window.

Default placement.

Use the Rotate Tool

to adjust the Cube
texture placement.

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Env Sky

ENV SKY

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

Note
If the eye point or view drops below the floor, the Env Sky texture swatch
will turn red as a warning. If you render the scene, the floor will appear
red. To avoid this, make sure the eye point is always above the floor (the
ground plane).

Environment Sky Attributes

Total Brightness The overall brightness of the environment. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 5. The default is 1.

Sun Attributes
Sun Brightness The color and brightness of the sun. The default color
Value is 0.5.
Halo Brightness The color and brightness of the halo around the sun. The
default color value is 0.1.

Interactively adjusting Sun attributes

The following attributes relate directly to the Sky’s texture placement object.
You can use Maya’s transform tools, such as Scale and Rotate to place the
manipulator, or use the Show Manipulator tool.

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Env Sky

As you change the settings for Elevation, Azimuth, and Size attributes,
notice how the various manipulators adjust in the View. Use the IPR
window to watch the texture change on the object. The following indicates
which manipulators correspond to which attribute.

Sun Size

Elevation

Azimuth Floor

The next examples show the difference in both the manipulators and the
rendered image when you use the default values and when you change
those values:

Default Elevation, Azimuth,

and Size values.

Rendered result.

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Env Sky

Elevation, Azimuth,
and Size values changed.

Rendered result.

Elevation The angle (in degrees) of elevation of the sun relative to

the floor. The valid range is -10000 to 10000. The slider
range is 0 (sunrise/sunset) to 90 (midday). The default
value is 45.
Azimuth The angle (in degrees) of the sun in the sky about a
vertical vector. The valid range is -10000 to 10000. The
slider range is 0 to 360. The default value is 145.
Size The size (radius) of the sun. The valid range is 0 to 10000.
The slider range is 0 to 20. The default value is 0.531
Blur The size (radius) of the halo around the sun. The valid
range is 0 to 1000. The slider range is 0 to 20. The default
value is 1.

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Env Sky

Atmospheric Settings

sun
Sky Thickness sun vector

scene

Sky Radius * Sky Thickness

planet center
planet surface
cloud layer
outer limit of atmosphere

Sky Brightness A scaling factor applied to the sky color. The default color
Value is 0.5.
Air Density The density of the air in the atmosphere. The denser the
air, the more light will be scattered. Think of air density in
terms of low and high altitudes. High altitude skies are
almost black straight up and blue near the horizon (the
Air Density value less than 1). Low altitude skies are blue
straight up and white near the horizon (the Air Density
value greater than 1). The slider range is 0 to 3. The
default value is 1.
Dust Density The density of dust in the atmosphere. The slider range is
0 to 3. The default value is 0.
Sky Thickness The thickness of the atmosphere. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 to 10000. The default value is 1000.
Sky Radius The outer radius of the sky as a multiple of Sky Thickness.
The Sky Thickness and Sky Radius values determine the
planet radius, and planet radius influences the appearance
of sunsets. A planet with a large radius will have very red
(and very dark) sunsets (you can adjust Sky Bright to
compensate for sunsets that are too dark).

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Env Sky

For example, if Sky Thickness is 1000 and Sky Radius is

50, the outer radius of the sky is 1000 x 50 = 50 000 units,
and the radius of the planet is (1000 x 50) - (1000 x 1) = 49
000 units.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0.01 to 300.
The default value is 50.

Floor Attributes
Has Floor Turns the floor on or off. If Has Floor is off, the
environment below the horizon is a mirror image of the
environment above the horizon.

Has Floor on. Has Floor off.

Floor Color The color of the floor. The default color value is 0.392.

Floor Altitude The height of the floor relative to the ground plane. Floor
Altitude has no effect if Has Floor is off. The slider range
is -100 to 100. The default value is -10.
The following shows the default value of -10 and how the manipulator
adjusts when you change the value to -100.

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Env Sky

Floor Altitude at -10. Floor Altitude at -100.

Cloud Attributes
Use Texture Controls whether or not Env Sky pays attention to the
Cloud Texture attribute. If you attach a Cloud or other
fractal texture node to the Cloud Texture attribute, then
you must turn on Use Texture to see the results.
Cloud Texture The texture that determines cloud distribution in the sky.
For example, the Fractal texture creates very realistic
clouds. By default, there is no cloud texture map (and no
clouds).
Cloud
Brightness The brightness and color of cloud illumination from
ambient scattered light in the atmosphere. (The amount of
ambient light depends on the Elevation value.) The default
color Value is 0.5.
Sunset
Brightness The brightness and color of cloud illumination when the
sun is below the horizon and the clouds are front lit (for
example, when the sun’s Elevation value is 0 and its
Azimuth value is 180). This is a very subtle effect and
occurs only briefly in nature during a sunrise or sunset.
The effect is more noticeable with high altitude clouds.
The default color Value is 1.
Density The density of individual clouds. The valid range is 0 to ∞.
The slider range is 0 (no clouds) to 5 (heavy clouds). The
default value is 1.

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Env Sky

Threshold A threshold value for the Cloud texture that controls how
much of the sky is covered with cloud. As the Threshold
value increases, darker areas of the texture do not produce
clouds. The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0
(entire sky is cloudy) to 1 (no clouds). The default value is
0.5.
Power The clouds are scaled and positioned by adjusting the
Power value. The cloud density is achieved by subtracting
the Threshold from the pixel value clipping to 0, then
multiplying the result with Density. To control the
amount of de-focusing of the Cloud Texture, adjust the
Blur value (under Sun Parameters). The valid range is 0 to
∞. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.
Altitude The height of the clouds. The Altitude value does not
greatly affect the position of the clouds. Instead, it
determines how much the atmosphere obscures the clouds
near the horizon. Low altitude clouds disappear into haze
much more slowly than high altitude clouds. The valid/
slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.2.
Halo Size The size (radius) of cloud illumination from direct back
lighting by the sun (for example, when the sun’s Azimuth
value is 0). Direct back lighting is most noticeable near the
edges of thick clouds or through thin clouds. The valid
range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 50. The default
value is 20.

Calculation Quality
The Calculation Quality attributes control the rendering speed of an Env Sky
texture.
The calculations required for curved atmospheres are expensive. The
Calculation Quality attributes do not greatly affect the appearance of the sky,
but do affect the speed at which the calculations are computed.
Sky Samples The number of samples used above the cloud layer. Set
the Sky Samples value to 1 for maximum speed. The valid
range is 0 to 20. The slider range is 0 to 3. The default
value is 5.

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Env Sphere

Floor Samples The number of samples used by the atmosphere between

the eye and the horizon. Increasing the Floor Samples
value increases the effect of the atmosphere along the
floor. The valid range is 0 to 20. The slider range is 0 (no
atmosphere between the eye and horizon) to 3. The
default value is 1.
Cloud Samples The number of samples used below the cloud layer. The
valid range is 0 to 20. The slider range is 0 (clouds do not
fade to mist at the horizon) to 3. The default value is 5.

ENV SPHERE

The Env Sphere texture simulates an environment by mapping a texture or

image file directly onto the inner surface of an infinite sphere. A good way
to create a sphere environment is to use a ramp texture and paint objects
onto it, being sure to avoid the poles and edges.

Using the Sphere’s texture placement object

The Sphere environment texture provides a texture placement object that
you can use to adjust the texture on your surface.

Use Maya’s transform tools to scale, move, or rotate the texture placement
object.

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You can also either interactively place the texture, or fit it to the object. Select
either Interactive Placement, which provides you with a special manipulator,
or Fit to group bbox from the Sphere’s place3dtexture attributes.
See the following examples.

Interactive Placement.

Fit to group bbox.

Environment Sphere Attributes

Image The texture mapped to the inner surface of an infinite
sphere. In the following, a File texture was mapped to the
Image attribute.

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Env Sphere

Shear U Shears the Image texture in the U direction. For example,

horizontal stripes will resemble a barber pole. The slider
range is -10 to 10. The default value is 0.
Shear V Shears the Image texture in the V direction. For example,
concentric lines at the poles will spiral inward. The slider
range is -10 to 10. The default value is 0.
Flip Reverses the U and V orientation of the Image texture.

Flip toggled off. Flip toggled on.

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33 INTRODUCTION TO UTILITIES

You access Maya’s rendering utilities from:

• The Utilities tab in the Create Render Node window.
• Middle-mouse-drag the utility you need from Visor to Hypershade.
• Right-mouse click in Hypershade, select Create > Utilities, and choose the
utility you need from the pop-up menu
You can also map utilities to a material’s attribute, or connect utilities using
the Connection Editor.
The following chapters include information on Maya’s rendering utility
attributes:

Color Utilities

General Utilities

Bump 2d & Bump 3d Utilities

Place 2d & Place 3d Utilities

Projection & Stencil Utilities

Switch Utilities

Image Planes

Post Process Utilities

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34 GENERAL UTILITIES

In this chapter:

Array Mapper

Condition

Light Info

Multiply Divide

Plus Minus Average

Reverse

Sampler Info

Set Range

Vector Product

Uv Chooser

Where to find more information

See the following for information on 2D and 3D texture placement utilities:

Place 2d & Place 3d Utilities

• Place 2d Texture
• Place 3d Texture
See the following for information on bump map utilities:

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Array Mapper

Bump 2d & Bump 3d Utilities

• Bump 2d
• Bump 3d
See the following for information on Projection and Stencil utilities:
Projection & Stencil Utilities
• Projection
• Stencil

ARRAY MAPPER

The Array Mapper utility maps array attributes to the color attributes of
texture nodes. Typically, this utility is used by particle objects to invoke
color values from the texture node for each particle.
See Using Maya: Dynamics for details about particle mapping.

Array Mapper Attributes

Min Value, Max
Value The minimum and maximum limit on the output attribute
outValuePP.
Compute Node Allows the propagation of any changes to the
computeNode’s outColor through the arrayMapper and
on to the attribute the arrayMapper is driving.

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Condition

CONDITION

The Condition utility produces a color value depending on the conditions

you set. The Condition utility requires one logical operator and two choice
values, as in the following example:
If (A operation B)
Outcolor = Color1
else
Outcolor = Color2
The Condition utility compares the value in A with the value in B to find out
whether the value in A is greater, smaller, equal to, less than, less than or
equal to, greater than or equal to, or not equal to the value in B.
For example, if the value in A is not equal to the value in B, the logical
expression is true and Color1 is chosen in OutColor. If the value in A is
equal to the value in B, the logical expression is false and Color2 is chosen in
OutColor.
The Condition utility is a branching function. It does one thing if a logical
expression is true and something else if it is false. You can incorporate the
Condition utility in shader networks capable of acting one way in one set of
circumstances and another way in a different set of circumstances.

To map the Condition utility to four textures:

1 Create a material and assign it to your object, then map the Condition utility
to the material’s Color attribute.
Adjust the material’s attributes if necessary. In the following, a Crater
texture is bump mapped to create a surface resembling a rock.

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Condition

Hypershade panel view. Rendered result.

2 In the Condition’s Attribute Editor, set the following:

• Map a texture to First Term, such as Crater. This texture represents the
Second Term’s texture coverage.
• Map a texture to Second Term, such as Marble. This texture represents the
pattern of the coverage.
• Map a texture to Color 1, such as Rock. This texture represents the surface
color.
• Map a texture to Color 2, such as Brownian. This texture represents the color
of the overlying texture.

Tip
Set the Operation option to Greater Than or Less Than to see the combined
results.

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Condition

Color 1
First Term represents
how much of the marble
pattern covers the surface.

Second Term represents

the marble pattern.

Color 2

The Hypershade panel resembles the following:

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Condition

First Term

Second Term

Color 1

Color 2

Hypershade panel view

of connected Condition utility.

3 Change the attributes for each texture and use the texture placement object
to adjust the texture on the object if necessary.
4 Use the Operation pull-down menu items to see the transition between
textures.

Condition Attributes
First Term Represents the texture coverage.
Second Term Represents the coverage pattern.
Operation Displays a pull-down menu from which you can select an
operator.

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Condition

The following shows a few examples.

Color 1 Color 2
The results are
based on these
textures.

First Term Second Term

Equal Not Equal

Greater Than Less Than

Color1 Represents the surface color.

Color2 Condition changes between Color 1 and Color 2.
Out Color The output attribute with the result obtained.
Available in the Connection Editor only.
The Condition utility can be something as simple as comparing the values in
the First Term and the Second Term. The result of this comparison makes it
possible to change the color or texture of an object.

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Light Info

For example, if the First Term is less than the Second Term, the resulting
color of the object (OutColor) is Color1, and Color2 appears when the First
Term is not less than the Second Term.

Tip
Because you can also map all the input attributes, you can switch between
two textures, for example, connecting them to Color1 and Color2.

LIGHT INFO

The Light Info node is comparable to the Sampler Info node in that it
provides light information instead of surface property information.
You use the Light Info utility node to obtain information about the position
of a light relative to a texture. As each point on the texture is being shaded,
the attributes of the Light Info node can tell you the precise distance from
the light to the point being shaded. It also returns other information that can
be useful when creating a shading network.
To use the Light Info node, you must connect the World Matrix attribute of
the light to the World Matrix attribute of the Light Info node. Once done, the
Light Info utility node is ready to use.
This node provides the following information:
• The position of the light in world space
• The direction the light is shining (if it is not a point light)
• The distance from the light to the point being shaded.

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Light Info

To view and connect Light Data attributes to Light Info attributes:

1 Once you have created lights in your scene, select Lights from the
Hypershade menu bar to view the LightShape swatches in the Hypershade
panel.
2 Select Light Info from the Create > Utilities menu.
3 Middle-mouse drag the Light Info swatch over the LightShape swatch. The
Connection Editor displays.
4 For the light’s column, make sure Show Readable is on in the Filter menu.
For the Light Info column, make sure Show Inputs only is on.
5 Click to connect the light’s World Matrix [0] attribute to the World Matrix
attribute of the Light Info node.

6 In the Light Info’s Attribute Editor, notice the light tab added to the top.

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Light Info

Click this tab to access the light’s information. You can adjust these values to
translate and change the light in X, Y, and Z.

You can also select any one of the Light Data attributes from the Connection
Editor. Light Data attributes include the light direction, light intensity, light
ambient, light diffuse, light specular, and light shadow fraction.

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Light Info

7 Select the attribute you want to connect from the list.

See also Connection Editor for details about using the Connection Editor.
You can use this information as the input to other shading nodes to produce
interesting effects. For example, you could connect the Sample Distance
attribute to one of the color attributes of a material. That way, the color of
the shader changes depending on how far it is from the light.

Note
You can actually attach the World Matrix of any object (not just a light) to
this node, to get information about the object’s position relative to the point
being shaded.

Light Info Attributes

The Light Info attributes reside in the Connection Editor.

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Light Info

Light Position Gives the position of the connected light in world space.
The “connected light” is the light (or other object) whose
World Matrix attribute is connected to the World Matrix
attribute of this node.
Light Direction Gives the direction in which the connected light is shining.
Point lights, of course, shine in all directions.
Sample
Distance Sample Distance is the world-space distance between the
connected light and the point on the surface being
shaded.This can be calculated in different ways. See Light
Direction Only for details.
World Matrix Connect the output World Matrix attribute of a light or
other object to this attribute. This must be done before the
output of this node is usable.
Light Direction
Only Controls how the Sample Distance attribute is calculated.
If Light Direction Only is off, the Sample Distance
attribute returns the world-space distance from the light to
the point being sampled.
If on, the Sample Distance attribute returns the distance
along the light direction vector, to the closest point on that
vector to the point being sampled. In more mathematical
terms, it returns the length of the projection of the light-to-
object vector onto the light-direction vector.

Shaded point

Sample
distance

Projected
sample
distance
Light
position
Light
direction

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Multiply Divide

Light Direction attribute versus Light Shape attributes

You use the Light Direction Only attribute of the Light Info utility to
calculate the distance of the light from the object, but sometimes you may
want other light information for any light source from the Light Data
attributes. See also “Creating intensity curves and color curves” in Using
Maya: Rendering.
The Light Data attributes work with light information in camera space,
whereas the Light Direction attribute of the Light Info utility works with
light information in world space.

MULTIPLY DIVIDE

The Multiply Divide utility multiplies or divides input attributes. The

Multiply Divide utility has three parts—two input attributes, an operator
you apply to the two input attributes, and an output attribute to hold the
result of the operation.
The input and output attributes represent X, Y and Z. Use this node to
multiply colors or triple-value attributes.

To multiply and divide input attributes:

1 Create a material and assign it to your object.
2 In the material’s Attribute Editor, click the button next to Color and select
the Multiply Divide utility from the Utilities > General tab in the Create
Render Node window that displays.

Click and select the

Multiply Divide utility
from the Create Render Node
window that displays.

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Multiply Divide

3 In the Multiply Divide Attribute Editor, map textures to the input attributes.
Click the boxes next to Input 1 and Input 2 to and select textures from the
Create Render Node window that displays.
The following examples show the rendered result when you map Input 1 to
a Checker texture and Input 2 to a Crater texture.

4 Click the Input 1 and 2 boxes to access the Attribute Editors for the mapped
textures and change the attribute settings to suit your needs.

Tip
To return the focus to the Multiply Divide Attribute Editor, either click the
Focus button in the texture’s Attribute Editor until you access it, or click
the Multiply Divide swatch in the Hypershade panel.

The following examples show the rendered results when you change the
attributes and colors for both the Checker and Crater textures using the
default Multiply Divide utility Multiply Operation setting.

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Multiply Divide

Multiply-Divide Attributes
Operation displays a pop-up menu from which you can select an operator—
No operation, Multiply, Divide, and Power.

No operation Copies the value of the Input1 attribute to the output

attribute without making any changes.

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Multiply Divide

For example, if Input 1 is a Checker texture and Input 2 is a Crater texture,

when you select No Operation, only the Checker texture’s attributes are
rendered.

No Operation
means only
Input 1’s attributes
are rendered.
Inputs 1 and 2
(Checker and Crater)

Multiply multiplies the Input1 attribute and the Input2 attribute, as

in the following formula:

Output = Input1 × Input2

See To multiply and divide input attributes:. The example

uses the default Multiply setting.
Divide Divides the Input1 attribute by the Input2 attribute, as in
the following formula:

Input1
Output = -----------------
Input2

See the following example. the Input 1 texture is divided by the changes
made to the Input 2 texture.

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Multiply Divide

Input 1 is a
Checker texture.
Input 2 is a
Crater texture.

Change Input 2’s

attributes if necessary.

Rendered result when

Input 1 is divided by
Input 2.

Power The Power attribute sets the output to equal Input 1 raised
to the power of Input 2. See the following example:

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Multiply Divide

Input 1 is a
Checker texture.
Input 2 is a
Crater texture.
Change Input 1’s attributes
if necessary.

Rendered result when

Operation is set to
Power.

Evaluates an expression by raising the value to the power

of a number you choose or by calculating the square root.
Raising a value to the power means multiplying a number
by itself a given number of times as in:

3
2 = 2×2×2

The command for calculating the square of a number is:

power (value, 2.0)
The mathematical formula is:

2
Power = value

The formula for computing the square root is:

Power = value

Suppose you want to multiply the value of a component

twice. You would set Input1 to be the color (possibly
mapping it with a texture), and then set all the three

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Plus Minus Average

components of Input2 to 2.0. Because the inputs are both

colors, you can work on the color of a single-component
value or on all three-component values.
Similarly, you can get the square root of a number by
setting Input2 to 0.5. See the example on how to use the
Power operator.
as in the following formula:
Output = power (input1, input2)
which, in math terms, would be written like
input1^input2.

Input1
The first of two arguments presented to the Multiply Divide node.

Input2
The second of two arguments presented to the Multiply Divide node.

PLUS MINUS AVERAGE

You use the Plus Minus Average utility to add, subtract, or average values in
a list of input attributes. The Plus Minus Average utility has three parts—
two or more input attributes, an operator that you apply to these input
attributes, and an output attribute that holds the result of the operation.

Making several connections to a single attribute

You can make several connections to the same attribute using the Plus
Minus Average utility based on a number. The last part of the attribute name
has a number within square brackets.

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Plus Minus Average

For example, Input3D[0] designates the first connection to the Input3D

attribute, Input3D[1] designates the second connection to this attribute,
Input3D[2] designates the third connection to this attribute, and so on. The
first connection is always assigned a 0. Each connection gets its own ID
number.
You can re-arrange connections to a higher or a lower number without
interfering with the other connections in the list, and you can break
connections as you would any connection.
The following example shows how to connect attributes that carry three
values to items that accept three values (Input3D), but you can also use this
feature with attributes that have two group values (Input2D), or single-
attribute values (Input1D).
The OutColor of Stucco consists of one group of three values that you can
connect to the Input3D values, not the Input 2D values or Input1D values.

Plus-Minus-Average Attributes
Operation displays a pop-up menu from which you can select an operator—
No operation, Sum, Subtract, and Average.

No operation Copies the value of the Input1 attribute to the output

attribute without making any changes.
Sum Adds the values in the Input list, as in the following
formula:

Output = Input1 + Input2 + … + InputN

Subtract Calculates the difference between one element in the list

and another element in the list, as in the following
formula:

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Plus Minus Average

Output = Input3D [ 1 ] – Input3D [ 2 ]

For example, if you want to subtract Input3D[1] from

Input3D[2] of multi-attribute nodes, make the necessary
connections using the right mouse button in the
Connection Editor and then select Subtract.
Average Adds the values in each Input attribute and divides the
result by the number of input attributes, as in the
following formula:

Input1 + Input2 +˙ … + InputN

Output = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N

where N is the number of input attributes.

For example, if there are seven input values in the list, the
values for each input in the list ranging from one to seven
are added and the result is divided by seven.

Input1D
A list of elements composed of single-value connections. The values in the
list can be added, subtracted, or averaged depending on the Operation you
select.

Input2D
A list of elements composed of two-value connections. The values in the list
can be added, subtracted, or averaged depending on the Operation you
select.

Input3D
A list of elements composed of three-value connections, such as color. The
values in the list can be added, subtracted, or averaged depending on the
Operation you select.

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Reverse

Tip
Give nodes meaningful names to help you remember their functions. For
example, rename the first Multiply Divide node to PowerSquare, the Plus
Minus Average node to SumComponents, and the second Multiply Divide
node to PowerSquareRoot.

REVERSE

Use the Reverse utility to reverse node effects. For instance, use this to
reverse a transparency map if the white and black areas are the inverse of
what they should be. In the following example, the color of the Marble
texture is reversed. This means that 0.9 is subtracted from 1, causing the
color to take a value of 0.1. The result can be expressed as in the following
formula:
Output = 1 - Input
You can enter various values for Input to get the effect you want in the
Reverse utility’s Attribute Editor.

The Reverse utility outputs and accepts single-component values, two-

component values, and all three-component values.

To reverse attributes:
1 Map a texture to a material’s attribute, such as color.

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Reverse

2 In the texture’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to the attribute you want
to reverse, then select the Reverse General utility from the Create Render
Node window that displays.
3 In this example, map the Reverse utility to the Marble texture’s Filler and
Vein Colors.

4 Click the box next to Filler Color in the Marble texture’s Attribute Editor to
open the Reverse Attribute Editor and change the Input attribute values as
necessary. The following shows the results.

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Sampler Info

Change these values.

Marble texture’s
Attribute Editor after
you change reverse values.

Before Reverse. After Reverse.

Reverse Attribute
Input Input represents the reversed values.

SAMPLER INFO

You use the Sampler Info utility node to obtain useful information when
building shader networks. The Sampler Info provides you with information
about each point on a surface as it is being “sampled”, or calculated, for
rendering purposes.
Sampler Info can give you information about a point’s position in space, its
orientation and tangency, and its location relative to the camera.

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Sampler Info

Many of the attributes for this node provide values in “camera coordinate
space”, the local object space of the camera. Each camera (in its own space) is
located at the point 0, 0, 0. It looks straight along the negative Z axis, and the
positive Y axis points up.

To use the Sampler Info utility:

1 Once you have created and assigned a material and texture to your object,
create a Sampler Info utility node.
2 Middle-mouse drag the Sampler Info swatch over the texture swatch. The
Connection Editor displays.
3 Connect a Sampler Info node to any available texture attribute.
4 In the Sampler Info Attribute Editor, change the values for your connections
to get the desired results. See the two examples that follow.
In this first example, the Facing Ratio attribute is connected to a marble
texture’s Vein Width.

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Sampler Info

Original texture.

Result when
Facing Ratio
is connected to
the Marble’s
Vein Width attribute.

Hypershade view.

In this next example, the Point Obj is connected to the marble texture’s
Ripple attribute.

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Sampler Info

Original texture.

Result when
Point Obj is
connected to
the Marble’s
Ripples attribute.

Hypershade view.

Sampler Info Attributes

Point World Provides the position currently being sampled relative to
the X-,Y-, and Z-axis of the world.
Point Obj Provides the position currently being sampled relative to
the X-,Y-, and Z-axis of the object.
Point Camera Provides the point of the object being shaded. This point is
located in XYZ camera space. You can connect this surface
point in materials for the object being shaded to show
some interesting effects based on the camera view.
Normal
Camera Provides the orientation of a face relative to the camera.

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Sampler Info

Uv Coord Provides the UV coordinates of a point to be shaded. The

convention is that UV coordinates are measured from 0 0
to 1 1.
Ray Direction Indicates the direction in which the current point is seen
from the camera. Use this attribute in materials for objects
to provide the direction towards the camera for every
pixel in the object.
Tangent
UCamera,
Tangent
VCamera Sets the surface tangents in camera space (as opposed to
world space or object space). For polygons, the tangents
are generally not defined. NURBS have a well-defined
tangent space (as visible in Maya; create a NURBS object,
display its CVs and you will see that the NURBS object
has a U direction and a V direction).
Mathematically, tangents provide an instantaneous
direction perpendicular to their point of origin on a
surface. Their magnitude is affected by the rate of change
(curvature) of the surface. Any good math book should
have a diagram showing the tangent to a curve, which can
then be extrapolated to give you an idea of what tangents
on a surface look like. The Tangent U and Tangent V
Camera attributes are for advanced users only.
Pixel Center Provides Pixel Center X and Pixel Center Y. The result
depends on the image, not on the geometry.
Facing Ratio Produces a value that varies between 0 and 1 depending
on the angle between the surface normal and view
direction.
Flipped Normal Toggle on or off depending on whether your object is
textured differently on either side (such as money which
has a specific texture on one side and another on the other
side). The flipped normal attribute indicates if the surface
normal is flipped which also tells you which side of the
surface Maya is shading.

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Set Range

SET RANGE

Use the Set Range utility to set the range within which you want an effect to
take place when you don’t want to operate on an entire scene. The Set Range
utility is used in combination with other nodes.

To set the range using the Set Range utility:

1 In a texture’s Attribute Editor, map the Set Range utility to an attribute.

2 The texture attribute changes as soon as you map it to the Set Range utility.

After you connect

Set Range to Channel1.

Default Crater colors.

3 Click the box that you mapped the attribute to. The Set Range Attribute
Editor displays. Adjust the values to suit your needs.

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Vector Product

Tip
Use the IPR window to watch the render update as you change the values.

Set Range Attributes

Value Maya maps this value from the old range (Old Min to Old
Max) into the new range (Min to Max).
Min Min is the minimum value in the new range.
Max Max is the maximum value in the new range.
Old Min Old Min is the minimum value in old range.
Old Max Old Max is the maximum value in old range.

VECTOR PRODUCT

The VectorProduct utility multiplies a vector by another vector or by a

matrix.
A vector is the quantity of an attribute (such as color) which has direction (X,
Y, and Z) as well as magnitude.
A matrix is an array of interconnected attributes. These attributes are
combined to create one single entity.

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Vector Product

The VectorProduct node has three parts—two input attributes, an operator

that you apply to the two input attributes, and an output attribute that holds
the result.

To multiply a vector:
1 Create a material.
2 In the material’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to an attribute, such as
Color, and select the Vector Product Utility from the Utilities > General tab
in the Create Render Node window that displays.

Click and select the

Vector Product utility
from the Create Render Node
window that displays.

3 In the Vector Product’s Attribute Editor, map textures to Input 1 and Input
2. Click the Input 1 and Input 2 boxes and select textures from the Create
Render Node window that displays.
The following examples show the rendered result when you map Input 1 to
a Checker texture and Input 2 to a Crater texture.

Click to access texture

Attribute Editors.

Dot Product Operation result

with Normalize Output
toggled on.
(default attribute settings)

Hypershade panel view.

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Vector Product

4 Click the boxes for Input 1 and Input 2 to access the Attribute Editor for the
textures and adjust the attributes to suit your needs.
See Vector Product Attributes next for information on the different
operations you can use.

Vector Product Attributes

Operation displays a pop-up menu from which you can select an operator—
No operation, Dot Product, Cross Product, Vector Matrix Product, and Point
Matrix Product.

The following examples are based on Input 1 as a Bulge texture and Input 2
as a Marble texture.

No operation Copies the value of the Input1 attribute to the output

without making any changes.

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Vector Product

Dot Product A single-component value produced by the dot product of

the two input vectors. The value of the dot product is
copied to the three components of the vector produced.

Cross Product The result of two input vectors.

Vector Matrix
Product Produces a vector by multiplying the Input1 attribute and
the Matrix attribute, as in the following formula:
Outvector = Input X Matrix

Point Matrix
Product Produces a point by multiplying the Input1 attribute and
the Matrix attribute as in the following formula:
Output = Input x Matrix

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Vector Product

Input1
The first of two vectors of the VectorProduct node. For example, when you
use the Vector Matrix Product operation, use Input1 to specify the vector.

Input2
The second of two vectors of the VectorProduct node.

Normalize Output
Produces a vector with an output length ranging from -1 to 1 when on. By
default, Normalize output is off. The vector length is always 1. Each
component of a vector (X, Y, and Z) ranges from -1 to 1.
When you use the Dot Product operation and toggle Normalize Output on,
the output is not a vector but a single-component value. This value is copied
to all three-component values of the output which produces a vector. The
following examples shows a Marble and Checker texture.

Normalize Output off. Normalize Output on.

For the Dot Product operation, the Normalize output flag does not
normalize the output pseudo-vector; it normalizes the two inputs. As a
result, what is stored in each component of the output is not simply the dot
product, but the cosine of the angle between the two input vectors with
values ranging from -1 to +1.

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Uv Chooser

Normalize output has no effect if you are using the Point Matrix Product
operation.

Tip
You can also use Normalize output in combination with No operation to
normalize a given vector. When you use No operation and Normalize
Output is off, the value of Input1 passes directly to the output without
being computed. When Normalize Output is on, the value of Input1 is
normalized before being passed to the output.

Matrix
An input attribute that appears only in the Connection Editor.
Use this attribute, for example, to transform viewing the objects in your
scene from the camera coordinate space into the world coordinate space.

UV CHOOSER
This utility node specifies which UV set of a given shape (when the shape
has multiple UV sets) should be used to place a texture.
UV Chooser nodes are created, deleted, connected to UV sets and textures,
and disconnected from UV sets and textures automatically as you associate
textures with UV sets.

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Uv Chooser

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35 COLOR UTILITIES

In this chapter:

Blend Colors

Clamp

Contrast

Gamma Correct

Hsv To Rgb

Luminance

Rgb To Hsv

Surface Luminance

BLEND COLORS

This utility blends two input values using a mixer. You use a mask to
determine where to put two materials placed on an object.

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Blend Colors

To blend colors using the Blend Color utility:

1 Map a Checker texture to a material’s Color and assign the material to an
object.
2 Change the default colors in the Checker texture’s Attribute Editor.

3 Map Color1 to the Blend Color utility. To do this, click the box next to
Color1, then select Blend Colors from the Utilities tab in the Create Render
Node window that displays.
Notice how the colors change in the Checker texture’s Attribute Editor.

Change the Blend Color attributes to suit your needs, as in the following
example (see Blend Color Attributes next for information on the attributes).

Change the
Blend Color attributes.

Rendered result. Hypergraph panel view.

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Clamp

Tip
Use the IPR window to see the results as you change the attribute settings.
For more information about the IPR renderer, see Render View and IPR.

Blend Color Attributes

Blender Controls how much of each of the input colors mixes into
the final Output. As the value increases, you see more of
Color 1 and less of Color 2. As it decreases, you see more
of Color 2 and less of Color 1.
Color1 Color1 is the first input color.
Color2 Color2 is the second input color.

CLAMP

The Clamp utility cuts out values outside a range and isolates values inside a
range. This is helpful when you create complex shader networks.

To clamp colors using the Clamp utility:

1 Apply a complex texture, such as the Crater texture, to a material’s Color
and assign the material to an object.

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Clamp

2 Map a color, such as Channel3, to the Clamp utility. To do this, click the box
next to Channel3 in the Crater texture’s Attribute Editor, then select Clamp
from the Utilities tab in the Create Render Node window that displays.
3 The following shows the rendered results using the Clamp utility’s default
attribute values.

4 Change the Clamp utility’s attributes to suit your needs, as in the following
(see Clamp Color Attributes next for information on the attributes).

R G B

Tip
Use the IPR window to see the results as you change the attribute settings.
For more information about the IPR renderer, see Render View and IPR.

Clamp Color Attributes

Min The minimum values for the color channels.
Max The maximum values for the color channels.
Input The input color or texture that Maya clamps.

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Contrast

CONTRAST

Contrast is a utility node you can use to increase or decrease the contrast in a
texture.
When you increase Contrast, light colors become lighter and dark colors
darker. When you decrease contrast, you bring all the colors closer to the
middle range. The Bias attribute controls the center of this range.
Using the Contrast utility, you can control the contrast of each of the R, G,
and B channels individually.

To change the contrast using the Contrast utility:

1 Map a texture to a material’s color and assign the material to an object.

2 Map the colors you want to the Contrast utility. For this example, map the
Crease Color of a Leather texture. To do this, click the box next to Crease
Color in the Leather texture’s Attribute Editor, then select Contrast from the
Utilities tab in the Create Render Node window that displays.

3 Change the Contrast attribute settings to suit your needs, as in the following.

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Contrast

R G B

Rendered result. Hypergraph panel view.

See Contrast Attributes next for information on the attributes.

Tip
Use the IPR window to see the results as you change the attribute settings.
For more information about the IPR renderer, see Render View and IPR.

Contrast Attributes
Value The input color or texture to adjust.
Contrast Controls the amount of contrast adjustment. You can
adjust the contrast of the R, G, and B components
individually. Increase Contrast to make light colors
lighter, and dark colors darker. Decrease Contrast to make
everything grey.
Bias Controls the middle point of the contrast adjustment.
Increase Bias to move the middle point upwards (more of
the texture becomes dark as contrast increases). Decrease
Bias to move the middle point down (more of the texture
becomes light as contrast increases).

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Gamma Correct

GAMMA CORRECT

Use Gamma Correction to smoothly remap the colors in an image. Extreme

values (very light or very dark) will not change much, but you can make
mid-range tones brighter or darker.
This utility lets you specify different gamma values for the three channels of
the input. The typical formula for calculating gamma is:
new == old ** (1.0/Gamma)

To remap colors using the Gamma Correct utility:

1 Map a texture to a material’s Color and assign the material to an object. In
this example, map a File texture to a Lambert material.

2 Map the Gamma Correct utility to the color you want to adjust, such as the
Ambient Color for the Lambert material. To do this, in the Lambert
material’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to Ambient Color, then select
Gamma Correct from the Utilities tab in the Create Render Node window
that displays.
3 Change the Gamma Correct attribute settings to suit your needs, as in the
following.

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Gamma Correct

R G B

Rendered result. Hypergraph panel view.

Notice that once you change the Gamma Correct attributes, the Ambient
Color attribute updates in the Lambert material’s Attribute Editor.

See Gamma Correction Attributes next for information on the attributes.

Tip
Use the IPR window to see the results as you change the attribute settings.
For more information about the IPR renderer, see Render View and IPR.

Gamma Correction Attributes

Value The input color or texture to gamma-correct.
Gamma Controls the amount of gamma correction applied to each
channel. A value of 1 means that the color is not adjusted.
Increase Gamma to make the mid-range tones brighter.
Decrease Gamma to make them darker.

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Hsv To Rgb

HSV TO RGB

Maya’s HSV to RGB utility converts an HSV (Hue-Saturation-Value) color

into an RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color.
This is useful when you want to control a color using HSV values. For
example, you can animate a material to run through all the rainbow colors.
(This is the same as animating the Hue of an HSV color).
To animate a material, create an HSV to RGB node, connect the Out Rgb
attribute to the material’s color, then animate the first channel of InHsv
(which is the Hue).

HSV to RGB Attributes

In Hsv The input color (represented as Hue, Saturation, and
Value) converted to an RGB color.
Out Rgb The output RGB color calculated.

LUMINANCE

The Luminance utility converts color to grayscale. The luminance derives

from a color value.
Maya uses the following formula to calculate the luminance by adding the
following amounts of red, green, and blue.
Luminance = 0.3 red + 0.59 green + 0.11 blue

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Rgb To Hsv

Luminance Attribute
Value The input color or texture.

RGB TO HSV

Maya’s RGB to HSV utility converts an RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color into an

HSV (Hue-Saturation-Value) color.
Some effects are easier to calculate using HSV values than RGB values. You
can convert the output of any shading network into HSV values.

RGB to HSV Attributes

In Rgb The color converted into HSV values.
Out Hsv The output HSV values.

SURFACE LUMINANCE

The Surface Luminance utility returns the part of a lit surface and the degree
of light it receives from lights in the scene.
• Where the object is lit by light sources, the textures appear.
• Where the object is not lit, such as polygons facing away from the light
sources or in the shadow, the textures do not appear.

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UTILITIES

In this chapter:

Bump 2d

Bump 3d

Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects attributes

See the following for information on common Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects
attributes:
• Bump Filter
• Bump Filter Offset
• Adjust Edges (for Bump 2d only)
• Provide3d Info (for Bump 2d only)

BUMP 2D AND BUMP 3D EFFECTS ATTRIBUTES

The following attributes are common to bump utilities.

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Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects attributes

Bump Filter

Bump 2d

Bump 3d

Bump Filter affects the amount of filtering performed on a texture used as a

bump map.
Maya calculates the amount of filtering based on how much screen space the
texture occupies in the final image. The Bump Filter attribute is a multiplier
on that value.
Values greater than 1.0 cause the renderer to produce more filtering making
the bumps smoother. Increase the amount of filtering if there is aliasing
(jagged staircase effects) in your final renderings, or if the bump map
appears to “pop” or “sizzle” over the course of several frames.
Values less than 1.0 cause the renderer to produce less filtering making the
bumps appear sharper. Decrease the amount of filtering if bumps are too
smooth in the final rendered images.

Bump Filter Offset

Bump Filter Offset affects the amount of filtering performed on a texture.
Unlike the Bump Filter attribute (which is a multiplier), Maya adds Bump
Filter Offset to calculated filtering values. This increases the amount of
filtering uniformly.
This attribute can be used to lock Maya’s filtering values. If you want the
Bump Filter Offset value to completely determine the amount of filtering, set
the Bump Filter attribute to 0.

Adjust Edges
This toggle is only available for the Bump 2d utility.

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Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects attributes

Turn on Adjust Edges to remove any artifacts on texture boundaries. These

artifacts may appear when you map textures with the Place 2d Texture’s
Wrap U and Wrap V toggles off. Using Adjust Edges has no effect when you
turn a texture’s Wrap U and Wrap V on.

Provide3d Info
This toggle is available for the Bump 2d utility only.
Provide 3d Info is useful when the input is a network that consists of both
2D and 3D textures. Because Provide 3d Info slows down the bump node, it
is off by default.

Note
If you use a shading network as input, or if you stack bump maps together
and there is one or more 3d texture nodes in the network, you must toggle
Provide 3d Info on or the 3d nodes upstream do not get the information
they need.

To bump map layered textures:

1 Map a 2D texture, such as Cloth, to a material’s bump map.

Middle-mouse drag
texture swatch over
material swatch.

2 Map a 3D texture, such as Marble, to one of the the Cloth Color attributes
(such as V Color).

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Bump 2d and Bump 3d Effects attributes

3 Double-click the bump2d swatch in Hypershade to open the bump2d’s

Attribute Editor and toggle Provide3d Info on.

Maya bump maps both the Cloth and Marble textures.

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Bump 2d

BUMP 2D

The Bump2d utility converts a 2D texture to bump maps.

Middle-mouse button drag the 2D texture swatch over the material swatch
and select bump map from the pop-up menu. Maya creates the bump2d
utility.

Before Bump 2d.

After Bump 2d.

Cascading bump maps

You can also cascade different bump maps on top of one another. To do this,
connect the Out Normal attribute of one bump map to the Normal Camera
attribute of another.

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Bump 2d

To cascade, or stack, bump maps:

In Hypershade:
1 Create two 2D textures and a bump2d utility node.
2 Middle-mouse drag the first 2D texture swatch over the bump2d utility
swatch.

3 Create another bump2d utility node and middle-mouse drag the second 2D
texture swatch over the new bump2d utility swatch.

4 Middle-mouse drag this bump2d utility swatch over the first bump2d utility
swatch.

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Bump 2d

The Connection Editor displays.

5 Select Out Normal from the Output column and the Normal Camera from
the Input column.

6 In Hypershade, middle-mouse drag the first bump 2d utility swatch over the
material swatch to assign both bump maps to the material.

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Bump 2d

Bulge bump map. Fractal bump map. Bulge and Fractal bump map.

Tip
If you bump-map a material that uses environment maps, connect the Out
Normal attribute of the bump node to the Normal Camera attribute of the
Environment texture, as well as to the Normal Camera attribute of the
material. Otherwise, the environment will not reflect correctly in the
bumpy areas.
There is a MEL script that does this for you; after you connect the Out
Color of the environment map to the Reflected Color of the material, type
“cnctBumpProjNormal shader-name” in the command line, replacing shader-
name with the name of your material.

Use the 2d Bump Attributes to control the depth and filtering of the bump
map.

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Bump 2d

2d Bump Attributes
Bump Value The source 2D texture used for the bump map. You can
connect the output of any shading network to Bump
Value to use as the source of the bumps.
Bump Depth Controls how high the bumps appear on the surface.
Increase Bump Depth to make the surface bumpier.
Decrease Bump Depth to make the surface smoother.

Change the Bump Depth

from the default 1.0.

Rendered result with Rendered result with

bump2d default settings new Bump Depth setting.
for a Fractal 2D texture.

A note on the Bump Depth attribute for bump2d

You may wonder what the difference is between the Bump Depth of the
bump map and the Alpha Gain of the texture. You can achieve practically
identical effects by either adjusting the Bump Depth or the Alpha Gain and
Alpha Offset of the texture.
The Bump Depth is determined by reading the alpha gain value of the
texture. Both controls can be useful in complex shading networks where
there may be multiple bumps. The alpha gain attribute lets you individually
adjust the bump for each texture.

To delete a bump2d map:

1 Open the material’s Attribute Editor.
2 Place the cursor over the word Bump Mapping and press the right mouse
button.
3 Select Break Connection from the pop-up menu.

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Bump 3d

BUMP 3D

The Bump3d utility converts a 3D texture to bump maps.

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Bump 3d

Before Bump 3d.

After Bump 3d.

You can also cascade bump maps on top of one another. To do this, connect
the Out Normal attribute of one bump map to the Normal Camera attribute
of another. See Cascading bump maps for details.

Tip
If you bump-map a material that uses environment maps, connect the Out
Normal attribute of the bump node to the Normal Camera attribute of the
Environment texture, as well as to the Normal Camera attribute of the
material. Otherwise, the environment will not reflect correctly in the
bumpy areas.
There is a MEL script that does this for you; after you connect the Out
Color of the environment map to the Reflected Color of the material, type
“cnctBumpProjNormal shader-name” in the command line, replacing shader-
name with the name of your material.

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Bump 3d

You use the 3d Bump Attributes to control the depth and filtering of the
bump map.

3d Bump Attributes
Bump Value The source 3D texture used for the bump map.
You can connect the output of any shading network to
Bump Value to use as the source of the bumps. See also
Provide3d Info.
Bump Depth Controls how high the bumps appear on the surface.
Increase Bump Depth to make the surface bumpier.
Decrease Bump Depth to make the surface smoother.

Change the Bump Depth

from the default 1.0.

Rendered results with

bump3d default settings
for a Marble 3D texture.

To delete a bump3d map:

1 Open the Attribute Editor for the material you used.
2 Place the cursor over the word Bump Mapping and press the right mouse
button.
3 Select Break Connection from the pop-up menu.

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37 PLACE 2D & PLACE 3D
UTILITIES

Use these utilities when you map 2D or 3D textures to your objects and want
to adjust the texture placement.
In this chapter:

2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement

Place 2d Texture

Place 3d Texture

2D TEXTURE LABEL MAPPING AND SURFACE PLACEMENT

When you create a 2D texture, an icon for the Texture Placement Tool
displays in the mini-bar.

Texture Placement Tool icon

Double-click this icon to open the Tool Settings window for the
Texture Placement Tool.
or
Select Shading > NURBS Texture Placement Tool ❐ to open the window.

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2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement

Select either Surface placement or Label mapping (Label mapping is the

default Modify texture mode).
• Label mapping effects the Coverage, Translate Frame, and Rotate Frame 2d
placement attributes.
• Surface placement effects the contents of the label, which are the Repeat UV,
Offset, and Rotate UV attributes.

Texture Placement Tool Settings

You can place 2D textures in one of two ways:
• Change the attribute settings in the place2dTexture’s Attribute Editor.
• Click the Interactive Placement button in the place2dTexture’s Attribute
Editor and middle-mouse drag the manipulator handles to adjust texture
placement.
The following shows the difference between surface placement and label
mapping modes when you use the Interactive Placement manipulator to
adjust texture placement.
The examples show a file texture mapped to a NURBS plane.

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2D texture Label Mapping and Surface Placement

Surface placement
If you select this mode, when you drag the manipulator handles, the
attribute settings for Repeat UV, Offset, and Rotate UV change in the
place2dTexture’s Attribute Editor depending on what you do.

Middle-mouse-drag
the small boxes.

These attribute settings change.

Label mapping
If you select this mode, when you drag the manipulator handles, the
attribute settings for Coverage, Translate, and Rotate Frame change in the
place2dTexture’s Attribute Editor depending on what you do.

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Place 2d Texture

Middle-mouse-drag
the small boxes.

These attribute settings change.

PLACE 2D TEXTURE

Maya automatically creates a Place2dTexture node when you create a 2D

texture. Maya places the 2d texture on the surface using the surface’s UV
coordinates. UV coordinates are directions on a surface, like x, y, z are
directions in modeling space.

File texture mapped to NURBS plane

V=vertical showing 2d placement manipulator.

U=horizontal

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Place 2d Texture

(These coordinates are implicit in NURBS surfaces, but they must be

assigned explicitly to polygonal objects.)
The Place2dTexture utility defines a texture frame, a rectangular area on a
surface (in the UV coordinate space) in which the texture appears. You can
control the position, size, and rotation of this frame on the surface using the
Coverage, Translate Frame, and Rotate Frame attributes. You can also
control how the texture is tiled within the frame using the Repeat UV, Rotate
UV, Offset, Mirror, Stagger, and Wrap U, Wrap V attributes.

2d Texture Placement Attributes

Use the following attributes to adjust 2D texture placement.
The two rows of boxes represent U and V values. For instance, a NURBS
surface has an implicit parameter from 0 to 1, so setting a Coverage of 1 (the
default) means the texture covers the entire surface.
See Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling for details about polygonal UV
coordinates and how to place and re-adjust textures to polygons.
Interactive
Placement Displays the texture placement manipulator in the view.
Either click this button from the Attribute Editor, or click
the Texture Placement Tool icon in the mini bar and select
the surface. Use the middle-mouse button to drag the
manipulator handles.
Coverage Specifies what ratio of the surface the texture map covers.
The valid range is 0 to + infinity for NURBS surfaces.
A value of 1 (the default) covers the entire surface in either
the U or V direction. For example, to cover half the
surface, set the value at 0.5 in both the U and V directions.

U = 1.0, V = 0.5

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Place 2d Texture

Translate Frame The Translate attributes position the texture map on the
surface and move the coverage area across the surface.
The range is from - infinity to + infinity.

Tip
It may be difficult to place a 2D texture using only the manipulator. Use
both the manipulator and the Attribute Editor to get the desired result.

These values
produce these
results.

Rotate Frame Rotates the texture map on the surface. This attribute is
calculated in degrees.

Rotate Frame = -80

Mirror Only applies when the U Repeat or V Repeat attributes are

greater than 1. When the Mirror attribute is on, the repeat
areas are mirrored so rows of images appear as mirrored
images of themselves. This helps to disguise the effect of
seams between repeat areas.

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Place 2d Texture

Default File 2D texture After you select Mirror and

placement. use texture placement manipulator.

Stagger Maya offsets repeats of maps making alternate rows of

repeats offset exactly by half (like brick walls). When off,
the repeats line up horizontally and vertically.

Wrap U, Wrap V Wrap U and Wrap V attributes control whether a map is

repeated in U or V directions, or both U and V.

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Place 2d Texture

U Wrap off. V Wrap off. UV Wrap off.

Hypershade panel view,

UV Wrap off.

Both the Wrap attributes are on by default. Turn these off

to prevent seams from showing on a closed surface, such
as a cylinder or sphere, or to prevent the texture from
duplicating itself when you use Translation and Coverage
attributes to limit the mapping to a very specific surface
area.
Repeat UV Specifies how many copies of the texture map are mapped
within the coverage area along either the U or V surface
directions (depending on the texture).
By default, Maya maps one copy of the texture. Values
greater than 1 result in more copies of the map displayed
in the same coverage area. Values less than 1 result in only
a portion of the map displayed.

Repeat: Repeat:
U=4 U = 10
V=4 V=4

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Place 2d Texture

Offset Used to offset the pattern of the texture map. This can be
particularly useful when fine-tuning the placement of a
pattern on a surface.
U Offset offsets the texture pattern along the U direction
and V Offset along the V direction. Each value ranges
from - infinity to + infinity.
Rotate UV Rotates the texture map on the surface. This attribute is
calculated in degrees. You cannot use the interactive tool
to rotate the surface placement. This slider has a valid
range of 0 to 360 degrees.

Noise UV The 2D noise for U and V. See the following example.

Noise = 0.1 in U and V

Fast When on, Fast checks that the placement is the default
placement and all shading-time evaluations perform less
computations. Turn this attribute on to marginally
improve rendering speed. Fast is off by default.

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Place 3d Texture

PLACE 3D TEXTURE

The Place 3d utility is a transform with special UI. Use the Place3dTexture
utility to place a 3d texture onto an object. See also Interactively placing 3D
textures.

Place 3d Texture manipulators

Maya automatically creates a Place3d Texture placement node and
manipulator when you create a 3d texture. You access a texture’s 3D
placement attributes from the Attribute Editor.
If you cannot see the place3dtexture swatch in Hypershade, select the
texture swatch, then press the Show Upstream Connection button at the top-
right of the Hypershade’s menu bar.
When you create a 3D texture, an icon is also displayed in the Hypergraph
as a separate node so you can select it easily if you have a complex scene.

Interactive and Fit to bbox 3D texture placement

There are three ways to place the 3D texture: interactively, using a bounding
box (bbox), or using Maya’s move, rotate, and scale manipulators.
Click the Interactive Placement or Fit to group bbox button from the
place3dTexture section of the texture’s Attribute Editor. The type of texture
placement object that displays in the view depends on the button you select.
Interactive
Placement Selects the texture placement box and lets you place the
texture interactively. This attribute also displays a 3d
texture placement manipulator in the current view. This

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Place 3d Texture

manipulator is similar to the Rotate, Scale, and Move

manipulator. Use the manipulator handles to interactively
place the texture.
Fit to group
bbox The texture map coincides with the mapped object’s or
set’s bounding box. When selected, a bounding box
displays allowing you to use the manipulator handles to
adjust the texture placement.

Default placement.

Use the manipulator handles to place the texture.

Note
The arrow on the placement object does not reflect the current coordinate
system. There is no “up” for 3D textures as for Environment textures,
therefore the arrow points in the direction of positive Y, regardless of the
coordinate system.

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Place 3d Texture

Interactive Rendered result.

Placement
manipulator.

Fit to group bbox

placement
manipulator. Rendered result.

You can also use the Transform Attributes to adjust the texture placement.
Maya places a 3D texture in relation to the XYZ coordinates of the surface,
using the standard transform functions as with any object.

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38 PROJECTION & STENCIL
UTILITIES

The Projection utility turns any 2d texture into a 3d texture that you can
place on the surface using one of the many available projection types.
With the Stencil utility, you can mask an input image to control how it
covers a surface. You can also use Stencil to overlay different textures and
control what parts of the texture are visible, or to label map a surface.
In this chapter:

Projection

Stencil

PROJECTION

The Projection utility turns any 2d texture into a 3d texture that you can
place on the surface using one of the many available projection types (see
Projection Attributes).

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Projection

To map a Projection utility node to a texture:

1 Create a Projection utility. Select the Projection utility from the Create
Render Node window, the Create menu in the Hypershade window
(Create > Utilities > General > Projection), or use the right mouse button to
select it from the pop-up menu in the Hypershade panel.

2 Double-click the Projection swatch to open its Attribute Editor.

3 In the Projection’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to Image and select a
texture from the Create Render Node window that displays.

4 Adjust the texture attributes if necessary, then create a material.

5 To map the Projection utility to a texture’s attribute, middle-mouse drag the
Projection swatch over the material swatch and select an attribute from the
menu, such as color.

You can now use the Projection Attributes to adjust the texture placement on
the surface.

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Projection

Projection Attributes
Change these attributes to adjust the texture placement on the object.

Interactive Placement
Displays the Projection utility manipulators in the view.

Spherical Proj Type

Tip
Use Fit To BBox to center the manipulator around the object.

Using these manipulators in combination with Maya’s transform tools, you

can orient and position the texture map in three dimensions. The
manipulators for texture mapping are exactly the same as those used for
texturing polygons. See Using Maya: Polygonal Modeling for details.

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Projection

Note
If there is no place3dtexture node, Maya displays the following alert box:

Press the Create a placement node button to create the place3dtexture

node.

Fit To BBox
The texture map coincides with the bounding box of the mapped object or
set. See also Interactive Placement and Interactive and Fit to bbox 3D texture
placement.

Proj Type
Select a projection type from the pull-down menu to display the seven
projection manipulators.
Off Uses no projection type.
Planar Places the texture on a planar surface and projects it onto
the object. Planar is the default Proj Type.

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Projection

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

Spherical Places the texture inside a sphere and projects it onto the
object.

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

Cylindrical Places the texture inside a cylinder and projects it onto the
object.

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Projection

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

Ball Places the texture inside a ball and projects it onto the
object. For example, Maya projects the texture as if a
candy wrapper is pulled around a lollipop. There is one
pinch point to the mapping at the -z-pole, as opposed to
the two pinch points at the +y and -y poles in spherical
and cylindrical mapping.

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

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Projection

Cubic Defines the projection surface as a box. Maya places

images on each plane and projected onto the object.

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

Triplanar Projects the texture by extruding it along the axis defined

by the maximum current direction of the surface normal.
The texture is projected in a manner similar to a fabric
being pulled around an arc.

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Projection

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox Adjusted
manipulator. texture.

Concentric Projects a vertical slice of the texture from the inside to the
outside edge of the voxel. The vertical slice used is
randomly chosen for each voxel.
A voxel is a 3D version of a rectangle—a voxel grid is a
series of 3D cubes that line up to form a bigger cube.

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Projection

Default texture
placement and
Fit to bbox
manipulator. Adjusted
texture.

Perspective Using the Perspective projection node, you can integrate

3D elements with a background image or a live action
sequence.
For example, you may have a background sequence with a
vase on a table you want to blow up. It can be difficult to
produce a parametric or solid texture map that exactly
matches the vase, but if you use the Perspective Proj Type,
you can project the real image of the vase from the
background sequence onto a 3D vase placed in a matching
position. This allows a perfect match of textures from the
camera’s point of view.
Another example could be that you want to place a 3D
flying saucer within an image of a street scene. The image
of the street scene should accurately reflect onto the flying
saucer. You could do this with an environment texture,
but that would require that you have other images
available—if you use Perspective, you can project the
image of the street scene onto stand-in geometry. The
image projected onto the stand-in geometry would
accurately reflect onto the flying saucer.

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Projection

Image
The 2D texture to be used as a map. Click the Map button to the right of the
word Image and select a 2D texture from the Create Render Node window
that displays.

Tip
To undo a mapping, in the Attribute Editor, right-click while the cursor is
over the attribute’s name and select Break Connection from the pop-up
menu.

U angle
Changes the U angle and is used for spherical and cylindrical mapping only.

V angle
Changes the V angle and is used for spherical mapping only.

Camera Projection Attributes

The Camera Projection Attributes control a Projection node when you set the
Proj Type to Perspective.

Link To Camera The Link to Camera pull-down menu contains a list of the
perspective cameras in your scene. Choose the camera you
want to project the image from.

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Projection

Fit Type Controls how the texture fits to the camera when you set
the Proj Type to Perspective.
None—If you choose None, the image is not squeezed or
stretched to fit. One of its axes (determined by the Fit Fill
setting) fits to the film gate, and the other resizes
appropriately.
Match Camera Film Gate—Squeezes the image to fit the
film gate.
Match Camera Resolution—If you use this to match a
backdrop, you should set this to match the setting in the
Image Plane. Usually, the image plane is the same size as
the rendered image. If so, use the Match Camera
Resolution setting.
Fit Fill You can only use Fit Fill if you set Proj Type to
Perspective and Fit Type to None. If the image plane
aspect ratio is not the same as the film gate aspect ratio,
this attribute decides which axis of the image is fit to the
film gate.

Noise Attributes
The Noise Attributes control the amount of fractal noise added to a
Projection node. The following example shows a water texture projected
onto a surface and how you can create a moire pattern by changing these
attributes and adjusting the texture using the manipulator.

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Projection

Amplitude X Scales the amount of fractal noise added to the projection

in the X direction. When Amplitude X and Amplitude Y
are 0, no fractal noise is added. Adding fractal noise
randomizes or blurs the texture.
Amplitude Y Scales the amount of fractal noise added to the projection
in the Y direction. When Amplitude X and Amplitude Y
are 0, no fractal noise is added. Adding fractal noise is a
randomizes or blurs the texture.
Ratio Controls the frequency of the fractal noise. Increase this
value to increase the fineness of detail in the fractal noise.
Ripples Determines how wavy the projected image is when
projected, but controls the scale of the fundamental
frequency of any fractal noise added to the texture.

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Stencil

If you increase Ripples in any direction, the fractal detail

seems to smear out in that direction.

Recursion Depth
Depth Controls how much calculation is done by the texture
when Ripples are added. Fractal noise such as ripples are
created by an iterative mathematical process; as the
process goes over more levels, it produces a more detailed
fractal, but takes longer. Normally, the texture chooses a
level appropriate for the volume rendered. You can use
Depth Min and Depth Max to control the minimum and
maximum amount of calculation.

STENCIL

Use the Stencil utility to map any image input onto an object (such as a
shading network, or a file texture).
With the Stencil utility, you can mask the input image to control how it
covers a surface, or use Stencil to overlay different textures and control what
parts of the texture are visible, or to label map a surface.

To map a Stencil to an object:

1 Create a material, such as Blinn.
2 In the material’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to Color and select
Stencil from the Utilities tab in the Create Render Window that displays.

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Stencil

Click to map the

Stencil utility to the
material’s Color attribute.

Hypershade panel view before

you map a texture to the
Stencil utility.

3 In the Stencil’s Attribute Editor, click the box next to Image and select a
texture, such as the 2D File texture in the following, from the Create Render
Node window that displays.

Click to select a texture.

Hypershade panel view.

4 Assign the material to the object and adjust the Stencil’s attributes to suit
your needs.
See Stencil Attributes next for details about the attributes.

Tip
Open the IPR window to view the rendered result as you adjust attributes.

Stencil Attributes
Image Image is the texture used as a stencil.

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Stencil

Edge Blend Edge Blend controls the sharpness of the edges of the
texture. The default Stencil’s color the color of the edge
blend. Increase this value to blend edges softly.
The following example shows the results after you change both the Default
Color and the Edge Blend attribute default settings.

Rendered result
before Edge Blend
(Leather texture).

Rendered result
after Edge Blend.

Mask Mask represents the transparency of the Stencil utility.

You can use the Mask attribute to control the overall
transparency of the entire texture, or to control the
transparency of select regions of the texture by mapping
another texture to Mask.
For example, this is what happens when you map a File texture to the Mask
attribute.

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Stencil

Map a File texture

to the Mask attribute.
Marble texture as
Stencil Image (rendered result).

Rendered result.

Hypershade panel view

after you map a File texture
to the Mask attribute.

HSV Color Key

Key Masking Key Masking enables or disable Chroma Key masking.
When on, Maya selects the areas in the texture similar to
or equal to the Color Key color and masks them out.
When off, all other key attributes have no effect.

To use the Key Masking attribute:

1 Click to toggle Key Masking on. Since the Color Key attribute’s default color
is black as well as the Stencil’s Default Color, Maya masks out only the areas
that contain the most black.

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Stencil

File texture.

After you toggle

Key Masking on.

2 Change the Color Key color in the Color Chooser (click the color swatch to
open the Color Chooser).
In the following, Maya masks out any color containing red or pink and
replaces it with the Stencil’s Color Balance Default Color.

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Stencil

Positive Key Positive Key inverts the chroma key mask (only the colors
specified in the Color Key and HSV Range are displayed).
The default setting is off (the colors specified in the Color
Key and HSV Range are masked).
Color Key The color to be masked in the texture. The default setting
is black. To mask a range of colors, you must also set the
Hue/Sat/Val Range parameters.
Hue Range The range of hues (H) centered on the Color Key color
which are also masked. The valid range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.5.
Saturation
Range The range of saturations (S) centered on the Color Key
color which are also masked. The valid range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.5.

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Stencil

Value Range The range of values (V) centered on the Color Key color
which are also masked. The valid range is 0 to 1. The
default value is 0.5. If you want to mask out the exact key
color, set V to 0.
Threshold Threshold controls the point at which the color state
changes.

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Stencil

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39 SWITCH UTILITIES

With Switch utilities, several objects can share shading characteristics, and
you can define unique characteristics for each object on an object-by-object
basis. These utilities provide object-specific shading for a surface material,
texture, or texture placement.

Tip
Use a shading switch mode in scenes with multiple objects requiring
similar shading and where you want one or more objects to exhibit unique
characteristics. It can be faster and easier to assign a single shading group
with a Switch utility instead of duplicating a shading network, making
changes to each new network, and assigning each one to individual objects.
It can also be advantageous if you decide to change a characteristic shared
by all objects. In this case, you only need to change one attribute on one
shading node instead of trying to find all the places where the node has
been duplicated.

Note for StudioPaint users

It is common to use Switch utilities when textures have been imported
from StudioPaint since each surface has an individual texture assigned to
it, but surfaces are in the same shading group.

In this chapter:

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Single Shading Switch

Single Shading Switch

Double Shading Switch

Triple Shading Switch

SINGLE SHADING SWITCH

Use the Single Shading Switch utility to switch single float attributes, like a
Bump Value or Bump Depth.

To use the Single Shading Switch utility:

Tip
IPR Render your scene to see the results. Select
Render > IPR Render into New Window and drag a marquee around the
items in the Render View. See Render View and IPR for details about IPR
rendering.

1 Create a material and assign it to all the objects in the scene.

2 Map a texture, such as Granite, to the material’s Bump Mapping attribute.
Adjust the Granite texture’s attributes and 3D placement if necessary.

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Single Shading Switch

Phong Color changed to

resemble old brass in
Color Chooser.

Bump Mapping mapped

to the Granite 3D texture.

Rendered result.

Tip
If Alpha Luminance is on in the Color Balance section of the texture’s
Attribute Editor, the rendered result is much smoother. Alpha Luminance
is on by default.

3 In the Bump 3d’s Attribute Editor, place the cursor over the Bump Depth
attribute, press the right mouse button, and select Create New Texture from
the pop-up menu.

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Single Shading Switch

4 Select the Single Shading Switch utility from the Utilities tab in the Create
Render Node window that displays. The Single Shading Switch’s Attribute
Editor displays.
5 Open the Outliner (Window > Outliner) and use the middle mouse button to
select one of the objects for which you want object-specific bump mapping
and drag it to the inShape column of the Switch Attributes.
6 Click the name displayed in the inShape column then click the Map Item
button (or right-mouse click over the inSingle column and select Map from
the pop-up menu).

The Create Render Node window displays.

7 Select another texture, such as Cloth. The Switch Attributes inSingle column
now displays the Cloth texture. Adjust the Cloth texture’s attributes to get
the look you want. Notice that only one of the object’s bump map changes as
you adjust the attributes.

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Single Shading Switch

8 Now change the Default attribute in the SingleShading Switch’s Attribute

Editor. The bump maps on the other objects in the scene adjust according to
the value you enter.

The following shows how the connections display in Hypershade:

Single Switch Attributes

You use the three buttons in the Triple Shading Switch Attribute Editor to
add, remove, and map textures to your objects. The inShape column contains
the objects you want to map the utility to. The inSingle column contains the
texture, file, or placement node you want to map to the object.

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Single Shading Switch

Add Surfaces
Click this button to determine to which shading groups the Single Shading
Switch utility is connected and connect all the surfaces in those shading
groups to the Single Shading Switch utility.
inShape The inShape column contains the name of the shape (the
object) you want to connect to the Single Shading Switch
utility. You can add as many objects as you want to this
column.
During rendering, when one of the objects in this column
is rendered, Maya sets Output to its corresponding value.
When none of the objects are rendered, Maya sets Output
to equal the Default setting.
inSingle The inSingle column contains the texture, file, or
placement node that you want to map to the object. See
Map Item next.

Remove Item
Removes the currently selected row in the Switch table.

Map Item
You highlight the InShape column then press the Map Item button to select a
texture, file, or placement node to map it to the object.

Tip
You can also place the cursor over the column, press the right mouse
button, and select Map from the pop-up menu).

Default
For Single switches, the Default attribute represents the value of a single
float (such as the Bump Depth for a material’s bump mapping attribute).
When a surface is shaded, if it is not in the inShape column, this value is
used. Shading nodes can also be mapped to the Default.

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Double Shading Switch

DOUBLE SHADING SWITCH

Use the Double Shading Switch utility to switch double float attributes on a
2D texture, like Repeat UV or Translate Frame of a 2d texture placement.

To use the Double Shading Switch utility:

1 Create a material and assign it to your objects. The following shows six
NURBS.
2 Map a 2D texture, such as Cloth, to one of the material’s attributes, such as
Color. Adjust the texture’s attributes if necessary.

3 A place2dTexture node is created when you map a 2D texture. Double-click

the texture’s place2dTexture swatch in Hypershade to open its Attribute
Editor.

4 Place the cursor over the Repeat UV attribute, press the right mouse button,
and select Create New Texture from the pop-up menu.

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Double Shading Switch

5 Select the Double Shading Switch utility from the Utilities tab in the Create
Render Node window. Notice that the spheres seem to have lost their
textures.
This is when you can apply a Default setting in the Switch Attributes Editor.
You can either map a new texture, or change the values for U and V. In the
following the Default value is changed to 1.5 for both U and V.

6 Open the Outliner window (Window > Outliner) and use the middle mouse
button to select the spheres for which you want to adjust the UV texture
placement and drag them to the inShape column of the Switch Attributes.

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Double Shading Switch

Notice only the spheres you move into the inShape column lose their
textures. These are the spheres you want to change.

7 Click to highlight the inShape column then click the Map Item button (or
right-mouse click over the inDouble column and select Map from the pop-up
menu).

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Double Shading Switch

Select the Place 2d Texture utility from the Utilities tab in the Create Render
Node window that displays.
8 The Connection Editor displays. Click the Repeat UV Output node (in the left
column), then the Input[0] In Double Input nodes (in the right column).

Switch Attributes editor

after connections are made.

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Double Shading Switch

Only the spheres you mapped in the Double Shading Switch’s Attribute
Editor update. Click the place2dTexture swatch in Hypershade to open its
Attribute Editor and adjust the Repeat UV values to suit your needs.

Click to open
the 2d Texture
Placement Attributes
Editor and adjust
the Repeat UV
values as needed.

Double Switch Attributes

You use the three buttons in the Double Shading Switch Attribute Editor to
add, remove, and map textures to your objects. The inShape column contains
the objects you want to map the utility to. The inDouble column contains the
texture, file, or placement node you want to map to the object.

Add Surfaces
Click this button to determine to which shading groups the Double Shading
Switch utility is connected and connect all the surfaces in those shading
groups to the Double Shading Switch utility.
inShape The inShape column contains the name of the shape (the
object) you want to connect to the Double Shading Switch
utility. You can add as many objects as you want to this
column.

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Triple Shading Switch

During rendering, when one of the objects in this column

is rendered, Maya sets Output to its corresponding value.
When none of the objects are rendered, Maya sets Output
to equal the Default setting.
inDouble The inDouble column contains the texture, file, or
placement node that you want to map to the object. See
also Map Item.

Remove Item
Removes the currently selected row in the Switch table.

Map Item
You highlight the InShape column then press the Map Item button to select a
texture, file, or placement node to map it to the object.

Tip
You can also place the cursor over the column, press the right mouse
button, and select Map from the pop-up menu).

Default
For Double switches, the Default values represents two float values (such as
the Translate Frame or Repeat UV values of a place2dTexture utility).

TRIPLE SHADING SWITCH

The Triple Shading Switch utility lets you map different textures to several
objects in a scene. You can switch any triple float attribute, such as RGB out
colors.
In the following, a Rock texture is initially mapped to the objects (simple
revolved surfaces that look like bowls) because a grainy texture is required.
The other textures you map onto the selected objects retain this grainy
texture while displaying their specific texture attributes.

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Triple Shading Switch

To use the Triple Shading Switch utility:

1 Create a material, such as Blinn, and assign it to all the objects in the scene.
2 In the Blinn material’s Attribute Editor, map a texture, such as Rock, to the
Color attribute. See the following rendered result.

3 In the Rock texture’s Attribute Editor, place the cursor over one of the Color
attributes, press the right mouse button, and select Create New Texture from
the pop-up menu.

4 From the Create Render Node window that displays, select Triple Shading
Switch from the Utilities > Switch tab. Notice that the bowls lose their initial
color. You can either map another texture to the objects or change the color
using the Default attribute in the Switch Attributes editor.

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Triple Shading Switch

Default color changed.

5 Open the Outliner window (Window > Outliner), and use the middle mouse
button to drag the objects for which you want to display another texture into
the inShape column.

Only four of the bowls are to be texture mapped. The top bowl retains the
Default color setting.

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Triple Shading Switch

6 To map textures to the other bowls, click to highlight the revolved surfaces
in the inShape column then select the Map Item button (or right-mouse click
over the inTriple column and select Map from the pop-up menu).

7 Select another texture for each bowl from the Textures tab in the Create
Render Node window that displays.

The following shows the four bowls and the textures mapped to them in the
Switch Attributes editor.

3
2
1

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Triple Shading Switch

Adjust the textures for each item if you want. See the next example to get a
better idea of how the textures are mapped to the bowls and how the
connections display in Hypershade.

Default
color
1

Default color

1
3

Triple Switch Attributes

You use the three buttons in the Triple Shading Switch Attribute Editor to
add, remove, and map textures to your objects. The inShape column contains
the objects you want to map the utility to. The inTriple column contains the
texture, file, or placement node you want to map to the object.

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Triple Shading Switch

Add Surfaces
Click this button to determine to which shading groups the Triple Shading
Switch utility is connected and connect all the surfaces in those shading
groups to the Triple Shading Switch utility.
inShape The inShape column contains name of the shape (the
object) you want to connect to the Triple Shading Switch
utility. You can add as many objects as you want to this
column.
During rendering, when one of the objects in this column
is rendered, Maya sets Output to its corresponding value.
When none of the objects are rendered, Maya sets Output
to equal the Default setting.
inTriple The inTriple column contains the texture, file, or
placement node that you want to map to the object. See
also Map Item.

Remove Item
Removes the currently selected row in the Switch table.

Map Item
You highlight the InShape column then press the Map Item button to select a
texture, file, or placement node to map it to the object.

Tip
You can also place the cursor over the column, press the right mouse
button, and select Map from the pop-up menu).

Default
For Triple switches, the Default attribute represents the RGB channels of a
color.
You can either change the color from the Color Chooser (simply click the
Default color bar to open the Color Chooser), or map a texture to the Default
color.

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Triple Shading Switch

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40 IMAGE PLANES

An image plane is a two dimensional backdrop. You can add one or several
image planes to any camera. You can assign a texture or image file to an
image plane to create a background for your scene.
The Image Plane Attributes control the appearance and placement of an
image plane.
In this chapter:

Quick overview: Creating image planes

Image Plane Attributes

Placement attributes

Placement Extras

QUICK OVERVIEW: CREATING IMAGE PLANES

The following example shows you how to create a simple image plane. For
detailed information on image planes, see “Background” in Using Maya:
Rendering.

To create an image plane:

1 Open the Camera’s Attribute Editor. Select View > Camera Attribute Editor
from the view panel’s menu.

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Quick overview: Creating image planes

2 Open the Environment section of the Attribute Editor and press the Create
button.
3 A placement icon displays in either the current view or all views, depending
on the Display mode you set (in all views by default), and the Image Plane
Attribute Editor opens.

4 Select an Image File or Texture from the Type pull-down menu, then click
the folder icon next to Image Name to load an image plane into the view.

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Quick overview: Creating image planes

Click to open
your directories and
select an image file.

See Image Plane Attributes next for details about adjusting the Image Plane
attributes.

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Image Plane Attributes

IMAGE PLANE ATTRIBUTES

Display
If you select looking through camera, the image plane only displays in the
camera view in which the image plane is connected.
If set to in all views, the image plane displays in all views. Display is set to
in all views by default.

Display Mode

Controls how the image plane displays in views and in the rendered image.
The default setting is RGBA.
None No display in views or rendered image.
Outline A rectangle with diagonal lines in views; full 24 bit color
image and transparency (alpha) in rendered image.

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Image Plane Attributes

RGB Full 24 bit color image in views; full 24 bit color image and
transparency (alpha) in rendered image.
RGBA Full 24 bit color image and transparency (alpha) in views
and rendered image. (If the image file does not contain an
alpha channel, set Display Mode to RGB instead of
RGBA.)

Luminance Gray-scale image in views; gray-scale image and

transparency (alpha) in rendered image.

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Image Plane Attributes

Alpha Transparency (alpha) in views and rendered image.

Color Gain
A scaling factor applied to all colors in the image plane. Maya multiplies all
colors in the image plane by the Color Gain color. For example, you can
color correct an image plane that appears too green by setting the Color Gain
color to a shade of blue. The default color is white (no effect).

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Image Plane Attributes

Click the color swatch

next to Color Gain to
open the Color Chooser
and select a color.

Color Offset
An offset factor applied to all colors in the image plane. Maya adds the Color
Offset color to all colors in the image plane. For example, you can brighten
an image plane that appears too dark by dragging the slider to set the Color
Offset color to a shade of grey. The default color is black (no effect).

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Image Plane Attributes

Alpha Gain
A scaling factor applied to the alpha channel (transparency) of the image
plane. Maya multiplies all alpha values in the image plane by the Alpha
Gain value. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1 (no effect).

Image Plane
Attached to
Camera Maya attaches the image plane to the camera. When you
move the camera, the image plane also moves. Use this
setting when you want to use the image plane as a
reference for animating objects in your scene (such as
motion matching or rotoscoping), or if you plan to render
the image plane as a background.
Fixed Maya fixes the image plane in space. When you move the
camera, the image plane does not move. Use this setting
when you want to use the image plane as a reference for
modeling objects in your scene.
The default setting is Attached to Camera for perspective
cameras, and Fixed for orthographic cameras.
If set to Fixed, you can adjust the image plane using the
Placement Extras attributes.

Type
Image File If set to Image File, the image plane uses the image file
assigned to Image Name.
Texture If set to Texture, the image plane uses the texture assigned
to Texture. The default setting is Image File.

Image Name
The path and name of the image file or movie file that the image plane uses
when Type is Image File. Image files can be in any Maya-supported image
file format.
See Image Format for more information.
Movie files can any of the following formats:

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Placement attributes

SGI Windows NT

SGI (uncompressed or using RLE, RLE24, JPEG, MVC1, AVI

or MVC2 compression)
QuickTime (uncompressed or using Quicktime Video,
Quicktime Animation, or Indeo compression)

Use Frame
Extension If off, the image plane uses the single image file indicated
by Image Name (the file name and extension).
If on, at each frame the image plane uses the single image
file indicated by Image Name (the file name) and Frame
Extension (the file extension number). Use Frame
Extension is off by default.
Frame
Extension If Use Frame Extension is on, the image plane uses the
single image file indicated by Image Name (the file name)
and Frame Extension (the file extension number). By
setting keys for Frame Extension, you can use a sequence
of image files or a movie file as an animated image plane.
Texture The texture the image plane uses when Type is Texture. A
texture assigned to an image plane does not display in the
views.

PLACEMENT ATTRIBUTES
Use the Placement attributes to position an image plane relative to the
camera.

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Placement attributes

Fit

Controls the size of the image plane relative to the film gate and resolution
gate. You can choose a Fit option from the pull-down menu. Best is the
default Fit.
Fit is not available if Image Plane is Fixed. The default setting is Best.
See also Display Film Gate and Display Resolution for more details.
Fill By default, or if you select Fit to Film Gate, the image
plane fills the film gate.

If you select Fit to Resolution Gate, the image plane fills

the resolution gate.

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Placement attributes

The aspect ratio of the image on the image plane is

maintained. If the aspect ratios of the image and the film
gate (or resolution gate) are different, the image extends
beyond the film gate (or resolution gate) and is cropped.
Best By default, or if you select Fit to Film Gate, the image
plane fits horizontally or vertically within the film gate

If you select Fit to Resolution Gate, the image plane fits

horizontally or vertically within the resolution gate.

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Placement attributes

The aspect ratio of the image on the image plane is

maintained. If the aspect ratios of the image and the film
gate (or resolution gate) are different, the film gate (or
resolution gate) extends beyond the edge of the image.
Horizontal By default, or if you select Fit to Film Gate, the image
plane fits horizontally within the film gate.

If you select Fit to Resolution Gate, the image plane fits

horizontally within the resolution gate.

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Placement attributes

The aspect ratio of the image on the image plane is

maintained. If the aspect ratios of the image and the film
gate (or resolution gate) are different, the image extends
vertically beyond the film gate (or resolution gate) and can
be cropped.
Vertical By default, or if you select Fit to Film Gate, the image
plane fits vertically within the film gate.

If you select Fit to Resolution Gate, the image plane fits

vertically within the resolution gate.

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Placement attributes

The aspect ratio of the image on the image plane is

maintained. If the aspect ratios of the image and the film
gate (or resolution gate) are different, the image extends
horizontally beyond the film gate (or resolution gate) and
can be cropped.
To Size By default, or if you select Fit to Film Gate, the image
plane fills the film gate.

If you select Fit to Resolution Gate, the image plane fills

the resolution gate.

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Placement attributes

The aspect ratio of the image on the image plane is not

maintained. If the aspect ratios of the image and the film
gate (or resolution gate) are different, the image stretches
to fit within the film gate (or resolution gate).

Fit to Resolution Gate

Scales the image plane so that it is the same size as the resolution gate of the
camera. Fit to Resolution Gate has no effect if Image Plane is Fixed.
See also Display Film Gate and Display Resolution for more details.

Fit to Film Gate

Scales the image plane so that it is the same size as the film gate of the
camera. Fit to Film Gate has no effect if Image Plane is Fixed.
See also Display Film Gate and Display Resolution for more details.

Size
The height and width of the image plane, measured in inches. If the image
plane is Fit to Film Gate, the Size of the image plane is the same as the
Camera Aperture. Size is not available if Image Plane is Fixed.

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Placement attributes

Squeeze Correction
Scales the image plane horizontally when Fit is To Size. If the Pixel Aspect
Ratio for your scene is different than the pixel aspect ratio of the image
plane’s image file, adjust the Squeeze Correction attribute to compensate for
any distortion. The default value is 0.

Offset
Offsets the image plane horizontally and vertically relative to the film gate.
Offset is not available if Image Plane is Fixed. Offset is measured in
millimeters. The default values are both 0.

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Placement Extras

Depth
The distance of the image plane from the camera, measured in your scene’s
linear working unit. Depth is not available if Image Plane is Fixed.

PLACEMENT EXTRAS
The Placement Extras attributes control which portion of an image file is
visible on the image plane. If Image Plane is Fixed, the Placement Extras
attributes also control the position and size of the image plane.

Coverage X, Coverage Y
The number of horizontal and vertical pixels of the image file displayed on
the image plane. The default values for Coverage X and Coverage Y are the
horizontal and vertical resolution of the image file. By decreasing these
values, you can limit the portion of the image file that is displayed.

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Placement Extras

Coverage Origin X, Coverage Origin Y

The horizontal and vertical value of the pixel in the image file displayed in
the bottom left corner of the image plane. By changing the Coverage Origin
X and Coverage Origin Y values, you can scale and offset the image file on
the image plane. The default values are both 0.

Coverage example
The following shows what happens to the image plane placement when you
adjust these attributes:

Defaults
Changed.

Defaults.

Center
The position of the center of the image plane (measured in your scene’s
linear working unit). Center is not available if Image Plane is Attached to
Camera.

Width, Height
The width and height of the image plane (measured in your scene’s linear
working unit). Width and Height are not available if Image Plane is
Attached to Camera.

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Placement Extras

Center, Width, and Height example

The following shows what happens to the image plane placement when you
adjust these attributes:

Default settings.

All default settings changed.

Leave all default settings,

but change Y and Z to
5.0 and 8.0.

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41 POST PROCESS UTILITIES

Optical FX are glows, halos, or lens flares produced when a light shines
directly into the camera. You can add an optical FX to any light.
In this chapter:

Quick Overview: Creating optical effects

Shader Glow attributes

Optical FX Attributes

Glow Attributes

Halo Attributes

Lens Flare Attributes

Noise Attributes

QUICK OVERVIEW: CREATING OPTICAL EFFECTS

The following shows how to create simple optical effects. For detailed
information on optical effects, see also “Optical light effects” and “Surfaces
that glow” in Using Maya: Rendering.

Tip
You will not see the results in the view. To see the results, open the IPR
render view (Render > IPR Render into New Window) and drag a marquee
around the rendered object in the IPR window.

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Quick Overview: Creating optical effects

1 Create a light in your scene for which you want to apply optical effects and
position it to your liking. The following scene contains two directional lights
and a point light. The point light is the one that will be used for optical
effects.

2 In the Point light’s Attribute Editor, map the Optical FX utility to one of the
light’s attributes, such as Color. Click the box beside Color then select
Optical F X from the Glow Utilities tab in the Create Render Node window
that displays.

Click to map the

Optical FX utility.

Hypershade panel. Default Optical FX Rendered result when

rendered result. attributes adjusted.

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Quick Overview: Creating optical effects

You can now assign specific optical effects, using the Optical FX, Glow,
Halo, and Lens Flare attributes.

Re-positioning an optical light effect

There may be times when you want to move the glow or halo you have
attached to a light, or include more than one optical effect in the scene.
Follow these steps to re-position the optical effect anywhere in your scene.

To re-position an Optical FX utility node:

1 Map the Optical FX utility to a light’s Color.

Default optical effect position.

2 Create a Locator and place it anywhere in the scene (Create > Locator).

3 Open the Connection Editor

(Window > General Editors > Connection Editor.

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Quick Overview: Creating optical effects

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 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.

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.

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Quick Overview: Creating optical effects

Default optical effect position.

Results when you move the locator

connected to the light’s optical effect.

You can create

multiple optical effects
using this method.

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Shader Glow attributes

SHADER GLOW ATTRIBUTES

You can use the Shader Glow node for environment glows. These attributes
determine the type of effect achieved when a shader’s Glow Intensity is non-
zero.

To connect the Shader Glow node to a material:

Middle-mouse-drag the Shader Glow swatch from Visor onto the material
swatch in Hypershade. The Connection Editor displays. Connect the Shader
Glow attributes you want to use from the left side of the editor to the
attributes of the material on the right side.

To open the Shader Glow Attribute Editor:

Double-click the Shader Glow swatch located in the Post Process folder in
Visor’s Rendering section.
These attributes are mostly the same as the attributes you find in the
Attribute Editor for a Glow utility. The following describes extra Shader
Glow attributes.
See Optical FX Attributes, Glow Attributes, and Halo Attributes for other
attribute descriptions.

Common Shader Glow Attributes

Quality Use the slider to improve the quality of the post process
optical effect. The default setting is 0.5.
Auto Exposure Evaluates the rendered result, and based on the maximum
intensity found, automatically computes the intensity/
exposure adjustment to the shader glows. The default
setting is on.

Shader glow tip

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 setting.
To normalize the scene’s glow and halo effects:

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Shader Glow attributes

To get the right glow and halo intensities using Shader Glow:
1 Turn on Auto Exposure in the Shader Glow’s Attribute Editor (open the
Shader Glow Attribute Editor by double-clicking the Shader Glow swatch
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.
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 Maya uses if Auto Exposure 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 Automatic Exposure.
6 Render the scene again.

Glow Attributes
Glow
Eccentricity Controls the Shader Glow’s focus. The slider range is 0
(concentrated glow, fast decay) to 1 (ball-like glow). The
default value is 0.1. Increase this value to avoid very small
glow sources from vanishing when rendering.
The degree to which a glow effect can be focused is
limited. For very low values of Eccentricity (0.01), increase
the Quality value.
Glow Ring
Intensity This value acts as a multiplier to the glow colors for
Shader Glow. It also eliminates flickering if Auto
Exposure is on.The default value is 0.
Glow Ring
Frequency Controls the Shader Glow’s smoothness and Halo Radial
Noise. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.

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Shader Glow attributes

Glow Filter
Width Controls the Shader Glow’s size. Negative values can have
odd but useful effects. The default value is 0.05.

Halo Attributes
Halo
Eccentricity Controls the halo’s focus. The slider range is 0
(concentrated halo, fast decay) to 1 (ball-like halo). The
default value is 0.1.
The degree to which a halo effect can be focused is
limited. For very low values of Eccentricity (0.01), increase
the Quality value.
Halo Radial
Noise Controls the halo’s radial noise smoothness. This attribute
randomizes the spread of the halo to simulate starburst
effects and eyelashes refracting light. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default value is 0.
Negative values produce thicker noise. Use the Halo Ring
Frequency attribute to control the smoothness of this
effect. The slider range is 0 to 5, but you can enter values
up to infinity. The default value is 0.0.
Halo Star Level Simulates camera star filter effects. Use the Star Points
attribute to set the number of points on the star. Use the
Rotation attribute to rotate the star. The slider range is 0 to
4. The default value is 0.
The Halo Star Level attribute is often effective when
combined with a high Halo Radial Noise value.
Halo Opacity Controls the amount the light’s halo obscures objects.
Think of opacity as the opposite of transparency. The
slider range is 0 to 0.5. The default value is 0.
Halo Ring
Intensity Controls the brightness of shader halos. The Halo
Intensity value acts as a scaling factor applied to Halo
Color. The slider range is 0 to 10. The default value is 0.1.

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Optical FX Attributes

Halo Ring
Frequency Use the Halo Ring Frequency attribute value to adjust the
smoothness smoothness of the Halo Radial Noise. The
default value is 0.5.
Halo Filter Width Controls the size of the shader halo effect. This value also
controls the size of the glow if the Glow Type is Rim Halo.
Halo size is generally larger than glow size when the Halo
Filter Width and Glow Filter Width values are the same.
The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.

Fixing shader glow flicker

Sometimes if objects are too small, you may experience flickering glows. If
the above procedure does not work to eliminate this problem:

in the Attribute Spread Sheet:

• Open the Attribute Spread Sheet
(Window > General Editors > Attribute Spread Sheet).
• Select the object or objects.
• Click the Render tab.
• Scroll to Geometry Antialiasing Override and turn it on (type on).
• Increase the Antialiasing Level.

in the object’s Attribute Editor:

• Select the object or objects.
• Open the object’s Attribute Editor’s Render Stats section.
• Turn on Geometry Antialiasing Override.
• Increase the Antialiasing Level (the maximum is 5).

OPTICAL FX ATTRIBUTES
The Optical FX Attributes control the appearance of glows, halos, and lens
flares.
Active Toggles the optical effect on or off. Active is on by default.

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Optical FX Attributes

Lens Flare Simulates a bright light source illuminating the surfaces of

a camera’s lens. The flare intensity is determined by the
Flare Intensity value. The size of the flare circles is relative
to the field of view of the camera. Lens Flare is off by
default. See also Lens Flare Attributes for descriptions and
examples.

Glow Type
The type of glow the light produces when viewed directly.

A light does not need glow to illuminate objects when the scene is rendered;
however a light needs glow to be visible by the camera when the scene is
rendered. The default Glow Type is Linear.
The following examples show a yellow glow (Glow Color) and all other
Glow Attributes left at the default settings.
None No glow displays.
Linear Glow slowly diminishes from the center of the light.

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Optical FX Attributes

Exponential Glow quickly diminishes from the center of the light.

Ball Glow diminishes faster towards a distance (from the light

center) specified by the Glow Spread value.

Lens Flare Simulates a bright light source illuminating the surfaces of

several camera lenses.

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Optical FX Attributes

Rim Halo Forms a circular ring with a soft central glow. The size of
the ring is determined by the Halo Spread value (in this
example, 0.75).

Halo Type
The type of halo the light produces when viewed directly. Halo is similar to
Glow, except that the fall off is more gradual and different fall off types are
available. The default setting is None.

The following examples show the different Halo types with the default
Linear Glow Type, a red Halo Color, and the Halo Spread set to 0.75.
None No halo displays.
Linear Halo slowly diminishes from the center of the light.

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Optical FX Attributes

Exponential Halo quickly diminishes from the center of the light.

Ball Halo diminishes faster towards a distance (from the light

center) specified by the Halo Spread value.

Lens Flare Simulates a bright light source illuminating the surfaces of

several camera lenses.

Rim Halo Forms a circular ring with a soft central glow. The size of
the ring is determined by the Halo Spread value.

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Optical FX Attributes

Radial
Frequency Controls the smoothness of glow radial noise (see Glow
Radial Noise). The slider range is 0 to 5, but you can enter
values up to infinity. The default value is 0.5.
Star Points Represents the number of points on glow star filter effects
(see Glow Star Level). The following examples show a Star
Points value of 20 and a Star Points value of 1 which
produces a comet-like effect. Use the Rotation attribute to
adjust the comet’s tail.

The slider range is 0 to 10 but you can enter values up to

infinity. The default value is 4.

Note
A non-integer Star Points value could render with a seam or hard line at
the top of a star effect.

Rotation Rotates glow noise and star effects (Glow Noise, Glow
Radial Noise, and Glow Star Level) about the center of the
light. The slider range is 0 to 360 (degrees) but you can
enter values up to infinity. The default value is 0.

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Glow Attributes

Ignore Light When on, the light glow effect renders, even when the
light is obscured by an object.

GLOW ATTRIBUTES
Glow Color The color of the light’s glow. Click the color swatch to
open the Color Chooser and select a color if desired.The
default setting is white.
Glow Intensity Controls the glow brightness. As the Glow Intensity value
increases, so does the apparent size of the glow effect. A
negative Glow Intensity value subtracts from other glows.
(The light’s Decay Rate controls how the glow brightness
decreases with distance.) The slider range is 0 to 10, but
you can enter values up to infinity. The default value is 1.
Glow Spread Controls the size of the glow effect. Negative values can
have odd but sometimes useful effects. The slider range is
0 to 5. The default value is 1.
Glow Noise Controls the strength of two-dimensional noise applied to
the glow. The noise is generated on a plane centered at the
location of the light and always oriented towards the
camera. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.
To create the illusion of illuminated smoke around a
glowing light source, set the Glow Noise value to about
0.5 and slowly animate the Noise Uoffset and Noise
Voffset values. The smoke appears to slowly drift by the
light.

Tip
Generally, fog illumination is better than glow if you want to create smoke
and fire effects because fog is a 3D effect (for example, glow noise cannot
be occluded by objects).

The following example shows how you can create a moody night sky simply
by adjusting a few Glow Attributes. The Optical FX attributes used in this
example are as follows:

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Glow Attributes

• Glow Type = Exponential

• Radial Frequency = 0
• Star Points= 2
• Rotation = 300

You can change these

attributes to produce
rendered images
such as these.

Map the Optical FX utility Add a bump-mapped sphere

to a light’s color and change the to create a realistic-looking
Glow Attributes to produce this effect. moonscape.

Glow Radial
Noise Randomizes the spread of the glow to simulate starburst
effects and eyelashes refracting light. The slider range is 0
to 1. The default value is 0.
Negative values of Glow Radial Noise produce thicker
noise. Use the Radial Frequency attribute to control the
smoothness of this effect.
Glow Star Level Simulates camera star filter effects. The slider range is 0 to
4. The default value is 0. Use the Star Points attribute to
set the number of points on the star. Use the Rotation
attribute to rotate the star.

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Halo Attributes

Glow Opacity Controls the amount the light’s glow obscures objects.
Think of opacity as the opposite of transparency. The
slider range is 0 to 0.5. The default value is 0.

HALO ATTRIBUTES
Halo Color The color of the halo. Click the color swatch to open the
Color Chooser and select another color if desired. The
default setting is white.
Halo Intensity Controls the halo brightness. As the Halo Intensity value
increases, so does the apparent size of the halo effect. (The
light’s Decay Rate controls how halo brightness decreases
with distance.) The slider range is 0 to 5. The default value
is 1.
Halo Spread Controls the size of the halo effect. Halo size is generally
larger than glow size when the Halo Spread and Glow
Spread values are the same. The slider range is 0 to 5. The
default value is 1.

LENS FLARE ATTRIBUTES

Flare Color The color of the lens flare circles. Click the color swatch
and select another color from the Color Chooser if desired.
The default color is white.
Flare Intensity Controls the flare effect’s brightness. (The light’s Decay
Rate controls how the lens flare brightness decreases with
distance.) The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to
5. The default value is 1.
Flare Num
Circles Represents the number of circles in the lens flare effect.
The valid range is 0 to ∞. The slider range is 0 to 30. The
default value is 20.
If the Flare Num Circles value is very large, rendering
times may be long, especially if the Flare Min Size and
Flare Max Size values are large and the Flare Color is
textured.

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Lens Flare Attributes

Flare Min Size,

Flare Max Size The size of the circles is randomized between these two
values. The valid range is -∞ to ∞. The slider range is 0 to
5. The default value is 0.1 for Flare Min Size and 1 for
Flare Max Size.
Hexagon Flare Produces hexagonal-shaped flare elements (instead of
circles).

Flare Col
Spread Controls the hue amount of individual circles randomized
about the Flare Color. The Flare Col Spread value has no
effect if the Flare Color is not at least partially saturated
(for example, not white or grey). The slider range is 0 to 1.
The default value is 0.5.
Flare Focus Controls the circle edge sharpness. The valid range is 0
(very blurry) to 1 (totally sharp). The default value is 0.6.
Flare Vertical,
Flare Horizontal Controls the axis of the flare effect relative to the center of
the image. If the light source moves, the flare will appear
to rotate through this point. The slider range is -1 to 1. The
default value is 1.
Flare Length Controls the flare effect length relative to the light
location. If Flare Length is small, all circles overlap the
light. If Flare Length is large, the circles spread out across
the image. The Flare Length value has no effect if the Flare
Vertical and Flare Horizontal values are both 0. The slider
range is 0 to 1. The default value is 1.

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Lens Flare Attributes

Noise Attributes
See also Glow Noise.
Noise Uscale,
Noise Vscale Scales glow noise in the horizontal (Noise Uscale) and
vertical (Noise Vscale) directions. The slider range is 0 to
5. The default value is 1.

Tip
You can use Noise Uscale and Noise Vscale to create layered fog or tall
flames. Animate the Noise Uscale and Noise Vscale values from high to
low values to make the noise appear to fly apart like an explosion.

Noise Uoffset,
Noise Voffset Offsets glow noise in the horizontal (Noise Uoffset) and
vertical (Noise Voffset) directions. For example, you can
animate the Noise Uoffset and Noise Voffset values to
simulate smoke, rain, or snow moving past a light. Noise
will repeat after an offset of 1. The slider range is 0 to 1.
The default value is 1 for Noise Uoffset and 0.5 for Noise
Voffset.
Noise Threshold The cutoff value for the noise. As the Noise Threshold
value approaches 0, glow noise breaks up into smaller
patches. The slider range is 0 to 1. The default value is 0.5.

Tip
You can use Threshold to simulate globular clusters, ejecta from
explosions, snow and rain effects, especially when the Noise Uscale and
Noise Vscale values are high. You can also use it to make flames and
smoke more patchy.

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Lens Flare Attributes

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 INDEX
Symbols Alias Pix format 54
All Planes option
Animation Options
attributes 234
> button Render View window 50 Anisotropic 342

ANIMATION
in Connection Editor 19 All Types option Anisotropic Reflectivity 347
Multilister 157 Anti-alias
Alpha Gain attribute 427, 459 Convert to File Texture 185
Numerics Image Plane Attributes 640 Anti-alias attribute 122
Alpha is Luminance Anti-Alias Polygons
2D Bump Attributes 579
attribute 428, 460 attribute 105
2D Textures 425
Alpha Offset attribute 427, 459 Antialiasing Level
Placement Attributes 587
Alpha Source attribute 101 Render Stats 200
placing 453, 584, 587
Altitude attribute 518 Antialiasing Level attribute 13
3D Blur Visib attribute 69
Always Filter option Anti-aliasing Quality
3D Bump Attributes 582
Multilister 156 attributes 66
3D motion blur
Always Sort option Apply Current to All option 289
description 203
Multilister 154 Apply Filter option
3D Texture Placement
Ambient Color attribute 327 Multilister 156
Attributes 592
Ambient Light 306 Area Light 304
3D Textures 457
placing 487 Ambient Shade attribute 301 as Columns option
Amplitude attribute Multilister 154
Cloud Attributes 469 as Icons option
A Fractal Attributes 441
Mountain Attributes 443
Multilister 154
as Large Icons option
Active attribute 661 Noise Attributes 478 Multilister 154
Add Surfaces attribute 620, 625, Solid Fractal Attributes 481 as List option
631 Amplitude X attribute Multilister 154
Adjust Edges attribute 572 Noise Attributes 606 as Medium Icons option
Age Wood Attributes 486 Multilister 154
wood attribute 485 Amplitude Y attribute As projection 2D texture option
Aim Vector Noise Attributes 606 Create Render Node
constraint for cameras 222 Wood Attributes 486 window 143, 415
Air Color 379 Angle as Small Icons option
Air Decay 380 Anisotropic 343 Multilister 154
Air Density 379 Angle of View 235 As stencil 2D texture option
Air Density attribute 515 Angle of View attribute 213 Create Render Node
Animated attribute 442 window 143, 416
Air Light Scatter 380
animating aspect ratio
Air Max Height 380
cameras 215 image 62
Air Min Height 379
Air Opacity 379

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INDEX

Assign option AutoSave on Exit Barn Doors attribute 303

Multlister 148 Paint Textures Tool 423 Basic option
Assign Shading Group 269 AutoSave on Stroke Multilister 156
Assign Textures Paint Textures Tool 423 Batch Render
Paint Textures Tool Average attribute cancel 260
button 422 Plus-Minus-Average show 260
Atmospheric utility 545 Batch Render (Save) 259
Physical Fog 376 AVI image format 54 Batch Render window 89
Atmospheric Settings Azimuth Beauty
attributes 515 attribute 514 Render Pass option 175
Attribute Editor option azimuth Best Guess Based on Screen Size
Hypershade 124 description 248 mode 192
Multilister 155 Azimuth Elevation Bias attribute 75, 566
Attribute Spread Sheet 10 tool description 248 bitmap format 57
Attribute Spread Sheet option Black Hole 331
Hypershade 124
Blend attribute
Multilister 155 B Effects attributes, 3D
attributes textures 465
animating 10 Back attribute
Environment Cube Blend Color
painting 422
Attributes 510 attributes 563
setting 10
Projection Geometry utility 561
Attributes option
attributes 507 Blend Modes
Hardware Render Buffer 93
Backface Culling Darken 420
Auto Exposure Default 420
description, polygons 209
Shader Glow attribute 658 Lighten 420
full, polygons 209
Auto Render Clip Plane hard, polygons 209 Multiply 420
attribute 214 modes, for polygons 209 Overlay 420
Auto Render Region option option 288 Paint Textures Tool 420
Render View window 49 vertex display, polygons 208 Screen 420
Auto Resize option wire, polygons 209 Blend Range attribute 375
Render View window 48 Background Color attribute Blender attribute 563
Auto-connect option Display Options Blinn 348
Connection Editor 18 attributes 107 Blob Map attribute 386
Autofly Environment attributes 244 Blue Plane option
camera eye 216 Bake Shading Group Lighting Render View window 50
camera up vector 216 Convert to File Texture 185 Blur attribute 514
camera view 216 Bake Shading Group Lighting Blur By Frame attribute 77
Automatic Exposure attribute 122
Blur Length attribute 77
for glow 659 Balance attribute 471
Blur Sharpness attribute 78
Ball projection 600

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 INDEX

Bookmarks 278 Bump Mapping attribute 328, camera

borders 388 Aim Vector constraint 222
display, changing 209 Bump Value attribute 579, 582 camera eye, what is 216
Both Fields, Interlaced 64 By Cycle Extension attribute 440 camera up vector, what
By Frame attribute 100 is 216
Both Fields, Separate 64
Image File Output camera view, what is 216
Bottom attribute
attributes 53 Constraint Properties 222
Environment Cube
Image Output Files Display Connector check
Attributes 510
attributes 100 box 223
Projection Geometry
Renumber Frames Distance Between constraint
attributes 507
attributes 76 value 222
Bottom Barn Door attribute 304 eye 216
Boundary attribute 444 Autofly 216
Bounding Box
Dolly camera setting 250
C multi-node lookAt
attributes 221
Bounding Box option Calculation Quality Object Rotation Up, World
Maya Shading menu 286 attributes 518 Up Type 221
Bounding Box Scale Object Up 221
Displacement Map 206 one-node cameras 218
for displacment maps 398 Scene Up, World Up
Type 221
Bounding Box Scale attribute 15
select 276
Box Max attribute 453
Twist 222
Box Min attribute 453 up vector 216
Box Zoom Options 253 Autofly 216
Break button Up Vector constraint 223
Connection Editor 20 Up Vector Properties 221
Break Light Links 262 Vector, World Up Type 222
Bright Spread attribute 435 view 216
Brownian Attributes 468 Autofly 216
World Up Type 221
Brownian texture 468
World Up Vector 222
attributes 468
Camera Aperture 239
Built-in Noise 387
Camera attribute
Bulge Attributes 433
Render Globals 57
Bulge texture 433
Camera Attribute Editor option
attributes 433
Maya View menu 283
Bump 2d utility 575
Camera Attributes 234, 235
Bump 3d utility 580
Camera Icons attribute 106
Bump Depth attribute 579, 582
Camera option
Bump Filter attribute 572 Maya Create menu 211
Bump Filter Offset attribute 572

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INDEX

camera origin Center attribute clipping planes

manipulator 225 Placement Extras manipulator 226
Camera projection 603 attributes 650 Clipping Planes attributes 232
Camera Projection Wood Attributes 486 Close IPR File
Attributes 604 Center of Interest Render View window 42
Camera Properties Dolly camera setting 250 Close option
attributes 228 Center of interest Hardware Render Buffer 92
Camera Scale attribute 214 manipulator 225 Closest Visible Depth
Camera Settings option Tumble camera setting 252 Depth Type 243
Maya View menu 278 Center of Interest attribute 246 Cloth Attributes 434
Camera Tools option Center Thresh attribute 470 Cloth texture 434
Maya View menu 283 Channel Box 10 Cloud Attributes
cameras 211 Channel1 attribute cloud texture 469
animating 215 Crater Attributes 471 environment sky texture 517
azimuth 248 Stucco Attributes 483 Cloud Brightness attribute 517
elevation 248 Channel2 attribute Cloud Samples attribute 519
frustum 226 Crater Attributes 471
Cloud Texture 469
icons 223 Stucco Attributes 483
attribute 517
look at point 219 Channel3 attribute 471
Collision Icons attribute 106
manipulators 225 Channels attribute 57
one-node 215 Color
Checker Attributes 433 Layered Shader 353
pitch 253
Checker texture 433 Render Pass option 175
three-node 215
two-node 215 Chord Height attribute 193 Color attribute
yaw 253 Chord Height Ratio Common Material
Cameras option Use 194 Attributes 327
Multilister 157 Chord Height Ratio Environment Fog
attribute 194 Attributes 374
Cancel Batch Render 260
chord length mapping Light Attributes 299
Cast Shadows attribute 301 Light Fog Attributes 384
and Fix Texture Warp 15
Casts Shadows Particle Cloud
Render Stats 198 Cineon format 54
Attributes 385
Casts Shadows attribute Clamp Color Attributes 564
Color Balance attributes 427,
Render Stats attributes 12 Clamp utility 563 459
Cell Color attribute 476 Clear All button Color Based Transparency
Cell Size attribute Connection Editor 20 attribute
Granite Attributes 473 Clear View Environment Fog
Leather Attributes 476 Hypershade, button 126 Attributes 374
Hypershade, option 123 Light Fog Attributes 384
Clip Final Shaded Color Color Curves attribute 303
attribute 81

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Color Gain attribute 427, 459 Composite attribute 81 Coverage attribute

Image Plane Attributes 638 Composite Threshold 2d Texture Placement
Color Index Mode 288 attribute 82 Attributes 587
Color Key attribute 612 Compositing Flag Anti-aliasing Quality
Layered Shader 353 attributes 74
Color Offset attribute 427, 459
Image Plane Attributes 639 Compute Node attribute 526 Coverage Origin X attribute 650
Color Remap attribute Concentric projection 602 Coverage Origin Y attribute 650
Effects attributes, 2D Concentric Ripple Coverage X attribute 649
textures 431, 466 Attributes 451 Coverage Y attribute 649
Effects attributes, Condition Attributes 530 CPUs
environment textures 502 Condition utility 527 multi-thread rendering 85
Color Utilities 561 Cone Angle attribute 302
use all avaialbe for multi-
Color Value thread rendering 85
Connect Highlighted option
Paint Textures Tool 419 Crater Attributes 471
Multilister 155
Color1 attribute Crater Texture 470
Connect Selected option
Blend Color Attributes 563 Hypershade 124 Crease Color attribute 476
Checker Attributes 433 Creases attribute
Connection Editor 16–20
Cloud Attributes 469 Granite Attributes 474
Condition Attributes 531 Connection Editor option
Leather Attributes 477
Granite Attributes 473 in Hypershade 124
in Multilister 155 Create Camera Options 227
Rock Attributes 479
connection lines Create Light Set from
Color2 attribute Highlighted Lights option
Blend Color Attributes 563 in Hypershade 117
Relationship Editor 173, 263
Checker Attributes 433 Constraint Properties
for cameras 222 Create menu
Cloud Attributes 469
Hypershade 122
Condition Attributes 531 Contrast attribute
Maya 211
Granite Attributes 473 Checker Attributes 433
Cloud Attributes 469 Create Object Set from
Rock Attributes 479
Highlighted Objects option
Color3 attribute 473 Grid Attributes 442
Relationship Editor 173, 264
Columns View button Marble Attributes 477
Create option
Multilister 158 Contrast Attributes 566
Multilister 148
Columns, as option Contrast Utility 565
Create Render Layer
Multilister 154 Convert Material to File
Relationship Editor
Common Material Texture 121
option 174
Attributes 326 Convert Solid Texture option
Create Render Node
components Multilister 150
access from Hypershade 123
display, changing Convert to File Texture 184
Create Render Node
polygonal 207 Multilister 183
window 137–653
polygonal, changing display Cosine Power
attributes 207 Phong 355

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INDEX

Create Texture Reference Object Delete by Type option Depth Type

option Hypershade 121 Closest Visible Depth 243
Maya Shading menu 272, Delete Current Layout option Furthest Visible Depth 243
273 Attribute Spread Sheet 11 Output Settings
Cubic projection 601 Delete Highlighted option attributes 243
culling Multilister 149 Device Aspect Ratio attribute 62
backface 209 Delete option Diffuse attribute 328
Current UV Set Hypershade 121 Diffuse Coeff attribute 387
Displacement Map 204 Delete Texture Reference Diffusion attribute
Curvature Tolerance Object 273 Marble Attributes 477
Tessellation attribute 189 Delete Unused Nodes option Rock Attributes 479
Custom Extension attribute 65 Hypershade 121 Directional Light 306
Cycling Index manipulator 225 Delete Unused option Disk Based Dmaps attribute 315
Cylindrical projection 599 Multilister 149 Displacement
Density attribute displacement mapping 393
Cloud Attributes 517 Displacement Shader
D Granite Attributes 473 attribute 395
Displacement Shader
Leather Attributes 476
Darken Blend Mode Light Fog Attributes 384 material, create 393
Paint Textures Tool 420 Particle Cloud Displacement Map 204
Decay Attributes 386 displacement mapping
Fog 378 Depth attribute Bounding Box Scale
Decay Rate attribute 300 Cloud Attributes 469 attribute 398
Decay Regions 310 Noise Attributes 478 Extra Sample Rate
Default Output Settings attribute 397
setting for DoubleShading attributes 243 Feature Displacement
Switch 626 Placement attributes 649 attribute 396
setting for SingleShading Recursion Depth feature-based 395
Switch 620 attributes 607 Initial Sample Rate
setting for TripleShading Solid Fractal Attributes 482 attribute 396
Switch 631 depth channel non-feature-based 401
Default Blend Mode description 58 Normal Threshold
Depth Decay attribute 480 attribute 398
Paint Textures Tool 420
Texture Threshold
Default Color attribute 427, 459 Depth Map Shadow 312
attribute 397
Default Field Extension (o and e) description 301
Displacement to Polygon 269
attribute 65 Depth Max attribute 444
Display
Default Home 277 Depth Of Field 240
set for Use Background 362
deforming surfaces 272 Depth Of Field attribute 241
Display Alpha Channel button
Delete By Type option Render View window 38
Multilister 149
Display attribute 636

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Display Connector Dmap Resolution attribute 312 Edge Blend attribute 609
for cameras 223 Dmap Scene Name attribute 316 Edge Smoothing attribute 105
Display Field Chart Dmap Use Macro attribute 317 Edge Swap
attribute 246 Dmap Width Focus Tessellation attribute 191
Display Film Gate attribute 245 attribute 314 Edge Thresh attribute 470
Display menu Dolly edges
Multilister 152 Bounding Box camera display, changing 209
Render View window 49 setting 250 displaying components
Display Mode attribute 636 camera settings 250 on 209
Display Options attributes Center of Interest camera Edit menu
cameras 244 setting 250 Hypershade 121
Hardware Render keyboard shortcuts 249 Multilister 148
Globals 106 Local camera setting 250 Render Globals window 52
Display Real Size button options 250 Effects attributes
Render View window 39 Snap box dolly to camera 2D textures 428
settings 250
Display Render Tessellation 3D textures 460
Surface camera setting 250
in hardware shading environment textures 502
tool description 249
mode 189 elevation
Double Shading Switch
Display Resolution attribute 246 description, for azimuth
attributes 625 elevation tool 248
Display RGB Channels button
utility 621
Render View window 38 Elevation attribute
Double Sided Environment Ball
Display Safe Action
Render Stats 199 Attributes 505
attribute 246
Double Sided attribute 12 Sun Attributes 514
Display Safe Title attribute 246
Downstream Connections option Emitter Icons attribute 106
Display Vertices 208
Hypershade 124 Enable Depth Maps attribute 81
Distance Between
Draw Style attribute 103 End Cycle Extension
constraint value for
cameras 222 Drop Size attribute 452 attribute 440
Distance Clip Planes Dropoff attribute 303 End Distance1 attribute 311
attribute 383 Duplicate option End Frame attribute
Distributed Render (Save) 260 Hypershade 121 Image File Output
Multilister 149 attributes 53
Dithered option
Render View window 50 Dust Density attribute 515 Image Output Files
attributes 100
Dmap Bias attribute 315
Env Ball texture 502
Dmap Filter Size attribute 314
Dmap Focus attribute 314
E Env Chrome texture 507
Env Cube texture 509
Dmap Frame Ext attribute 316 Eccentricity
Env Fog 373
Dmap Light Name attribute 316 Blinn 349
Env Sky texture 512
Dmap Name attribute 316 Edge Anti-aliasing attribute 67
Env Sphere texture 519

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Environment attributes 243 Field Filter menu

Environment Fog attribute 80 options 64 Multilister 155
Environment Textures 501 Field Dominance Filter Offset attribute
EPS format 55 Even Fields 64 Effects attributes, 2D
Odd Fields 64 textures 430, 461
Even Field 64, 66
render options 64 Filter Radius attribute 388
Expand/Collapse option
Field Icons attribute 106 Filter Type attribute 436
Multilister 152
Field Options attributes 63 First Term attribute 530
Explicit Tessellation
attributes 191 fields Fit attribute 642
Even 66 Fit Fill attribute 605
Export as option
Multilister 147 File Fit To BBox attribute 598
2D Texture 435 Fit to Film Gate attribute 647
Export Highlighted option
Multilister 147 File Attributes 436 Fit to group bbox attribute 593
Export Selection option File menu Fit to Resolution Gate
Hypershade 121 Hypershade 120 attribute 647
Multilister 146
Extension attribute 100 Fit Type attribute 605
Render View window 42
Extra Attributes Fix Texture Warp 195
File Name attribute 52
for Volume Shader 392 Fix Texture Warp attribute 15
File Name Prefix attribute 52
Extra Sample Rate Flare Col Spread attribute 670
Displacement Map 205 File Texture
Flare Color attribute 669
for displacment maps 397 Paint Textures Tool 422
Flare Focus attribute 670
eye Filename attribute 100
Flare Horizontal attribute 670
camera 216 Filler Color attribute
Granite Attributes 473 Flare Intensity attribute 669
Eyespace attribute 506
Grid Attributes 442 Flare Length attribute 670
Marble Attributes 477 Flare Max Size attribute 670
F Wood Attributes 485
Film Aspect Ratio attribute 239
Flare Min Size attribute 670
Flare Num Circles attribute 669
F Stop attribute 241 Film Back attributes 238 Flare Vertical attribute 670
Facing Ratio attribute Film Back Properties Flat Shade All 285
Sampler Info 552 attributes 229 Flat Shade Selected Items 285
Far Clip Plane attribute 214 Film Fit attribute 239 Flip attribute 521
Fast attribute Film Fit Offset attribute 240 Flipbook Options 95, 109
2d Texture Placement Film Gate attribute 239 Flipbooks menu
Attributes 591 Film Offset attribute 240 Hardware Render Buffer 95
Water Attributes 450
Filter attribute Flipped Normal attribute
Fast Drop Off attribute 384 Effects attributes, 2D Sampler Info 552
Feature Displacement textures 428, 460
Displacement Map 204
for displacment maps 396

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Floor Altitude attribute Fog Shadow Samples Furthest Visible Depth

Floor Attributes, attribute 315 Depth Type 243
Environment Chrome Fog Spread attribute 308
texture 508 Fog Type
Floor Attributes,
Environment Sky
Physical Fog 376 G
Folder View button
texture 516 Gamma attribute 568
Multilister 158
Floor Attributes Gamma Correct utility 567
Fractal 441
Environment Chrome Gamma Correction attribute 81
attributes 441
texture 508 Gamma Correction
Environment Sky Frame All option
Hypershade 123 Attributes 568
texture 516
Maya View menu 278 Gap Color attribute 434
Floor Color attribute
Frame Extension attribute General Editors 5
Floor Attributes,
Environment Chrome File Attributes 439 General Utilities 525
texture 508 Image Plane Attributes 641 Geometry Antialiasing Override
Floor Attributes, Frame Image option fix flickering glow 200, 661
Environment Sky Render View window 49 Render Stats 199
texture 516 Frame Padding attribute 54 Geometry Antialiasing Override
Floor Samples attribute 519 Frame Region option attribute 13
Focal Length 235 Render View window 49 Geometry Mask attribute 104
Focal Length attribute 213 Frame Selected option GIF format 55
Focus Distance attribute 241 Hypershade 123 Global Render
Focus Region Scale attribute 241 Frame Selection 277 in Relationship Editor 175
Fog 377 Frame/Animation Ext Glow Attributes 667
Fog Axis attribute 52 Glow Color attribute 667
Physical Fog 376 Frames Glow Eccentricity
Fog Color 377 render 64 Shader Glow attribute 659
Fog Decay 378 Frequency attribute 471 Glow Filter Width
Fog Density 377 Fresnel Index 345 Shader Glow attribute 660
Fog Far Distance attribute 383 from -> to button 18 Glow Intensity attribute
Front attribute Glow Attributes 667
Fog Intensity attribute 309
Environment Cube Particle Cloud
Fog Light Scatter 378 Attributes 386
Attributes 510
Fog Max Height 378 Special Effects attributes 329
Projection Geometry
Fog Min Height 378 attributes 507 Glow Noise attribute 667
Fog Near Distance attribute 383 frustum, camera 226 Glow Opacity attribute 669
Fog Opacity 377 full Glow Radial Noise attribute 668
Fog Radius attribute 308 Backface Culling option 209 Glow Ring Frequency
Fog Shadow Intensity Full Image Resolution Shader Glow attribute 659
attribute 315 attribute 104

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Glow Ring Intensity Grid Width Gain attribute 509 Hardware Shading
Shader Glow attribute 659 Grid Width Offset attribute 509 Layered Shader 353
Glow Spread attribute 667 Group Velocity attribute 452 Hardware Texture Cycling
Glow Star Level attribute 668 Options attributes 439
Glow Type attribute 662 Hardware Texturing
glows H attributes 336
shader 658 Hardware Texturing option 289
Halo Attributes 669 Has Floor attribute 516
Grab Swatch to Hypershade &
Visor button Halo Brightness attribute 512 Height attribute
Render View window 40 Halo Color attribute 669 Placement Extras
Grain Color attribute 485 Halo Eccentricity attributes 650
Grain Contrast attribute 486 Shader Glow attribute 660 Resolution attributes 62
Grain Size attribute 479 Halo Filter Width Hexagon Flare attribute 670
Shader Glow attribute 661 Hide All option
Grain Spacing attribute 486
Halo Intensity attribute 669 Multilister 156
Granite 473
attributes 473 Halo Opacity Hide Highlighted option
Shader Glow attribute 660 Multilister 155
Graph menu
Hypershade 123 Halo Radial Noise Hide Source attribute 329
Shader Glow attribute 660 Hide/Show The Work Area
Graph Networks button
Halo Ring Frequency button
Hypershade 126
Shader Glow attribute 661 Multilister 159
Green attribute 74
Halo Ring Intensity Highlight into Work Area option
Green Plane option
Shader Glow attribute 660 Multilister 157
Render View window 50
Halo Size attribute 518 Highlight Mode option
Grid 442
Halo Spread attribute 669 Multilister 152
Grid attribute 106
Halo Star Level Highlight Selected option
Grid Attributes 442 Multilister 151
Shader Glow attribute 660
Grid Color attribute 508 Highlight Size
Halo Type attribute 664
Grid Depth attribute 509 Phong E 356
halos
Grid Depth Gain attribute 509 Horizon Color attribute 508
intensities 659
Grid Depth Offset attribute 509 Horizontal Film Aperture
hard
Grid Div Per Span U Backface Culling option 209 attribute
Fix Texture Warp 197 see Camera Aperture
Hardware Color
Grid Div Per Span U attribute 15 attribute
Layered Shader 353
Grid Div Per Span V Horizontal Film Offset attribute
Hardware Render Buffer 91
Fix Texture Warp 198 see Film Offset attribute
Hardware Render Globals 99
Grid Div Per Span V attribute 16 HSV Color Key attributes 610
Hardware Render Globals option
Grid Placement attribute 509 HSV Color Noise attributes 449
Render Globals window 52
Grid Width attribute 509 HSV to RGB Attributes 569

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Hue Noise attribute 449 Image Name attribute Input2 attribute

Hue Noise Freq attribute 449 File Attributes 438 Multiply-Divide
Hue Range attribute 612 Image Plane Attributes 640 Attributes 543
Image Output Files attributes 99 Vector Product
Hypershade 111–128
Image Plane Attributes 558
buttons 125
connection lines 117 set for Use Background 362 Input2D attribute 545
menus 120 Image Plane attribute Input3D attribute 545
Hypershade button Environment attributes 244 inShape attribute 620, 625, 631
Hypershade 126 Image Plane Attributes 640 inSingle attribute 620, 626
Hypershade Highlighted option Image Plane Attributes 636 intensity
Multilister 155 Image Plane utility 633 shader glow 659
Image Planes option Intensity attribute 300
Multilister 157 Intensity Curve attribute 303
I images Interactive Placement attribute
aspect ratio 62 2d Texture Placement
icons Attributes 587
Import option
camera 223 3d Texture Placement
Multilister 147
Icons, as option Attributes 592
In Hsv attribute 569
Multilister 154 Projection Attributes 597
In Rgb attribute 570
Ignore Film Gate attribute 81 interactive rendering, multi-
Incandescence attribute
Ignore Light attribute 667 threaded 85
Common Material
Illuminates by Default Attributes 327 Interactive Shading option
attribute 300 Particle Cloud Maya Shading menu 288
image aspect ratio 62 Attributes 385 Interpolation attribute 447
Image attribute Inclination attribute 505 inTriple attribute 631
Environment Ball Increment attribute 468 Invert attribute
Attributes 505 Effects attributes, 2D
Infinite Size attribute 510
Environment Sphere textures 430, 462
Attributes 520 Initial Sample Rate
Displacement Map 205 IPR menu
Output Settings 242 Render View window 46
Projection Attributes 604 for displacment maps 396
Input attribute IPR Render into New Window
Stencil Attributes 608
Clamp Color Attributes 564 option
Image File Output attributes 52 Maya Render menu 256
Reverse Attributes 548
Image Format attribute IPR Render option
Image File Output Input1 attribute
Multiply-Divide Render View window 46
attributes 54
Attributes 543 IPR Render Options option
Image Output Files
Vector Product Render View window 47
attributes 100
Attributes 558 IPR Tuning Options option
Input1D attribute 545 Render View window 46

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J Layered Texture node

creating 491
Light Fog 383
attributes 383
Journal Command attribute 246 Layout menu button Light Fog attribute 307
JPEG format 55 Hypershade 126 Light Glow attribute 309
Layouts menu Light Icons attribute 106
Attribute Spread Sheet 11 Light Info Attributes 535
K Leaf Primitives attribute 84 Light Info utility 532
Leather Attributes 476 Light Linking option 166, 263
Keep Image button
Leather texture 474 Light Position attribute 536
Render View window 39
Left attribute Light Radius attribute 320
Keep Image in Render View
Environment Cube Light Shape sample
option
Attributes 510
Render View window 44 for Spot lights 302
Projection Geometry
Keep Motion Vectors Light Width attribute 507
attributes 507
attribute 78 Light Width Gain attribute 508
Left Barn Door attribute 304
Key Masking attribute 610 Light Width Offset attribute 508
Left Side Filters menu
Key menu Connection Editor 18 Light World Mat
Attribute Spread Sheet 12 to move optical FX 656
Lens Flare attribute 662
Key option Light-Centric linking 263
Lens Flare Attributes 669
Multilister 148 Lighten Blend Mode
Lens Properties attributes 228
Key Selected option Paint Textures Tool 420
Lens Squeeze Ratio attribute 239
Attribute Spread Sheet 12 Lighting menu
Level Max attribute 441
Maya view 289
Level Min attribute 441
Lighting Mode attribute 103
L Life Color attribute 386
lightlink command 267
Life Incandescence attribute 386
Label mapping Life Transparency attribute 386
for 2D textures 584
Light Angle attribute 320
Lacunarity attribute 468
Light Centric Light Linking
Lambert 351 option
Large Icons, as option Relationship Editor 173, 263
Multilister 154 Light Color attribute 508
Large Thumbnail Images button Light Depth attribute 507
Multilister 159
Light Depth Gain attribute 508
Layer attribute
Light Depth Offset attribute 508
Simple Fog 374
Light Direction attribute 536
Layer is Visible 495
Light Effects
Layer Size attribute 485
for Spot lights 303
Layered Shader 351
Light Effects attributes 307
attributes 353

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lights 263 Link To Camera attribute 604 Map Displacement option

ambeint 306 List View button Multilister 149
Ambient Shade attribute 301 Multilister 158 Map Item attribute 620, 626, 631
area 304 List, as option Map Surface option
Barn Doors attribute, for Spot Multilister 154 Multilister 149
light 303
Local Map Volume option
Cast Shadows attribute 301
Dolly camera setting 250 Multilister 150
color 299
Local attribute Marble Attributes 477
common attributes 299
Effects attributes, 2D Marble texture 477
Decay Rate attribute 300
textures 462 Mask attribute
decay regions, for spot
lights 310 Lock Device Aspect Ratio Output Settings
depth map shadows 312 attribute 62 attributes 242
directional 306 Locked Stencil Attributes 609
Illuminates by Default Tumble camera setting 252 Mask Plane option
attribute 300 Long Attribute Names option Render View window 50
intensity 300 Attribute Spread Sheet 11 materials
light effects 307 look at point 219 displacement 393
light fog effects 307 Look at Selection 277 volumetric 371–392
light glow effects 309 Look Through Selected option Materials on Selected Objects
light-centric linking 263 Maya Panels menu 293 Hypershade 123
linking 263 Materials option
lookAt
point 306 Create menu,
multi-node camera
raytrace shadows 320 Hypershade 122
attributes 221
setting interactively 296 Multilister 156
Luminance Attributes 570
shadow color 309
Luminance option matrix
Shadow Color attribute 301
Render View window 50 definition 554
Shadow Rays attribute 302
Luminance utility 569 Matrix attribute 559
spot light 306
Spot light attributes 302 Matte Opacity
Spot light Light Effects 303 for Use Background 368
Spot light Light Shape M Matte Opacity attribute 332, 373
sample 302 Matte Opacity attributes 330,
type, choose 299 Maintain Width/Height Ratio 372
attribute 62
Lights menu Matte Opacity Mode
Maya 261 Make button attribute 330, 372
Connection Editor 20 Max 3D Blur Visib attribute 70
Lights option
Hypershade 123 Make Light Links option Max attribute
Multilister 156 Maya Lights menu 262 Clamp Color Attributes 564
Line Color attribute 442 manipulators Set Range Attributes 554
camera 225 Max Edge Length
Line Smoothing attribute 104
tessellation 207

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Max Height Min Edge Length move

Fog 378 tessellation 207 optical effect 655
Max Height attribute 375 Min Height Movie image format (non-
Max Shading attribute 69 Fog 378 supported) 55
Max Shading Samples Min Height attribute 375 Multi Pass Rendering
Render Stats 202 Min No. of Triangles attribute 105
Max Shading Samples Tessellation attribute 189 Multi Processing 85
attribute 14, 69 Min Screen Multilister 145–160
Max Subd tessellation 207 Always Filter 156
tessellation 207 Min Screen attribute Always Sort 154
Max Triangles Secondary Tessellation buttons 157
tessellation 207 Attributes 194 menus 146
Min Value attribute 526 swatches 159
Max Uv
tabs 160
tessellation 207 Mirror attribute 588
multi-node camera
Max Value attribute 526 Mix Ratio attribute
attributes 220
Max Visib Samples Granite Attributes 473
lookAt 221
3D Motion Blur 203 Rock Attributes 479
Multi-Pass Render Options
Max Visib Samples attribute 15, Mode setting 22
attributes 105
70 Mode U attribute
Multiply Blend Mode
Max Visibility Samples Override Tessellation 192
Paint Textures Tool 420
3D Motion Blur 203 Mode V attribute
Multiply Divide utility 537
Max Visibility Samples Override Tessellation 192
Multiply-Divide Attributes 539
attribute 14 Modify Extensions attributes 76
multi-thread interactive
Maya IFF format 55 Modify texture
rendering 85
Maya16 IFF format 55 label mapping 583
Medium Icons, as option surface placement 583
Multilister 154
Medium Thumbnail Images
Modify texture setting 23, 274
Motion Blur
N
button Render Stats 198 Names menu
Multilister 159 Motion Blur attribute Attribute Spread Sheet 11
Melt attribute 471 Multi-Pass Render navigating buttons 19
Memory and Performance Options 106 Near Clip Plane attribute 214
Options 85 Render Stats attributes 12 New Items First option
Memory and Performance Motion Blur attributes Multilister 153
Options attributes 82 Create Camera Options 231 Next button
Min attribute Render Globals window 76 Hypershade 126
Clamp Color Attributes 564 Motion Blur Type attribute 77 Next View 276
Set Range Attributes 554 Mountain Attributes 443 No Field Extension attribute 65
Mountain texture 443 node navigtating buttons 19

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Nodes attribute 234 normals Opacity Gain 330

Noise Anim Rate attribute 387 display, changing 209 Matte Opacity Mode, Use
Noise Aspect attribute 387 size, changing 209 Background 367
type, changing 209 Open Image option
Noise attribute
Particle Cloud NTSC video 64 Render View window 42
Attributes 387 Number of CPUs to use 85 Open IPR File
Ramp Attributes 448 Number of Processors to Use Render View window 42
Noise Attributes attribute 90 Operation attribute
Marble texture 477 Number Of Waves attribute 450 Condition Attributes 530
utilities 605 Number U attribute Vector Product
Noise attributes 671 Tessellation 192 Attributes 556
Noise Freq attribute Number V attribute Opposite
Particle Cloud Tessellation 192 Render Stats 199
Attributes 387 NURBS Texture Placement Tool Opposite attribute 12
Ramp Attributes 448 option optical effect
Noise Threshold attribute 671 Maya Shading menu 274, create multiple 655
Noise Uoffset attribute 671 453 move 655
re-position 655
Noise Uscale attribute 671
optical effects
Noise UV attribute 591
Noise Voffset attribute 671 O Post Process Utilities 653
Optical F X utility 653
Noise Vscale attribute 671 Object Centric Light Linking
Optical FX Attributes 661
Norm Balance attribute 472 option
Optimize Instances attribute 83
Norm Depth attribute 472 Relationship Editor 173, 264
Options (Azimuth
Norm Frequency attribute 472 Object Rotation Up
Elevation) 249
Norm Melt attribute 472 camera World Up Type 221
Options (Yaw-Pitch) 253
Normal 2D texture option Object Up
camera World Up Type 221 Options attribute 96, 109
Create Render Node
Object-Centric linking 264 Options menu
window 142, 415
Connection Editor 18
Normal Camera attribute Octaves attribute 468
Hypershade 124
Sampler Info 551 Odd Field attribute 65
Render View window 48
Normal Depth attribute 483 Odd Fields 64
Options option
Normal Melt attribute 484 Offset attribute Hardware Render Buffer 96
Normal Options attributes 2d Texture Placement
origin, camera
Crater texture 472 Attributes 591
manipulator 225
Stucco texture 483 Placement attributes 648
Ortho step
Normal Threshold Old Max attribute 554
Tumble camera setting 252
Displacement Map 206 Old Min attribute 554
Orthographic attribute 247
for displacment maps 398 one-node camera 215
Orthographic option
Normalize Output attribute 558
Maya Panels menu 292

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Orthographic views
camera settings 252
P Phase Velocity attribute 452
Phong 354
Orthographic Views attributes Paint Textures Tool 416 Phong E 356
Attribute Editor, assigning textures 422 Physical Fog 375
cameras 247 AutoSave on Exit 423 Pin/Unpin Appearance of New
Orthographic Width AutoSave on Stroke 423 Nodes button
attribute 247 Blend Modes 420 Multilister 158
Other option Color Value 419
pitch 253
Multilister 157 File Texture 422
Pivot manipulator 226
Out Color Reload Textures button 423
Save Textures button 423 Pix format 54
Surface Shader 359
Stamp Profiles 421 Pixel Aspect Ratio attribute 62
Out Color attribute
Stamp Spacing 421 Pixel Center attribute 552
Condition Attributes 531
Volume Shader texture attributes 422 Pixel Filter Type attribute 71
Attributes 391 texture naming 417 Pixel Filter Width X attribute 73
using 418 Pixel Filter Width Y attribute 73
Out Glow Color
Surface Shader 359 painting Place 2d Texture utility 586
using the Paint Textures
Out Hsv attribute 570 Place 2D/3D utilities 583–??
Tool 418
Out Matte Opacity Place 3d Texture utility 592
PAL video 64
Extra Attributes, Surface Placement attributes 641
Shader 359 Panel option
Maya Panels menu 293 Placement Extras 649
Extra Attributes, Volume
Panels menu Planar projection 598
Shader 392
Maya view 292 Planet Radius
Out Rgb attribute 569
Parent Texture to Selected option Physical Fog 376
Out Transparency
Multilister 151 Plugin Format attribute 80
Surface Shader 359
Particle Age Map option Plus Minus Average utility 543
Out Transparency attribute
Multilister 150 Plus-Minus-Average
Volume Shader
Particle Cloud 385 Attributes 544
Attributes 391
attributes 385 Plus-Minus-Average utility
Output Settings attributes 242
Particles attribute 70 Average attribute 545
Overlay Blend Mode
Sum attribute 544
Paint Textures Tool 420 Penumbra Angle attribute 302
Point Camera attribute
Overscan attribute 240 Per Span # of Isoparms
mode 192 Sampler Info 551
Per Surf # of Isoparms in 3D Point Light 306
mode 192 Point Obj attribute
Per Surf # of Isoparms mode 192 Sampler Info 551
Perspective option Point World attribute
Maya Panels menu 292 Sampler Info 551
Perspective projection 603

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Points option
Maya Shading menu 286
R Red Plane option
Render View window 50
Positive Key attribute 612 Radial Frequency attribute 666 Redo Previous IPR Render
Post Process Utilities radius option
optical effects 653 fog, for point lights 308 Maya Render menu 257
Post Render MEL attribute 80 Ramp 447 Render View window 46
Power attribute 518 Ramp Attributes 446 Redo Previous Render option
Maya Render menu 256
Pre Render MEL attribute 80 Ramp texture 446
Render View window 44
Predefined Bookmarks option Randomness attribute
Redo Previous Render tool 31
Maya View menu 278 Cloth Attributes 435
Granite Attributes 474 reference objects
Preferences option
Leather Attributes 476 creating 273
Multilister 148
Wood Attributes 485 deforming surfaces 272
Presets
Ratio attribute Reflect attribute 506
Render Resolution 58
Cloud Attributes 470 Reflected Color
Presets attribute 66
Fractal Attributes 441 Specular Shading attributes,
Previous button Anisotropic material 346
Hypershade 126 Noise Attributes 478, 606
Solid Fractal Attributes 481 Specular Shading attributes,
Previous View 276 Blinn material 350
Wood Attributes 486
Primary Tessellation Specular Shading attributes,
Ray Depth Limit attribute 320
attributes 191 Phong E material 357
Ray Direction attribute Specular Shading attributes,
Primary Visibility
Sampler Info 552 Phong material 355
Render Stats 198
Raytrace Options attributes 333 Reflection Box attribute 453
Primary Visibility attribute 13
Raytrace Shadow 320 Reflection Limit
Proj Type attribute 598
Raytraced shadows Use Background 366
Projection Attributes 597
description 301 Reflection Limit attribute
Projection Geometry
Raytracing attribute 75 Raytrace Options
attributes 506
Raytracing Quality attributes 74 attributes 335
Projection utility 595–??, 595
Real Floor attribute 508 Reflections attribute 75
Projective paint mode 419
Real Size option Reflectivity
Provide 3d Info attribute 573
Render View window 49 Specular Shading attributes,
Rearrange Graph button Anisotropic material 346
Specular Shading attributes,
Q hypershade 126
Rearrange Graph option Blinn material 350
Quality Hypershade 124 Specular Shading attributes,
Phong E material 357
Shader Glow attribute 658 Recursion Depth attribute 84
Specular Shading attributes,
Quantel format 56 Recursion Depth attributes 607 Phong material 355
Quicktime image format (IRIX Red attribute 74 Use Background 366
only) 56
Refraction Limit attribute 334

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Refractions attribute Render into New Window option Rendering Editors option
Raytrace Options Maya Render menu 255 Maya Window menu 25
attributes 333 Render Layer Options Rendering Flags window 10,
Raytracing Quality Renderable 174 161
attributes 75 Render Layers Rendering menus ??–260
Refractive Index attribute 334 in Relationship Editor 174 Renumber Frames attributes 76
Refresh IPR Image Render Layer Options 174 Renumber Frames Using
Render View window 46 Render Pass Options 175 attribute 76
Refresh Screen Space Render menu Repeat UV attribute 590
Tessellation attribute 189 Maya 255 Reset Region Marquee option
Region 1 attribute 311 Render View window 44 Render View window 49
Region 2 attribute 311 Render Modes attributes 103 Resolution attribute 100
Region 3 attribute 311 Render option Resolution attributes 58
Reload Left button Render View window 45
Reuse Tessellations attribute 83
Connection Editor 18 Render Options attributes 79
Reverse Attributes 548
Reload option render pass management 87
Reverse utility 546
Multilister 155 Render Pass Options
Revert Selected Swatches option
Reload Right button Beauty 175
Hypershade 121
Connection Editor 18 Color 175
RGB to HSV Attributes 570
Reload Textures Shadow 175
Rgb To Hsv utility 570
Paint Textures Tool Render Passes attribute 105
button 423 Right attribute
Render Region option
Environment Cube
Remember This Layout option Render View window 38, 45
Attributes 510
Attribute Spread Sheet 11 Render Shading, Lighting and Projection Geometry
Remote Machine Name Glow attribute 86 attributes 507
attribute 89 Render Shadow Maps Right Barn Door attribute 304
Remove button attribute 86
Right Side Filters menu
Connection Editor 20 Render Stats 198
Connection Editor 18
Remove Image from Render Render tab
Ripple Amplitude attribute 452
View option Attribute Spread Sheet 12
Render View window 44 Ripple Frequency attribute 452
Render View window 29–??
Remove Item attribute 620, 626, Ripple Origin attribute 452
menus 41
631 panel 41 Ripple Time attribute 451
Render 2D Motion Blur Renderable
attribute 86 Render Layer options 174
Render Diagnostics option Renderable attribute 242
Maya Render menu 258 Renderable Objects attribute 57
Render Globals option Rendering CPU attribute 89
Render View window 48
Render Globals window 51–??

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Ripples attribute Save Distributed Render 260 Selected Position attribute 448
Cloud Attributes 470 Save Image option Set Default Shading Group
Noise Attributes, marble Render View window 42 option
texture 478 Save IPR File Multilister 149
Noise Attributes, Render View window 42 Set Editing option
utilities 606 Relationship Editor 173, 265
Save Textures
Solid Fractal Attributes 481
Paint Textures Tool Set Range Attributes 554
Wood Attributes 486
button 423 set, create object-centric 264
RLA format 56
Scale setting 249, 250, 253 set, creating 263
Rock Attributes 479
Scene Up setting
Rock Color attribute 443 camera World Up Type 221 attributes 10
Rock Roughness attribute 444 Screen Blend Mode SGI format 56
Rock texture 478 Paint Textures Tool 420 SGI Movie format (IRIX only) 56
Roll Options 251 Second Term attribute 530 SGI16 format 56
Roll Scale setting 251 Secondary Tessellation Shade Options option
Roll Tool settings 251 attributes 192 Maya Shading menu 287
Rotate Frame attribute 588 Select All by Type option Shader
Rotate UV attribute 591 Hypershade 121 Shading Map 358
Rotation attribute 666 Select Assigned option Shader Glow 658
Rotation type setting 249, 253 Multilister 151 Auto Exposure 658
Roughness Select Camera 276 shader glow 658
Specular Shading Select Default Shaded option Shading attribute 68
(Anisotropic) 344 Multilister 151 Shading Group attributes 177
Specular Shading (Phong Select Lights Illuminating Object assigning effects to 178
E) 356 option
Shading Group Attributes option
Roundness attribute 386 Maya Lights menu 262
Maya Shading menu 268
Select Lights Illuminating
Shading Group Options 22
Objects option
S Maya Lights menu 262
Shading Group Tool button
Multilister 158
Select menu
Sample Distance attribute 536 Shading Group Tool settings 21
Multilister 151
Sampler Info attributes 551 shading groups
Select Objects Illuminated by
Sampler Info utility 548 Light option assign 269
Sat Noise attribute 449 Maya Lights menu 262 Shading Groups Editor option
Sat Noise Freq attribute 449 Select Texture Reference Object Multilister 155
Saturation Distance option Shading Groups option
attribute 374 Maya Shading menu 273 Multilister 156
Saturation Range attribute 612 Select Tool button Shading Map 358
Multilister 158 attributes 358
Save Batch Render 259
Selected Color attribute 448 Color 358

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Shading menu Show Inputs Only option Sky Color attribute 508
Maya view 283 Connection Editor 18 Sky Radius attribute
Shading Samples Show menu Atmospheric Settings
Render Stats 201 Rendering Flags attributes 515
Shading Samples attribute 13, window 161 Projection Geometry
68, 70 Show Non-Keyable option attributes 507
Shading Samples Override Connection Editor 18 Sky Samples attribute 518
Render Stats 201 Show Outputs Only option Sky Thickness attribute 515
Shading Samples Override Connection Editor 18 Small Icons, as option
attribute 13 Show Readable option Multilister 154
Shadow Connection Editor 18 Small Thumbnail Images button
Render Pass option 175 Show Region Marquee option Multilister 159
Shadow Color 309 Render View window 49 Smooth Color attribute 78
Shadow Color attribute 301 Show Selected Columns Only Smooth Edge
Shadow Mask option Tessellation attribute 190
Use Background 366 Attribute Spread Sheet 11 Smooth Edge Ratio
Shadow Radius attribute 320 Show Selected option Tessellation attribute 191
Multilister 155 Smooth Shade All option
Shadow Rays attribute 302, 320
Show Toolbar option Maya Shading menu 284
Shadows attribute 75
Multilister 154 Smooth Shade Selected Items
Shadows Obey Light Linking
attribute 80 Show Up and Downstream option
Connections button Maya Shading menu 284
Shaker attribute
Hypershade 128 Smooth Shading
Crater Attributes 471
Show Upstream Connections Render Stats 199
Stucco Attributes 483
button Smooth Shading attribute 12
Shear U attribute 521
Hypershade 127
Shear V attribute 521 Smooth Value attribute 78
Show Work Area option
Short Attribute Names option Smoothness attribute 451
Multilister 154
Attribute Spread Sheet 11 Snap box dolly to
Shutter Angle attribute 244
Show Batch Render 260 camera settings 250
Simple Fog 374
Show Connected Only option Snapshot option
Single Shading Switch Render View window,
Connection Editor 18 utility 616 Render menu 45
Show Downstream Connections Single Switch Attributes 619
button Snow Altitude attribute 444
Size attribute Snow Attributes 480
Hypershade 128
Placement attributes 647
Show Hidden option Snow Color attribute
Sun Attributes 514
Connection Editor 18 Mountain Attributes 443
Sky Snow Attributes 480
Show Highlighted option
Physical Fog 376
Multilister 155 Snow Dropoff attribute 444
Sky Attributes 508
Snow Roughness attribute 444
Sky Brightness attribute 515

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Snow Slope attribute 444 Spottyness attribute Subdivision Power attribute 85

Snow texture 479 Granite Attributes 474 Sum attribute
Soft Edges attribute 470 Leather Attributes 476 Plus-Minus-Average
SoftImage format 56 spread utility 544
fog, for spot lights 308 Sun Attributes 512
Solid Core Size attribute 387
Spread Rate attribute 453 Sun Azimuth attribute 382
Solid Fractal Attributes 481
Spread Start attribute 452 Sun Brightness attribute 512
Solid Fractal texture 481
Spread X Sun Color attribute 382
Solid Matte 331
Anisotropic 344 Sun Elevation attribute 382
Matte Opacity Mode, Use
Background 368 Spread Y Sunset Brightness attribute 517
Sort By option Anisotropic 344 Surface
Multilister 154 Squeeze Correction Dolly camera setting 250
attribute 648
Sort option Surface Color attribute 388, 480
Multilister 154 Stagger attribute 589 surface glow
Special Effects attributes Stamp Profiles troubleshooting 658
cameras 244 Paint Textures Tool 421 Surface Luminance utility 570
materials 329 Stamp Spacing Surface Material attribute 178
Specify Selected Lights option Paint Textures Tool 421
Surface placement
Maya Lighting menu 292 Star Points attribute 666 for 2D textures 584
Specular Color Start Cycle Extension Surface Render Attributes 187
Specular Shading attributes, attribute 440
Surface Shader 358
Anisotropic material 346 Start Distance1 attribute 311
attributes 359
Specular Shading attributes, Start Frame attribute
Surface Shading Shadow
Blinn material 350 Image File Output attribute 388
Specular Shading attributes, attributes 53
Phong E material 356 Swatch Primitive option
Image Output Files
Specular Shading attributes, Multilister 152
attributes 100
Phong material 355 Swatch Quality option
Start Number attribute 76
Use Background 366 Multilister 153
Stencil Attributes 608
Specular Roll Off Swatch Resolution option
Stencil utility 595–??
Blinn 349 Multilister 153
Stepped
Specular Shading Swatches option
Tumble camera setting 252
Blinn 349 Hypershade 124
Stop/Start Thumbnail Updates
Phong 354 Switch Attributes 630
button
Phong E 356 Switch Utilities 615–626
Multilister 159
Specular Shading attributes
Stucco Attributes 483
anisotropic 343
Stucco texture 482
Spherical projection 599
Sub Wave Frequency
Spot Light 306
attribute 451

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T textures
assigning, Paint Textures
Top attribute
Environment Cube
Tabs option Tool 422 Attributes 510
Multilister 153 attributes for Paint Textures Projection Geometry
Tool 422 attributes 507
Tangent UCamera
painting with Paint Textures Top Barn Door attribute 304
Anisotropic 348
Tool 416 Total Brightness attribute 512
Tangent UCamera attribute
popping 194, 394
Sampler Info 552 Total Internal Reflection 335
reloading, Paint Textures
Tangent VCamera Track
Tool 423
Anisotropic 348 keyboard shortcuts 251
saving, Paint Textures
Tangent VCamera attribute Tool 423 Track Geometry setting 251
Sampler Info 552 Textures option Track Options 251
Targa format 56 Hypershade 122 Track Scale setting 251
Tessellation Multilister 156 Track Tool settings 251
attributes 188 Texturing attribute 104 Transform Icons attribute 106
tessellation Thickness attribute 480 Translate Frame attribute 588
explicit 191 three-node camera 215 Translucence attribute 328, 386
polygonal, changing for 206 Threshold Translucence Coeff attribute 388
primary 191 Output Settings Transp Range attribute 470
secondary 192 attribute 243 Transparency
Tessellation tab Threshold attribute Layered Shader 353
Attribute Spread Sheet 16 Cloud Attributes 518 Transparency attribute
Test Resolution option 257 Fractal Attributes 441 Common Material
Texture attribute 641 Granite Attributes 474 Attributes 327
Texture Attribute to Paint HSV Color Key Particle Cloud
Paint Textures Tool 422 attributes 613 Attributes 385
Texture Attribute to Paint Leather Attributes 476
Transparency Based depth
menu 418 Snow Attributes 480
Output Settings attributes, for
Texture Map 195 Solid Fractal Attributes 481 cameras 243
Texture Placement Options 23, Tiff format 57 Triangle Count
274 Tiff16 format 57 Tessellation attribute 189
Texture Placement Tool 583 Time attribute 442 Triplanar projection 601
Texture quality attribute 339 Time slider Triple Shading Switch
Texture Threshold Hardware Render Buffer 97 utility 626
Displacement Map 205 TIR (Total Internal
for displacment maps 397 Reflection) 335
Textured channel attribute 336 Toolbar option
Render View window 50

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Tumble U Divisions Factor Use Custom Extension

Center of interest camera Tessellation attribute 190 attribute 76
setting 252 U Wave attribute Use Decay Regions attribute 310
keyboard shortcuts 252 Cloth Attributes 435 Use Default Lighting option
Locked camera setting 252 Ramp Attributes 448 Maya Lighting menu 289
Ortho step camera U Width attribute Use Depth Map Shadows
setting 252 Cloth Attributes 434 attribute 312
Orthographic views camera Grid Attributes 442 Use Displacement Bounding Box
settings 252
Uniform Fog attribute 84
Stepped camera setting 252
Physical Fog 376 Use Dmap Auto Focus
Tumble camera about camera
settings 252 Up and Downstream attribute 313
Tumble pivot camera Connections option Use File Cache attribute 82
setting 252 Hypershade 124 Use Frame Extension attribute
Tumble scale camera Up Vector File Attributes 439
setting 252 constraint for cameras 223 Image Plane Attributes 641
Tumble camera about up vector Use Hardware Texture Cycling
camera settings 252 camera 216 attribute 440
Tumble Options 252 Up Vector Properties Use Height attribute 375
Tumble pivot for cameras 221 Use Layer attribute 374
Tumble camera setting 252 up vector, for cameras 216 Use Light Position attribute 314
Tumble Pivot attribute 247 Update Image Planes/ Use Maximum Res attribute 438
Tumble Tool settings 251 Background option Use Mid Dist Dmap
Render View window 46 attribute 312
Twist
for cameras 222 Update Shadow Maps option Use Min Screen attribute 194,
Render View window 46 394
Two Sided Lighting option
Maya Lighting menu 291 Upstream Connections option Secondary Tessellation
Hypershade 124 Attributes 194
two-node camera 215
Use all available CPUs 85 Use Multi Pixel Filter
Type attribute
Common Light Use all available processors attribute 71
Attributes 299 attribute 89 Use Only Single Dmap
Common Material Use All Lights option attribute 319
Attributes 326 Maya Lighting menu 290 Use Previously Specified Lights
Image Plane Attributes 640 Use Background 359 option
Ramp Attributes 446 as stand-in geometry 362 Maya Lighting menu 291
attributes 366 Use Ray Trace Shadows
shadows, seeing 360 attribute 320
U Use Cache attribute 438 Use Selected Lights option
Use Chord Height attribute 193 Maya Lighting menu 291
U angle attribute 604 Use Texture attribute 517
Use Chord Height Ratio
U Color attribute 434 attribute 194 Use X- Dmap attribute 319

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Use X+ Dmap attribute 319 Vector Volume Samples Override

Use Y- Dmap attribute 319 camera World Up Type 222 attribute 14
Use Y+ Dmap attribute 319 vector Volume Shader 389
Use Z- Dmap attribute 319 definition 554 attributes 391
Use Z+ Dmap attribute 319 Vector Product Attributes 556 Volumetric Materials 371–392
Using Image Files option Vein Color attribute voxel
Multilister 156 Marble Attributes 477 definition 602
Wood Attributes 485 Vwidth attribute 433
utilities
switch 615–626 Vein Spread attribute 485
Utilities option Vein Width attribute 477
Hypershade 123 Vertex Backface Culling 208 W
Multilister 157 Vertical Film Aperture attribute
Water
UV Coord attribute see Camera Aperture
Physical Fog 376
Sampler Info 552 attribute
Water Attributes 450
Uv Coord attribute 432 Vertical Film Offset attribute
see Film Offset attribute Water Color attribute 381
UV Coordinates attributes 432
vertices Water Density attribute 381
UV texture mode 419
display, changing 208 Water Depth attribute 381
Uwidth attribute 433
view Water Level attribute 381
camera 216 Water Light Decay attribute 381

V View menu
Maya view 275
Water Light Scatter attribute 382
Water Opacity attribute 381
V angle attribute 604 Render View window 49 Water texture 449
V Color attribute 434 Visible in Reflections Water/Atmos
V Divisions Factor Tessellation Render Stats 199 Physical Fog 376
attribute 190 Visible in Reflections Water/Fog
V Wave attribute attribute 12 Physical Fog 376
Cloth Attributes 435 Visible in Refractions Water/Sky
Ramp Attributes 448 Render Stats 199 Physical Fog 376
V Width attribute Visible in Refractions Wave Amplitude attribute 450
Cloth Attributes 434 attribute 12 Wave Frequency attribute 451
Grid Attributes 442 Visor 131 Wave Time attribute 450
Val Noise attribute 449 Visor button Wave Velocity attribute 450
Val Noise Freq attribute 449 Hypershade 125
Weight3d attribute 468
Value attribute 568 Volume Samples
Whiteness
Contrast Attributes 566 Render Stats 202
Phong E 356
Luminance Attributes 570 Volume Samples attribute 14
Set Range Attributes 554 Volume Samples Override
Value Range attribute 613 Render Stats 202

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Width attribute
Placement Extras
Y
attributes 650 Y Resolution
Resolution attributes 62 Convert to File Texture 185
Width Spread attribute 435 Y Resolution attribute 122
Wind UV attribute 451 yaw 253
Window menu Yaw-Pitch Tool settings 253
Multilister 155
Windows Bitmap format 57
Windows menu Z
Hypershade 124
wire Z buffer channel 58
Backface Culling option 209 Z depth channel 58
Wireframe option Zenith Color attribute 508
Maya Shading menu 284 Zeroth Scanline attribute 65
With New Texture Placement Zoom Scale setting 253
option 142, 414 Zoom Tool settings 253
With Shading Group option 141
Wood Attributes 485
Wood texture 484
World Matrix
to move optical FX 656
World Matrix attribute 536
World Up Type
for cameras 221
World Up Vector
for cameras 222
Wrap U attribute 589
Wrap V attribute 589
Write ZDepth attribute 103

X
X Resolution
Convert to File texture 185
X Resolution attribute 122

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