Lesson learnt 001 - Rendering in Maya

I am going to start documenting any animation lessons learnt from the art courses i have attended. It is of no chronological order. Any time i remembered something i will record down for easy reference in the future

1st up is a lesson learnt from class AN01 of Animation Mentor. Rendering in Maya.

Of course there are tons of way to render an object. But this is an easy way that i use for rendering a character pose. The rendered image will read better with its tones and outlines clearly seen. The shadow can also tell a story with its own silhouette when the light is positioned right.

Setup

1. Click Window/Rendering Editors/

2. Click Render Settings or click the shortcut button.

Create Light

1. Click Indirect Lighting
2. Click Create Physical Light and Sky
3. A light source is created. Rotate it to change the light angle. It is not necessary to translate it, as it is a directional light and the angle is fixed regardless of where it is located. Also play with the intensity and color.
4. Make sure this is enabled to be able to select the light source
5. Press "7" to be able to see the effect of the light in real time before rendering.

6. Make sure you show Camera and Light

Render

1. Click AM menu button or maya shortcut button. A rendered image will appear.
2. Go to outliner and click "shot_cam".
3. In Attribute Editor click "mia_physicalsky1"
4. Play around with the back ground. This adjusts the horizon line up and down.
5. This adjusts the amount of blur effect on horizon line.
6. This adjusts the color of the ground.
7. For easy compare of images after adjustments, click this to keep this image to compare it later using the slider below.
8. Make sure this is at mental ray.
9. Save image to any format.

Last Note

1. If the head is too bright. Click Hypershade.
2. Find the color close to the head color.
3. Click the color box.
4. Make sure this is at "1".