© 2013 Michael O'Rourke
(a simple) Physical Sun & Sky
Maya 2013
Concept
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Maya provides a sophisticated rendering method
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that simulates outdoor sunlight and sky
called “Physical Sun and Sky”
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It has many, many parameters
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The simplified, default version
It requires using the Mental Ray renderer
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is a quick way to render models
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so you can see the forms well
because it automatically provides shadows and indirect lighting
Load mental ray Software
• Physical Sun & Sky uses the mentalray renderer
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This is an external plug-in software
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that must be loaded into Maya
>Window >Settings/Preferences >Plug-in Manager
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All the way at the bottom,
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Mayatomr.mll
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Check on Loaded and Auto load
Default Physical Sun
• Create a model
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>Window >Rendering Editors >Render Settings
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For Render Using Select mental ray
In the tabs that open up, select Indirect Lighting
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Near the top, check on Physical Sun and Sky
Render a test render
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Warning: Rendering with mental ray takes much longer
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than the default Maya Software
If necessary, try test-rendering at lower resolutions to speed things up
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>Rendering module
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>Render >Test resolution > 50% Settings
Change the Direction of the Sunlight
• Change your Perspective window to wireframe mode
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Zoom in to the 0,0,0 point
You will see a small icon for a directional light
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Select sunDirection
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(You could also select it in the Outliner window)
Scale that icon to make it easier to find
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This is the sunDirection icon
(Scaling it has no effect on the lighting)
Rotate the sun icon to change the direction of the sun's light
Re-render to see the result
Change the Brightness of the Sunlight
• With sunDirection still selected,
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Open the Attribute Editor
Select the mia_physicalsky1 tab
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Under Shading,
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change Multiplier to a lower number
to make the scene a bit less bright