Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
sphere, and, in its Attribute Editor under the Render Stats
heading, turn off Primary Visibility. Highlight the camera1
panel, and render the frame. Maya makes two passes at the
scene and shows you something like Figure 11.64. You can
control the brightness of the scene with the Incandescence
attribute value of the dome's shader—the whiter the incandes-
cence, the brighter the scene.
Figure 11.63
The Indirect lighting tab accesses all the Final
Gather settings.
Figure 11.64
The Final Gather render of the still life
You can adjust the level of lighting by increasing or decreasing the amount of incan-
descence on the light dome's shader. The proximity of the sphere also affects the light
amount, so moving the sphere closer or farther away will change the lighting level of the
still life as well. You can also insert lights into the scene as you see fit. Using this sort of
setup with only a light dome, however, gives you a quick and evenly lit render that is great
for showing off models.
You can improve the quality of the render by adjusting either of the following two set-
tings in the Indirect Lighting tab under the Final Gathering section of the Render Settings
window:
Accuracy
Increase this number for a more accurate render. Don't increase it too much,
however, because it will slow down your render. Figure 11.64 shows the still life rendered
with the default Accuracy setting of 100. In Figure 11.65, which uses a setting of 500, the
soft shadows are noticeably smoother. Accuracy dictates the number of FG rays that are
cast into the scene. The more rays, the better the quality of the render, although at a cost
of rendering time.
