Light Profiles with Maya
With Maya, you can use the mental ray photometric shader as a light shader with a point light and then through that shader attach a light profile. Better yet, you can attach IES light profiles directly to the point light (only point lights) using the Light Profile
Figure 6.24 On the left fluorescent light profiles are used, and on the right, light reflectors are used to illuminate a room. The light characteristics are derived from IES light profile files and differ in both cases.
Figure 6.25
Maya's point light provides this additional Light Profile mental ray rollout for mapping IES photometric files.
attributes under the Light Profile rollout in the mental ray section of the light's Attribute Editor, as shown mapped in Figure 6.24.
Once the Light Profile attribute is mapped, a mental ray light profile node is created, as seen in Figure 6.25. This node enables you to load either IES or Eulumdat files, both representatives of light characteristics, as discussed earlier. More commonly you will obtain IES files over the Web.
Note that the point light's orientation becomes significant with light profiles because they represent the light's directionality. Once the light profile is attached, you can then enable raytrace shadows and use other common light settings to control the light's color and intensity. With light profiles, Maya's ability to create fake soft shadows using the shadows Radius attribute (discussed earlier), is extremely beneficial, as light profiles by default cast unrealistic sharp shadows.
Average user rating: 5 stars out of 1 votes
Post a comment