Maya Rendering Guides

Maya Software

Maya Software, the default software rendering method, can capture just about everything you would want in your scene, from reflections to motion blur and transparencies. You can use the software rendering method in a couple of ways.

USING RAYTRACING

Raytracing, a topic introduced in Chapter 10, is used to incorporate two optical effects into a rendering that the default software rendering method cannot handle. Raytracing traces rays of light from each light source to every object in the shot and then traces the light's reflection from the object to the camera's lens. This allows true reflections and refractions to appear in the render, as well as highly defined shadows. (For more on shadows, see Chapter 10.) You saw in the previous chapter that raytracing is also a vital component of mental ray for Maya as well as the Maya Software renderer.

Because the default software renderer renders the same image without true reflections or refractions and can generate detailed shadows with shadow maps, the only reason to use raytracing is for reflective and refractive surfaces (as well as raytraced shadows) or to enable some of mental ray's features, such as Global Illumination.

True Reflections True reflections occur when every object in the scene is seen in a reflective surface, as a reflection of course. You can also have objects with reflections explicitly turned off through the Render Stats section in the Attribute Editor in case you don't want a particular reflection, which is common. Although it is possible to simulate reflections in Maya Software using reflection maps, true reflections can be generated only through ray-tracing. (In Chapter 7, "Maya Shading and Texturing," the Axe project shows how to apply reflection maps.)

As with raytraced shadows, raytraced reflections need to be enabled. To do so, click Ray-tracing in the Raytracing Quality section of the Maya Software tab in the Render Settings window. Unlike raytraced shadows, however, raytraced reflections need not be explicitly turned on through the lights.

As soon as raytracing is enabled, any reflective surface will receive a true reflection of the objects and environment in the scene. Even objects with reflection maps will reflect other objects in addition to their reflection maps. For more on reflection maps, see the section "Reflections and Refractions" later in this chapter.

Refractions Refractions occur when light bends as it passes through one medium into another medium of different density. For example, a pencil in a glass of water will appear to be broken. The light bouncing off the pencil refracts as it travels from the water into the air, bending a bit during the transition. That displaces the view of the pencil under the water, making it seem broken.

RENDER QUALITY

With software rendering, the render quality depends most noticeably on anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing is the effect when pixels appear to blur together to soften a jagged edge on an angled line. Increasing the anti-aliasing level of a render produces an image that has smoother angles and curves. The Render Settings window contains presets that specify this level and a few others to set the quality of your render.

1. In the Render Settings window, make sure Maya Software is selected in the Render Using drop-down list box, and click the Maya Software tab.
2. In the Anti-aliasing Quality section, select either Preview Quality or Production Quality from the Quality Preset drop-down list box.

Figure 11.4 shows the fruit still life from Chapter 10 rendered with the Preview Quality preset and the same image with the Production Quality preset.

Figure 11.4 With Preview Quality (left), the edges of the fruit are jagged. With Production Quality (right), the jagged-ness is gone.

Of course, the higher the quality, the longer the render will take. As you become more experienced, you will be better able to balance uncompromised quality with efficient render times.