This chapter explored lighting in Maya, beginning with basic concepts that included the three-point lighting technique. You then learned about the different lights in Maya, how they work, and how you can use light linking to control your scene better. Shadows are an important part of lighting and were covered next in this chapter, followed by a quick exploration of the Physical Sun and Sky system with mental ray and then lighting effects such as lens flare and light glows. You then created a simple lighting for the decorative box for a still rendering. Finally, you learned how to begin animating lights for use in your scenes.
Lighting is truly the linchpin of CG. It can make or break a scene with the flick of a switch. As you’ll see in the next chapter, lighting goes hand in hand with rendering and shading, and the more you understand about all three functions, the better your scenes will look.
As mentioned, the trick to lighting is understanding how light works in the real world and how to approximate its effects in Maya. That comes with practice, so don’t be afraid to experiment with lighting and shading schemes on all your projects.