1. The camera for this scene is already set up for a somewhat interesting angle of the wagon in the persp panel. Switch to mental ray rendering in the Render Using pull-down menu at the top of the Render Settings window, as shown in Figure 10-39.

2. Open the Render Settings, and click the Indirect Lighting tab. In the Environment heading, click the Create button next to Physical Sun and Sky. The Attribute Editor opens for the mia_physicalsky1 node you just created, as shown in Figure 10-40.

Figure 10-40: The physicalsky1 node.

3. Render a frame in the Perspective window, and compare to Figure 10-41. It’s a bit bright, but there’s something very nice about this render. Notice that the metal handlebar takes on a good look right off the bat.

4. The render is too bright, and the wood slats for the railings shouldn’t be reflective. Your render should also show that the fire-engine red of the wagon is a bit washed out.

Let’s first address the wood railings. Open the Hypershade, and double-click the first Wood shader. Set Reflectivity down to 0.1 from 0.5. Repeat for the second Wood shader.

5. In the Render View window, click and drag a box region around the wood railings, as shown in Figure 10-42. Click the Render Region button () to render that part of the frame only.

Figure 10-41: The first PSAS render doesn’t look too shabby.

Figure 10-42: Render this region to check the reflection in the wood railings.

6. The wood looks much better now, so let’s move on to the brightness of the scene. Open the Render Settings window, and go into the Indirect Lighting tab. Click the Input arrow next to the Physical Sun and Sky attribute’s button (Figure 10-43). Doing so opens the Attribute Editor for the Physical Sun and Sky.

7. Set Multiplier to 0.5 from 1.0, and re-render the frame. The brightness comes down nicely, and the wagon is less blown out than your previous renders. See Figure 10-44.

Figure 10-43: Click to open the attributes for the daylight system.

Figure 10-44: Bringing down the brightness of the Sun

8. Let’s play with the direction of the Sun. Look in your persp panel, and you see a Directional light sitting smack in the middle of the scene. Maya uses this light to set the direction of the sunlight, and it doesn’t contribute to the lighting of the scene in any other way. Only its rotation is important to PSAS. Its intensity, color, and other attributes are irrelevant. In this scene, the Directional light is called sunDirection and is in the wagon behind the third texture placement node, as you can see in Figure 10-45. The light is currently pointing sunlight almost straight down, as if the Sun is high in the sky. It seems as if it’s about noon. RotateY for the sunDirection light is -75.

Figure 10-45: The sunDirection light adjusts only the direction of the sunlight in the scene.

Figure 10-46: Angle the Sun further away from the camera.

9. That third texture placement node is getting in the way. To turn off its display easily, in the persp panel, click Show ⇒ Textures to uncheck it. The green box disappears in this view until you turn it back on through the Show menu. Now that you can see the Directional light better, you see that the Sun is pointed slightly toward the back of the wagon. Rotate the light so that it’s angled away from the camera even more, as shown in Figure 10-46. The sunDirection’s RotateY should be about -25.

Figure 10-47: Now it’s late afternoon.

10. Render the frame, and you’ll see quite a difference in the scene. Maya automatically adjusts PSAS settings to make the render appear as if the Sun is about to set. This is because of the new angle. The scene (shown in Figure 10-47) not only shows a new lighting direction (the shadows fall toward the back and are longer) but also is a darker and warmer light, as if it were mid-to-late afternoon.

11. Angle the sunDirection light even more (so RotateY is at about -2.5), almost parallel with the ground plane, and render a frame. Now the Sun has all but set, and it’s dark dusk, just before night falls on the scene. See Figure 10-48.

Figure 10-48: It’s getting late; you should get home before nightfall.

12. Rotate the sunDirection even more so that it’s at a RotateY of about 15. It’s now dark, and you can barely make out the wagon. See Figure 10-49. Time to go home before your mom gets mad. Remember, you can adjust the overall brightness of the scene by adjusting the mia_physicalsky1 node attributes, as you did in steps 6 and 7.