What you'll learn

The first step to creating impressive final renders is learning how to configure appropriate lighting for your scene. In this tutorial, we'll start off slowly, covering essential tools and techniques you'll need to know in order to get the most out of your renders. To get started we'll take a brief look at each of the major light types, learning key attributes of each. Next, we'll focus on Maya spot lights and some of the specialized features that come with them. From here you'll learn about loads of important tools and techniques, including the difference between Depth Map Shadows and Ray Trace Shadows, as well as how to simulate illuminated light sources and the importance of render stats. Finally, we'll go over how to link shadows and lights to objects in your scenes, as well as how to create volumetric light fog. Software required: Maya 2015.