2009

Table Of Contents
Surface materials
The color, shininess, and reflectivity attributes of an object are controlled by
its surface material (sometimes referred to as a shader, or shading material).
Material attributes relate to how the object simulates a natural reaction to
light in Mayas 3D computer world.
Maya assigns a default shading material to all objects when they are first
created. In this section, you learn how to assign a new material to your objects.
To assign a new material to the temple objects
1 Right-click the wireframe of Entablature and select Object Mode from
the pop-up menu.
This changes the selection mask back to objects so you can select objects
in the scene. It is a shortcut to access this feature.
2 Drag a selection box around all the objects in your scene to select them.
TIP If objects wont select in the Maya scene, check that your selection mask
is set correctly on the Status Line.
3 From the Status Line, select the Rendering menu set using the menu
selector.
The main menu changes to display the menu set for Rendering.
4 From the main menu, select Lighting/Shading > Assign New Material >
Blinn.
A Blinn shading material is assigned to all the objects in the scene and
the Attribute Editor updates. Blinn shading materials (named after the
68 | Chapter 2 Maya Basics