Datasheet

8 Chapter 1: Texturing and Lighting a Product, Part 1
an alpha channel and the RGB channels remain black. This offers a handy means to render
shadows as a separate render pass. For a demonstration of the Use Background material and
render passes, see Chapter 6, “Texturing and Lighting a Vehicle, Part 2.” For a demonstration
of image plane use, see Chapter 5.
Layered Shader The Layered Shader material allows you to combine two or more materi-
als. For a demonstration, see Chapter 7.
Hypershade Functionality
Maya 2011 introduced a newly designed
Hypershade window (Window

Rendering
Editors

Hypershade). Nevertheless, the win-
dow’s tabs, menus, and work areas remain virtu-
ally identical to earlier versions of the software. In
addition, Maya 2012 uses the same Hypershade
layout as Maya 2011. Figure 1.9 illustrates the key
areas of the window.
In Maya 2011 and 2012, the Create tab is
broken into two halves: a rollout column and a
node list column. The rollout column filters what
appears in the node list column. For example,
if you click the word Surface under the word Maya,
the node list column shows only standard
Maya materials.
Creating a New Material
To create a new material, click one of the material
icons in the Create tab. The new material is added
to the Materials tab. To access the material’s attri-
butes in the Attribute Editor, click the material icon in the Materials tab (if the Attribute
Editor is closed, double-click the material icon). To rename the material, update the
name cell at the top of the material’s Attribute Editor tab.
Assigning a Material
To assign a material to a surface, select the surface, RMB+click the material icon in the
Hypershade window, and choose Assign Material To Selection from the marking menu.
You can also MMB+drag the material icon and drop it on top of a surface in a view panel;
however, this method is less precise and is prone to incorrect surface assignment.
When selecting a surface, it’s generally best to make your selections through the
Hypergraph: Hierarchy or Outliner windows. If you select surfaces through a view
Figure 1.9
The Maya 2011 and 2012 Hypershade window with (A) Create tab
rollout column, which includes the Favorites, Maya, mental ray, and
Autodesk Materials (2012) sections, (B) node list column, which is
filtered by selections within the Create tab rollout column, (C) Input
And Output Connections button, (D) node tabs, and (E) work area
AB
D
E
C
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