**Image Based Lighting in Maya**

pixelmitherer

Hello,

Im currently lighting some scenary and would like to use Image Based Lighting in Maya to bake the light from a photograph into the vertex colour of my scene.
Does anyone one know how to go about this in Maya (2008)?
Cheers.

Lamont

If you have your MR set up to use image-based lighting: Render Options (Mental Ray)> Indirect Lighting **Environment**>And click on the image-based Lighting and select your image. Then go to Color>Batch Bake (Mental Ray) **OPTIONS**> Bake to VERTICIES> Then set the color mode to Light and Color. There are tons of options and realize that the more you muck with the more time it might take to render. Save and save often.

Now as a tip, I'd go in and use this as a "base coat", and still go in with lights and make some area's pop. Don't use 100% black or 100% white. If you're getting strange areas, check the alpha values. Also, play around with the blending modes and adding AO to image-based vertex colors. For added fun, things that you don't want the lights spilling over an glancing edge, go in and set the mode to vertex face and pop a little value into it to get rid of that. Also, selection sets are your friend. I separate terrain, from the tree's from the bushes... all that stuff. Different layers.

If you need any of this in sample files, just let me know.

You can clamp values as well.

pixelmitherer

Hey, thanks a lot Lamont.
A great help indeed!!

Cheers!

Lamont

And by alpha values I mean vertex alpha values.