Maya 2011 Lighting and Rendering in mental ray with Eric Keller shows how to master practical mental ray techniques for rendering models created in Maya. This course walks through the most efficient and innovative mental ray techniques, including direct versus indirect lighting methods, creating different types of shadows, using the new ShadowMap camera, and reusing shadow and final gathering maps. A chapter on optimizing render times and enhancing render quality is also included. Exercise files are included with the course.
Topics include:

* Understanding computer-generated lighting
* Creating depth map and ray traced shadows
* Softening and shaping shadows
* Working with global illumination
* Lighting with the caustic settings
* Applying physical and portal shaders
* Adding depth of field with the Bokeh shader
* Splitting a scene into render layers
* Comparing render passes and render layers