This tutorial provides a detailed demonstration of how to approach outdoor lighting for any time of day. We begin by discussing the nature of outdoor light, the sun, the sky, shadows and the use of reference material. In Maya we focus on a direct illumination approach utilizing both the native renderer and Mental Ray, while also discussing the use of skyDomes, bounce light, raytracing, optiFX, Final Gather and Ambient Occlusion. Various times of day are created, including morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night. Animated lighting tests are rendered and composited in After Effects, incorporating Z-depth based Depth-of-Field, Highlight Blooming and other filter adjustments to make our renders feel more photographic.
