---
title: "Native Maya Lights"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/r3d/maya/en-us/Content/html/Native%2BMaya%2BLights.html"
section_path: "Lights > Native Maya Lights"
description: "The following standard Maya light types are supported by Redshift:"
---

# Native Maya Lights

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# Native Maya Lights

## Lights

The following standard Maya light types are supported by Redshift:

- Directional Light
- Point Light
- Spot Light
- Area Light

**Note** Ambient Light and Volume Light are not supported by Redshift.\
The following light attributes are not applicable to Redshift or not currently supported by Redshift:

- Illuminates by Default (All)
- All attributes under the *Light Effects* group (Point, Spot, Area)
- All attributes under the *Shadows > Depth Map Shadow Attributes* group (All)
- Ray Depth Limit (All)
- All attributes under the *mental ray* group – Redshift equivalents for relevant attributes are under the *Redshift* group

Certain light attributes are only partially supported by Redshift or may behave differently when compared to Mental Ray.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Decay Rate** | Redshift only supports *No Decay* and *Quadratic.* |

## Redshift Attributes

Redshift automatically adds a number of attributes to native Maya lights.

### Area Lighting (Area Lights Only)

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Shape** | Specifies the physical shape of the area light.<br>- **Rectangle**<br>- **Disc**<br>- **Sphere**<br>- **Cylinder** |
| Visible | Makes the area light visible to the camera (and through reflections and refractions). |
| Samples | Specifies the number of ray samples to use for the area light. More samples will produce smoother lighting and shadows. Generally, the larger and more intense an area light is, the more samples it needs to produce noise-free results. |

### Photons (All Lights)

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Emit Caustic Photons** | Enables caustic photon casting for the light. Has no effect if *Enable Caustics* is not enabled in the *Redshift Render Options* under the *Photon Mapping* tab. |
| Emit GI Photons | Enables GI photon casting for the light. Has no effect if *Enable GI* is not enabled in the *Redshift Render Options* under the *Photon Mapping* tab. |
| Caustic Photons | Specifies the number of caustic photons to shoot for the light. |
| GI Photons | Specifies the number of GI photons to shoot for the light. |
| Photon Color | Specifies the color of caustic and GI photons emitted by the light. |
| Photon Intensity | Specifies the intensity of caustic and GI photons emitted by the light. |

### Light Shaders (All Lights)

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Light Shader** | Specifies a connection to a *light shader*. Redshift will execute a connected light shader to compute the light intensity and color as well as the shadow color from a given point on a surface. |
| Photon Shader | Specifies a connection to a *photon**shader*. Redshift will execute a connected photon shader to control the emission of photons from the light. |

## Light Shaders

When using Mental Ray in Maya, light shaders can be connected to lights to change their behavior.\
Redshift translates Maya lights and associated light shaders into their Redshift equivalents allowing you to use most of the native Maya light features with Redshift directly. Note however that certain light shaders and/or light shader parameters are unsupported or only partially supported by Redshift. We therefore recommend using Redshift lights instead of the native Maya lights whenever possible.

## Supported Light Shaders

The following lists the Mental Ray for Maya light shaders that Redshift supports at least partially:

- mia_photometric_light
- mia_physicalsun
- mia_portal_light
- mib_blackbody
- mib_cie_d

## Unsupported or Partially Supported Light Shaders

The following describes the Mental Ray for Maya light shaders and parameters which are not supported or only partially supported by Redshift with notes where applicable.

### mia_photometric_light

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **units_to_meter_scale** | The unit scale for Redshift is defined globally in the *Redshift Render Options* under *Output > Photometric Units > Units To Meters Scale.* |
| cm2_factor | The candela per meter square factor for Redshift is defined globally in the *Redshift Render Options* under *Output > Photometric Units > cd/m^2 Factor.* |

### mia_physicalsun

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **photon_bbox_min** | Not supported. |
| photon_bbox_max | Not supported. |
| illuminance_mode | Not supported. |
| direct_normal_illuminance | Not supported. |

### mia_portal_light

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **cutoff_threshold** | Not supported. |
| shadow_ray_extension | Not supported. |
| use_custom_environment | A custom environment shader will always be used if it is connected to the *custom_environment* input, regardless of the value of *Use Custom Environment Shader*. |
| lookup_using_fg_rays | Not supported. All environment maps will be treated as if sampled by GI rays, in order to correctly support Multiple Importance Sampling. |

### mib_fg_occlusion

The *mib_fg_occlusion* light shader is not currently supported.

### mib_light_infinite

The *mib_light_infinite* light shader is not currently supported.

### mib_light_photometric

The *mib_light_photometric* light shader is not currently supported.

### mib_light_point

The *mib_light_point* light shader is not currently supported.

### mib_light_spot

The *mib_light_spot* light shader is not currently supported.

### physical_light

The *physical_light* light shader is not currently supported.