Need help with light linking

[vyder]

hey guys...i need some help with light linking. when i was in school, i wasnt taught how to properly use the link linker, so i have couple questions to ask you.

1. why is that you have both materials and objects in the light linker? is this so that you can deselect or select objects based upon materials?

2. for me to "unlink" an object, do i haveto unlink both the object and the shader?

3. why is it that when materials are listed in the light linker, some of the shaders have been renamed to the name of the shader (for example panelSG) while others remain with their default name (for example blinn6SG)?

[vyder]

can someone help me please?

[jtk77]

acualy i'm not sure about the whole material linking thing..but I usally just unlink and link lights to the object and alls good...

[heydiddlediddle]

1. If you look at a Maya Shading Group (SG) this is the node that connects the surfaces to the shader to the lights to render. This is why Materials are visible there, if you turn off the "illuminates by default" checkbox in a light shape node, "linking" a light to a material makes no difference, but if the illuminates by default is turned on, when you "link" or "unlink" a material, all the objects with that material are unlinked. This option in the lights are useful if you need to illuminate only few objects since you can start with it turned off (illuminates by default turned off), and just link what you want lit by that light.

2. No, just unlink the object. Linking a material has no effect unless "illuminates by default" is checked on.

3. You might have named your material, and not your shading group. Generally, renaming a shading group will rename the material attached to it, but not the other way around.

Hope this helps.