About backgrounds

Typically you render the objects in a scene against a black background and composite the rendered images later with an appropriate background using compositing software. However, you can insert a background:

to avoid having to model background objects or scenery, but want them represented, 2Dly, in your scene (especially if you don’t have access to compositing software).
as a temporary reference (especially for rotoscoping or motion matching) for modeling or animating objects in the scene.

To create a background, see Create a basic color background.

Note

When you create a background in Maya, you create it for a specific camera. When you render a scene from that camera, the background is included in the rendered image. If you render the scene from a different camera, the background is not included. For more information on cameras, see Maya camera types in the Lighting guide.