Rendering variables
 
 
 
AW_JPEG_Q_FACTOR

This variable can be used to specify the quality of JPEG files that Maya renders out. The valid values are 1 through 100, with 100 being the highest quality. The default is 100.

AW_JPEG_SUB_SAMPLING

Allows you to control the subsampling quality of the rendered image.

The value of the AW_JPEG_SUB_SAMPLING environment variable is:

L1xL2,Ch1xCh2,Gr1xGr2

where:

A few possible settings for this environment variable are as follows:

For example:

The values for each of the L1xL2, Ch1xCh2, and Gr1xGr2 components can be between 1 and 4, where 1x1 is of the highest quality. In general, the lower the component value, the better the quality of the final JPEG because a smaller sampling block allows better high-frequency color information to be captured.

Tip

To achieve high visual quality, the environment variable AW_JPEG_Q_FACTOR should also be set to “100”. This variable controls the overall quality of the image, which may mask out any settings to AW_JPEG_SUB_SAMPLING.

MAYA_DISABLE_MRMAP

By default, Maya converts non-native image file formats into temporary IFF files so that they can be read. This variable allows you to disable the conversion of mental ray .map files. Disabling this conversion saves scene export time and render time. To enable this option, set the value equal to 1. To disable it, set the value to 0 (zero) or leave it undefined.

Note

You can still render textures of this file format type, but only with the mental ray for Maya renderer. In addition, the following functionality is disabled:

  • Scene view display of .map format textures
  • Swatch previews in the Hypershade of .map format textures

MAYA_DISABLE_MRFORMATS

By default, Maya converts non-native image file formats into temporary IFF files so that they can be read. This variable allows you to disable the conversion of mental ray .ct and .st files. Disabling this conversion saves scene export time and render time. To enable this option, set the value equal to 1. To disable it, set the value to 0 (zero) or leave it undefined.

Note

You can still render textures of this file format type, but only with the mental ray for Maya renderer. In addition, the following functionality is disabled:

  • Scene view display of .ct and .st format textures
  • Swatch previews in the Hypershade of .ct and .st format textures

MAYA_NO_JITTER_FINAL_COLOR

If you are quantizing to 8-bit color, we apply some randomness, or jitter, to the color. To enable this option, set the value equal to 1. To disable it, set the value to 0 (zero) or leave it undefined.

MAYA_RENDERER_RT_BACKGROUND_COLOR

If you set this variable to 1, Maya includes the camera background in the calculation of reflection and refraction rays. If you set this variable to 0 (zero) or leave it undefined, Maya ignores the background color for these rays.

MAYA_HW_FILE_TEXTURE_RESOLUTION_OVERRIDE

Enable this flag to force baked file textures to be the maximum of the texture resolution attribute on the file texture or the actual file texture dimensions.

MI_MAYA_SOCKETS

Set this flag to 1 so that you can preview your render in progress in imf_disp while rendering from the command line. You may need to adjust your firewall.

This environment variable was added in Maya 2008.

This environment variable is not necessary in Linux.

MAYA_OFFSCREEN_HRB

Set this flag to 1 to expose the Render Offscreen option in the Hardware Render Buffer > Render menu. When enabled, an offscreen buffer is used when rendering sequences using the Hardware Render Buffer. Single-frame renders will continue to be rendered into an on-screen buffer. During offscreen rendering, moving windows over the Hardware Render Buffer window does not affect the rendered frames, as would normally be the case.

Note

The Render Offscreen option is only supported on Linux and Mac OS X and not Windows.

MAYA_EXR_LONGNAME

EXR version 1.7 supports 252 character channel names. The limit is 252 and not 255 to save room for an extension of up to 3 characters used to differentiate individual channels (for example .R for the red channel). However, EXR version 1.7 is currently supported by very few external applications (for example, Flame), and embedding channel names longer than 31 characters may break compatibility with external applications that do not support it. By default, channel names are truncated to 31 characters for backward compatibility. Set this to 1 to allow long channel names so that channel names are not truncated.

MAYA_TEXCOORD_ORIENTATION

Set this environment variable to either OPENGL or DIRECTX to define the MAYA_TEXCOORD_ORIENTATION_OPENGL or MAYA_TEXCOORD_ORIENTATION_DIRECTX macros respectively. When the macro is defined, it is set to 1.

By setting this environment variable, when the CgFx plug-in compiles a CgFX shader, the shader is compiled with the MAYA_TEXCOORD_ORIENTATION_OPENGL macro or MAYA_TEXCOORD_ORIENTATION_DIRECTX macro set to 1, and the texture is loaded using the orientation (OpenGL or DirectX) you specified. See Orientation for the texture co-ordinate system for more information.