For more information about shadows, see Shadow in Maya.

Removing unnecessary shadows can help reduce rendering times. You can either remove all shadows produced by a specific light, or all shadows cast by a specific surface. To determine which objects cast shadows, see Control which objects cast shadows.

To remove all shadows produced by a specific light

1. Select the light.
2. In the Depth Map Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor (or in the Shape Keyable tab of the light’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Use Depth Map Shadows.
3. In the Raytrace Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor (or in the Shape Keyable tab of the light’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Use Ray Trace Shadows.

To remove all shadows cast by a specific surface

1. Select the surface.
2. In the Render Stats section of the surface’s Attribute Editor (or in the Render tab of the surface’s Attribute Spread Sheet), turn off Casts Shadows.
   NoteYou can make all shadow casting surfaces cast shadows from all shadow casting lights, even if they are not linked together, by selecting Shadows ignore linking from the drop-down list in the Render Options section of the Render Settings window ( Window > Rendering Editors > Render Settings).