Post Effects

Maya does not have a feature similar to LightWave's Compositing or Image Processing functions. In general, you use a third-party compositing program to alter Maya's rendered output, but most compositors offer more creative flexibility and power than LightWave's Compositing and Image Processing. Maya also offers the option to render elements of the image to separate files. This feature enables you to bring only the shadows, highlights, or other special layer types to your compositor. Being able to adjust such factors as shadow intensity or specular blur in a compositor is a fast way to tweak renderer results without waiting for a new rendering.

Maya's depth of field is achieved with true raytracing, and an effect's intensity and focus are set with camera attributes. In LightWave, an effect is achieved with post processing as an image filter.

Maya's Lens Flares effect is a property of the lights that create flares. Maya's Glow Effect is a property of materials. Flares and glows automatically render when the effect is enabled in their respective attributes.