Export your light groups as a template to reuse them in another scene

Export your light groups as a .json to recreate and reuse them in another scene. Import this .json for lights to follow the group membership saved in the template.

To export light groups

You can export light groups in a few ways:

• Select File > Export Light Groups from the Light Editor.
• Select File > Export Light Editor Light Groups from the Render Setup editor.
• Click in the Scene > Lights section of the Render Setup editor.
• Select File > Export All to export your entire Render Setup, which includes the light groups in your scene.

The following items are included when you export a light group:

• The light group itself
• Its membership information (that is, which lights belong in the group)
• The state of its Enable or Isolate attribute (that is, whether the group is enabled or isolate selected)
• Custom colors that you have applied to the light group
Note: The lights themselves are not exported with the light group.

By default, your template is saved to the user presets location; that is, <Documents>\maya\Presets. See Global presets and user presets for more information.

To import light groups

You can import light groups in a few ways:

• Select File > Import Light Groups from the Light Editor.
• Select File > Import Light Editor Light Groups from the Render Setup editor.
• Click in the Scene > Lights section of the Render Setup editor.

You can import a light groups template before or after you add lights to your scene.

Two options are available when you import a template:

• Overwrite

  All lights in your scene are assigned to groups according to the imported template. Light groups that currently exist in your scene but that do not exist in the template are removed. This includes nested light groups. For example, if your scene includes the nested group ParentGroupA and ChildGroupA, but your template only includes ParentGroupA, then ChildGroupA will be removed.

• Merge

  Merge the existing light group membership with the imported membership if the group names are identical. Light groups that exist in the template but that do not exist in the current scene are imported. Light groups that exist in the current scene but that do not exist in the template are left unmodified. This includes nested light groups. For example, if your scene includes the nested group ParentGroupA and ChildGroupA, but your template only includes ParentGroupA, then both ParentGroupA and ChildGroupA remain in your scene upon import.

Imported light groups appear highlighted and in italics to allow you to easily identify the newly imported items. Click in the Light Editor to accept the import so that all items in your Render Setup editor now appear in regular text.

Resolving differences between your current scene and the template

If a light currently belongs to a different group than it does in the template, it is the template that determines the group membership upon import.

Importing a template may change the visibility setting of your lights. For example, if a light currently belongs to a group that is disabled, and you import a template in which the light belongs to a group that is enabled, your light will be enabled upon import of the template. A appears in the Light Editor to identify the lights that are affected, and a message appears in the Help Line and in the viewport to alert you that a change has occurred in your scene. To dismiss the warning icon in the Light Editor, click .

If, upon import, any of the lights referred to in the template are missing from your scene, they will be identified by a grey, italicized and strikeout font in the light membership list of the Light Editor Property Editor. To remove the error, you can do any of the following:

• Remove all missing lights from the light group by right-clicking the light membership list and selecting Remove all missing lights.
• Import or re-create the missing lights. These lights are automatically assigned to groups according to the imported template. You can import lights from different assets, and the group membership in the template is respected upon each import.