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.
You can export light groups in a few ways:
The following items are included when you export a 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.
You can import light groups in a few ways:
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:
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 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.
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: