You can visit the Maya Learning Channel for a primer on how to use Maya's Render Setup system. Topics include:
Introduction to Render Setup
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Setting up your first Render Layer
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Matting and Cutting out objects from a Render Pass using Overrides
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Generating fast first pixels with Local Overrides
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Templating and Sharing Render Setups
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Pre-lighting multiple shots using Overrides
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Shader Overrides, shot optimization, and wrap-up
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