Over the last couple of years UV layout in Maya has changed for the better. In this course we're going to be taking a look at some of those changes as we UV map an entire character
yeah, It's the ambient occlusion, fake GI tool. I've been out of it tonight. I was thinking about photon mapping at the time :S Just to clear up for everyone else.
"Subsurface Scattering
All non-metallic materials are translucent to some degree. This means that light scatters inside the material before being either absorbed or leaving the material at a different location. This phenomenon is called subsurface scattering. "
so, it's the scattering effect you'd see in marble, or with skin... *crawls off to sleep*