Today in Animation, I learned about using mesh lights in Maya. I watched two videos that explained how to apply a mesh light to an object. The image is of the final product of the second video, where we applied a texture to two spheres to make them glow. After that, we removed the textures, duplicated the spheres once each time, renamed them in the outliner, applied a mesh light to the duplicated spheres, and finally added the previously mentioned textures to the spheres so they would appear as if they were emitting light. It sounds more complicated than it actually was.
Seth Moore 