Rendering with mental ray [Paperback]

Written by the mental ray software project leader, this book gives a general introduction into rendering with mental ray, as well as step-by-step recipes for creating advanced effects and tips and tricks for professional users. A comprehensive definiton of mental rays scene description language and the standard shader libraries are included as the basis for all examples. The third, completely revised edition covers the latest version of the new generation of mental ray, version 3.4.Overview.- Scene Construction.- Cameras.- Surface Shading.- Light and Shadow.- Volume Rendering.- Caustics and Global Illumination.- Motion Blur.- Hardware Rendering.- Contours.- Shaders and Phenomena.- Postprocessing and Image Output.- Geometric Objects **.- Instancing and Grouping.- Inheritance.- Incremental Changes and Animations.- Using and Creating Shader Libraries **.- Parallelism.- The Options Block.- The Architecture of mental ray 3.x **.- Quality and Performance Tuning.- Troubleshooting *.

Beginners will learn about the rendering techniques supported by mental ray

Advanced users will learn how to achieve special effects with mental ray, while maintaining maximum performance

The comprehensive coverage explains everything from scene construction, light and shadow, motion blur and contours to quality and performance tuning and troubleshooting

Written by the mental ray? software project leader, this book offers basic reference and step-by-step recipes for beginners and advanced users alike. Advanced user topics include scene construction, light and shadow, motion blur and contours. Also included are tips for quality and performance tuning, and troubleshooting techniques. Comprehensive definitions of mental rays scene description language and the standard shader libraries are included as the basis for all examples. The third edition is completely revised to cover version 3.4 of mental ray.