Expert: Andre Hickman - 8/15/2004

Question
Hello.
I am almost learnt every thing about this software. I want to know what "Mental Ray" is.
What is "Mental Ray"
If you answer me, I will be a professional!
thanks

Answer
Heck, you probably can teach me something about 3ds Max 6.0!...I am still using 4.2! But to answer your question, Mental Ray is another renderer, beside your basic scanline render. it is a "raytracing renderer" and can give your scenes added realism in lighting, reflections, refractions, and caustic (metal reflecting), if you know how to use it.  It more than likely will cause your renders to take longer (sometimes quite significantly) but it can often be worth it.  You will have to look for some tutorials on using Mental Ray, because there are very intricate settings that you need to adjust to get things looking right.  When dealing with Raytracing and volumetric lights, etc.  you will have to deal with things like photon quantities (i.e. little sample points of light that make up the whole light sources, and are the "particles" that bounce off of objects surfaces to produce color) and quite a few other settings that yo would not normally have to deal with, both in environmental and texture settings.

Most Sages will tell you that when a person reaches the level of "Master" he realizes that he really knows nothing at all.  What does that mean?... ...A wise man never stops learning!

Cheers,
Andre'