Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016: Autodesk Official Press

Chapter 7 Lighting with mental ray

To achieve professional-quality, realistic renders in the Autodesk^® Maya^® program, you need to master the mental ray^® render plug-in that comes with Maya. mental ray is a complex rendering system that is incorporated through the Maya interface. Learning how to use it properly and efficiently takes time, study, and practice. Chapter 8, “mental ray Shading Techniques,” Chapter 9, “Texture Mapping,” and Chapter 11, “Rendering for Compositing,” discuss various aspects of working with mental ray.

This chapter is concerned with using mental ray lighting tools and techniques to create realistic renders. Options available within mental ray allow you to achieve a wide variety of effects. You won’t need to use all ...