Book description
Proven techniques for using mental ray effectively
If you're a busy artist seeking high-end results for your 3D, design, or architecture renders using mental ray, this is the perfect book for you. It distills the highly technical nature of rendering into easy-to-follow steps and tutorials that you can apply immediately to your own projects. The book uses 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design to show the integration with mental ray, but users of any 3D or CAD software can learn valuable techniques for incorporating mental ray into their pipelines.
Takes you under the hood of mental ray, a stand-alone or bundled product that is often used with 3D or CAD software in the creation of movies, games, architectural renders, and television
Focuses on only the most pertinent tools and techniques for busy professionals who need to quickly apply them on the job
Provides compelling, practical tutorials so you can start incorporating mental ray into your own production pipelines
Includes a DVD with step-by-step videos to help drive home concepts and techniques
Learn effective mental ray techniques with this great guide, then keep this practical book at your workstation for reference while you work!
Table of contents
- Copyright
- Dear Reader,
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Introduction
- 1. mental ray Essentials
-
2. Materials and Maps
- 2.1. Introducing the Slate Material Editor
- 2.2. Using the Slate Material Editor
- 2.3. Working with Bitmaps
- 2.4. Using Bitmaps When Working Remotely
-
2.5. Working with Materials, Maps, and Colors
- 2.5.1. Introducing the Autodesk Materials
- 2.5.2. Introducing the Autodesk Material Library
- 2.5.3. Introducing the Arch & Design Material
- 2.5.4. Introducing ProMaterials
- 2.5.5. Introducing the MetaSL Material
- 2.5.6. Converting Existing Materials to Arch & Design
- 2.5.7. Creating Glazing Materials
- 2.5.8. Using Low and High Dynamic Range Image Formats
- 2.5.9. Applying Real-World Scale
- 2.6. The Bottom Line
-
3. Light, Shadow, and Exposure Control
- 3.1. Using Material Override
- 3.2. Introducing Exposure Controls
- 3.3. Working with Light Objects
- 3.4. Eight Simple Rules for Lighting Your Scene
- 3.5. Understanding Photometric Lights
- 3.6. The Bottom Line
-
4. Rendering
- 4.1. Introducing Backburner Network Rendering
- 4.2. Using Batch Render
- 4.3. Introducing mental ray Proxy Objects
- 4.4. Understanding Render Settings
- 4.5. Accelerating Test Renders
- 4.6. The Bottom Line
-
5. Indirect Illumination and Final Gather
- 5.1. Defining Direct and Indirect Illumination
- 5.2. Understanding Indirect Illumination in mental ray
- 5.3. Understanding Final Gather
- 5.4. Introducing Final Gather Settings
- 5.5. Reusing Final Gather and Global Illumination Data
- 5.6. Adjusting an Object's Final Gather Options
- 5.7. Producing High-Resolution Images with FG
- 5.8. Using Daylight and Final Gather
- 5.9. Producing Animations with Final Gather
- 5.10. The Bottom Line
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6. Global Illumination and Caustics
- 6.1. Understanding Global Illumination
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6.2. Using Global Illumination
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6.2.1. Preparing the Initial Render Settings
- 6.2.1.1. Adjusting the Daylight System for Interior Global Illumination
- 6.2.1.2. Enabling Global Illumination
- 6.2.1.3. Adjusting Global Illumination Settings
- 6.2.1.4. Using Visual Diagnostics Mode for Global Illumination
- 6.2.1.5. Correcting the Bright Areas around Lights
- 6.2.1.6. Controlling Global Illumination Color Bleed with the Photon Basic Shader
- 6.2.1.7. Controlling Global Illumination Color Bleed with the Color Override/Ray Type Switcher
- 6.2.2. Using Global Illumination with the Sponza Model
- 6.2.3. Using Global Illumination with the Karina Bay Resort Scene
-
6.2.1. Preparing the Initial Render Settings
- 6.3. Defining Caustics
- 6.4. The Bottom Line
- 7. Importons and Irradiance Particles
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8. Effects
- 8.1. Introducing mental ray Lens Shaders
- 8.2. Understanding Camera Output Shaders
- 8.3. Understanding Camera Volume Shaders
- 8.4. The Bottom Line
-
9. mental ray for Architecture
- 9.1. Using Revit Architecture Models in 3ds Max/Design
- 9.2. Introducing the Autodesk Exposure Technology
- 9.3. Using Nonphotorealistic Rendering Techniques
- 9.4. The Bottom Line
- 10. mental ray for Design
-
A. The Bottom Line
- A.1. Chapter 1: mental ray Essentials
- A.2. Chapter 2: Materials and Maps
- A.3. Chapter 3: Light, Shadow, and Exposure Control
- A.4. Chapter 4: Rendering
- A.5. Chapter 5: Indirect Illumination and Final Gather
- A.6. Chapter 6: Global Illumination and Caustics
- A.7. Chapter 7: Importons and Irradiance Particles
- A.8. Chapter 8: Effects
- A.9. Chapter 9: mental ray for Architecture
- A.10. Chapter 10: mental ray for Design
- B. About the Companion DVD
Product information
- Title: Mastering mental ray®: Rendering Techniques for 3D & CAD Professionals
- Author(s):
- Release date: April 2010
- Publisher(s): Sybex
- ISBN: 9780470553854
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