Rendering with mental ray & 3ds Max

Chapter 5

Mental ray and Shaders

5.1  Introduction

As we mentioned in Chapter 1, mental ray is a render engine that controls an enormous number of shaders that all work together to translate the scene data into the final rendered image. Just consider mental ray as the mastermind behind it all. mental ray can work with most of the existing map types that are available in 3ds Max. For instance, if you want to apply an image to an object, there is no need to use a specific mental ray shader. You can just keep on using the bitmap, as you are accustomed. But in addition to the regular mapping techniques, there are also a number of mental ray–specific shaders available. You can find most of them through the Material/Map Browser where they can be recognized ...