Wow, looks like I have started a flame war. By no means have I mastered Mental Ray. And, once you become fairly faniliar with what each setting does- you only have to do a minimal amount of tweaking. Personally, I think that I am OK with Mental Ray (no where near where you guys are). I think that the reason that I am so obsessed with Indigo, even if it's speed/quality ratios are low, is because Indigo is physically correct. Also, this is influenced by all of the papers onb rendering algorithms I read and that I continue reading, because my ambition is to write a spectral renderer.

Also I think (though odds are that I am wrong) that you are actually going and criticizing my methods because, to you, I am probably no more than a kid spamming a professional forum. So, from the pros who themselves tell people that (when the 3ds Msx vs. Maya issue arises) that it is the actual product and not the means by which it is created, that matters. Yet, here are a few of the professional board members who are smashing my work (minus kbrown and possibly Jay, and not saying this out of lack of respect for you guys, to me you guys are my 3d idols) just because I refuse to use the norm and I use Indigo instead.

And there are the lighting challenges on cgtalk, probably I will join the next one.

Just my thoughts on the matter. And if I am just a spammer on these pro boards, by all means, ban me!

Please tell me where I am going wrong!

-Matt