NextDesign ... Tried your suggestion with no success. This was one of the first approach I tried but thought I'd revisit it, after your suggestion, just to make sure.

dustykhan ... I actually already have an "Instance" script I use for a "RenderView" window issue (Yet another Maya bug) that I've created a Shelf button for. Looked your script link over but am not exactly sure how to adapt it to my particular problem. Scripting is not exactly one of my strong points. I know just enough to get by presently. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion. If you come up with anything else please post here. Below is the exact error message I get following the blank Mental Ray panel in Render Settings ...


// Error: file: /Users/mtcgs/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/2013-x64/prefs/scripts/mentalrayUI.mel line 713: No object matches name: mentalrayGlobals.exportVerbosity