Save 20% off the regular price with this mastering mental ray bundle, which contains three of our best selling tutorials from the last year. We put it together to focus on creating and rendering indoor environments. The first two tutorials concentrate on lighting for complete interiors and smaller scale lighting for product visualizations. The third tutorial covers getting the most out of the render engine by creating light setup optimized for post-production. Full descriptions can be found below. While the focus is interiors, a lot of mental ray information that can be used in any scenario is also covered. This bundle contains the following tutorials:Physically Accurate Lighting in mental ray, Product Visualizations in mental ray and Lighting Passes in Post-Production Maya and Nuke

01 - Physically Accurate Lighting in mental ray

This project takes you through the workflow of physically accurate lighting in mental ray. It shows you how to light up the scene you see above with the ultimate goal being to give you control over the illumination of your own scenes. The shading has been kept simple so we can focus on the lighting setup, although we do pay special attention to the new subsurface scattering material in Maya.



This is a start to finish project where we cover every step to get from an unshaded room to the final scene. By the end of this tutorial you'll be able to dramatically alter your interior lighting in seconds. All scene files and textures are included. As well as the full HD 1080p video a 720p version is also included for easy playback on iOS / Android systems. Many thanks to David Mitchell from Alter Studios Chicago for providing the original concept for this scene.

02 - Product Visualizations in mental ray

This step by step tutorial in Maya 2012 will take you through the complete process of creating a photorealistic render of acrylic paint tubes in mental ray. The project is excellent for Maya users who already have some experience with mental ray and wish to take their work to the next level creating high quality renders that can be used for product visualizations in advertisement. All project files are included. Topics covered:

• Creating realistic shaders for plastic, painted metal, chrome and canvas
• Setting up mental ray area lights to match real world lighting
• Photorealistic lighting and shading techniques
• Shot composition and camera angles
• Linear workflow in Maya
• Post-production in After Effects (optional bonus track)

03 - Lighting Passes in Post-Production Maya and Nuke

In this course we create a light setup optimized for post-production with physical lights and light surfaces in mental ray, the lights are then split into layers with appropriate passes and reassembled in Nuke. With control of the individual lights we can relight the scene in real time without the need to re-render, thus creating a more efficient workflow. Contains all project files. If you're new to post-production this is an eye-opener into why certain things are done in compositing programs rather than in Maya, as you'll learn to approach lighting from a production point of view where control is of essence. This will enable you to dramatically alter your own scene lighting in any compositing application, not only saving time but also allowing for better quality results.