Complex UV Layout in Maya
Over the last couple of years UV layout in Maya has changed for the better. In this course we're going to be taking a look at some of those changes as we UV map an entire character
# 1 22-10-2004 , 09:56 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 9

Is Mental Ray up to it?

Could anyone advise?

I've been working in Maya 4.5 for the last couple of years and am more than aware that the renderer is not as good as other 3D software packages. Working on a joint project with some Lightwave artists recently highlighted that.

I was thinking of upgrading to Maya 6 so that I could use Mental Ray.

Could those with the experience tell me the pro's and cons of Mental Ray and is it worth the price of the upgrade? Does it compare wellk with other renderers? Or do I import all my models and texture maps into Lightwave to be rendered?

Thanks
R.

# 2 22-10-2004 , 11:19 AM
kbrown's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,198
I would say yes, Mental Ray is very much up to it. It's implementation to Maya is relatively young and thus its full potential might be tricky to use at times but it's getting better and easier to use from version to version. Of course it has its own learning curve so don't expect to magically get impressive images with a click of a button...

MR has been around quite some time now so it's not a new thing. It's just new to Maya. It's been for example the renderer of XSI for years and now it's part of 3DSMax too...

More info here: https://www.mentalimages.com/2_1_0_mentalray/index.html

P.S. The Maya Software renderer isn't imho as bad as some people say. In some cases it's even faster. Of course you need to know it thoroughly too to make use of it. I tend to use it almost always if I don't need the fancy features of MR...

P.P.S. There's a lot more to getting nice and good quality CG images than the renderer. Everything begins with a good model, good textures and good lighting. It's like they say: "Crap in = crap out".


Kari
- My Website
- My IMDB

Do a lot, Fail a lot and Learn a lot!
# 3 22-10-2004 , 12:56 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 9
Thanks for the info K-Man,
I agree. Most of the time I've had no worries over Mayas renderer, and have been happy with the results.

However,we completed a project in the summer where both Lightwave and Maya renderers were used. The scenes were ice scenes/landscapes and I think this was where Mayas renderer fell short. The Lightwave images were beautiful. I though that maybe MRays facility for global illumination would have helped considerably with Mayas results.

Fair point about crap in=crap out..............I've certainly managed a fair amount of that .

Cheers
R

# 4 22-10-2004 , 03:25 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 46
I just wanted to add to this topic and say that I'm surprised that there aren't any good tutorials out there showing good tips on using Mental Ray. Rendering is such an important part of a good end product that you think someone would have created a tut on it by now.

Maybe there is one out there but I can't seem to find it.

# 5 24-10-2004 , 12:54 PM
kbrown's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,198
I'll propably do some MR tutes for SM when I get time...


Kari
- My Website
- My IMDB

Do a lot, Fail a lot and Learn a lot!
# 6 25-10-2004 , 10:11 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 9
That would be excellent,
Cheers.
R

# 7 25-10-2004 , 10:28 AM
lisa_gonzalez's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: London, England
Posts: 301
I've noticed a serious lack of good mental ray tuts too...this is one area that I would love to get good at user added image


When in doubt......smile!

https://www.x-menthelaststand.com/
# 8 30-10-2004 , 02:07 PM
Ankalagon's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Novi Sad, Detelinara, Serbia
Posts: 468
But there are some really nice tutorials on internet for MR. not video tutorials but txt! And I must say that I am really think that Maya can get much bather results than LW or any other 3d software can get, and I heard that Maya 7 will have renderman bundled with unlimited version of Maya!!! If that happens Maya will get even higher than its now, and Maya is at first place, and second is 10 places down user added image


Best resolt would come, if every one in the group are doing what is best for himself and the group!!

Sorry for bad English, See ya
dead mosquito-blog-on english too
# 9 30-10-2004 , 03:32 PM
dragonfx's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,257
I dont claim this to be a "good" tutorial, and its been pieced on an hour or so, but to whoever it can be interested the basic workflow to GI+FG comes down to this:
_____________________________________________
QD Mentalray GI+FG Cornell box workflow example
1 make a scene like that: a box with a hole on top and some balls inside
put a spotligh pointing to the hole, on its atributes turn on emit photons
on the camera used to render put its environment color to white
2 assign lamberts with various colors to the box and balls go down to the mentalray tab and asign a 50%gray to irradiance of the lamberts (and put a blinn without specular for the chromeballs)
3 render with mr prewiev settings...
4 just changed the settings to globalillumination preview
5-6 in the light´s atribute editor slowly iterate and finetune trough the values at
a)photon intensity
b)#gi photons
c)intensity
d)exponent
(this is a good moment to see what changing kust one of them actually does... ) keep going until the brightest and darkest areas look more or less right(not too overexposed-underexposed) and the spots(photons) cover more or less uniformly the scene... (not seen when reduced quality to fit on thread)
7 emit more photons from the light pump up photon volume accuracy
8 Turn on final gather
9 pump up render settings and put even more photons, iterate steps 5-6-7 and play with the irradiances and ambients of the lamberts until youre done...(ie you either like it or youre so frustrated you declare it "done")

another variation is putting "windows" to the box or deleting the wall behind the camera
And numerically pumping up beyond 1 the v value of the v (HSVmode) in the white of the environment on the camera. Or placing an image(hdr or whatever) on a big scaled normal inverted ball surrounding the box
_______________________________________________

Attached Thumbnails
# 10 11-11-2004 , 03:48 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 18

# 11 11-11-2004 , 08:26 PM
Ankalagon's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Novi Sad, Detelinara, Serbia
Posts: 468
I have heard that Max hav bether Mray than Maya, is that trouth???


Best resolt would come, if every one in the group are doing what is best for himself and the group!!

Sorry for bad English, See ya
dead mosquito-blog-on english too
Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads