Mental ray is the leading rendering engine for generating photorealistic images and is built into many 3D graphics applications. Written by the mental ray software project leader, this book gives a general introduction into rendering with mental ray, as well as step-by-step recipes for creating advanced effects and tips and tricks for professional users. A comprehensive definition of mental ray's scene description language and the standard shader libraries are included as the basis for all examples. Beginners will learn about the rendering techniques supported by mental ray. Advanced users...

This book is the definitive reference manual for mental ray version 3.4. It starts with a brief overview of the features of mental ray and continues with the specification of the mental ray scene description language, the mental ray shader interface, and the integration interface for third-party applications. All material is presented in reference form, organized by grammar elements and C function call, rather than by feature set. The book is intended for translator writers, shader writers, and integrators, who are familiar with the C and C++ programming languages. This third, completely...