Beginning with a concise review of the essential concepts, this resource offers step-by-step tutorials that teach animators how to render scenes with indirect light or with specific effects, such as depth of field and motion blur. A companion CD-ROM includes tutorial project files.

Realize your vision with stunning renders of your 3ds Max projects that can only be achieved with a powerful engine like mental ray. Beginning with a concise review of the essential concepts, you proceed to step-by-step tutorials that teach you how to render scenes with indirect light or with specific effects, such as depth of field and motion blur. Contour line shading and various other mental ray features are presented in detail, then you learn how to use the different light types of 3ds Max inside mental ray and how to use mental ray s own specific area lights and its new daylight system. Finally, the book reviews mental ray specific materials and what effects can be obtained by using most of the specific mental ray shaders.
Key Features:
* Color reproductions illustrate a wide array of subtle techniques.
* Contains never-before-published information about how shaders work
* Companion CD-ROM includes tutorial project files