Also, consider the light from an environment. However, as rendering implementations evolved, so did lights, from point to area lights, and now, emissive objects. Traditionally, lights were only those elements specified explicitly as lights in the scene, and they had no size. There could be more light samples depending on number and size of lights. Below, we see a single light sample for the same intersection point. Because these samples tend to hit objects, it represents indirect light.įor lighting, the samples are taken from all visible lights in the scene. For example, above a diffuse surface creates samples in the hemisphere above the intersection point. We separate the local samples into two categories at an intersection point: the samples used for lights and the samples used for materials.įor materials, the sample directions depend on the type of surface at the intersection point. Below, we show a diffuse distribution of local samples split out for diffuse reflection. We will call those the local samples, in contrast to the global samples, because they are local to each eye ray. When an eye ray intersects an object, the eye ray may split into several samples. Below, we show an eye ray (in green) over a work by Albrecht Dürer. In essence, we sample the scene from the eye (E).
Each sample starts a ray traced from the camera out into the scene. The Overall Quality setting is a global setting that controls samples across a scene. This concept is key to adjusting quality now and in the future, as rendering technology evolves. Here, we introduce the concept of global vs. Understanding more about quality adjustment With better understanding, we hope you can more quickly achieve your desired results.
#How to use mental ray for maya 2016 how to#
In the next section, we provide detail to better understand how to adjust quality beyond the Overall Quality setting. More samples are taken in each region until the quality is matched. Rather, they vary in density per pixel region. It is located at the top of the Quality tab. Here, we provide an overview of how to adjust your scenes with the new UI, suggesting our recommended practice.įor new scenes, use the Overall Quality setting in the Sampling section as the primary control for speed vs. The Diagnostics tab contains settings that help a user with problem solving, or identification of areas for optimization. For example, the interactive rendering control for progressive rendering depends on a machine’s resources. The Configuration tab contains settings that are more likely to be used across Maya sessions, and how a user likes to work with the scene. This is where we provide the new simplified mental ray Passes. The Scene tab contains shared settings across scene elements, such as camera settings that should be applied to all renderable cameras. We also believe it will be conceptually easier, once the community gets familiar with this style of control. By using quality settings, instead of sample counts, we take advantage of better optimization schemes internally. The Quality tab contains quality settings for controlling sampling. We re-organized the mental ray Render Settings into four main tabs: This leads users of all levels to what is fundamentally important to control. We hide less frequently used features in favor of a cleaner, more productive and simpler control for basic workflow.
So we provide an Advanced Settings option on each of the new tabs. We also want to retain the flexibility of mental ray for production users. Provide single global controls to reduce repetitive and potentially error-inducing settings across scene elements.Increase ease-of-use when adjusting settings to control for optimization and quality.The defaults should enable the most frequently used features. Enable complete rendering without requirement to adjust or enable most settings.As stated in the Maya 2016 documentation for mental ray Render Settings, we aim to: Members of both NVIDIA ARC and Autodesk, including UI designers and developers, collaborated to make this change significant. For example, a user should not have to type in string options anymore.
We provide almost everything a user needs here within this UI. Of specific note, our newest Global Illumination (GI) mode significantly increases ease-of-use and productivity. The defaults aim for no-fuss rendering of the most frequently used and up-to-date features. We significantly changed the mental ray for Maya 2016 Render Settings User Interface (UI) in order to reduce time spent adjusting renders.
#How to use mental ray for maya 2016 series#
This is the first in a series of posts on mental ray for Maya 2016 Render Settings