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5 Responses to “Mastering mental ray: Rendering Techniques for 3D and CAD Professionals”

1. Christopher L. Tedin Says:
   June 14th, 2010 at 11:04 am

   There are few books available that cover information to a depth and degree that almost anyone, at any level of expertise, can benefit from. The seasoned professional will come away with a deeper knowledge without feeling like the information is “spoon fed”, and the beginner is deftly guided through the information in a clear and well though-out curriculum. If you take your time, this book will yield a lot of information. Yet, it is so well organized, you could scan through and pick up what you need to know for any particular issue you might be having with a particular project. The subtle nuances of lighting, surface, gamma, atmosphere are explained with an eye toward production efficiency. The author tests and provides comparisons between many of the settings, both in quality level and render times, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about the settings they might choose. The examples are exquisite, and really give you a sense of what is possible from this powerful renderer in terms of photographic realism, so important to architectural and other visualization professionals. With the power of computers increasing, while the costs continue to fall, it makes sense to start using distributed rendering and render farms to increase productivity. This book provides a framework from which anyone can quickly set up a system and get up and running very quickly, producing world-class images. I can’t recommend this book enough. I will be using it as a reference for my classes next quarter, and will place it on our library’s recommendation immediately!
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. Nicholas T. Fox Says:
   June 14th, 2010 at 11:53 am

   All too infrequently a good book comes along and you know instantly that it’s going to deliver and deliver big time; and even less often one arrives that sets a new benchmark. Such a book is Jennifer O’Connor’s, Mastering Mental Ray – Rendering Techniques for 3D and CAD Professionals. Aimed primarily, though not exclusively, at 3ds max users, I am sure that this book will find a place on the bookshelves of every 3D animators and visual artists who uses, or are about to use mental ray, the rendering engine that comes bundled with many Autodesk applications. The book contains the kind of information that should come with 3ds max, but doesn’t and for many 3ds max users the cheers and applause will be long, loud and well deserved

   mental ray is often described as being very difficult to learn and even more difficult to use, and while it can appear daunting to the newcomer, Jennifer takes them by the hand and gently steps logically through all of the major and minor settings that make this rendering engine one of the most useful and powerful 3D imaging tools around. Even seasoned mental ray users will find Mastering Mental Ray a very useful and readable reference. One thing I particularly like about the book is Jennifer’s easy writing style; she achieves a balances between what you should know and what you need to know and explains clearly the often tedious settings you need to adjust in order to produce work of the very highest quality. In other words, the author explains clearly and concisely how to adjust and tweak mental ray so that you can get the best and/or quickest, results from it. The reader is not overwhelmed by technical jargon or swamped by screen captures and there is a very good balance between text and graphics – the book is a joy to look at and read as the author clearly knows her subject and how to express herself in plain understandable language.

   Having gone through initial setup and 3ds max settings, Jennifer moves through painstakingly and thoroughly through materials, lighting (including global Illumination and Photometric Lighting), rendering, animation, shaders and using models imported from CAD programs for use in Architectural Imaging and the possible future extensions of mental ray using Importons. Simply put, Mastering Mental Ray will, I’m sure, be the benchmark by which other mental ray books will be judged.

   The book comes with a DVD containing 3ds max files for lessons, scripts and videos including a demonstration given by the author herself.

   For seasoned and budding 3ds max and mental ray users, this book is a must have and Jennifer deserves full praise for writing a computer book the likes of which I have not seen, or read, for a very long time. This book will, I think, achieve its aim, which is to make the 3D professional a mental ray master.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. Jeff Patton Says:
   June 14th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

   If you’re wanting to learn more about rendering with mental ray in 3ds Max, this book will not disappoint. If you’re new to mental ray or rendering in general this book will have you up and running in no time.

   Those that are more familiar with mental ray and/or rendering in general will also find this book helpful because it covers some topics that are difficult to find information on elsewhere, like rendering with IP and Importons.

   Kudos’s to Jennifer O’Connor for creating this great resource!
   Rating: 5 / 5

4. Ivan Iliev Says:
   June 14th, 2010 at 3:45 pm

   That is just one of the best books about Mental ray ever written!
   
   Instructive, informative, professional and the most important comprehensible,
   
   a book for everyone, seasoned user as well as beginner.
   
   Showing not only the way to get a particular goal, but also explaining why we are doing it this way. And last but not least fully up to date.

   Thank you Jennifer!
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

5. Alessandro Fogolin Says:
   June 14th, 2010 at 6:21 pm

   I’m a Max Design beta tester. I met Jennifer in Autodesk beta forum for first, than in her web site. She is great, in her book she talks about the most important point of using Mental in Max with an incredible easy language. My congratulation Jenny, this is a very well done job! Waiting for the next
   
   Alessandro Fogolin
   Rating: 5 / 5

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