Description: 3ds Max 2010 Lighting and Rendering with mental ray explores one of the most powerful toolsets for photorealistic 3D image visualization: the mental ray renderer in 3ds Max. Aaron F. Ross shows how to use mental ray's combination of materials, lighting, and rendering to achieve a variety of effects, from glossy surfaces to reflections and transparency. He provides an in-depth review of photometrics and the tools used to adjust lighting in 3ds Max, including brightness, intensity, and color temperature along with a wide variety of lighting scenarios. Aaron also devotes time to getting the most out of mental ray's powerful rendering engine and improving render efficiency. Exercise files are included with this course.

In this demonstration the instructor starts off by explaining the nodes that will be used throughout the rest of the DVD. From there he goes into depth on how to create a material that can transition from one set of textures and parameters, into another. He also gets into how to make a character completely dissolve away.