V Ray

# 1 07-03-2012 , 02:59 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: Uk

Posts: 193

Hi excuse my ignorance, but I don't know much about V ray.

Why is it good, and should I be using it instead of Mental Ray?

Graham

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# 2 07-03-2012 , 07:24 PM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

its just different.
whether you use it or not depends on what you expect from v ray over mental ray?

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# 3 07-03-2012 , 09:54 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

As Dom says really

I use both MR and vray currently, one at work and one at home.

And to be completely honest, I only prefer MR because I have used it more, however you can achieve some solid renders out of Vray. Theres tons of documentation on the web from Spot3d.com among other places.

At the end of the day its how you make it work, you have to put the effort in, theres no magic 'make my render look photoreal' button in any renderer, you have to do that bit.

Jay

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# 4 07-03-2012 , 10:03 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: Uk

Posts: 193

I guess I can continue on with Mental Ray so.. just thought I may have been missing out on something.

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# 5 08-03-2012 , 03:09 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012

Posts: 43

I would advise you to focus on Vray.
I started on Mental Ray in Softimage 3.5 in 1997. It's a great engine, but it's aging, and fast.
Most of it's inner structure is outdated and it's struggling to meet today's standards.
Nvidia fired most of the dev team at mental image, it's clearly dying a slow, painfull death.
All the companies in France are switching to Vray in Maya for commercials, and my friends in the US tell me the same things. They used to be pro Mental ray people!
Vray is simpler to use, and you get better results faster.
You'll have better chance finding a job if you know Vray now, unless you're aiming at some old company that still uses MR.

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# 6 08-03-2012 , 04:14 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

In that case I'd advise you to use the best....renderman

or for a renderman compliant...3delight (its a free render engine)

Jay

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# 7 08-03-2012 , 04:42 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jan 2010

Location: Budapest, Hungary

Posts: 244

I ve tried both. Vray works better for me.
-Gpu render (for setting lights works)
-multi tread support @ render
-if you start a huge render like 30-40minutes one. It wont freeze your maya... In brakets you ll see how its calculating

I remember earlier i tried render cars with mentalray.. I did not know what is happening. It completly froze my maya..... after 45min the render was ready.

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# 8 08-03-2012 , 06:02 PM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

I totally agree that mr is outdated.

It seems to me that some people learning maya, don't learn much about mental ray initially. they end up just turning on final gather, global illumination, dof and bokeh. Then they set the globals to production quality preset and inevitably they get painfully slow renders. I guess this is why people search for the fabled lightening renderer that will also give them better looking, more realistic renders. you need to learn how to light and render regardless of the render software you use.

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# 9 09-03-2012 , 01:45 AM

Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004

Posts: 2,988

I've been using Mental Ray for about 8 years now, and still struggle with the damned thing. It's a great renderer, but the integration in Maya is appalling. The Max integration is better, but still not great. My favorite renderer is still Brazil R/S for 3ds Max; but it hasn't been updated in a very long time. The company was bought, and it's turned into vapour-ware. user added image

From what I've played around with Vray in Maya, I like it quite a bit. It has it's quirks, but it has a much better workflow in Maya than MR has. It's SSS shader is pretty good too. Simple, and fast.

Still waiting for Arnold though user added image

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Last edited by NextDesign; 09-03-2012 at 01:48 AM.

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# 10 09-03-2012 , 10:28 AM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

Still waiting for Arnold though

Originally Posted by NextDesign

Boom! now your talking.

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# 11 09-03-2012 , 11:00 AM

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Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Posts: 1,162

Arnold?........

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# 12 09-03-2012 , 02:23 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

The arnold site: https://www.solidangle.com/ doesn't have anything on it??

-stwert

Website - Blog - YouTube - Vimeo - Facebook - Twitter

-->How to Effectively Ask Questions on Forums<--

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# 13 09-03-2012 , 03:50 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012

Posts: 43

Maybe I'm saying crap but aren't Vray and Arnold related in some ways? I heard they are very similar BUT I don't know how and/or if that's true.
Arnold seems pretty kickass tho.

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# 14 09-03-2012 , 04:33 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

Someone needs to make a render engine chart... there's too many... gah.

Name, company, biased/unbiased, price, maya integration, realtime, CPU/GPU, features (motion blur, SSS, DOF, fur/hair etc.), vaporware or not, industry adoption, abundance of learning materials.

For: mental ray, vray, maxwell, arnold, 3Delight, renderman, brazil, octane, luxrender, kerkythea.

Shouldn't be hard user added image

Thanks!