VFX Mentor

This course is a production grade workshop on Mental Ray for Maya that will allow you to get the most out of this high-end renderer. The course is designed and taught by professional lighting TD’s and artists that use Mental Ray regularly in commercial and Film productions.

Since Maya’s documentation is rather sparse and other information is rather dispersed across the Web when it comes to Mental Ray and its proper use, we have decided to collate all our and publicly available knowledge and create an ongoing MRfM Workshop for you.

The workshop will endow you with a firm grasp and knowledge of Mental Ray for Maya and relevant workflows and trouble-shooting techniques. Topics cover setup in a larger network, render quality and diagnostic tools and workflows, advanced MR lights, Approximation Editors, Global Illumination and Final Gather for still and animations, foundations of MR shading nodes and networks, use of the mystical Phenomenon nodes, custom shading networks, integrating custom shaders and more. Regular feedback on our upcoming forums will allow us to further enhance this course and give you the knowledge you need to succeed.

The workshop is structured to cover the rendering techniques and workflows of rendering with Mental Ray and then concentrate on the powerful shaders and networks available in Maya, including integration of custom shaders and creation and use of phenomena.

after completion of all modules in this mentored MRfM Online Workshop will allow you to:

• Be able to effectively use Mental Ray for Maya in your work

• Know when to use Mental Ray specific effects

• Be able to trouble shoot and optimise your scenes using Diagnostic tools and Render Output

• Use and construct Mental Ray shading networks efficiently

• Use and apply Final Gather, Global Illumination, Caustics and Sub-surface scattering techniques without blowing your rendertimes through the roof

• Use approximation editors effectively

• use and integrate external custom shaders into your workflow and pipeline

• Setup and install MR Satellite and if you have it MR standalone effectively in your work

• design and create custom MR shaders using the Phenomenon nodes and tools

This course is specifically designed for individuals who want to gain a professional foundation to advanced understanding and knowldege of Mental Ray for Maya, and who want to be able to use Mental Ray for Maya more effectively and powerfully in their work.

This On-Line Workshop is structured initially in a mentored format. After the introduction sessions (see Outline below) you will have the choice of continuing the self-paced format or engaging in the Mentored Workshop, where you will have weekly feedback sessions and up to 3 months of ongoing mentor support after the course is completed.

During the course you will be able to download 50-60 minute lectures and class materials/tutorials every week. You will need to spend approximately 4-6 hours a session working through the materials to gain the most benefit out of this course. The course is intially planned to run over 10 weeks, however the more advanced topics will run as an additional course after that.

This course aims to give you the understanding and tools you need to effectively and confidently use Mental Ray in your work.

A non-exhaustive list of topics and skills covered (not necessarily in this order) are:

1) Starting and using Mental Ray for Maya

2) Render Settings and Approximation Editors

3) Mental Ray Lights

4) Global Illumination and Caustics

5) Final Gather and Image Based Lighting

6) Combining Global Illumination and Final Gathering

7) Troubleshooting and optimising Mental Ray Renders and Memory Usage

8) Mental Ray Shader basics, Hypershade and Shader Manager

9) Using and setting up MRfM Satelite

10) Mental Ray setup in a larger networked environment

11) Subsurface Scattering, Advanced Shading, Bump-Mapping, Photon Shaders and Phenomenon creation.

A working knowledge of Maya, preferably in a production environment is recommended. You should be familiar with the interface and common modeling, animation and shading functions and worksflows. It is recommended you have the equivalent of 1-2 years of production experience to most benefit from this course. Prior to the course we recommend, if possible, to study the Learning Maya documentation and tutorials, especially the tutorials on Rendering. This will help provide some familiarity with Maya and its Rendering Tools and Workflows. Good grasp of the English language in written and spoken form is required for this course.

a working version of Maya 7.0 and a computer to run it on with ease. A broadband internet connection, QuickTime 7 and the latest Flash Player are also required.