Macho3001 Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Hi Guys.. I've just upgraded from Max8 to V9, use the built in Mental Ray renderer mr3.5 for my Architectural Interiors & Exterior renderings. Now with V3.5, Mental Images have come a long way from the complex & sssssllllooowww... rendering engine that was with the earlier versions. Their new versions' slick maaaan! I've been prompted not once, but many times by other forum users to changeover to VRay2 saying that it beats the hell out of mr!! I'd request experts' opinions on the various pros & cons of going the changeover (Fellow mr Users... RISE & POST PLS).. Also, VRay experts, please comment on which platform to stick with, & why! Thanks, folks! Cheerio! Macho3001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hao La Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 It's true, Mental Ray has been improved a lot since the new Max9 version. Sun/Sky system works really neat which is a good feature for exterior render (in my opinion) For interior, Vray seems to be better in time render and materials setup. It doesn't mean Mental ray cannot produce the image like Vray. But Vray is faster to setup and to preview the render which are important things in lightning up a scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 I've used Vray a lot and only recently started using mr 3.5 (my company has Max9 but not Vray), but in my limited experience with the new mr is comparable to Vray. The Arch&Design material is powerful but so easy to use it's almost embarrassing, and I used to stay away from logarithmic exposure control but they've improved it a lot. I find it easier to set up a very fast render in Vray, but now the question is, with the amount of rendering I actually do (I'm an architect) is it worth the extra money to get Vray? I think that with Max8 the answer would have been yes, but now it's no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho3001 Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share Posted November 25, 2006 Thanks Andrew & Hao.. I liked the yes & no part in the end, Andrew ... lets hear a little more on this.... Macho3001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 There are some threads on the mental ray board where we've been going over some of the finer points of using it. Also, Jeff Patton has a web site (jeffpatton.net) where he's posted a lot of info on using mental ray, though he was using older versions so there are easier ways of doing a lot of the things he talks about now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhanphillipco Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Ei guys, I usually work on exterior perspectives and usually my boss demands for a fast and good quality render. although i have no knowledge in using mental ray but which is the better one to do the job? Vray or Mental Ray? Can Vray achieve the same effect that mental ray is capable of? epecially the bloom effect? Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltaire_ira Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 if vray comes with a glare map just like mentalray and maxwellrender..otherwise you can do it in post in Photoshop.using the glarein mr adds a little rendertime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 6 and two 3's really. although I am more biased towards Mental. I tried Vray, and got good results but I really missed the power of Mental shaders. There were alot of things I wanted to do with Vray materials but there was not straight forward route. I found Vray far too complex for my own good. Mental3.5 is simpel, fast and powerful. The mrsun and sky system make exteriors a breeze. I also have gotten better results for interiors with Mental over Vray. JHV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dollus Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 I would suggest sticking with MR because it's free and there are quite a few resources online to help you grow with the software should you choose to do so. That said, I still feel Vray has better capacity for extremely detailed scenes (but setup gets more complicated) so if you are more dependent upon geometry detail than sophisticated shaders and you have $1000 laying around, go ahead and try Vray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carloscristerna Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Mental Ray and Vray....they both do the same thing....one is fast the other one is powerful....I use them both. vray is very easy and fast. but is not very flexible to my taste.mental ray is fast too if you know how to use it, my favorite is mental ray. I think it delivers a nicer result. but if you know how to use them it really doesnt mater....the artist is the one that matters. I have attached a few renderings two with mental ray and one with Vray the living is Vray and the other two MR like I said I like them both I just have a personal preference for MR cheers Carlos Cristerna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camby1298 Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Mental Ray and Vray....they both do the same thing....one is fast the other one is powerful....I use them both. vray is very easy and fast. but is not very flexible to my taste.mental ray is fast too if you know how to use it, my favorite is mental ray. I think it delivers a nicer result. but if you know how to use them it really doesnt mater....the artist is the one that matters. I have attached a few renderings two with mental ray and one with Vray the living is Vray and the other two MR like I said I like them both I just have a personal preference for MR cheers Carlos Cristerna Is that the general opinion of Neoscape Carlos? I don't mean to pry and nor am I looking for insider secrets from Neoscape (btw Im a big fan), but it seemed to me that most of Neoscape's animations were done with Vray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noi-pi Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 There are guys here in our company who uses V-ray but still the company likes Mentalray renderings. I would agree the fexibility of Mentalray with its various shader options. With the latest version (3.5), it is now fairly easy to adjust settings between high and low presets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carloscristerna Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 It's my personal opinion, and yes we use Vray for our animations. and most of our renderings, I personally have been using mental ray before neoscape so I am trying to incorporate it to the pipeline. I would say that the smart thing to do in a bussines is to use them both, to combine the speed of vray and the special shaders of mentaray...my first attempt to mix them was on the "southbridge" movie (you can check it out on neoscape website) we rendered the water with caustics on MR and the room in Vray for both the still and the movie. latter we did a movie where I render a lot of cars (this one is not on the web yet) all the back plates where vray but all the cars and occlusion where MR....right now I am working on another car shot almost entirelly in MR...I think is better to use as many tools as you have, that way you can take the advantages of all the tools... here is a WIP render of the pool. remember thats my personal opinion and not of Neoscape cheers CarlosCristerna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camby1298 Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Yea I remember that South Bridge movie, the close up of the girl in pool room, with the caustics dancing around on the wall behind was a great shot. And the model wasn't half bad either. Are you the one who gets to choose which models they hire for your renderings Carlos? What a great position that would be in a firm!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vizfx Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Hi Bellow is a link which answers many questions regarding MR & 3DSMax9: http://download.autodesk.com/global/3dsmax/featureVideos/max9_mentalray_improvments_medium.mov Have fun…it is extreme Best regards. Mihai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho3001 Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 Carlos...Wow! Really cool images. I especially liked the Living Room.. Would it be possible if you could post a small Tutorial on basic rendering skills with MR for interiors for benefit of other users... If you could, the CG community (& me personally:) would be highly grateful... Thanks. By the way, a new plugin for Sketchup Pro has been launched by name of PODIUM, which uses the Kerkythea Rendering Engine.. some of the images I saw in the Gallery were really amazing. If you know and have used this software, how would you stack it vis-a-vis MR for Max9? I've given below the link to Biebel's Gallery, a Pro Podium User.. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/supodiumforum/vpost?id=1554513 Macho3001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manta Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Carlos...Wow! Really cool images. I especially liked the Living Room.. Would it be possible if you could post a small Tutorial on basic rendering skills with MR for interiors for benefit of other users... If you could, the CG community (& me personally:) would be highly grateful... Thanks. By the way, a new plugin for Sketchup Pro has been launched by name of PODIUM, which uses the Kerkythea Rendering Engine.. some of the images I saw in the Gallery were really amazing. If you know and have used this software, how would you stack it vis-a-vis MR for Max9? I've given below the link to Biebel's Gallery, a Pro Podium User.. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/supodiumforum/vpost?id=1554513 Macho3001 I don't know if it matters, but I think he said that the livingroom was vray... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carloscristerna Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 thanks for all your good comments...I wish I did the casting. but no....I dont I will work on a MR tutorial soon. ( I keep saying that to myself ) but in between the Wife, work, music, and the stupid Xbox....I dont have much time...I will do a very simple one with the new mental ray. just give me some time guys...again thanks for the comments. Carlos Cristerna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now