Filter Types

[SandmanNinja]

Hi again...

 

When I was studying V-Ray, I primarily used the Catmul-Rom filter and it seemed to produce good results.

 

Now that I'm dedicated to mental ray, that option isn't available to me.

I generally leave it on BOX, but can I ask what would be a good alternative?

 

I realise the usual trade-offs - better render but more time - but was just looking for some input.

 

I'm thinking the traditional mental ray still render of a single frame, high quality.

 

Thanking you...

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I am not sure I have the exact answer, but Box in Vray is a blurring filter, and I am going to assume that is universal. Catmul-Rom I believe is a sharpening filter. Try Mitchell, which is another sharpening filter. I thought Lanczos was supposed to be a smoothing filter, but according to the diagram in the 3dsmax help files it looks like it might be a sharpening filter. See attachment below.

 

Box should be reserved for animations.

 

I have another question... which is related.

 

In Vray I didn't use any AA filters unless I was rendering an animation. This speed things up. If I wanted a sharpening filter, I would then add it in post. Is there a way to turn off the filters in Mental Ray, and only use sampling to smooth the image?

 

.

[SandmanNinja]

Thanks for that, Travis.

 

I know when I take photos, I don't like leaving the sharpening up to my camera - I do it all in photoshop.

 

Maybe I should be doing the same with renders?

 

I'll render a detailed scene out with the different filters and compare.

 

Thanks again.

[shaneis]

I've always heard that Lanczos is the way to go for clear sampling. Add to that a contrast threshold of about 0.05 and you have a good clean edge to most of your renders. Mitchell can cause edge artifacts (usually dark outlines to objects) and can end up removing fine rim-lighting effects as a result. Have a look at this Joel,

 

http://www.impresszio.hu/szabolcs/MentalRay/MentalRaySampling.htm

 

Written for Maya, but all still applies to mentalRay in Max.

 

Enjoy,

 

S.