Writing mental ray® Shaders

The current documentation of mental ray in Rendering with mental ray and Programming mental ray is uniquely thorough in its description of mental ray's features and programmable extensibility. However, with the increasing use of mental ray by artists and programmers in visual effects and broadcast production, a different description of mental ray's extensibility is required, an approach that takes the aesthetics or rendering into account. Writing mental ray shaders describes the varieties of shader programming from the point of view of incrasing perceptual complexity: from color, to the effects of light, to the manipulation of shape, to the output of the final image. This is not a documentation organized around the structure of software, but rather based on our perception of the visual world.

Other features of the book are also designed for programmers in production. Many intermediate programmers work from examples they use as templates for their own programs. This book includes many example shaders, including the simplest shader possible in each category that can serve as a starting point for further customization. These examples will also provide a basis for training artists interested in extending their technical skills by learning how to write shaders for mental ray.