mental ray Connection Rollout
 
 
 
Command entry: Material Editor Display the controls for any material other than Multi/Sub-Object or a mental ray material other than Arch & Design. mental ray Connection rollout

The mental ray Connection rollout is available for all types of materials except the Multi/Sub-Object material and most of the mental ray materials themselves (for which it would be redundant). With this rollout you can add mental ray shading to conventional 3ds Max materials. These effects are visible only when you use the mental ray renderer.

ImportantThe mental ray Connection rollout does not appear unless you have enabled the mental ray extensions by using the mental ray Preferences panel. In addition, you can't assign shaders to the options in this rollout unless the mental ray renderer is active.

Interface

For each kind of shader on this rollout, there is a toggle and a button.

Basic Shaders group

Surface

Shades the surface of objects that have this material. Default=Locked to parent material.

In addition to any of the usual 3ds Max materials, the surface component can be assigned the following mental ray materials or shaders:

NoteUnlike a standard 3ds Max material, if you assign the Surface component a bitmap with tiling turned off, the original surface color does not “show through.” In renderings, you see only the untiled map, and none of the rest of the object.
Shadow

Assigns a shadow shader. Default=Locked to parent material.

The shadow component can be assigned the following shaders:

Caustics and GI group

Photon

Assigns a photon shader. Photon shaders affect how object surfaces respond to photons; that is, they control how the surfaces behave when generating caustics and global illumination. Default=locked to parent material.

The photon component can be assigned the following shaders:

Photon Volume

Assigns a photon volume shader. Photon volume shaders affect how an object's volume responds to photons; that is, they control how the volume behaves when generating caustics and global illumination.

The photon volume component can be assigned the following shaders:

Extended Shaders group

Displacement

Assigns a displacement shader. Default=locked to parent material.

The displacement component can be assigned the following shaders:

Volume

Assigns a volume shader.

The volume component can be assigned the following shaders:

Environment

Assigns an environment shader. The environment shader provides an environment local to the material. It is visible if the material is reflective or transparent.

The environment component can be assigned the following shaders:

Advanced Shaders group

Contour

Assigns a contour shader.

The contour component can be assigned the following shaders:

Light Map

Assigns a light map shader.

NoteNo light map shaders are provided with 3ds Max. This option is for users who have access to light map shaders via other shader libraries or custom shader code.

Optimization group

Flag Material as Opaque

When on, indicates that the material is fully opaque. This tells the mental ray renderer that it doesn't need to process transparency for this material, or to use the shadow shader. This can improve rendering time. Default=off.