Rendering fur
 
 
 

The final stage in adding fur to your models is to render the scene. You can render Fur using the Maya Software renderer or the mental ray for Maya renderer.

Related topics

Rendering fur in the Maya software renderer vs. mental ray for Maya

Refer to the following table for the differences between rendering Fur in the Maya software renderer and mental ray for Maya. For mental ray specific Fur render settings, see Render Stats and mental ray.

See also see About the mental ray for Maya renderer in the Rendering guide.

NoteThe way that lighting and shading is calculated on Fur is slightly different between the native Maya renderer and mental ray and therefore the resulting renders will differ slightly in this respect; in both cases, an illumination model known as Kajiya/Kay is used, but the intensity at a given point is calculated in Fur's own model for the native renderer, and in mental ray core for the mental ray renderer. This intensity is then used in the Kajiya/Kay illumination model to calculate diffuse/specular components.
Fur item Maya software renderer mental ray for Maya

Support for reflections

None

Fur shows up in reflective material, but is not reflective itself

Support for refractions

None

Fur is refracted through refractive material, but is not refractive itself

Support for colored shadows

Supports only black shadows

Yes

Support for correct penumbra and drop off

Not accurate

Yes

Support for correct DOF composition

Not accurate

Yes

Support for transparency

Fur can be transparent, but is not visible through transparent material (can render in layers and composite)

Fur is able to be transparent and to show up through transparent material

Support for motion blur

3D only

Yes

Need to add Fur Shadowing Attributes to lights to shadow Fur

Yes

No This workflow is supported by mental ray for Maya but an alternative workflow is also available. See Create fur shading and shadows using the mental ray for Maya renderer (Method 2) for more information.

Support for fast fake Back and Root Shading (AutoShade)

Yes

No

Support for ray-traced shadows

No

Yes

Support for depth-map shadows

Yes

Yes

Fur integrated into scene

As a post process via z-depth composite

Fully integrated

Support for area value calculations (Fur Render Settings > Calc. Area Values)

Yes

Yes

Support for 16 bit rendering

No

Yes

Support for texture-mapped lights

No

Yes