Render color per vertex
in mental ray® for
Maya®using
the mentalrayVertexColors node. It can be used in a shading network
for rendering color per vertex. As a result, you can store shading
and lighting information on mesh vertices (rather than shading networks),
simplifying your scene and making it more efficient to render.
To use the mentalrayVertexColors node
- Create color sets. For more information,
see
Polygon color sets.
- Create a mentalrayVertexColors node.
For more information, see
Create a node.
- In the Connection Editor,
load the shape node that contains the color set you want to use
into the Outputs column. For more information,
see
Connection Editor.
- Load the mentalrayVertexColors node into
the Inputs column of the Connection
Editor.
- Connect the output of the color set (colorSet[n].colorName)
to the cpvSets input on the mentalrayVertexColors node.
- Make connections from the mentalrayVertexColors
node out color to the input nodes of a shader, as necessary. For
more information, see
About shading networks.
Additional notes
- When a mesh has a connection between
the meshShape.colorSet[n].colorName to the mentalrayVertexColors
node, the color per vertex data of the mesh is exported as custom
data for each vertex. In the case of multiple CPV sets, all of the
CPV values are exported.
If you want to force
the export of all the CPV data for all the meshes in your scene,
you can turn on the Export Vertex Colors attribute
in the Render Settings: mental ray tabs, Options tab, Translation section.
Exporting CPV data can be process-intensive, so do not turn on this
attribute unless necessary.
- Vertex colors are exported as user data
for vertices and are accessible from a shader.