This is a render test of translucency with the mia_material shader. It's a simple nParticle simulation with a bit of self attraction, reduced self collision and low mass, first instanced with a simple black sphere (for the actual seed), then converted to polygons (for the jelly bit). The jelly outer part is shaded with the mia_material. I tried misss shaders and the mib_glossy_refraction, but neither gave a result like that.
I don't know why I never bothered learning more about mental ray. Okay, it's not the most intuitive option and some of the connections can confuse, but the documentation is actually quite good and there is quite a lot of help on the web.
More important, though, are the results and man am I impressed. I spent the last two days playing around and reading up on some of the shaders and their capabilities. Then it only took me 10 mins to set up the shader for this test and (I think) it's already looking pretty good. The only issues noticeable are the little spots in the mesh, which are either holes (generated by maya when converted from particles to polygons) or the original nParticles poking through.
The rendertime was surprisingly low as well and that with FG and physical sun and sky turned on.
I kinda wished I would have realized a bit earlier how awesome mental ray is, but better now than never.
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