It also launched a reality server and went further to unveil a real-time visualization system.Įven though Mental Ray gained so much ground in VFX production as well as on render farms, and also featured with animation production especially on movies with lower capital, it slowly lost its grounds to third-party renders with RenderMan topping the competition then. It also got licensed for top applications like CAD software. Mental Ray was also used to produce two high box office movies – the matrix trilogy and Star Wars prequels.ĭuring the 2000s and inline with the celebration of the recent Academy Awards and acquisition won, Mental Ray gained so much recognition in different sectors of the industry. Max, Maya, and Softimage as well as other top VFX pioneers such as Industrial Light and Magic, and ESC Entertainment.įast forwarding to 2003, the Mental Ray development team was honored with a Scientific and technical academy award. Other early Mental Ray 3D integrators were Avid.
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It was widely used in studios, and its recognition made the original developers (mental images) to partner with DCC software developers.Īmong these early developers who adopted Mental Ray, were, Autodesk, Alias, Wavefront. In the year 1990, it saw a vast increase in its usage as a fundamental production tool. When it was firstly launched in 1989 the same year RenderMan launched its commercial edition, Mental Ray took the entertainment industry by storm as it was the first renderer made available to the public. In the 90’s Mental Ray Partnered with the Creators of Visual Effects And with the rate at which renderers evolved, it couldn’t stand the test of time. Mental Ray was always the first choice to come to mind until it became an option.
If you have been consistent in the visual effect or animation industry, you would have noticed that every VFX or Animation app came with a built-in Mental ray addon.Īlthough other renderers came with advanced features as well as increasing artistic cachet, they cost a fortune to maintain and consumed a considerable amount of time during setup. With Nvidia’s announcement about ending its support for Mental Ray, we will be witnessing the end of the entertainment industry’s most exceptional renders and undisputedly, the most undervalued renderer.įor most 3D artists and render farms, it was considered as the default render engine.