Mental Ray 1: Samples and Quality Control

Fig 1: Initial Maya Render

Fig 2: Initial Maya Light Render

Fig 3: Maya Area Light Render

Fig 4: Initial Maya Shadows

Fig 5: Maya Shadow Map Render

Fig 6: Initial Ambient Occlusion

Fig 7: Ambient Occlusion at 64

Fig 8: Ambient Occlusion at 128

Fig 9:29 Second Render with Diffuse Shadows

This tutorial was quite easy to grasp, samples allow for cleaner render that is both in high quality and fast render speeds. Initially my renders for the scene where quite fast, the longest being around 3 minutes compared to the tutorials 4 minutes. I managed to bring down the render speed to 29 seconds using the diffuse shadows but when I switched to raytracing the graininess of the shadows could not be soften back down and that was my only issue.

Fig 10: Ray Tracing Shadows Retained the Graininess no matter the value I set it to