Intended for artists, this one-day class focuses on using mental ray finalgathering and other techniques for indirect illumination. We also cover ambient occlusion techniques and examine the similarities and differences. Exercises within the 3D application provide hands-on practice with the material covered in lecture.

The minimum requirements for taking the class include:

1. Class 101 or equivalent experience using mental ray in one of the 3D applications (Maya, XSI/Softimage, 3ds max, etc.).
2. Familiarity with general direct lighting concepts

One day, 10AM-6PM

Introduction to Indirect Lighting

Photons and Rays
Final Gather Rays
Render Phases
Illumination - Direct and Indirect

Light path notation and depiction
Primary FG Rays
Ray tracing with primary FG rays
Secondary FG Rays
GI with secondary FG rays
FG trace depth

Pre-processing storage phase
|  photon map, finalgather map
|  irradiance particles map
|  ambient occlusion cache
What is stored in indirect illumination points?
|  photons, collected light
|  ray distribution patterns and count
Re-use and interpolation
Turning off interpolation

FG filter
FG falloff
FG files
Understanding FG statistics
Parallel rendering of FG
FG flags

Causes
Solutions

Compared to Finalgathering
Ambient occlusion shader
FG occlusion shader