Intended for artists, this one-day class focuses on all aspects of antialiasing in mental ray from eye ray sampling and rendered image filtering to motion blur, which extends antialiasing to the dimension of time. We also cover a bit of texture filtering and geometry approximation. 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 2D filtering techniques

One day, 10AM-6PM

Introduction to Antialiasing and Motion Blur

Fixed and adaptive spatial sampling
Spatial sample location and contrast
Filtering
Temporal sampling
Shutter interval
Jitter and QMC sampling

Motion paths
Object movement and shading sample time
Multi-segmented paths

Pre-shading
Hardware vs. Software rendering algorithms
Multiple shading sample times
Detail shadow maps

Optimizing in proper media context
Camera motion
Finalgathering and Ambient Occlusion

Image pyramids
Tiled image format

When does tesselation happen?
Different approximation techniques
Tips for various object types
BSP for artists