MR 1.5 Support for SSS?

[stunndman]

i accidently hit this thread


Hi there,

I'm a C++-Programmer who has been asked by a local company, if I could
extend the mental ray for maya 1.5 beta connection in maya 4.5
(windows) with subsurface scattering.

you stated on your website that mental ray got this feature
implemented,
so I guess the problem is just, that in maya doesn't exist any shader
for it yet.
After reviewing some of the HTML docs I have to say they're crappy and
expose no clues to how this could be done! :P

I have never programmed a shader in mental ray before; I did a lot of
3D-programming on my own in C++... any suggestions how I should start
and perhaps some written BASIC (important!) tutorials or detailed
documentations for implementing subsurface scattering (and shaders in
general) in mental ray 3.1?
(perhaps there is an already working small shader out there which could
be ported? small would be important here).

I haven't found anything about this topic on the net;
so I hope you folks can help :)

another question:
where would I get lib's and header files for the mental ray API?
are they free?



> you stated on your website that mental ray got this feature
> implemented,

Not in the mental ray core, which avoids predefining or hardcoding
features that define ithe "looks" of the scene. Which means, you
need to write a shader. Some people have written their own but I
am afraid the standard libraries don't contain one.

> After reviewing some of the HTML docs I have to say they're crappy and
> expose no clues to how this could be done! :P

You'll need to select one of the algorithms in the literature. The
manual gives no help here, it's really more of a reference manual
for shader writers.

> where would I get lib's and header files for the mental ray API?
> are they free?

mental ray is not. It comes with a header file (shader.h) that you
need to include in your sources. You don't link with any libraries;
you put your shader in a library and mental ray links it at runtime.

The sources of the standard shaders that come with mental ray are
available on ftp://ftp.mentalimages.com.

[MaDSheeP]

hey awesome, thank you very much for all the info! :)

[stunndman]

sure - if you have anything working post your results - i am really curious what SSS can do

[MaDSheeP]

well.. i have no skills at programming shaders.. so.. i guess i am stuck waiting for someone to post a free SSS shader ;)

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