While reading a book on 3ds Max, I came across word 'mental ray'. What exactly is 'mental ray,?

Question

The book explains various functions that are performed under mental ray but it does not say what exactly is mental ray? I am curious to know the meaning of the word and its origin.

Answer 1

I am not sure of the correct spelling, But, it is another 3D program, Pov-ray is also known for creating animation characters. They use a different renderer than 3D studio. In my opinion, 3D Studio is the better software.

Answer 2

John is wrong. Mental Ray is a renderer used by many 3d packages, including 3ds Max, Maya and XSI.

If I'm not mistaken, it's included in 3ds Max since version 6 as an alternative to Max's "default scanline renderer".

Mental Ray is much more extensive than Max's default renderer. It has some nice built-in features like caustics, and it uses shader (i.e. you could write your own shaders).