| Writing Mental Ray(r) Shaders: A Perceptual Introduction Contributor(s): Kopra, Andy (Author) |
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ISBN: 3211489649 ISBN-13: 9783211489642 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $208.99 Product Type: Paperback Published: August 2008 Annotation: "Writing mental ray Shaders: a Perceptual Introduction" describes the creation and use of the software modules known as shaders in the mental ray rendering system. In mental ray, shaders can customize the entire rendering pipeline, from the simulated camera lens to object geometry and appearance and to the output of the final image. Intended both for experienced programmers new to mental ray and for artists learning how to program, this book presents the various shader types in an intuitive order based on a model of visual perception. With over one hundred example shaders and their associated scene files and explanatory diagrams, both beginning and advanced shader programmers will find the booka (TM)s catalog of techniques useful in customizing mental ray. Serving as a tutorial guide to the first two volumes in the "mental ray Handbooks" series, the present book provides further information on any topic it discusses by detailed references to those previous books. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Computers | Computer Graphics - Computers | Computer Science - Computers | Cad-cam |
| Dewey: 006.6 |
| Series: Mental Ray(r) Handbooks |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 8.3" W x 10.8" (3.95 lbs) 635 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The word "render" isn't unique to the vocabulary of computer graphics. We can talk about a "watercolor rendering," a "musical rendering" or a "poetic rendering." In each of these, there is a transformation from one domain to another: from the landscape before the painter to color on paper, from musical notation to sound, from the associations in a poet's mind to a book of poetry. Figure 1.1: Czar's Waiting Room, Main Railway Station, Helsinki, Eliel Saarinen, 1910, watercolor. But the type of rendering that may come closest to what we mean when we talk about rendering in computer graphics is in architecture. Geometric blueprints and technical specifications of building materials are transformed in the architectural rendering into a picture of the building 1 Introduction as it will appear when construction is complete. In addition to the designs of the building's geometry and its visual characteristics, the artist chooses a point of view to depict the scene in perspective. This is a transformation of a description of imagined space into a picture of that space. In a watercolor by architect Eliel Saarinen (Figure 1.1), the effect of light on marble is demonstrated in a way that would be lost in even a careful reading of blueprints and descriptions of materials. A mere brushstroke of a particular color in a particular place paradoxically transforms the dull matte appearance of watercolor into the sheen of polished stone. |