Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Writing mental ray® Shaders

A Perceptual Introduction

  • Book
  • © 2008

Overview

Authors:
  1. Andy Kopra

    1. mental images GmbH, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • A tutorial introduction to mental ray shader programming
  • Includes the full source code for 100 shaders and illustrated with over 200 rendered scenes and diagrams
  • Cross-references with the first two volumes of mental ray handbooks
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: mental ray® Handbooks (MENTALRAY, volume 3)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (26 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    1. Introduction

      Pages 1-7

  3. Structure

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9
      Download chapter PDF

    2. The structure of the scene

      Pages 11-20

    3. The structure of a shader

      Pages 21-24

    4. Shaders in the scene

      Pages 25-46

  4. Color

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 47-47
      Download chapter PDF

    2. A single color

      Pages 49-55

    3. Color from orientation

      Pages 57-62

    4. Color from position

      Pages 63-68

    5. The transparency of a surface

      Pages 69-75

    6. Color from functions

      Pages 77-92

    7. The color of edges

      Pages 93-124

  5. Light

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Lights

      Pages 127-148

    3. Light on a surface

      Pages 149-165

    4. Shadows

      Pages 167-181

    5. Reflection

      Pages 183-196

    6. Refraction

      Pages 197-217

    7. Light from other surfaces

      Pages 219-243
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • mental images GmbH, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany

    Andy Kopra

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation