2008

TIP To have an object behave as an actual light source (for example, a spline that
models a neon light), use the
scanline renderer on page 5949 , photometric lights
on page 4951 with a radiosity solution on page 5976 , and assign an Advanced
Lighting Override material
on page 5572 to make the object luminous.
Shaders (mental ray Renderer)
In mental ray, a shader is a function that calculates light effects. There can be
shaders for lights, cameras (lens shaders), materials, shadows, and so on.
In 3ds Max, the mental ray translator provides the functionality of light and
camera shaders. Material shaders correspond to 3ds Max materials.
A number of shaders are provided with 3ds Max. See
mental ray Shaders on
page 5801 ,
mental ray Connection Rollout on page 5289 , and mental ray
Materials
on page 5448 .
The mental ray manual, Programming mental ray, describes how to write custom
shaders.
Shaders (Standard Materials)
For a
standard material on page 5298 , the shader is the algorithm that controls
how the material responds to light. Shaders especially control how highlights
appear. They also provide a material's color components, and control its
opacity, self-illumination, and other settings. Shaders are often named for
their inventors; they can also be named for the effect they provide. See
Shading
Type
on page 5169 .
Glossary | 7925