Mental Ray Free For Student Use

Mental Ray is back! 3D Render by Amaru Zeas

Mental Ray is Back! NVIDIA, makers of the classic ray tracer - it used to come bundled free with Autodesk Maya - have now released a version of their software which is free for student use.  This is great news for animation students, because Mental Ray has a number of advtantages over its successor Arnold.  In particular, you can achieve some very quick and attractive lighting setups in Mental ray using Physical Sun & Sky, the closest thing Maya has to a "Make It Look Cool" button.  So, how can our students get a free copy of Mental Ray?

Students can download Mental Ray for Maya absolutely free.  Although, obviously, you can't use it for commercial purposes without a commercial license. http://www.nvidia.com/object/download-mental-ray.html

To find out more about Mental Ray, see this blog post on how to make a batch render of your frames.

Also watch this free video below on how to use Mental Ray's Physical Sun and Sky in Maya. It's a great way to light your shots simply and quickly.



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