Quick Tip: How to Setup The Mentalray Plugin In Maya

Hey guys, today I’ll share a Quick Tip about how to setup the Mental Ray plug-in in Maya. Mental Ray is a renderer just like the Maya Software or Maya Hardware renderer. Maya Software is the Primary renderer but when we want to go for advance rendering with Mental Ray, it doesn’t appear in the list. This may be an annoying situation for beginners. So in this Quick Tip, I’ll show you how to setup the Mental Ray plug-in in Maya.

Step 1

Open the Maya software.

Step 2

Now go to Window > Rendering Editors > Render Settings.

Step 3

It opens the Render Settings window. You will see Maya Software selected as the default renderer.

Step 4

Click on the Drop down arrow and you will find other renderers too, but not the Mental Ray renderer. So for now, close or minimize the Render Settings window.

Step 5

Now let’s bring the Mental Ray renderer into the list. So go to Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager.

Step 6

It opens the Plug-in Manager window. Now scroll down to find “Mayatomr.mill.”

Step 7

Once you find Mayatomr.mil, turn on the Load and Auto load options and then click on the Refresh button.

Step 8

Now Open/Maximize the Render Settings window again. There is another way to open the Render Settings window through the Shortcut. Just click on this shortcut and the Render Settings window will open.

Step 9

And now open the Drop down menu and this time you will see the Mental Ray option in the list.

Step 10

Finally you get Mental Ray as the current renderer. When you click the Mental Ray option, your Render settings tab will change. It comes with many other options which make your work better and more attractive.

NB:- Some users may find the Mental Ray enabled already. It depends upon the version of Maya you’re using. But the process is same to load/unload any other plug-in in Maya.

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