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File > Export All, Export Selection (mental ray) |
File > Export Selection, Export All >
File Type
When you select mentalRay from the File Type drop-down list, the many options appear.
File Type Specific Options
File Format
In ASCII mode, all data in the exported .mi file will be human-readable ASCII text. In binary mode, certain floating-point data (points, normals, texture coordinates, and so on) will be output in binary format to reduce the size of the exported file. The ASCII mode tabulator size determines the amount of indentation in the .mi file.
Output File Per Frame
When animation is enabled, Maya exports all data required to render all the frames specified by the Render Settings animation range settings. With Output File Per Frame off, data for all the frames is output to a single .mi file. With this option on, a separate file is output for each frame.
Frame Extension
When Output File Per Frame is enabled, this option determines the convention for naming each frame’s output file.
Frame Padding
When Output File Per Frame is enabled, determines the amount of padding applied to the frame numbers. Setting the padding to 2 means each frame number is at least 2 characters long (01, 02, 03, ...), setting it to 3 means each frame number will be at least 3 characters long (001, 002, ...), and so on.
Output File Per Layer
The information from multiple render layers cannot be contained within a single .mi file. Enabling this option allows you to export one .mi file per render layer.
If your scene contains multiple render layers, you must turn on this option. If this option is turned off and you export to .mi format, your scene will not render properly.
Export File Paths
Use this option to set the file path for each category.
For each option, there are three choices:
- None. The filename does not contain a path. For example,
hat.jpg. - Absolute. The filename contains an absolute path. For example,
c:/My Documents/maya/projects/default/sourceimages/hat.jpg. - Relative. The relative path to the project directory is used. For example,
sourceimages/hat.jpg.
Link Library
Path option for shader libraries. For example, decides the path options for mayabase.so, base.so, etc.
Include File
Path option for shader declaration files (mi) such as mayabase.mi, etc.
Texture File
Path option for texture files; for example, hat.jpg.
Light Map
Path option for lightmap files generated (if lightmap shader is used).
Light Profile
Path option for light profile files.
Output Image
Path option for output image files.
Shadow Map
Path option for shadow map files.
Finalgather Map
Path option for final gather map files.
Photon Map
Path option for photon map files.
Demand Load Object
Path option for mi file specifying demand load object.
Export Selection Output
If objects do not change, reprocessing before exporting to .mi is not required, and the export process is significantly shortened as a result.
Renderable Scene
This is the default.
Maya exports all scene entities (lights, cameras, shaders, globals, and so on) that are necessary to render the selected geometry. The resulting scene will be renderable using the mental ray standalone.
Scene Fragment
Maya exports only the nodes that are selected. This mode can be used to export particular lights, cameras, shaders, or geometry. The resulting .mi file will most likely not be directly renderable, so it is called a Scene Fragment.
Export Materials
In addition to the selected nodes, this setting also exports any materials that they are connected to. This applies to selected geometry and shading nodes.
Export All Incoming Shaders
In addition to selected shading nodes, also exports all inputs to those nodes. For example, if a surface shader is selected, this mode causes any texture networks feeding into the shader to be exported along with the shader.
Export Entire Child DAG
This option specifies that in addition to selected geometry, any children of that geometry should also be exported.
The standard export filters (enabled by turning on Export Selected Items Only) are also applied to the nodes identified for export. This allows you to prevent the export of unwanted node types.
Export Includes Startup File
With this option enabled, the exported .mi file contains an $include directive for the maya.rayrc startup file that is used by the interactive mental ray renderer in Maya. Use this option to ensure that a consistent configuration is used for rendering both with the mental ray standalone and interactively in Maya.
Export Selected Items Only
This option allows detailed control over precisely which mental ray entities are exported into the .mi file. See the mental ray User Manual, available from the Maya Help, for descriptions of the various entity types that can be exported.
Predefined Export Filters
Provides several useful preset combinations of entity types for export.