

Menu Cells
Info -> mental ray
The Info -> mental ray command is available in all modules except Tools. It allows you to set the mental ray setup parameters for multiple objects. For single objects, see Render Setup for mental ray.
Some parameters in the mental ray Propagation dialogue box apply only to certain types of objects. Since the purpose of this command is to let you select multiple objects, you can apply any number of parameters to different types of objects. The command is "smart" meaning that it figures out which parameters are appropriate for the type of object and applies only those parameters. For example, if you have both a patch and a polygon mesh object selected, the Surface approximation options are not applied to a polygon mesh but they are applied to the patch object.
Procedure
1. Select multiple objects using the Multi menu cell.
2. Choose the Info -> mental ray command.
The mental ray Propagation dialogue box is displayed:
3. Select the parameters you want, and click the Apply on Selected button. This applies the parameters set to the selected objects, but leaves the dialogue box open.
4. Click Exit to close the dialogue box when you're done.
Parameters
Most parameters are identical to mental ray Render Setup dialogue box on Render Setup for mental ray, except for Edit mode and Selection size.
Edit Mode
There are two Edit modes of operation:
- The Edit field values option lets you edit the state of the selected parameters.
- The Select/unselect propagated fields command, which is the default, lets you select only those parameters that you want to apply to the selected models. If this option is selected, all parameters are dimmed. You can then select the options you want to use by clicking on them. You can also deselect options the same way.
Selection Size
This is the number of objects that are selected in the scene.
SOFTIMAGE 3D Reference - 19 APR 1996
