The final stage in adding nHair to your models is to render the scene. You can render nHair using the Maya Software renderer or the mental ray for Maya renderer.
To render in mental ray, select mental ray as your renderer. Also, ensure that the Render Fur/Hair attribute is turned on in the Extra Features section of the Features tab in the Render Settings window. Use the mayahair.mi shader to change render settings.
You can also use the Production: Rapid Hair Quality Preset when rendering hair in mental ray (Render Settings window, Quality tab). Alternatively, you can use the new Production: Fine TraceQuality Preset as a starting point if you want to trace fur or hair in reflections.
Refer to the following table for the differences between rendering nHair in the Maya software renderer and mental ray for Maya.
| nHair item | Maya software renderer | mental ray for Maya |
|---|---|---|
|
Shading |
Brighter |
A bit darker |
|
Support for correct DOF composition |
Not accurate |
Yes |
|
Support for Motion Blur |
3D only |
Yes |
|
Hair integrated into scene |
As a post process via z-depth composite |
Fully integrated |
|
Support for raytraced shadows |
No |
Yes |
|
Support for depth map shadows |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Support for texture-mapped lights |
No |
No |
|
Rendering quality |
Hairs that are thin relative to the pixel size appear disproportionately thick. |
mental ray renders even thin hair more accurately with high sample count |