About Us

Mission Statement

We, the users of mental ray^® in the greater Los Angeles area, are committed to supporting the usage of mental ray through varied activities in an effort to maximize the resources and quality of support in this community, in order to nurture skilled, technically savvy and committed new artists.

Vision

The LAmrUG regular meeting offers a multi-disciplinary venue that will effectively provide the serious artist/technologist/shader writer with a broad exposure to mental ray parameters, and the opportunity to develop excellence through community-based knowledge presentation and skill development. We offer our diverse member population the opportunity to blend their artistic talent with technical knowledge to provide a practical basis for developing the look of any given project within the framework of the project's pipeline, and providing solutions for increasing quality within time and cost constraints.

A Bit of History ...

Los Angeles mental ray User Group (LAmrUG) was founded in December 2002 by impassioned users of mental ray who wanted to help spread understanding of both the art and technology of the mental ray renderer. In the entertainment technology arena, mental ray has been fully integrated into Softimage|XSI for several years. However, with the increase in modularization of popular high-end 3D programs, mental ray is growing to become the most-used high-end renderer that is also integrated into other packages, such as Maya, 3ds max, and Houdini. We want to explore the full possibilites of this program in a 3D program agnostic environment, at the same time we explore the unique ways each program interacts with mental ray. Additionally, we specifically wanted to increase our presence in the LA area by offering local support to those who develop shaders, as well as, those who wish to become more familiar with mental ray technology, in general.