One of the Lead Animators developed a complex water simulation system driven by millions of particles and chose mental ray for the platform because of the reflection and refraction abilities. This whole scene is CG except for Morpheus himself who was shot inside the studio. It was a freeze-time effect, where the camera dollies towards his foot splashing in the water as a bullet strikes his leg.

There was water spraying from sprinklers, completely covering the floor. It was the scene during the helicopter rescue, where Morpheus breaks out of his chains and rushes towards the helicopter. Image sourse : Youtube/El Chico MalvaviscoĪnother notable year in the history of Mental ray as a render engine is the year it was used to help realize some of the most iconic moments in the Matrix film in 1999.įor example, there was a really difficult shot which they managed to achieve using mental ray. On its release year in 1989, which is the same year of the first commercial edition of RenderMan, Mental Ray became one of the entertainment industry’s first publicly available renderers. One of the first projects ever created using Mental ray was a short animated film called Mental Images in 1987.īy today’s standards, this seems ridiculous but in the late eighties, this CG film from Germany is notable at that time as a rare instance of abstract or surreal art in a field where teapots and chrome spheres still dominated.Īnd it was one of the stepping stones to what will be done using Mental ray in the coming years and decades.ġ.

He later worked on numerous major feature films, including Saving Private Ryan, Terminator 2, The Perfect Storm, and Master and Commander.

Stefen Fangmeier, a visual effects supervisor and film director.

John Nelson who later in his life won two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, for his work on the film Gladiator (2000) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

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