Question on mental ray and 3dsmax6 licensing

[Nero]

I've been hearing a lot about "mental ray". What is it exactly?

Also, would you know anything about the type of licensing in 3dsmax6, I took a look at the installation software and it asked for a "network license" or "stand-alone license". Is it the same as last year? Or can we now install 3dsmax6 legally to more than one machine.

[Matt Hallock]

Mental ray was Discreet's answer to wanting a high class rendering system that comes default with 3DSMAX 6. I personally don't like Mental Ray. The set of tutorials that come with MAX 6 barely skim the surface of Mental Ray and tell you little or nothing about photon controls, setting objects to display caustics, or how the Mental Ray Lights control Global Illumination in the program. A nice thing about Mental Ray is how you can get color bleed. This is a realistic effect that happens, however your brain generally corrects it in real time and the effect is only seen in pictures or video. The problem I see is that the color bleed function can't be controlled or turned off. If I want Global Illumination without color bleed, I've not been able to find a way to do it. The color bleed itself seems heavily over done at that. In my house I have a construction orange room, yeah I know, but when I take pictures of it with a regular camera there isn't much color bleed, yet when it's done in Mental Ray, it has a ridiculous amount of orange in it. I would personally recommend Final Render, which I've heard only good things about, or my personal favourite, Brazil rendering system. With the free HDRi file loader Brazil offers, High Dynamic Range images can be used to create realistic room lighting and gives you the ability to select light source. It creates caustics and a realistic amount of color bleed in the images when you add the image to the skylight.

[srjjs]

Originally Posted by Nero

Also, would you know anything about the type of licensing in 3dsmax6, I took a look at the installation software and it asked for a "network license" or "stand-alone license". Is it the same as last year? Or can we now install 3dsmax6 legally to more than one machine.

I'd like to know as well, and also, if multiple computers are allowed, do they have to be on a network?
Our school computers aren't powerful enough to run 3dsMax, so it would be more useful if we could install it on the home computers of various team members. Is there a way to do this within the licensing agreement?

[LBK Rules]

I would like to know about that, too.

Is it only for one computer? Can you export the license to any computer with 3ds max 6?

I am clueless person who dosn't want to go to prison.