<s>
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
(	O
stylized	O
as	O
mental	B-Application
ray	I-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
production-quality	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
application	O
for	O
3D	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
Berlin-based	O
developer	O
Mental	B-Algorithm
Images	I-Algorithm
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
in	O
2007	O
and	O
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
was	O
discontinued	O
in	O
2017	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
has	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
many	O
feature	O
films	O
,	O
including	O
Hulk	O
,	O
The	O
Matrix	O
Reloaded	O
&	O
Revolutions	O
,	O
Star	B-Application
Wars	I-Application
:	I-Application
Episode	I-Application
II	I-Application
–	I-Application
Attack	I-Application
of	I-Application
the	I-Application
Clones	I-Application
,	O
The	O
Day	O
After	O
Tomorrow	O
and	O
Poseidon	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
November	O
2017	O
Nvidia	O
announced	O
that	O
it	O
would	O
no	O
longer	O
offer	O
new	O
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
subscriptions	O
,	O
although	O
maintenance	O
releases	O
with	O
bug	O
fixes	O
were	O
published	O
throughout	O
2018	O
for	O
existing	O
plugin	O
customers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
feature	O
of	O
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
is	O
the	O
achievement	O
of	O
high	O
performance	O
through	O
parallelism	O
on	O
both	O
multiprocessor	O
machines	O
and	O
across	O
render	B-Operating_System
farms	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
uses	O
acceleration	O
techniques	O
such	O
as	O
scanline	B-Algorithm
for	O
primary	O
visible	O
surface	O
determination	O
and	O
binary	O
space	O
partitioning	O
for	O
secondary	O
rays	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
supports	O
caustics	O
and	O
physically	O
correct	O
simulation	O
of	O
global	B-Algorithm
illumination	I-Algorithm
employing	O
photon	B-Application
maps	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
integrated	O
into	O
a	O
third-party	O
application	O
using	O
an	O
API	B-General_Concept
or	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
standalone	O
program	O
using	O
the	O
.mi	O
scene	O
file	O
format	O
for	O
batch-mode	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Currently	O
there	O
are	O
many	O
programs	O
integrating	O
it	O
such	O
as	O
Autodesk	B-Language
Maya	I-Language
,	O
3D	B-Language
Studio	I-Language
Max	I-Language
,	O
Cinema	B-Device
4D	I-Device
and	O
Revit	B-Application
,	O
Softimage|XSI	O
,	O
Side	B-Application
Effects	I-Application
Software	I-Application
's	I-Application
Houdini	I-Application
,	O
SolidWorks	B-Application
and	O
Dassault	O
Systèmes	O
 '	O
CATIA	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
assuming	O
these	O
shaders	O
are	O
available	O
to	O
mental	B-Application
ray	I-Application
,	O
any	O
mi	O
file	O
can	O
be	O
rendered	O
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
that	O
generated	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
is	O
fully	O
programmable	O
and	O
infinitely	O
variable	O
,	O
supporting	O
linked	O
subroutines	O
also	O
called	O
shaders	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
or	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Supported	O
geometric	O
primitives	O
include	O
polygons	O
,	O
subdivision	O
surfaces	O
,	O
and	O
trimmed	O
free-form	O
surfaces	O
such	O
as	O
NURBS	B-Algorithm
,	O
Bézier	O
,	O
and	O
Taylor	O
monomial	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2010	O
Mental	B-Application
Ray	I-Application
has	O
also	O
included	O
the	O
iray	O
rendering	O
engine	O
,	O
which	O
added	O
GPU	O
acceleration	O
to	O
the	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2013	O
,	O
the	O
ambient	O
occlusion	O
pass	O
was	O
also	O
accelerated	O
by	O
CUDA	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
in	O
2015	O
the	O
GI	O
Next	O
engine	O
was	O
added	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
compute	O
all	O
indirect/global	O
illumination	O
on	O
GPUs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
,	O
Mental	B-Algorithm
Images	I-Algorithm
received	O
an	O
Academy	O
Award	O
for	O
contributions	O
of	O
mental	B-Application
ray	I-Application
to	O
motion	O
pictures	O
.	O
</s>
