Mental Ray 渲染器是德国的Mental Image公司（Mental Image现已成为NVIDIA公司之全资子公司）最引以为荣的产品。作为业界公认的唯一可以和Render Man相抗衡的电影级渲染器，Mental Ray凭借其良好的开放性和操控性，以及与其他主流三维制作软件良好的兼容性而拥有大量的用户。早期Softimage 3D可以长时间称霸影视制作领域，某种程度上与其最早集成Mental Ray渲染器有着很大的关系。在好莱坞，Mental Ray参与制作的电影更是数不胜数。
mental ray is the world leading, Academy Award® winning, high performance, photorealistic rendering software. It produces images of unsurpassed realism for digital content creation and design in the areas of entertainment, product design and data visualization, including such applications as visual effects for motion pictures, full-length feature animations, content creation for computer games, Computer Aided Design (CAD), product design and styling, architectural design, lighting design, fluid flow simulation, seismic data studies and medical imaging.
mental ray features the most advanced, patented and proprietary ray tracing and rasterizer algorithms. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit CPUs and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and parallel computer architectures, including networks of computers, for maximum performance. mental ray is the first rendering software that combines the physically correct simulation of the behavior of light with full programmability for the creation of any imaginable visual phenomenon.
mental ray is available as a standalone product and in the form of a library for integration into software products
