Render Tools is a freeware script for Maya aimed at simplifying and speeding up the Mental Ray rendering workflow from its creator Mariano Antico. Render Tools for Maya will allow you to create, manage and edit render layers easily as well as turn on and off render stats conveniently. Check out the info for Render Tools for Maya here, and download here.
Render Tools tutorial 1 – create render layers from Mariano Antico on Vimeo.
Render Tools tutorial 2 – render layer manager from Mariano Antico on Vimeo.