Recently I rediscovered a very interesting read, “Final Gathering Practical Use & Flicker Reduction”. This was a presentation by Barton Gawboy, at the LA Mental Ray Users Group all the way back in 2005. Even though the document is nearly five years old, and even though there have been updates to mental ray over that period of time, I still find it immensely helpful and relevant in understanding exactly what is going on when Final Gather is selected and used. Final Gathering Practical Use covers a general overview of FG, as well as light paths / trace depths, FG interpolations, general FG tips and anti-flicker suggestions while including some ambient occlusion info in the end. Great stuff here!
