mental images (mental ray) is now part of nVidia

Another reason to consider a nVidia graphic card. At least in the future.

mental images, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of NVIDIA.

mental ray is the integrated rendering technology within such leading Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Digital Content Creation (DCC) software products as Autodesk's AutoCAD®, Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk® Maya®, Dassault Systems CATIA® and Solidworks ®, and AVID Softimage®|XSI®.

The Berlin-based visual effects studio has one major product, the Oscar-winning Mental Ray software used in film special effects. Among metal images customers are Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures and Dreamworks.

Via A good reason to have nVidia card in CAD workstation