Report -

   MacRenderMan plug-in project

This is not a product announcement, but a status report on an experimental project to update the VIDI Presenter 3D plug-in module for MacRenderMan. The module converts the model to a Pixar RIB file, then submits the file to MacRenderMan for rendering.

This programming for the project is by Doug Ward (dsward@webnation.com), based on source code and technical support provided by VIDI. VIDI will evaluate the module at a later date to determine if it should be released. The module is compiled for PowerPC systems only.

Project status as of August 29, 1997

Alpha test projects

• Convert from Think Pascal to Code Warrior C
• Interface to Render Manager, Display Manager, Render Interact
• Replace built-in RIB text routines with calls to Pixar RIB Client Library
• Camera setup
• Spheres
• Cylinders
• Cones
• Planes
• Discs
• Tori
• Polygons
• Joined-vertex polygons with normals - needs option to turn smooth shading on/off
• Cubes
• Prisms
• Spline meshes
• Spline patches
• Disc end-caps for cones and cylinders
• Groups
• Background color
• MakeTexture
• Projector Lights
• Fog Atmosphere
• RenderMan surface and displacement shader support
• Shadow bias bug is fixed
• Write RIB only
• Shadows
• Insertion groups
• Motion blur
• Stereo pair
• "Primitive" solid type - Set in Shader Esoterica solid menu
• Object metamorphosis
• ASCII / Binary RIB format
• Background images
• Fixed RenderMan CSG Boolean bugs
• Fixed Displacement Bounds bug
• Texture mapping - mostly working
• Fixed transparency map bug at bottom of texture map
• Add RI_ST values for polygons with three or four vertices
• Remove conversion of feet to inches (division by twelve) Old models may need adjustment.
• Improve communication between Presenter and MacRenderMan
• Fixed disappearing Shader Esoterica button bug in Presenter main app
• Composite images from Presenter Ray Tracer and MacRenderMan (RiMatte)

Future projects

• Fix ScreenWindow bug for shadowdistant lightsources (clips shadow)
• Fix projectorlight problems - rotation doesn't match ray tracer
• Texture wrap on a group of primitives sometimes doesn't match ray tracer
• Fix background animation project

Discontinued features in old module

• Custom RIB statements in headers and objects (not supported by RIB Client Library)
• Indention of RIB statements (not supported by RIB Client Library)

Possible future projects

• Environment mapping (lat-long mirror and cube-face reflections)
• Add RI_ST values for polygons with more than four vertices
• Calculate (up,at) and (origin,x,y,z) parameters for shaders
• Hierarchical lightsources in folders.
• Optimize parameters for rendering speed (near-clipping plane, etc)
• Allow user-controlled shading rates for Presenter texture mapping
• Shadow controls for lightsource shaders (samples, filter width, etc.)
• Form endcaps with NURBs and Trim Curves, instead of polygons
• Submit to BMRT renderer (needs built-in FTP, RPC, etc.?)
• Transfer shader parameter dialog routines from Presenter application to plug-in module
• Folder container for Presenter attributes window (shader folders, etc.)
• Auto-redraw switch in Presenter, and Command-D manual redraw in Presenter
• Two-pass RIB generation to insert Custom RIB statements

New feature - smooth shaded polygon meshes

Sample image by Peter Ratner