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(http://www.ldraw.org/) into RIB files.




Converters & plug-ins for modelers
----------------------------------

   Pixar's new MTOR product is a Maya plugin that produces excellent
RenderMan output, just as ATOR was for Alias.  Also includes
compositing software and a system for distributing rendering jobs
across a network.  Details available directly from Pixar.

   DriveMan from Gestel Italia converts IGES and Alias Wire files
to RenderMan, for use with either PRMan or BMRT.  There's both
a freeware version and a more complete commercial version.
More information from: http://www.gestel.it/driveman/index.html

   SoRender is a freely distributed interactive graphical interface
from Softimage to the RenderMan standard.  The interface is currently
composed of eight tools that are all written as plug-ins to Softimage
and are built on Softimage's DKit.  Features Include: Interactive
Previewing of RenderMan rendered images from within Softimage;
Interactive tools for working with shaders and adjusting parameters;
Tools to make working with shadow maps and environment maps easier;
Shader Keywords to facilitate parameter animation; Support of both
PhotoRealistic RenderMan and BMRT; Access to all tools from within
Softimage; Support of motion blur.  SoRender can be obtained at
http://www-viz.tamu.edu/software/SoRender.homepage.html

  A MentalRay-to-RenderMan converter: 
http://www.dctsystems.freeserve.co.uk/ethel.html

   WaveMan, a Wavefront-to-RenderMan conversion tool, is available
from Minds Eye Graphics (mindseye@infi.net, 804-643-3713).

   Animal Logic sells plugins for both SoftImage and 3D Studio Max
that output to RenderMan and BMRT.  Details about SoftMan and MaxMan
Details can be found at: http://www.animalogic.com/Products

   Lost In Space makes a product called Siren which converts SoftImage
scenes into RIB files.  Info is available from siren@lostinspace.com.
Siren converts Softimage 3D scene and model files into RenderMan RIB
and shader files. Siren 2.0 works only on SGI's running IRIX 4.0.5 or
later. It can read Softimage 2.66 scene/model files. SiRen only has a
comandline/scripted interface, but is now being upgraded to a point
and click version 2.1.  To run siren you must have a copy of the
Softimage Developers Kit.  US$2000 per license, bulk discounts
available. 30% discount for educational institutions. Source licensing
is available. Siren + Renderman deals available.  Pay for Siren2.0 and
get a free upgrade to Siren2.1 when it is released.

   There is a 3D Studio to RIB converter by Alex Segal on the net, see
http://www.r-m-c.ru/video/3ds2rib.htm for details.

   Envisions Solutions sells Envision-It, which converts DXF to RIB.
Not a modeler.  Sells for around $200.

   Okino Computer Graphics, Inc. has two products called the 'NuGraf
Rendering System' and 'PolyTrans', which include Renderman export
capability. It can convert from DXF, 3D Studio, Lightwave, OpenFlight,
IGES 5.3, Wavefront, SoftImage and many more (the latter 3 formats
allow output of trimmed NURBS to Renderman in a clean form). Output of
animation data from Lightwave and 3D Studio to Renderman will follow
in v2.1 of PolyTrans. A demo and other info are available from the WWW
site: http://www.okino.com/conv/conv.htm Contact: 905-672-9328 (voice),
905-672-2706 (fax).

   Viewpoint Datalabs has a product called InterChange (formerly
Syndesis InterChange) for Windows and SGI, that converts between more
than fifty 3D file formats, including Softimage, Alias, LightWave, 3D
Studio and many others.  It can export geometry to a simple RIB file.
For info, see:  http://www.viewpoint.com/

   Cow House has a free converters from Inventor2.0 and VRML to
RenderMan & BMRT.  For details, see:
	http://www.cowhouse.com/Home/Converters/converters.html

There's a plugin for Moray (a modeler for POV-Ray) that will output RIB.  
Only geometry is exported, and only for the simple primitives.
Details at:  http://pages.hotbot.com/arts/are/index.html

LtoR is a plugin for NewTek's Lightwave 3D to output RIB.  The web
page is in Japanese, but the software reportedly works fine and has
its UI in English.  The software home page is:
    http://www.win.ne.jp/~s-shirai/html/plugin/ltor.html

Another Lightwave-to-RIB converter is CeX3D.  It's commercial, but
a demo version is available at http://www.CeX3D.net/

LightMan, by Tim Dapper, is a LightWave plugin that exports to
RenderMan-compliant renderers.  Info can be found at:
http://www.td-grafik.de/softw/lightman.php3

The Cornell Theory Center has an extension to Data Explorer
(http://www.opendx.org/index2.php) that exports for BMRT (and
presumably for other compatible renderers).  Info from:
ftp://ftp.tc.cornell.edu/pub/Data.Explorer/extensions/Rendering/README

   Mike Hough has written a RIB export plugin for Hash Animation
Master '99, available from: http://free.prohosting.com/~olana/plugins/am2rib/

   Another Hash Animation Master plugin by Nicholas Yue is 
available at http://users.tpg.com.au/tmyue/




Other Tools
-----------

   RenderWrapper (RW) is a simple Tcl/Tk script for conveniently
setting the parameters for the rendrib, rgl, and rendribv renderers
from BMRT.  It provides a GUI for rendering single or multiple frames
in wireframe, polygon, and photorealistic modes. RW runs on Unix and
Windoze95/NT systems.  It is FREE and can be downloaded from:
http://tangle.seas.gwu.edu/~gogo/rendwrap.html

   The Affine Toolkit by Thomas E. Burge contains a number of RIB
filters and massagers, including binary RIB dumping and conversion
utilities, utilities to parameterize NURBS in RIB files by arc length,
polish up RIB files generated by Alias, etc.  More info and download
at: http://www.affine.org/

   Cinema Graphics is now selling a product called "Shade Tree"
which is a dataflow system for writing RenderMan shaders.  Info
at http://www.cinegrfx.com/

   Pixar used to sell Showplace for the Mac and Typestry 2 for the
Mac and PC.  They're nice little programs if you can get your hands
on them, but Pixar no longer sells these.

   WavesWorld, a set of UI, modeling and animation objects available only
atop NEXTSTEP, available via http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~wave/
An object oriented framework consisting of two "kits" of objects and
lots of examples, WavesWorld is based directly atop the RenderMan
interface.  Wave has also made available a Tcl binding for RenderMan.





Q: What other net resources exist which are related to RenderMan?
-----------------------------------------------------------------

   Pixar home page:  http://www.pixar.com
Pay particular attention to
    http://www.pixar.com/renderman/developers_corner/rispec/index.html
which has the RenderMan spec and all of the documentation for PRMan.

The Exluna home page is:  www.exluna.com
Especially noted is the list of links: 
http://www.exluna.com/products/links.html

   Tal Lancaster of CalTech (now a TD at Disney) has set up a "RenderMan
Repository" for dissemination of shaders, RIB files, etc.  Among other
things, this site has pointers to just about everything else that has
RenderMan related stuff. Here's the URL:  http://www.renderman.org/RMR

The Ebert, et al. book _Texturing and Modeling_ (mentioned earlier)
has an FTP site with the examples from the book, including RenderMan
Shading Language source code:
	ftp://archive.cs.umbc.edu/pub/textures

Professor Ken Musgrave (one of the authors of the T&M book) taught a
graduate seminar at GWU on procedural texturing.  Student projects,
images, and shaders can be found at:
    http://www.seas.gwu.edu/graphics/ProcTexCourse/

Similarly, Stephen May recently taught a course on digital lighting
at Ohio State.  A Shading Language tutorial and student projects
can be found at these addresses:
	http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/~smay/DigitalLighting/Course.html
	http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/~smay/RManNotes/RManNotes.html

Michael B. Johnson (a.k.a. "Wave") has a home page at:
	http://wave.www.media.mit.edu/people/wave/
He's built a lot of software that runs on top of RenderMan (see
the description of WavesWorld earlier in this FAQ).

   Geomview is an interactive 3D geometry (in the mathematical sense)
viewing program written at the Geometry Center.  It can export RIB.
URL is http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/download/geomview.html

   Doug Ward has a site that's about using VIDI Presenter 3D.  If you
look on: http://www.webnation.com/vidi/ (select the shaders button on
the frame) you'll find some shaders and other goodies that may be
useful even if you don't use Presenter.

Tips on using Houdini and RenderMan together are available from:
http://www.renderman.org/RMR/rmHoudini/

RenderMania, maintained by Simon Bunker, is another collection of
links and useful information about rendering and production, and in
particular things related to BMRT and RenderMan:
http://www.rendermania.com/

Shaders, textures, models, and so on are available from TurboSquid
(http://www.turbosquid.com).  There are a bunch of RenderMan shaders
compiled for both PRMan and BMRT available for $10 each.

Malcolm Kesson has course notes on using RenderMan available at
http://cmpa.ca.scad.edu/faculty/kesson/Ca301/bookindex.html



Q: Where can I get the Pixar videos?
------------------------------------

Pixar's animation video (which contains Luxo Jr, Reds Dream, Tin Toy
and Knickknack) is available directly from Pixar.  The cost is $25.00.
Just call 1 800-888-9856 or 510-236-4000.  The tape is available in
both VHS NTSC and PAL formats.

The Pixar shorts were released by Disney Home Video as "Tiny Toy
Stories".  You should be able to find them at your local video store
for around $10.

Recently, Pixar shorts have been made available in quicktime format on
their website, at: http://www.pixar.com/shorts/index.html





Q: What is the correct capitalization of "Pixar"?
-------------------------------------------------

   It's written "Pixar", just as it is throughout this FAQ.  I don't
know why people keep capitalizing it, perhaps they are trying to
duplicate the logo, which is in a particular typeface and happens to
be all caps.  In any case, it's not an acronym like IBM.  It's a
regular company name like Disney.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

This FAQ was mostly written and maintained by Larry Gritz, who wishes
to thank the contributions of: Antoine Durr, J.J. Hoesing, Steve
Hollasch, Michael B. Johnson, Joshua Kolden, Andrew MacRae, Nino
Mendolia, David Milner, Pohl Longsine, Steve Weintz, and others.

Please send comments, additions, gripes to: lg AT larrygritz DOT com

--
Larry Gritz
lg AT larrygritz.com

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