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<H1 align="center">Renderman and Renderman Compliant</H1>
<H1 align="center">Frequently Asked Questions</H1>
<h3><font size="2">For information about Renderman and our Renderman Compliant:
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:info@3delight.com" oldref="">info@3delight.com</a></font></font>
________________________________________________________________________________________________________</h3>
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<p align="center"><b>Renderman and renderman compliant frequently ask questions</b></p>
1) What is <b>RenderMan</b> ?<br>
</div>
<p>Although this is not necessarily a frequently asked question, we thought of
providing enlightenment to some of you that may have it wrong. So, here it is,
plain and simple: RenderMan is a <a href="http://www.pixar.com/renderman/developers_corner/rispec/rispec_pdf/RISpec3_2.pdf" target="_top" OLDREF="">technical
specification</a> for interfacing between modeling and rendering programs. For
a renderer to be considered a <b>RenderMan</b> compliant renderer it must meet
all of the standard requirements laid out in the spec. A few more things needed
are mentioned in the Usenet: comp.graphics.rendering.<b>renderman</b> <a href="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/renderman-faq" target="_top" OLDREF="">FAQ</a>.</p>
<font color="#000000" size="3" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">2)How can
I distribute my rendering on several computers<i> </i>?</font>
<p>One solution is to use <a href="http://www.project-borg.org/" target="_top" OLDREF="">BORG</a>
(Borg Open Rendering GUI), which is a network rendering sytem for <i><b>RenderMan</b></i><sup>
</sup> compliant renderers. The latest version <u>fully supports</u> <b>3</b>Delight.
</p>
<p>3) Can I use <b>3</b>Delight to render Rhino3D objects?<br>
</p>
<p>Yes, by using <a href="http://www.rhinoman.com/" target="_top" OLDREF="">RhinoMan</a>,
which is a rendering pluggin for <a href="http://www.rhino3d.com/" target="_top" OLDREF="">Rhino3D</a>.
Trim curves, a heavily used feature in Rhino3D, are supported by <b>3</b>Delight.</p>
<p>4) Can I use <b>3</b>Delight to render Maya and 3DS scenes?<br>
</p>
<p> Maya has its own, very basic, RIB exporter. Although directly usable by 3Delight,
RIBs exported by Maya lack many features such as shaders and shadows. Alternately,
<a href="http://www.animallogic.com/research/mayaman" target="_top" oldref="">MayaMan</a>
is a rendering plugin from <a href="http://www.animallogic.com/" target="_top" oldref="">animal
logic</a> for Maya that can be used to export RIB files with everything required
to produce high quality images with 3Delight (including shaders). For 3DS, animal
logic offers a similar product called <a href="http://www.animallogic.com/research/maxman" target="_top" oldref="">MaxMan</a>.
</p>
<p>5) What Macintosh 3D softwares export RIB files?<br>
</p>
<p>To our knowledge, only one package is capable of exporting RIB files: Pixels
3D from <a href="http://www.pixels.net/" target="_top" OLDREF="">Pixels Digital</a>.
But Pixels 3D shaders are not RenderMan shaders and thus cannot be used with
<b>3</b>Delight.</p>
<p>6) What rendering algorithm does <b>3</b>Delight use?<br>
</p>
<p><b>3</b>Delight is built around the Reyes algorithm. This algorithm was first
described in 1987 in a paper by Robert Cook, Loren Carpenter and Edwin Catmull,
The Reyes Image Rendering Architecture. This algorithm enables <b>3</b>Delight
to efficiently compute motion blur and depth of field effects. Ray tracing is
implemented as a separate algorithm and used only when needed.</p>
<p>7) Can <b>3</b>Delight ray trace displaced objects?<br>
</p>
<p>Yes. As a matter of fact, <b>3</b>Delight always ray traces fully displaced
objects.</p>
<p>8) Will <b>3</b>Delight support CSG?<br>
</p>
<p>Yes it will, but even if its not a big task, it is not a priority at this time.
You should expect it around mid-2003 (or sooner if a current or new paying customer
request it).</p>
<p>9) When I download for MacOS X, I get a "download.asp" file, what
do I do with that?<br>
</p>
<p>This seems like a bug in Internet Explorer for MacOS X. Rename "download.asp"
to "3Delight.pkg.tar" and double click on it.</p>
<h3><font size="2">For information about Renderman and our Renderman Compliant:
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:info@3delight.com" oldref="">info@3delight.com</a></font></font>
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________</h3>
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<p align="center"><b>Renderman and Renderman Compliant</b></p>
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