This document is version 3.1 of the RenderMan® Interface Specification of September, 1989. It supercedes version 3.0, originally published in May, 1988. Version 3.1 corrects various typographical and syntactic errors, and a small number of semantic errors present in version 3.0; however, there are no fundamental changes to the structure, concepts or compliance requirements. In addition, version 3.1 introduces a second binding for the RenderMan Interface: the RenderMan Interface Bytestream Protocol (RIB). RIB provides both an archive file format and a network transport protocol for a sequence of RenderMan Interface library calls.

This document is the official technical specification for the RenderMan Interface. It is quite terse and requires substantial prior knowledge of computer graphics in general and photorealistic image synthesis in particular. For a more casual reference to the RenderMan Interface, the reader is directed to The RenderMan Companion: A Programmer's Guide to Realistic Computer Graphics (Steve Upstill 1989). The first and second printings of The RenderMan Companion (August 1989) corresponds (except for minor errata) to version 3.1 of the RenderMan Interface Specification.

Part I - The RenderMan Interface

• Section 1 - Introduction
• Section 2 - Language Binding Summary
• Section 3 - Relationship to the RenderMan Shading Language
• Section 4 - Graphics State
• Section 5 - Geometric Primitives
• Section 6 - Motion
• Section 7 - External Resources

Part II - The RenderMan Shading Language

• Section 8 - Introduction to the Shading Language
• Section 9 -Overview of the Shading Process
• Section 10 - Relationship to the RenderMan Interface
• Section 11 - Types
• Section 12 - Shader Execution Environment
• Section 13 - Language Constructs
• Section 14 - Shaders and Functions
• Section 15 - Built-In Functions
• Section 16 - Example Shaders

Appendices

• Appendix A - Standard RenderMan Interface Shaders
• Appendix B - RenderMan Shading Language Syntax Summary
• Appendix C - Language Binding Details
• Appendix D - RenderMan Interface Bytestream Conventions
• Appendix E - RenderMan Interface Quick Reference
• Appendix F - List of RenderMan Interface Procedures

Illustrations

• Figure 4.1 Camera-to-raster projection geometry
• Figure 4.2 Imaging pipeline
• Figure 5.1 Bicubic patch vertex ordering
• Figure 5.2 Patch meshes
• Figure 5.3 Quadric surface primitives
• Figure 5.3 Quadric surface primitives (continued)
• Figure 9.1 The ray tracing paradigm
• Figure 9.2 Shader evaluation pipeline
• Figure 12.1 Surface shader state
• Figure 12.2 Light source shader state
• Figure C Example encoded RIB byte stream

Tables

• Table 4.1 Camera Options
• Table 4.2 Point Coordinate Systems
• Table 4.3 Display Options
• Table 4.4 Additional RenderMan Interface Options
• Table 4.5 Shading Attributes
• Table 4.6 Standard Light Source Shader Parameters
• Table 4.7 Standard Surface Shader Parameters
• Table 4.8 Standard Volume Shader Parameters
• Table 4.9 Geometry Attributes
• Table 5.1 Standard Geometric Primitive Variables
• Table 6.2 Moving Commands
• Table 10.1 Standard Shaders
• Table 11.1 Color Coordinate Systems
• Table 11.2 Point Coordinate Systems
• Table 12.1 Predefined Surface Shader Variables
• Table 12.2 Predefined Light Source Variables
• Table 12.3 Predefined Volume Shader Variables
• Table 12.4 Predefined Displacement Shader Variables
• Table 12.5 Predefined Transformation Shader Variables
• Table 12.6 Predefined Imager Shader Variables
• Table 15.1 Texture Access Parameters
• Table C1 Binary Encoding
• Table C2 RIB Errors