RenderMan for Maya 2.0.1
RenderMan for Maya 2.0 |
Introduction
RenderMan for Maya 2.0 is here, marking a radical change in the Pixar's RenderMan family of products. RenderMan for Maya is now much more than a simple bridge between Autodesk's Maya and Pixar's RenderMan. With the advent of RenderMan Studio, RfM introduces new “Pro” features, as well as integration with Pixar's Artist Tools, giving users access to Slim, Alfred, and “it”. RenderMan for Maya 2.0 also integrates support for significant features introduced in version 13 of Pixar's RenderMan and version 8.5 of Autodesk's Maya.
New Features
- RenderMan for Maya “Pro” is the veritable core
of RenderMan Studio, giving users seamless integration with Maya as
well as access to extensive additional features hitherto unavailable
in such a simple package. These features include:
- RIB out —
RfM Pro outputs RIB files. Now your entire Maya scene file is
output as RIB for easy integration with your RIB-based pipeline.
- Ri for MEL — Users can now invoke Ri commands via MEL.
- RSL nodes in Hypergraph — The plugin is now a “two-way street.” You can now add your RSL and Slim nodes to your Maya scene and have complete access to them via Maya's Hypergraph.
- Ri Filters — RfM has a new User Interface for accessing Ri Filters (Rifs) via the Advanced tab of the Render Settings. The UI displays a list of Rifs and allows you to add, delete, or rearrange the list.
- The Artists' Tools! — RfM Pro works in blissful conjunction with Pixar's Slim, Alfred, and “it”, powerful tools for shading, work distribution, and image processing.
- RIB out —
RfM Pro outputs RIB files. Now your entire Maya scene file is
output as RIB for easy integration with your RIB-based pipeline.
- In addition to the new “Pro” features, RfM 2.0 adds support
for powerful new features introduced in version 13.0 of Pixar's RenderMan.
These features include:
- Multi-threading — The renderer is now multi-threaded. Users have easy access to threading behavior via the Render options windows.
- Point-based global illumination — Create occlusion and colorbleeding effects faster using point-based global illumination
- New camera effects: Bokeh and shutter-timing controls give users unprecedented creative control of their virtual cameras.
- Brickmaps as geometry.
- Sigma hiding.
- Other renderer features that are now supported by RenderMan for Maya include:
- The ptviewer and brickviewer utilities are now included with RenderMan Studio.
- Multisegment motion blur
- CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry)
- Per-transform-node attributes
- Caustics
- New support for Maya features, including:
- We got curves! RenderMan for Maya now renders Maya Curves (without requiring
conversion to a hair system). Users can draw Maya Curves and will then need to add
RenderMan Rendering Attrs (Curve Width and Custom Shading Group) to the
curveShape.
- Custom Shading Groups can be attached to curves, enabling curves to be displaced as well as shaded, et cetera.
- There are controls for Tip and Base Width of the curve.
- You can attach a Shared RenderMan Attribute to multiple curves.
- 2D texture baking (using ptrender)
- Shading switches
- envChrome
- Additional batch render flags
- We got curves! RenderMan for Maya now renders Maya Curves (without requiring
conversion to a hair system). Users can draw Maya Curves and will then need to add
RenderMan Rendering Attrs (Curve Width and Custom Shading Group) to the
curveShape.
- IceMan Integration (RfM Pro Only) — A new IceMan display driver, which can be selected from the Image Format menu in the Render Settings, enables embedding IceMan scripts within RIB files and can be used with both interactive and batch renders. For more information, see the “it” release notes.
- Pass References — A new rmanReferencePass attribute can be added to Maya file nodes, enabling users to reference specific passes in Maya materials.
- Custom Shading Groups — A new RenderMan attribute, Custom ShadingGroup, has been implemented, enabling users to attach a new shading group to individual nodes (including specific passes, as well as Maya Fur, Hair, and Paint Effects).
- Custom Light Shaders — A custom light shader attribute can be added to Maya lights or plugin lights. It can have a connection to a RenderMan light shader node which will be used instead of the translated Maya light.
- Atmosphere Shaders — You can now add atmosphere shaders to your scene on a Global, Per-Pass, or Per-Shading Group basis. You can Add Atmosphere Shader via the Attributes menu of any Shading Group.
- Adaptors — A new RenderMan attribute enabling conditional shader assignment has been added. Users can now “Add Adaptation” to a shared Shading Group, creating (and defining) a new Set with a new Shading Group.
- Edit in Slim — RenderMan Shader nodes can now be re-opened and edited in Slim via an Edit in Slim button, accessed via the Attribute Editor (RfM Pro only).
- Fur Parameterization — Two new attributes, scalpS and scalpT, have been added to fur curves.
- Global Illumination Scaling — There are four new parameters for
controlling the “strength” of global illumination effects:
- Colorbleeding Scale — a multiplier for incoming intra-object colorbleeding.
- Radiosity Scale — a multiplier for outgoing diffuse energy (colorbleeding).
- Diffuse Environ Scale — a multiplier for incoming indirect diffuse environment light.
- Specular Environ Scale — a multiplier for incoming specular environment light.
- Improved Resource Management — There have been significant changes to the way that RenderMan manages resources.
- Output directories now incorporate the new variable, ${STAGE}. By default, ${STAGE} resolves to your scene name; this is site- configurable via the RMS.ini file.
- Search Paths now resolve to ${PROJ}, the workspace root. In addition to across-the-board improvements, this allows intra-project referencing to work with Slim and RenderMan for Maya Pro.
Additionally, RMSExpression has been exposed, granting users increased flexibility for site-specific configuration.
NOTE: In order to enjoy these new changes with existing projects, you will need to delete the existing RATworkspace.ws file from your project's root directory.
- The RenderMan Shelf — There is a new RenderMan Shelf with one- click access to RenderMan features and tools.
- Additional RenderMan for Maya features include:
- Support for Maya 8.5
- Linux support (Pro only)
- 64-bit support (Linux only)
Enhancements
- Improved memory efficiency of fur rendering.
- Improved support for RenderMan shader nodes.
- There is a new “Bake File” attribute for bake pass nodes to allow control over file naming.
- RfM 2.0 includes support for the new XML Statistics introduced in RenderMan Pro Server 13.0. Users can specify statistics files in either XML or standard format via the Advanced tab of the Render Settings.
- The ptviewer and brickviewer utilities are now included (RenderMan Studio only).
- Existing shaders are no longer automatically recompiled when performing batch renders. This is a preference that the user can override on the command line with -setPref batchCompileMode zealous. Similarly, the default behavior can be changed via the RenderMan_for_Maya.ini file. As always, we recommend using a supplemental .ini file in the MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH, rather than editing the shipped .ini file directly.
- There is a new developer preference, CompileMode, that controls the “update dirty” behavior during interactive modes.
- Added support for a new environment variable called RFM_PLUGIN_NOLOAD, which prevents RfM from automatically loading in Maya.
- RenderMan for Maya now recognizes the scripting variables HOST, HOME, PID, and USER.
- The Render Settings have been improved, giving users additional control over rendering, workflows, and resource management.
Bug Fixes
- Extra RenderMan attributes are now visible in Attribute Spread Sheet and Channel Box.
- The Render -r rman shell command now works with the -pre/postRender and -pre/postLayer flags.
- Fixed the MEL command called rman executeMenuCmd which invokes a custom menu item by label
- Animated visibility now works for lights.
- Per-object particle color and opacity now work.
- Camera projections with Fit Type set to “match camera resolution” now look correct.
- Added support for Lens Squeeze Ratio in the Camera Film Back settings.
- The pixel aspect for preset resolutions is now being updated correctly.
- Alfred spooling of Maya batch renders now works with Maya 7 and 8.5.
- Windows texture references to files on shared drives now work properly.
- Several bugs that would prevent fur from rendering or cause frames to be skipped have been fixed.
- A bug that would cause Maya to crash when rendering furry polygonal objects with incomplete UV sets has been fixed. Which is not to say that it is okay to use objects with incomplete UV sets…
- Maya's Offset parameter for fur is now respected.
- The passes tab in the globals would sometimes go into a bad state when there were render layers.
- The option to render selected objects only in Maya's Render View has been fixed.
- Textures for image sequences in referenced Maya files are now properly converted.
- The opacity of refractive materials is now properly considered in occlusion passes.
- Two-sided shaders with “flipped normals” created using the Maya Sampler node now compile and render correctly.
- X11 is no longer required for RenderMan for Maya on OS X (Note: X11 is still required by Slim, Alfred, and “it” in RenderMan Studio).
- A motion blur bug that caused subdivision surfaces to “tear” has been fixed.
- Output directories now handle slashes and back-slashes in absolute paths correctly.
- Umask settings are now properly respected in the creation of output directories.
- 2d textures applied to lights are now properly oriented relative to the light, rather than relative to the surface UV coordinates.
- A bug with motion blurred lights that could lead to a crash has been fixed.
- A ray tracing bug on OS X (PPC only) that could result in NAN-related artifacts has been fixed.
Known Issues and Deprecated Features
- 2d bakes for environment lights are no longer supported.
- Certain Slim shading models may not respond correctly to the Environment Light. The suggested workaround is to build equivalent models using the Delux appearance.
- In the initial, “dot-zero” release, the Shutter Timing parameters for motion blur do not work with motion-blurred particles.
Changes Since 2.0
RenderMan for Maya 2.0.1
New Features
- Support for Maya 2008 is now available. This support is limited to existing compatibility; new features introduced in Maya 2008 are not supported, with the notable exception of the new Smooth Mesh Preview. Using the Smooth Mesh Preview in combination with Maya's crease tool allows you to preview meshes rendered as Pixar subdivs.
- Added support for Fur Equalizer Maps and the Calc. Area Values Fur Render Setting.
- There is a new outputColorSets attribute that can be added to geometry. It causes RfM to output all of the mesh's colorsets as primvars. These primvars can be referenced in Maya shading networks using the Rman Prim Var Color node.
- A new RenderMan attribute called Invis can be added to Maya DAG nodes (via Manage Attributes in the Attributes menu) to make the DAG below the insertion point invisible to RfM while still visible in Maya.
Enhancements
- There is a new Attributes menu entry for removing subsurface scattering. This control also removes the unused subsurface pass.
- GlobalDiffuse render passes now have culling and rasterorient off by default. Additionally, Shading Normal Mode is now set to Surface Normal, rather than Face Camera. This allows for the expected default behavior when a user bakes then moves the camera and reuses the bake pass.
- When batch rendering scenes with multiple layers, shaders within layers are now compiled separately and saved in unique directories.
- The default trace bias is now 0.001, rather than 0.0001, by default. This should reduce bias artifacts in many cases, but does not preclude the potential need to adjust trace bias on a per-scene basis.
- Support for Maya's Recycle Render Layers feature has been added.
- Certain spurious warnings and errors have been suppressed.
Bug Fixes
- A licensing issue that could cause spurious errors alleging rifts in the space/time continuum has been repaired.
- Image planes now appear as expected in extra output (AOV) images.
- Blobby and Cloud particles now motion blur correctly.
- Licenses are now always checked in for canceled batch renders.
- Beauty pass (final, rgba) renders now properly use the File name prefix as specified in the Common tab of the Render Settings.
- RenderMan shaders with params of type "normal" are now displayed correctly in the Attribute Editor.
- Changing the resolution on one of the children of an EnvRender pass now has the expected effect.
- Fixed some issues with file widget in Attribute Editor for RenderMan shaders.
- On RenderMan shader nodes, string attributes connected to other string attributes are now interpreted correctly.
- A bug that caused reflections to vary in apparent brightness based on whether the number of samples was odd or even has been fixed.
- Fur with a noise multiplier for the clumping attribute now works.
- The hair:dice attribute can now be overridden for hair.
- A bug in the interpretation of FurDescription's global scale setting that could cause fur to appear clipped has been fixed.
- File names utilizing multiple underscores are now parsed properly.
- A bug that could cause Maya environment variables to be misconstrued has been repaired.
- A bug in certain shadeops that could result in NaNs has been fixed.
- The Alpha Is Luminance attribute on file nodes now has expected effect for outTransparency.
- Fixed a motion blur bug that occurred when rendering negative frame ranges.
- A bug in the renumbering of frames and corresponding files has been fixed.
- The Gzip Compression option in the Export RIB Archive dialog now has the expected effect (RenderMan Studio only).
- Non-ascii characters no longer go into the RIB timestamp comment; this was a problem for systems using certain character encodings (RenderMan Studio only).
- A bug in exporting RIB archives without shaders that could cause erroneous shading rate settings has been fixed.
- Dots (periods) in file names (e.g. foo.1.ma) are now parsed properly.
- A bug that could cause certain RenderMan shaders to break upon reloading a Maya scene has been fixed. This bug also manifested, in RenderMan Studio only, during remote rib, remote render jobs spooled via Alfred.
- Light sets referenced via the Passes tab now behave as expected.
- A bug with Area Lights that could cause certain parameters to be ignored, resulting in issues like shadows not being generated, has been fixed.
- Certain issues with shadow map autofocus have been addressed.
- A bug in the rmanTexture3d node involving an improperly referenced function has been fixed.
License 5.0.2
- License server handling of check-ins from processes that end prematurely has been improved. Servers prior to license-5.0.2 would sometimes cause these seats to remain unavailable for 10 minutes.
- Recognition of multiple hostids on a single host has been improved.