Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!apple!well!ewhac
From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Structured Graphics Standard
Message-ID: <7132@well.UUCP>
Date: 18 Sep 88 08:21:11 GMT
References: <5053@netnews.upenn.edu> <2336@ihlpm.ATT.COM> <3563@s.cc.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
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In article <3563@s.cc.purdue.edu> ain@s.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (Patrick White) writes:
>In article <2336@ihlpm.ATT.COM> jmdavis@ihlpm.ATT.COM (Davis) writes:
>   Sounds like you are starting to want a picture renderer.. and although
>I haven't seen anything of the Renderman file format, it is probably a better
>				^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>idea to go with than invent our own.
>
	I spoke to someone inside LucasFilms who appears to be very familiar
with the RenderMan specification.  I've also glazed over it myself.

	RenderMan is a library interface specification for rendering
software.  That is to say, the document declares that, if thou art creating
a renderer, then thou shalt name thy functions this, and they shall accept
these parameters.

	There currently is no file format specification for RenderMan
scenes, though one is said to be in development.  As it stands now, you have
to write a program to take a given vendor's scene/object storage format and
pass it to RenderMan.  Evidently (#define RUMOR_MODE), one or two people
inside Pixar or LucasFilms who are also Amiga owners have written routines
to take scenes created with Sculpt-3D and VideoScape-3D, and pass them to
RenderMan renderers using a Pixar as the target.

	Allen Hastings is also said to be working on a RenderMan-conforming
renderer.  Scott Peterson of Byte-by-Byte has said that they will be
supporting RenderMan.  The standard appears to be taking off.

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Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
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