CompuServe Messages

I am certain that someone has already suggested this one for R4, but just in case . . . I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with a vision — the RXP (Renderer eXternal Process). In my dream I was looking at the Material Editor in my brand new R4 and there was a new button by the other shader buttons . . . Phong, Metal, and _External_. Pressing this button brought up a window with a list of external shaders (shades of renderman). The supplied examples included hair, swiss cheese, and ray-trace. (My imagination must have been working overtime here, I know.) Anyway, I realize that the Yost Group probably has not included such an option because of either trade secrets or impeded rendering speeds. However, if it is due to the latter, a simple disclaimer "use of RXPs can _dramatically_ increase rendering times." would make most people happy. It would be the individual's choice to use the slower shaders (just as it is now with Flat, Phong, etc.). — James —