CompuServe Thread

#Renderman and 3DS

3 messages in this thread
#160734From: krazy imagesMar 24, 1995 4:29 PM
Ok people, so before we start to break our heads on finding the best way to take 3DS to Pixar Renderman, anyone want to share any notes/ideas/comments/advice to optimize results, etc.? Thaaaaank you 🙂 ana /krazy images
#160809From: MARTIN G FOSTERMar 25, 1995 12:59 AM
Ana, hey girlfriend, how's it going! >> the best way to take 3DS to Pixar Renderman, anyone want to share any notes/ideas/comments/advice to optimize results, etc.? << can't be done. At least not with anything much intact. Adesk tried to do a conversion utility (3ds to RIB) a long time ago but there were too many inherent problems and the project got cancelled.
#160893From: krazy imagesMar 25, 1995 4:53 PM
Hiyo Martin, No way out, hhm? Well, I will try then to transfer models from DXF to a NURBS based modeller on the 8100 and then use Renderman for appying looks and render. No much trouble, though, since this is just a hobby of mine, nothing related to work. The thing is that I am about to recieve Showplace (which cames with Glimpse -a "looks" editor I think-, MacRenderman and NetRenderman) which is only $99. "A nice complement to the "Spiders from Mars Graphics Fleet" here :)", I said to myself. I bought a package called PixelPutty Solo, from the Valis Group, which is an outstanding NURBS-based modeller (IMHO), and that "interfaces" directly with Renderman. I would like to see Solo working together with 3DS, but I don't think there is a way to do that, even if I convince the Valis Group to publish it as an IPAS. Or maybe I can convince Adesk to port 3DS NT to the PowerMac and get a link to Renderman via QD3D <g> And now I am thinking about it, if there could be a way to make my PowerMac to access 3DS on the Alpha, once it is ported to NT. I mean, like having the Alpha dedicated exclusively to 3DSr54NT and have a frontend on the PowerMac to access it via 100Mb/s Ethernet (which could be like having 3DS and Alpha on a board inside the PowerMac itself :). These are just krazy ideas, but it could be the nirvanna of platform integration. I know that you can do this on Unix and in Windoze, you can do it with a product called Timbuktu Pro, from Farallon. Why I want this? Because we are getting a Targa 2000 for one of our PowerMacs, provided that Truevision will offer a PCI upgrade at a reasonable price in the future (we are going for the PowerMac 9400 this spring, based on PCI and the 604 processor at 120MHz -which is BTW, upgradable to the 620-). Since Adesk is not going to port 3DS to PowerMac, a mac client is a really nice way to put everything together: 3DS, the T2K, the 601 and 604 PowerMacs, the Alpha, our paper projects, etc. (and not only is a nice one, but it will provide us with key advantages in integration, multitasking and performance). Gary for sure is reading this thinking that I never have enough. I am pretty happy with what I have now, but hey, it is free to ask for perfection, right? 😉 Just dreaming, ana /krazy images