#3ds to RIB Format
20 messages in this thread
Bruce,
>> Anyone know of a non-commercial 3ds to RIB format converter? <<
I don't know of ANY 3ds to RIB converter of any type. If you here of one, let
me know. I'd be interested.
Martin
Syndesis has what the call a "rudimentary" converter on there commercial
product. $500. No Thanks.
BP
Uhm, we also convert to and from more than thirty other 3D file formats. We
added that admittedly "rudimentary" RIB exporter at customer request, not
because we thought we could trick people.
Over and over, I've found that people *ask* for magic Product X to RIB
converters, but that they don't know what they really want, or they haven't
actually used Renderman yet. So if you have some definite iddeas about how
you'd like to convert a 3DS scene to Renderman format for any given Renderman
product (Showplace, BMRT, etc.) please describe it, and you too can guide the
development of a Syndesis InterChange converter. For example, how would you
like the 3DS materials to be translated to Renderman shaders?
John, you 1000% right. Perhaps I was a little flip. I appologize.
I have no doubt your product is well worth $500 for someone who may need
several converters. Maybe all us 3DS hacks should have it! 🙂
However, as my specific interest is just to get in and get my hands dirty with
Renderman (via BMRT and Linux), the price is just too steep. Given what I do
know about RM, what your product provides may be all that can be done. At any
rate, I'll certainly take your word for it. You're the expert!
Maybe, you guys could make the RIB converter PD? Whataya say, huh, huh?
(Asking can never hurt, right?).
Anyway, thnx for the reply.
BP
Compared to the price of converters for the SGI-based packages, InterChange is
ridiculously IN-expensive, and we get laughed-out of conversations with those
people! They don't think we could do as good of a job as $1,500
one-format-to-one-format converter. 🙂
I think I see where you're coming from. You got Linux for free, you got BMRT
for free, you want a free 3DS-to-Renderman converter. 🙂
I have thought about an InterChange SuperLite that would be given away. It
would convert between several of those freeware formats like RAW triangles, POV
scripts, basic RIB output, and maybe Atari ST CAD-3D.
John:
Does Interchange currently convert to VRML format? Do you know of any good
VRML browsers for use under WFWG 3.11 or NT?
– Bob Ritger
>> Do you know of any good VRML browsers for use under WFWG 3.11 or NT? <<
I've been waiting for one from TDS (I think) called Webspace. It's out for NT
and some other platforms, but not for Windows as of early this month.
-David J. Marks
Dave:
Last night, I hunted down the Webspace WWW page but I couldn't get a
connection to get more info. I suppose I'll find out a few things at SIGGRAPH,
see you there.
– Bob Ritger
>> I hunted down the Webspace WWW page but I couldn't get a connection to get
more info. <<
If I can get thru, I'll try to capture the HTML screen with all the details.
If Webspace is finally available, I'll e-mail you a copy.
– Dave
Dave:
Let me know if you have some luck tracking this browser down. Thanks for your
efforts.
– Bob Ritger
Webspace for NT is now available (still beta, I think). I captured the Web
page as HTML source code and I can email it to you. If you just need the FTP
address, I'll give you that. All that stuff is at home, so I won't get to it
until tonight.
– Dave
<<.. Let me know if you have some luck tracking this browser down…>>
Here are 2 VRML viewers for use with Windows …
World View from Intervista
Win 3.1, Win NT 3.5 and Win 95
http://www.hyperion.com/~intervista
WebSpace from SGI
Win NT 3.5 only
http://www.sgi.com/Products/WebFORCE/WebSpace
Yes, InterChange does export (only) to VRML. We don't read it (yet.) I've been
using WebSpace under WinNT for VRML browsing.
John:
I'll double check the documentation but I did a quick look yesterday and
didn't see VRML mentioned. I would have fired up Interchange but I'm at home
at the moment. I'll give it a look tomorrow, thanks for the heads up.
– Bob Ritger
You gotta understand, John. I'm not cheap – just poor.
BP
Bruce,
>> Syndesis has what the call a "rudimentary" converter on there commercial
product. $500. <<
hmm… that might be useful for us here at MetroLight – we are an enormous user
of Rman (not me personally, though). I'll probably visit Syndesis at Siggraph
and get more info.
Martin
Martin
>>I don't know of ANY 3ds to RIB converter of any type. If you here of one, let
me know. I'd be interested.<<
There is a PD Renderman convertor that works with 3D Studio ASC files. I
haven't played with it, but word is that it works but is not thorough. Perhaps
the software author could be encouraged to further enhance the program. Anyway,
the file is on the Rendering Plant BBS (816-525-8362).
Jim
That ASC->RIb converter is about as thorough as it can get… It turns each
triangle into a generalized polygon in RIB format. What else do you want? To
advance any further, you need to add materials. ASC files don't have
materials, aside from names, and the ASC->RIB converter adds comments in the
style of several RIB editors to help you remember which polygons have which
materials.
Now, no one has stepped forward to write Renderman shaders that duplicate 3DS's
rendering techniques. I've never seen any translator of RIB for any PC-based
3D program that does that. There are several very expensive SGI-based
converters that go from, say, Softimage to RIB with all sorts of extra info
intact.
Now that Pixar has announced that they will no longer support or sell any Mac-
or PC-based Renderman products, you're either looking at people who use
freeware Blue Moon Rendering Tools or you're talking about someone who has a
very expensive SGI and most likely owns an expensive 3D program in addition to
Renderman for the SGI.
I've talked to many people about their desire to convert models to Renderman
formats. I'd love to be proved wrong about any of my opinions about this.
First of all, I'd love to talk with someone who uses Renderman for rendering on
a daily basis. Someday, I'd love to meet one who doesn't write their own
scripts in a text editor. 🙂
Jim,
>> There is a PD Renderman convertor that works with 3D Studio ASC files….
the file is on the Rendering Plant BBS (816-525-8362). <<
all right! You've finally given me a compelling reason to join your BBS 🙂