Advanced RenderMan: Creating CGI for Motion Pictures

Advanced RenderMan: Creating CGI for Motion Pictures is precisely what you and other RenderMan users are dying for. Written by the world's foremost RenderMan experts, it offers thoroughly updated coverage of the standard while moving beyond the scope of the original RenderMan Companion to provide in-depth information on dozens of advanced topics. Both a reference and a tutorial, this book will quickly prove indispensable, whether you're a technical director, graphics programmer, modeler, animator, or hobbyist.

Explore the Power of RenderMan

• Use the entire range of geometric primitives supported by RenderMan.
• Understand how and when to use procedural primitives and level of detail.
• Master every nuance of the Shading Language.
• Write detailed procedural shaders using texture, displacement, pattern generation, and custom reflection models.
• Write shaders for special effects relating to volumes, custom lighting, and non-photorealistic media.
• Use antialiasing to ensure that your shaders are free of artifacts.
• Minimize the expense of rendering scenes by optimizing input.

Other Features from Advanced RenderMan

• Offers expert advice and instruction applicable to any RenderMan-compliant renderer.
• Filled with technical illustrations and many full-color representations of effects supported by the RenderMan standard.
• Includes a chapter reviewing key math and computer graphics concepts.

Tony Apodaca is Director of Graphics R&D at Pixar Animation Studios, co-creator of the RenderMan Specification, and lead engineer of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan. His film credits include Tin Toy, Knick-knack, Toy Story, and A Bug’s Life. In 1993, Tony and five other engineers received a Scientific and Technical Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for work on PhotoRealistic RenderMan.

Larry Gritz is a co-founder of Exluna, www.exluna.com, part of Nvidia, where he is a co-designer and the current technical lead of the Entropy renderer. Prior to joining Exluna, Larry was the head of the rendering research group at Pixar Animation Studios and editor of the RenderMan Interface 3.2 Specification, as well as serving as a lighting and shading TD on film and commercial projects. His film credits include Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. Larry has a B.S. degree from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the George Washington University. Prior to joining Pixar in early 1995, Larry was the original creator of BMRT. Larry's research interests include global illumination, shading languages and systems, and rendering of hideously complex scenes.