Whats New - Version 6.0.1

1 June 2010

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• Keyframe Animation
• Python & Maya
• Slim Array Collections
• Label UI-Hint

Keyframe Animation

A beauty pass rib is typically created using the Rman Tool->Docs menu - figure 1. Simple animations can subsequently be produced by converting a beauty pass rib to a keyframe document - figure 2.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Although the previous version of Cutter added the ability to create a beauty pass rib with conditional evaluation of the Display statement ie.

    Option "user" "string renderer" ["prman"]
    DisplayChannel "float t"
    DisplayChannel "float s"
    
    IfBegin "$user:renderer == 'prman'"
        Display "untitled" "it" "rgba"
        Display "+untitled.t.tif" "it" "t"
    Else
        Display "untitled" "idisplay" "rgba"
    IfEnd
    Display "+untitled.s.tif" "tiff" "s"

it was not able to parse the IfBegin/IfEnd block when the rib file was converted to a keyframe document. This version of Cutter can now handle such blocks properly. For example the snippet of rib shown above would be converted to the following.

    Option "user" "string renderer" ["prman"]
    DisplayChannel "float t"
    DisplayChannel "float s"
    Format 427 240 1
    ShadingRate 1
    Display "+untitled.s.tif" "tiff" "s"
    Display "+untitled.t.tif" "it" "t"
    Display "untitled" "it" "rgba"

During conversion, Cutter "callapses" the IfBegin/IfEnd block - in effect it chooses the appropriate segment of the block to insert into the keyframe document based on the value of the user option,

Other IfBegin/IfEnd blocks occuring after WorldBegin are not edited by Cutter. Subsequent rendering of the keyframe document will generate a properly structured rib file.

Python & Maya

When a python script is executed (alt+e, control+e or apple+e) output from print statements are displayed in Cutter's Process Monitor window. However, python can also be sent to Maya via a port in exactly the same way as Cutter handles Mel. When a python script window is connected to a Maya port, Cutter now "assumes" all output should be displayed by Maya and, as such, the Process Monitor is not activated.

Slim Array Collections

When a RenderMan shader is compiled, Cutter can automatically generate an appearance slim file that will control how the parameters of a shader are displayed by Maya. Shader parameters that declare arrays, for example,

    surface
    array_test( float Kfb = 1;
                float radius[3] = {1,1,1};
                point pnt[3] = {(0,0,0),(0,0,0),(0,0,0)}
                )
    {
    // The array parameters are ignored. They are shown
    // above only for illustrating how arrays are displayed
    // in Slim and HyperShade.
    Oi = Os;
    Ci = Oi * Cs * Kfb;
    }

will now be correctly displayed and referenced in Maya - figure 1. However, it should be noted that a shader converted to a Slim template will have its arrays elements grouped within a collection - figures 2. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a way of structuring an appearance slim file so that HyperShade will also display the elements of an array within a collection.

Figure 3
Arrays in HyperShade

Figure 4
Arrays in Slim

Label UI-Hint

When generating an appearance or template slim file, Cutter parses the comments associated with each shader parameter. Within each comment the user can embed one or more ui-hints that will control how Cutter writes a slim file. For example, the shader shown below has two parameters with the artist-unfriendly names "Kfb" and "Kfo" - figure 5.

    surface
    labelling_test(float Kfb = 1,
                         Kfo = 1 )
    {
    Oi = Os * Kfo;
    Ci = Oi * Cs * Kfb;
    }

Using the new label ui-hint, shader parameters can be conventiently given more artist-friendly names. For example, these comments will cause HyperShade to display the names of the parameters as shown in figure 6.

    surface
    labelling_test(float Kfb = 1, /* [label "Uniform Brighness"] */
                         Kfo = 1; /* [label "Uniform Opacity"] */)
    {
    Oi = Os * Kfo;
    Ci = Oi * Cs * Kfb;
    }

Figure 5 - without labels

Figure 6 - with labels

Using a collection ui-hint the parameters can also be grouped, for example,

    surface
    labelling_test(
        float Kfb = 1, /* [collection "Color & Opacity" label "Uniform Brighness"] */
              Kfo = 1; /* [collection "Color & Opacity" label "Uniform Opacity"] */)
    {
    Oi = Os * Kfo;
    Ci = Oi * Cs * Kfb;
    }

Figure 7 - parameters grouped in a "collection"