Manual page for RENDERMN.INI(5)

rendermn.ini - RenderMan configuration file

DESCRIPTION

The file rendermn.ini is an ASCII format configuration file used to map symbolic tokens into configuration specific data. The same configuration file is used for both PhotoRealistic RenderMan and Vector RenderMan.

Each entry in the configuration file takes up one line. Entries consist of a symbolic name and a configuration specific string. Lines should not exceed 1024 characters in length. Comments lines are permitted, and are introduced by a '#' character.

Environment Variables

Environment variables may be referenced inside the rendermn.ini file using the syntax:

	${environment-variable-name}

Undefined environment variables default to an empty string. The special environment variable RMANTREE will default to the string /usr/local/prman.

Miscellaneous

A few default pathnames can be changed from installation to installation.

/errorpath path: is used to specify the full pathname for error messages. The default path is ${RMANTREE}/etc/messages.
/licensefile path: specifies a fully qualified name of the license file. See the Installation Guide for more information about the license manager.

Display Driver Management

Each display type that can be specified by an RiDisplay (RenderMan) or Display (RIB) command should have an associated display driver to handle it. Display types tiff zfile, shadow, postscript, cpostscript, picio, bucket, and tga have display drivers compiled into the renderer. Other display types require a fully qualified path of a display server executable to be specified in the configuration file. See the documentation for the individual drivers for more defaults that can be set in the configuration file.

/displaytype/displaytype altdisplaytype: is used to translate the displaytype as specified in an RiDisplay call, to an alternate display type. The only display types with default translations are file, which translates to tiff, and framebuffer which has an installation specific translation.
/display/displaytype/xres n: overrides the default image width of the displaytype.
/display/displaytype/yres n: overrides the default image height of the displaytype.
/display/displaytype/par n: overrides the default pixel apect ratio of the displaytype.
/display/displaytype path: specifies where to find the display driver for displaytype. For display types tiff zfile, shadow, postscript, cpostscript, picio, bucket, and tga, path can be internal, to use the display driver compiled into the renderer. Otherwise it should be a fully qualified path of a display server executable, which consists of the appropriate driver, followed by any required command-line arguments.
/dspyserver path: sets the path and arguments of the display server to run if a display type specific server is not specified as above. The default server is: ${RMANTREE}/etc/dspyserver rman-display.
/display/displaytmp/dir directory: sets the directory location for the external driver scan conversion temporary file. When using an external file driver that requires the image in scan line order, the display system requires a temporary file whose size depends on the size of the image being rendered. By default the temporary file is placed in /usr/tmp.

Search Paths

Search paths are used by the renderer to find shaders and textures as they are invoked. A search path is a colon-separated list of directory pathnames that are searched in sequence whenever the renderer encounters a shader or texture name that does not begin with a slash ('/'). When a search path is set, the character '@' is replaced by the standard search path and the character '&' is replaced by the previously set search path. A separate search path exists for shaders and textures.

/shaderpath spath: sets the search path for shader files. This is equivalent to using the searchpath shader option before any shaders (including the defaultsurface shader) are loaded. The @ character will be replaced by the standard search path for shaders.
/standardshaderpath spath: sets the standard search path for shader files. This is the translation for the @ character whenever the shader search path is set.
/texturepath spath: sets the search path for texture files. The @ character will be replaced by the standard search path for textures.
/standardtexturepath spath: sets the standard search path for texture files. This is the translation for the @ character whenever the texture search path is set.
/standardvfxmasterpath spath: sets the search path for Pixar Look master files.
/standardvfxinstancepath spath: sets the search path for Pixar Look instance files.

PhotoRealistic RenderMan Options and Attributes

The defaults for certain options specific to PhotoRealistic RenderMan can be set in the configuration file. More details about these options can be found in the PhotoRealistic RenderMan User's Manual.

/prman/bucketsize n m: redefines the default for the bucketsize option for the PhotoRealistic RenderMan renderer. The value should be two decimal numbers separated by a space representing the n by m size of a bucket, in pixels. The normal default is 16 by 16.
/prman/gridsize n: redefines the default for the gridsize option for the PhotoRealistic RenderMan renderer. The value should be a single number representing the maximum number of micropolygons that can be shaded at one time. The normal default is 256.
/prman/texturememory n: redefines the default for the texturememory option for the PhotoRealistic RenderMan renderer. The single value indicates the number of kilobytes allocated to cached data from texture files. The normal default is 256.
/prman/shadingrate n: redefines the default shading rate used by the PhotoRealistic RenderMan renderer. This is equivalent to using the RiShadingRate (RenderMan) or ShadingRate (RIB) command and determines the maximum area of a micropolygon to be shaded. The normal default as specified in the RenderMan Interface 3.1 Specification is 0.25. The rendermn.ini file shipped with PhotoRealistic RenderMan overrides this with a value of 1.0, which is the recommended value.

Vector RenderMan Options and Attributes

The defaults for certain options and attributes specific to Vector RenderMan can also be set in the configuration file. More details about these options and attributes can be found in the Vector RenderMan User's Manual.

/vectrman/refresh n: redefines the default for the refresh option for the Vector RenderMan renderer. This is a single decimal number and represents the number of vectors that are buffered before they are displayed. The normal default of 0 is a special case that indicates that no vectors are to be displayed until the image is complete.
/vectrman/fullcolor ON|OFF: redefines the default for the fullcolor option for the Vector RenderMan renderer. The value should be one of the strings ON or OFF indicating whether Vector RenderMan is to produce colored vectors, or a black and white image. If anything other than OFF appears, the normal default of ON is used.
/vectrman/udivisions n: redefines the default for the udivisions attribute for the Vector RenderMan renderer. All surfaces except for polygons are displayed as a grid of lines on the surface. This attribute specifies the number of pieces into which a given surface is divided in its u direction. The normal default is 10.
/vectrman/vdivisions n: redefines the default for the vdivisions attribute for the Vector RenderMan renderer. This attribute specifies the number of pieces into which a given surface is divided in its v direction. The normal default is 10.