3Delight unearthed (Renderman Compliant)

[Intuition]

So I bugged the 3Delight team to see if they had any builds left from the Irix days.

They said they had one... still on the webserver.

I am at work now, but am leaving here to download to my 400 mhz later.

If anyone wants to untar/ungz it and examine.. please feel free.

Its not a maya plugin so I am guessing it is a standalone that will need a rib file from something to render.

I have no idea how usable it is... but ... for what it is worth.... here is some Irix computer graphic history to archive.

[rooprob]

check install script for example of a sysadm having a bad day.


Following instruction in the INSTALL file, shaderdl craps itself and dumps core. Gdb does not help here.

Renderdl at least seems to work, but the cubits.tiff it creates is pretty empty.

Someone else care to take it for a spin.

[foetz]

oh that's a nice find. will give it a try for sure

[Intuition]

Still haven't had a chance to play with this yet BUT, at work this week I did find a few items of use.

Since 3Delight depends on a RIB file being created elsewhere we have to get one of the apps available on Irix to export RIB files. Since Pixar isn't handing out licenses for Renderman Artist Tools in Irix anymore I started looking for RIB file makers.

First was this one.

https://www.okino.com/conv/exp_rib.htm

But I can't see a way to download it. Though I am betting he'd either create an Irix build or give source for an Irix build to be compiled. Of course it may just be a smaller par tof his translator software.

Then I found this...

https://www.highend3d.com/maya/plugin/r ... t-for-maya

Now I just have to find a Maya 1.0 somewhere on Ebay. I keep missing out on the box sets when they show up.

Finally I remembered that PowerAnimator has a RIB exporter... one of my O2 drives bought from Ebay back in 2009 has Power Animator on it so I think I'll try to export the RIB file and see what 3Delight does with it.

[Intuition]

Ok, finally fiddling with this today. This release 5.0.11 is much further along than the usual 3delight 1.0 I've seen around for Irix.

It has full sub surface scattering and displacement. Soft shadows etc. Has an HDRI capability as well.

Sadly the file doesn't seem to include the 3Delight for Maya plug in that the readme refers to. IF it did there would be no real challenge in setting it up.

The only trouble I am having is that I ran the installer script included BUT it didn't set the DELIGHT env variable.
I looked at my list of env and don't see it. The script did install it in use/local/ so I assume I can just set the env variable $DELIGHT
to the directory just above /bin/

What would I type to set environment variables? setenv?

Don't want to test and mess around. Looking for the exact command

I just want to set $DELIGHT to the specific directory.

I would assume..

setenv $DELIGHT /usr/local/3delight-5.0.11/IRIX-mips4

But want to check here first.

Even though this doesn't come with 3delight for Maya (i'll go back and ask if they have it still on their old server) I can still write a MEL script that would at least take the scene file, make a RIB then throw a command to the terminal that starts renderdl and the path to the freshly made RIB file.

This is probably the most powerful render engine available for Irix besides Mental Ray or actual Renderman Artists tools. The feature set surprises me for a 2003 release. The SSS is pretty nice for that era.

[robespierre]

no dollar sign in "setenv DELIGHT /usr/local/3delight-5.0.11/IRIX-mips4" (if you are using tcsh)
or "export DELIGHT=/usr/local/3delight-5.0.11/IRIX-mips4" (if you are using bash)

[Intuition]

Hmm, it seems it only keeps the variables as long as I have the shell open. I can add them to a permanent text file right? So they stay even after I close shell/reboot system?

I will contact 3Delight, though even this was a long shot... about the Maya plugin... its from 2003 so I am assuming Maya 4.5 or 5.
Also, I can't figure out the license.ini situation it keeps complaining about.. which is why it wont write anything to an image file.

I don't think anyone will be able to get renders out of this until I solve the licensing.

I did get a successful RIB out of maya using manual methods... and 3Delight didn't complain about missing shaders when it renders it....but it won't write anything to the image file. I am assuming this is because it is complaining about licensing and hence you'll get an 8byte empty image as mentioned above.

Still some detective work here. I swear I'll get this... BMRT... or RAT tools working sometime. We need a good Renderman displacement capable softshadow engine for irix.

[foetz]

We need a good Renderman displacement capable softshadow engine for irix.

the alias renderer makes very nice soft shadows. and you can even choose between mapped or raytraced

[Intuition]

Speaking of that. I scored a copy of Alias Wavefront 8.5 I think on disc format. It is on the way here. There is one more copy available and quite a few other discs in Irix from Ebay account mrtalida. So it looks like I'll be able to see that engine.

I mean, Maya has soft shadows. Mental Ray has them too. BUT, the Renderman method always draws very fast and clean. BUT.. I will be able to test Alias within a week or so.


---EDIT----

Hmm, nope the other disc from 1997 is already sold. :/

Mine is on it's way though.. phew.