Advanced RenderMan: Creating CGI for Motion Pictures (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

The first section introduces RenderMan, computer graphics concepts, and mathematics, followed by a section on "Scene Description." This includes chapters on "Describing Models and Scenes in RenderMan" and "Handling Complexity in Photorealistic Scenes."

Sections 3 and 4, "Shading," and "Tricks of the Trade" supply the meat of the book and make it worth the cost of admission. These sections include examples and insight from not only a technical perspective but also a cinematic one. The chapter "Storytelling Through Lighting" should be required reading for beginning computer animation artists.

There are numerous color plates, including some rendering tests from Toy Story. These show the same scene (Andy's room) using different lighting and color palettes, each suggesting a different time of day.

Given the difficulty of the book's subject, 3-D artists or animators with limited technical chops, amateurs, or hobbyists might be better served by something more general. This is, however, an outstanding reference for CG technical directors or anyone with experience in graphics and 3-D programming. It is filled with coding examples used to create RenderMan shaders and case studies citing which techniques were used to create a specific look in, for example, Toy Story or A Bug's Life.

The book has no accompanying CD-ROM, but the publisher maintains a Web site from which code snippets and examples can be downloaded. At first, this may seem inconvenient and merely a way to cut production costs, but it's actually an excellent way to keep the examples current. The field of computer graphics and animation is moving at the speed of light, and the examples and tutorials must move with it. But have no fear--RenderMan is here. --Mike Caputo

Product Description

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.

While Renderman is the ostensible subject, the authors actually cover the entire graphics workflow-- and explain the "why" of it all. Their section on anti-aliasing, for example, is concise, complete, and makes clear the implications of all those little doo-hickeys in 3DS -- you remember the AR explanation better, because its based around how rendering works, rather than how a particular application works (which may change in the next rev, anyway)

Smart guys, smart book-- highly recommended.


Great all-around RenderMan reference   January 20, 2001
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is a great book, written in clear and understandable English. It proivded me (a novice) great information about the RenderMan interface. Not only did it provide a reference to the various API calls, but it also includes an introduction to the basic maths behind it, as well as chapters that discuss CG in general. A thoroughly well written, useful and informative book. It is indespensible for any RenderMan user and in fact, for any CG artist.


Art of Photosurrealism   August 16, 2000
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book is written by six renowned professionals in digital lighting field. Even you are not a shader programmer, chaper 1 and 13 show the aesthic architecture of lighting composition and tell us the beauty of 'Photosurrealism'. The depth of each paper is just amazing and you can find more beautiful tecnical information from other papers written by the same authors.


Excellent compilation!   February 6, 2000
 7 out of 12 found this review helpful

This book far exceeds both The Renderman Companiona and Texturing and Modeling: A procedural approach(Two very good books) in the presentation of massive amounts of information, as well as simplicity of presentation. While this book does sort of deal more with BMRT and PRMan(look at the authors, sheesh...) than the Interface, per se, it does a very nice job of presenting information specifically geared towards them. The inclusion of a section on mathmatics and physics is especially appealing for me, because I'm not yet out of high school. Anyway, if you aren't too much of a miser, buy this book.

Oh, and since these reviews are not supposed to reveal cruical plot elements: There IS a self shading cloud shader!