Anybody knows if the new bridge was built for RenderMan 19 ?

I may be wrong but I think Pixar have to build the bridge.

Yes, I was hoping more compatibility for RenderMan 19!! We will see if pixar do the bridge!!

alejandro
Yes, I was hoping more compatibility for RenderMan 19!! We will see if pixar do the bridge!!

According to Pixar, SideFx has to do the bridge!

Not to brag, but at siggraph last year, Pixar introduced the latest version of renderman and in their slides a connection with houdini was followed by a question mark… I understood that they don't see Houdini as such a promising market as maya or other software.

That might not be the case, unless you personally spoke with somebody from Pixar. It might mean, that the ball is in SideFX's court, and it's up to them to decide if they want to support it or not.

I have spoken to Pixar and they told me that SideFX has to do the bridge.

i know they see mantra as dangerous competition. that might be why they dont want people to use houdini and then learn how easy and powerfull mantra is.

theviolator
That might not be the case, unless you personally spoke with somebody from Pixar. It might mean, that the ball is in SideFX's court, and it's up to them to decide if they want to support it or not.

I have spoken to Pixar and they told me that SideFX has to do the bridge.

I don't recall where (maybe fxguide.com), but there was mention on the web of Renderman 19's Houdini implementation being underway last year by a third party.

Pixar's own FAQ supports this:
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/DP25847 [renderman.pixar.com]

There's lots of competition, but this isn't the sort of industry where anyone survives by standing alone. For sure there are companies like Autodesk, who'd rather everyone else went away, but they have more businessmen than nerds running the show, yet even they recognise and understand that the industry uses more than one piece of software.

Prman 19 . Sorry I have to laugh at the thought of using it. It doesn't come close to the simplicity and elegance of mantra. Then couple that with the fact most shops are now vray or arnold, you have to ask why would sidexfx even bother spending dev money on a competition application.

Rob

^^ This.

Mantra should be released as a standalone renderer in order to become a true competitor to Prman.

circusmonkey
Prman 19 . Sorry I have to laugh at the thought of using it. It doesn't come close to the simplicity and elegance of mantra. Then couple that with the fact most shops are now vray or arnold, you have to ask why would sidexfx even bother spending dev money on a competition application.

Rob

I have to laugh at the though of using Arnold with Houdini (I hope you have tried it for yourself), and who again uses VRay with Houdini?

I have to disagree with you here, you can do tricky stuff with RenderMan, that you simply can't with Mantra, sorry.

AdamT

theviolator
That might not be the case, unless you personally spoke with somebody from Pixar. It might mean, that the ball is in SideFX's court, and it's up to them to decide if they want to support it or not.

I have spoken to Pixar and they told me that SideFX has to do the bridge.

I don't recall where (maybe fxguide.com), but there was mention on the web of Renderman 19's Houdini implementation being underway last year by a third party.

Pixar's own FAQ supports this:
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/DP25847 [renderman.pixar.com]

There's lots of competition, but this isn't the sort of industry where anyone
survives by standing alone. For sure there are companies like Autodesk, who'd rather everyone else went away, but they have more businessmen than nerds running the show, yet even they recognize and understand that the industry uses more than one piece of software.

Interesting how a third party can do the bridge, probably a plugin? It would have been much easier for SideFX to just do it, and it would be part of the software.

Currently, they only support v18 of RenderMan. The beauty of RenderMan is that it's primitives are exactly what Houdini wants to see. I have tried Arnold for Houdini, and I can say that thing was simply a joke!

It's always nice to have another choice besides Mantra, and the closest I can think of is RenderMan.

I have to laugh at the though of using Arnold with Houdini (I hope you have tried it for yourself), and who again uses VRay with Houdini?

I have to disagree with you here, you can do tricky stuff with RenderMan, that you simply can't with Mantra, sorry.

I love to hear what tricky C++ stuff can be done with Prman19 that mantra cannot handle. Ive just been on a couple of shows with it and its helped cement my opinion lol .

rob

That's the beauty of it dude, you don't even have to go to C++ you can do it with the existing set of tools!

Anyhow, I'm not trying to disprove Mantra's awesomness here, just trying to get some answers if PRMan is going to be supported in H14, that's all !!!

By the way, every renderer has it's strengths and weaknesses, don't try to advocate something as perfect - that doesn't exist yet, and you should be smart enough to understand that.

Consider that a compiled shader for prMan, is a compiled shader for prMan regardless of the software package that is rendering it. with that in mind:

The shader I build to use in Houdini can easily be used later in the pipeline in Maya, or any other software package that is prMan compatible.

It's a universal render engine for everyone in the pipeline. Considering the ability to embed a shader into an hda/otl and the bridge built between other software using Houdini Engine… It's a no brainier for me.

I can build a tool using a prMan shader, tuck it into the SHOP of the tool I'm building, create the hda/otl, pass the tool off to a maya user later in the pipeline using Houdini Engine… the Maya user has full use of the tool, and the shader parameters, plus the results will render exactly like they did during Houdini development because everyone in the pipeline is using prMan.

I don't see anything but benefit for both SideFX and Pixar.

Can we please, please, please get support for RenderMan 19?

john.m
Consider that a compiled shader for prMan, is a compiled shader for prMan regardless of the software package that is rendering it. with that in mind:

The shader I build to use in Houdini can easily be used later in the pipeline in Maya, or any other software package that is prMan compatible.

It's a universal render engine for everyone in the pipeline. Considering the ability to embed a shader into an hda/otl and the bridge built between other software using Houdini Engine… It's a no brainier for me.

I can build a tool using a prMan shader, tuck it into the SHOP of the tool I'm building, create the hda/otl, pass the tool off to a maya user later in the pipeline using Houdini Engine… the Maya user has full use of the tool, and the shader parameters, plus the results will render exactly like they did during Houdini development because everyone in the pipeline is using prMan.

I don't see anything but benefit for both SideFX and Pixar.

Can we please, please, please get support for RenderMan 19?

+10000

tinyparticle
Mantra should be released as a standalone renderer in order to become a true competitor to Prman.

…and any other rendering engine for that matter which comes along with a financial incentive for SESI to push the Mantra R&D even harder.

The shader I build to use in Houdini can easily be used later in the pipeline in Maya, or any other software package that is prMan compatible.

It's a universal render engine for everyone in the pipeline. Considering the ability to embed a shader into an hda/otl and the bridge built between other software using Houdini Engine… It's a no brainier for me.

I can build a tool using a prMan shader, tuck it into the SHOP of the tool I'm building, create the hda/otl, pass the tool off to a maya user later in the pipeline using Houdini Engine… the Maya user has full use of the tool, and the shader parameters, plus the results will render exactly like they did during Houdini development because everyone in the pipeline is using prMan.

Have you implemented this anywhere ? .Wouldnt it be very dependent on all the hooks matching up between plugins . You only have to look at Katana & the prman19 plugin to see that it would be a giant engineering job of epic proportions.

Have you implemented this anywhere ?

No, but I'm in the process of trying it now.

However; even if the shader was not embedded in the OTL, RenderMan still acts as a universal cross software rendering platform. The shader can be compiled and then applied in whatever software you're using anywhere in the pipeline.