Zaribok: RenderMan exporter

[nemyax]

Zaribok is a plug-in for RenderMan export and rendering. It's been written from scratch and is not based on the Ribbit (aka wpc_rib) plug-in, which some of you may know.
In the Files section of the SourceForge repository you will find the binary that you can install.
The manual is in the Wiki section.
Zaribok can:

• Export all visible geometry as subdivision surfaces (not polygons), including UVs
  
• Export all visible light sources except area lights
  
• Do shadow-mapped shadows for spot, infinite and point lights
  
• Export hard edges as creases with configurable sharpness
  
• Apply user-specified light source, surface and displacement shaders
  

About that last item: yes, you can bind any of your shaders to a material or light, but the GUI for it is just two text boxes: one for the shader name and the other for the parameter string (exactly as it would appear in the RIB). Shaders for the built-in scene lights are also configurable.
The plug-in has been tested with 3Delight, which I recommend. It's good, fast, free for non-commercial use and has an awesome image viewer. However, you also might have some luck with a different renderer.
Note: If you've just installed 3Delight and Zaribok fails to launch renders, try logging off and on again, or rebooting.

[ggaliens]

Got any renders to show ?

[nemyax]

Nope, nothing good so far.

[nemyax]

Version 0.2.20140603 is out. The plug-in is now hosted on SourceForge:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wingsthings/files/
The manual is here: https://sourceforge.net/p/wingsthings/wiki/Zaribok/

Changelog

• Hard edges are now supported; they are converted into creases with configurable sharpness.
  
• You can specify shader names and parameters directly in the properties of materials (surface and displacement shaders) and lights (light source shaders). Shaders for the built-in scene lights are also configurable.
  

[micheus]

That's a good news.
Just sharing, the next release of Renderman (Pixar) will have a free non-commercial version too: http://renderman.pixar.com/view/25946

[nemyax]

Yes, it was this bit of news that prompted me to finally upload the plug-in.

[micheus]

Just now I checked the readme. Nice to see the mesh exported in a separated file. I already thought about that for POV-Ray plulgin too, since it's a handy when we are just playing with materials to find the best one.

I should test it soon. Thanks

[nemyax]

it's a handy when we are just playing with materials

The shader settings on the subdivs are included in the RIB archive, so you'd need to re-export the geometry (or edit the RIB, whichever is faster) to change them. But for relighting and changing the angle, you don't have to.

[tkbd]

I succeeded rendering through zaribok with 3Delight on OSX.
Then I made a memorandum of understanding at that time.
This was a little difficult as compared to the Povray/Yafaray.

Note: Wings3D 1.5.x

[nigec]

I've just been giving this a try, it seems to work fine until you try and edit a material from Outliner

crash dump:

Code:

Dump written 2016-6-8_12-59
Version: 2.0.4
Window: geom
Reason: function_clause

Short stack trace:
[]

Long stack trace:
[{wings_plugin,check_dialog,
     [[{vframe,
           [{vframe,
                [{vframe,
                     [{hframe,
                          [{label,"Shader name:"},
                           {text,"paintedplastic",[{key,surf_shader}]}]},
                      {vframe,
                          [{label,"Parameters:"},
                           {text,[],[{key,surf_params},{width,100}]}]}]}],
                [{title,"Surface shader"},{minimized,false}]},
            {vframe,
                [{vframe,
                     [{hframe,
                          [{label,"Shader name:"},
                           {text,[],[{key,disp_shader}]}]},
                      {vframe,
                          [{label,"Parameters:"},
                           {text,[],[{key,disp_params},{width,100}]}]}]}],
                [{title,"Displacement shader"},{minimized,true}]}],
           [{title,"RenderMan Options"},{minimized,true}]}],
      wpc_zaribok],
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_plugin.erl"},{line,96}]},
{wings_plugin,check_dialog,2,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_plugin.erl"},{line,98}]},
{wings_plugin,check_dialog,2,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_plugin.erl"},{line,98}]},
{wings_plugin,dialog_1,3,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_plugin.erl"},{line,86}]},
{wings_material,edit_dialog,4,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_material.erl"},{line,680}]},
{wings_material,edit,3,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_material.erl"},{line,637}]},
{wings_develop,time_command,2,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings_develop.erl"},{line,81}]},
{wings,raw_command,4,
     [{file,"c:/Users/uabdgud/src/wings/src/wings.erl"},{line,638}]}]

If I disable the plugin, I can then right click and edit materials again