ANN: 3Delight 6.0 (Argento)

[aghi...@gmail.com]

Hello,

3Delight 6.0 and 3Delight For Maya 2.0 are out. Here is a list
of the most important features and improvements:

3Delight For Maya
* HyperShade support. 3DFM now automatically converts
HyperShade networks to RenderMan shaders. 3DFM produces
clean, human readable code and is easily extensible to
support specific HyperShade nodes.
* Shader collections. A powerful feature that enables a
per-pass RenderMan shader assignment mechanism.
* Complete geometry support. Paint effects, Maya hair, Maya
subdivision surfaces and particles (including blobby
particles) are now supported.
* Direct rendering to Maya's render view.

RenderMan
* Output variables can now be output in "exclusive" mode:
each output variable can have its own alpha, independent
from all other output variables.

More at http://www.3delight.com/ZDoc/3delight_39.html#SEC105

* `RiNuCurves' can be used to render curves specified as
NURBS.
* `RiHierarchicalSubdivisionMesh' to render hierarchical
subdivision surfaces.
* `RiPoints' can be rendered as patches or smooth blobbies.
* `RiResource' can be used to save and restore the graphics
state in whole or in part.

Rendering Features
* Photon mapping to render caustics and to accelerate global
illumination (final gathering). Photon mapping can be
performed in a single pass or using a two-pass approach.
* 3D data baking using `bake3d()' and `texture3d()' shadeops.
* Ray tracing hider to trace primary rays instead of using
REYES.
* Multiple shadow maps can be aggregated into one single
shadow map file for easier access. This can serve, for
example, to store six shadow maps in one file for point
light shadows.
* 3Delight offers a powerful and flexible interface to render
outlines such as those necessary for toon rendering.

More at http://www.3delight.com/ZDoc/3delight_40.html#SEC106

Pipeline
* Ri Filters add extra flexibility to the RenderMan pipeline,
enabling users to modify the Ri commands stream at will.

More at http://www.3delight.com/ZDoc/3delight_45.html#SEC121

* Conditional RIB commands contribute to create re-usable,
context-sensitive archives.
* Network Cache has been extended to support network
writes, drastically improving server load on large render
farms.
* A filtering mechanism has been introduced to filter out
specific error messages.

Shading Language
* Surface shaders can communicate with light sources using
forward message passing.
* Variable length arrays are supported.

New Display Drivers and File Formats
* `i-display' framebuffer is now available for Mac OS X
platforms and offers advanced color calibration using 3D
LUTs.
* Added reading and writing capabilities for Photoshop PSD
files. Outputting image channels to layers is supported.
* Added support for IFF, SGI and Softimage files.

Thank you!

The 3Delight Team
(www.3delight.com)