The RenderMan Shading Language Guide [Paperback]

Don" Rudy Cortes (Author), Saty Raghavachary (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1598632868 | ISBN-13: 978-1598632866 | Publication Date: December 31, 2007 | Edition: 1

Discover how to achieve the stunning imagery and dazzling effects that wow audiences in animated and live action motion pictures. "The RenderMan Shading Language Guide" shows you how to master this powerful rendering program, used by filmmakers in conjunction with 2D and 3D painting, modeling, and animation software to transport audiences to faraway lands and awe them with fantastic creatures. A comprehensive guide to the RenderMan Shading Language (RSL), the book teaches experienced 3D animators and artists fundamentals through advanced RSL and image synthesis concepts. Beginning with an introduction to RSL, you'll learn about the shader writing process and how to set up a proper shader developing environment. After that you'll try your hand at some simple shading methods such as light and volume shaders. Once you have the basics down, you'll move on to more advanced shading skills including raytracing, global illumination, pattern anti-aliasing, and DSO shadeops. The book presents over 80 complete shaders and teaches good coding style and techniques. "The RenderMan Shading Language Guide" presents the skills you need to become proficient with RSL so that you can use them to create amazing special effects for use in movies, video games, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (December 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598632868
• ISBN-13: 978-1598632866
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #463,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > Rendering & Ray Tracing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In depth information, January 18, 2008

By 

London C. "RenderFan" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The RenderMan Shading Language Guide (Paperback)

I'm quite pleased with the depth of this book. So many of the CGI titles I've bought that claim to be intermediate or advanced aren't. While the RenderMan Shading Language Guide assumes that you have no starting knowledge of RSL, it immediately dives into technical details without overwhelming the novice. For someone wishing to learn RSL (or even just shader theory), this book is wonderfully paced, containing a great depth of information, very well explained.

At the same time, this isn't a book for dabblers. To get much out of the RenderMan Shading Language Guide, you need to be willing to put some effort and practice into it. This is a textbook and needs to be treated as a subject of study, rather than a casual enhancement for playing with CGI. If RenderMan intrigues you, but you don't want to get too deep into the technical (and programing/scripting) aspects, you'd be better off getting Pixar's RenderMan for Maya and a Digital Tutors or similar training DVD. You'll learn more of the simple, day-to-day things and get started making renderings faster.

As another poster mentioned, the text mentions an included disk which isn't. The website doesn't have downloads either. That omission would knock the book down to 4.5 stars, but since I can't rate with half-stars, 5 stars more accurately reflects the value of the book than 4.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wait is Over!, April 5, 2008

By 

Jonathan Farrell "quality" (Bay Area, CA.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The RenderMan Shading Language Guide (Paperback)

I caught wind that this book was coming out well before it actually came out and could hardly contain my excitement. I had it ordered before it was even off the press.

Let's face it, trying to learn Renderman online is like trying to ride a bike with a flat tire. You can go, but not very fast or very far. I own several other renderman books but found them to be a bit out of date and lacking in areas. Since leaving school and entering into the industry I had actually been considering writing a Renderman book myself. I am glad to say that now I don't have to!

I have been enjoying my copy of the book since december of last year. I admit that I was thrown off by all the refrences to the accompanying cd, as well as a few typos throughout. I was overjoyed however to find the website today! This is the book that I have needed for a long time. It is well worth what you pay for it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and methodical approach, October 17, 2008

By 

redviolin (Bangalore, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The RenderMan Shading Language Guide (Paperback)

This book presents a well organized approach to shader writing. It is focused on practical advice and application that a beginner can use in the industry. An example would be the chapter on setting up the development environment,things like which were not the focus of Advanced Renderman. The technical content has been diluted to expand the readership-I think antialiasing is covered better in Advanced Renderman. In this book that chapter comes at the end. Note also that this is a shading book, so don't expect topics like procedural geometry creation or hair or fur DSOs or level of detail, though there is a one paragraph reference to deep shadow maps on page 239.

The book also does a good job in covering raytracing and global illumination, an area that has seen changes in PRMan since Advanced Renderman was written. How to use shadow maps is covered well too.

One issue is that the code is not included, I hope I find it on the website. Typing in hundreds of Halton sequence shader number samples does not sound very appealing.
Giving it a 5 overall because of its practical, industry focused advice. Technical content wise it would rate a 4.