RenderManDirectTextureMap
From K-3D
Description
| Links a RenderMan Texture Map directly to a file |
| Plugin Status: | Stable |
| Categories: | All Plugins, Stable Plugins, RenderMan Plugins |
Metadata
| Name | Value |
|---|
Properties
| Label | Description | Type | Script Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| File | Texture File | k3d::filesystem::path | file |
Notes
By default, the RenderMan standard assumes that render engines will use texture maps stored in their own internal file formats for efficiency. RenderMan provides a standard mechanism to convert bitmap images - usually in TIFF format - to the render engine's internal format. In times past this was the only way to use texture maps with RenderMan. When you connect a bitmap source such as BitmapReader to RenderManTextureMap, K-3D is handling this conversion for you - it saves the bitmap as a TIFF file, then tells your render engine to process it into its internal file format. Although this mechanism is flexible (you can use the Visualization Pipeline and Bitmap Plugins to perform image processing on a bitmap before using it as a texture), and portable (supported by all RenderMan engines), it can be inefficient: many RenderMan engines now support direct loading of common bitmap file formats such as PNG, JPEG, and TIFF, bypassing the need to perform conversions and create copies.
RenderManDirectTextureMap provides a "fast path" for this situation. If you have a file on disk to be used as a texture, and you know that your render engine can load it directly, use RenderManDirectTextureMap to specify the file and you're done!
Usage
- Create an instance of RenderManDirectTextureMap.
- Select the file to be used as a texture using the File property.
- In your shader that requires a texture map, use the texture property to select your RenderManDirectTextureMap.
Tips and Tricks
You can use RenderManDirectTextureMap for more than just traditional bitmap images - it can also be used with shadow maps to speed-up previewing.
