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RenderPipe

RenderPipe is the name of ART’s specialised ray tracing software renderer. It is the only rendering software currently supported by our AR350 ray tracing processors. RenderPipe has been specifically designed by the software engineers at ART to run on large arrays of AR350 processors running simultaneously – in some cases using up to 96 core processors.
 
In order to use these large arrays of AR350 processors to render a single image the RenderPipe software has to analyse the 3D scene file and efficiently distribute the ray tracing tasks to the processor network, all running in parallel, and then process the resultant shaded pixels into a single image.
 
This approach is quite different to the way a software ray tracer, using one or two processors, tackles ray tracing and this is why we are unable to support any other ray tracing renderer on the AR350.
 
The same RenderPipe renderer runs on all of ART’s ray tracing products, so there is complete pixel compatibility between them.
 
RenderPipe currently has application plug-in interfaces for the key Autodesk products - 3dsmax, VIZ and Maya and so is very well integrated with these applications. Almost all their lights, cameras and material definitions are supported by RenderPipe, but there are some additional features provided, which will produce exceptional photorealistic images. There are reflective material libraries in RenderCoat, plus additional lights and cameras.
 
AV5.5
The latest release of our RenderPipe software is now available to download from the secure members area. Supported customers can access it for free so to renew your support subscription now contact
 
RenderPipe RIB
RenderPipe RIB enables PURE and RenderDrive to be used with any 3D application that can create RenderMan data. RenderPipe RIB provides a command-line interface that will send the RenderMan scene and shader descriptions directly to PURE or across a network to RenderDrive.
 
This industry standard graphics spec for 3D scene description provides a very versatile interface for developers of custom 3D applications, and can be installed and used on as many workstations as you need, to access PURE or RenderDrive over a network, with no per-workstation or per-processor licensing.
 
Some of the applications that RenderPipe RIB can be used with include: Houdini, Maya through the MtoR plug-in, and solidThinking. RenderPipe RIB is available on Windows, Irix and Linux platforms.