Pixar's Renderman in houdini

[odiwxe]

Hi, i love the shading/material and lighting/rendering part of the pipeline,in a word,the realism part of CG, yesterday i bought the book "The RenderMan Shading Language Guide", i heard this renderer is the industry standard(is it?) so for now i want to focus on and start learning how to write shaders with it :

1 - how do you evaluate the book?

2 - i'm starting from scratch but i know the C language a little,should i know C before RenderMan?

3 - i heard RenderMan is similar to VEX,is it really?

4 - how do you compare RRMan with Mantra?(they say PRman is THE software itself)

5 - is this book a good starting point for using PRman IN HOUDINI?i mean is the code constant no matter where and in which software it's used?

6 - and finally, if the book is not good then what sources do you suggest to master the renderman shading language?something like fxphd course on renderman?

Edited August 25, 2014 by odiwxe

[JonathanGranskg]

Hi, i love the shading/material and lighting/rendering part of the pipeline,in a word,the realism part of CG, yesterday i bought the book "The RenderMan Shading Language Guide", i heard this renderer is the industry standard(is it?) so for now i want to focus on and start learning how to write shaders with it :

1 - how do you evaluate the book?

2 - i'm starting from scratch but i know the C language a little,should i know C before RenderMan?

3 - i heard RenderMan is similar to VEX,is it really?

4 - how do you compare RRMan with Mantra?(they say PRman is THE software itself)

5 - is this book a good starting point for using PRman IN HOUDINI?i mean is the code constant no matter where and in which software it's used?

6 - and finally, if the book is not good then what sources do you suggest to master the renderman shading language?something like fxphd course on renderman?

 

1. Not sure what you're asking for.

2. Nah it's necessary, but it does help if you know a bit.

3. Yes, old-style RSL (Renderman Shading Language) is. RSL 2.0 is not very similar. I think Renderman is moving to C++ based shaders though.

4. Renderman is a standard for renderers. Mantra has similarities with Renderman. 

5. Yep, it should help you a bit. Not only in understanding Renderman, but also Mantra. Although, I recommend learning VEX and Mantra for Houdini instead of PRMan.

6. FXPHD's courses on RSL are great and they explain the details well. I've taken all of them. So if you can afford it, definitely go for it.

[FromHell]

 

 

 I recommend learning VEX and Mantra for Houdini instead of PRMan.

why?

Edited August 25, 2014 by FromHell

[odiwxe]

1. Not sure what you're asking for.

2. Nah it's necessary, but it does help if you know a bit.

3. Yes, old-style RSL (Renderman Shading Language) is. RSL 2.0 is not very similar. I think Renderman is moving to C++ based shaders though.

4. Renderman is a standard for renderers. Mantra has similarities with Renderman. 

5. Yep, it should help you a bit. Not only in understanding Renderman, but also Mantra. Although, I recommend learning VEX and Mantra for Houdini instead of PRMan.

6. FXPHD's courses on RSL are great and they explain the details well. I've taken all of them. So if you can afford it, definitely go for it.

thank you for the answers.

so even knowing RSL 2 helps in houdini's mantra?i'm an idealistic person and want to learn everything from the basic sources,i don't wanna leave anything behind the scene,why do you recommend learning mantra and houdini instead of PRman?