I have Aqsis successfully rendering inside Maya now, thanks to adding the following line to the aqsisrc file:
Option "display" "string liqmaya" ["C:\Program Files\Liquid\displayDrivers\Aqsis\liqmaya.dll"]
I have also found a program called ShaderMan that is helping me learn how the RIB shader language works. Its bit like the Maya hypershade, and it's a pity that the two cannot be fused together, or is this what SLIM and MtoR do when you pay the big bucks?
To get the ShaderMan mini preview window working I also need to add the following to aqsisrc
Option "display" "string sdchwnd" ["C:\shaderMan\d_sdcHWND.dll"]
I did some tests with the default .slx shaders that come with Aqsis.
I need to learn how to map texturemaps with RIB shaders, and if it is possible to map across Maya's UV texture coordinates to the s,t coordinates of the exported RIB file.
Thu, 06/12/2008 - 07:18
Hi Adam,
I think what you need to do is make sure you're attaching the necessary (s,t) texture coordinate primvars, and additionally make sure that liquid is exporting them into the RIB file. The liquid wiki has some very brief comments about doing so:
http://liquidmaya.sourceforge.net/liquidwiki/index.php/Reference/Primiti...
As far as I can gather, you need to rename any variables ("maya attributes" ?) attached to the surface which you want to export. Floats should be named with the "rmanF" prefix, points with "rmanP" and so on.
I gather this means that you should rename the coordinates you get from UV mapping into (rmanFs,rmanFt).
You should then be able to use a shader such as paintedplastic, or something entirely trivial such as
surface test_tex()
{
Ci = texture("mytexfile.tx", s, t);
}
To see if the export is happening correctly, open up the RIB file and look for primvars attached to your primitive - they will look something like "s" [0.3 0.1 1.2 ... ] where the array of numbers is the s coordinates (which could be anything). This will come after the primitive - ie, there should be a line of lines containing
PointsGeneralPolygons [...] [...] "s" [...].
if you're exporting the surface as polygons. Depending on how liquid handles it, the "s" token may instead look like "varying float s" or "facevarying float s" etc.
~Chris (c42f)
PS: Sorry if this comment ends up getting posted twice; I tried to attach something similar yesterday and it disappeared without trace :-(
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Thu, 06/19/2008 - 07:46
Thanks Chris.
Sorry about that lost post. I am still configuring this drupal Blog module, and haven't ironed out all the kinks.
I have also found this article by Malcolm Kesson, which I am working my way through. Bit busy at the moment with my research proposal and exam's but will give this a go as soon as possible.
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