Preferences EditorPreferences EditorInterface Tab
Preview Tab
Textures Tab
Flipbooks Tab
Files Tab
The preference editor for Slim can be opened from the RenderMan Menu.
RenderMan-> Slim-> Preferences
The preferences allow the user to control many different aspects of Slim, from
tweaking render previewing to unlocking advanced features for expert users.
Interface TabControls reuse of the various editor windows. When enabled, Slim tries to reuse an existing editor window. Note that you can always open a new appearance editor with Ctl-Double Click in the palette.
Controls whether Palette Editors are raised when opening a scene file. Normally, Palette Editors will be raised if they were visible when the scene was last saved. Disabling this keeps them hidden until raised via RenderMan / Slim / Show Palettes.
The default view (List or Icon) when using the Palette Editor. New palettes will open in this view, though you can always change the view for a particular palette.
Causes Slim to operate in auto collect mode. In this mode, Slim automatically collects all newly minted appearances within the appearance from which the appearance was created. Further, Slim only allows connections to be made to other appearances within the collection. Generally this mode is helpful to enforce clean separation between appearances. It should also help you keep your palettes "cleaner". The only thing you give up in this mode is the ability to share appearance connections across collections. When running in AutoCollect mode, you can still obtain this functionality by drag-dropping appearances onto connection points.
Causes Slim to operate in auto reparent mode. In this mode, Slim maintains a hierarchy where nodes collected under a parent appearance are exclusive to that appearance. If a node is connected to another appearance, it will be reparented at a level common to both clients. Most commonly, this will cause the node to be drawn out of a collection and into the top level of the palette.
Causes Slim to display hierarchical appearance info within the confines of a single Appearance Editor window. The additional controls allow you to manipulate nodes within the collection but can slow down the interface. Disable this feature to speed up Appearance Editor response time.
Controls the presentation of parameters in instances. By default, these parameters are arranged in a "Hierarchical" fashion that approximates the network. "Grouped" presents a simpler arrangement, with just one level of nesting, and "Flat" lists all parameters with no nesting at all.
Controls whether to display extra menus tailored for extension developers and experts.
These settings allow you to configure the appearance of preview (or "swatch") renders. These settings are spread across four subtabs.
RenderTo use Slim's internal prman renderer, set this to internal. To plug in your own renderer, place your rendering command here. You can use %f and %i, which will be replaced by the RIB filename and the Slim internal image name (respectively), e.g.:
prman %f
The resolution of the preview render. By default preview renders are 128 x 128 pixels. For a larger swatch, set to 256 x 256.
Default Shading Rate for preview renders
The settings for exposure parameters during preview renderings. Increasing gain causes rendered pictures to be brighter. Increasing gamma makes the darks lighter. These controls are like the brightness and contrast controls on your television and should be used carefully.
Use this option if you'd like to send the render to a display other than Slim. This option is disabled when using Slim's internal renderer.
ObjectDefault size of the preview object
Default shape of the preview object
Use this to select a custom RIB archive that will be used for the preview object. This option is disabled when using Slim's internal renderer.
LightsThis toggles the use of the three simple lights defined below.
The color and intensity of the key light for preview renderings. The key light is located behind, above, and to the right of the camera.
The color and intensity of the fill light for preview renderings. The fill light is located behind, below, and to the left of the camera.
The color and intensity of the ambient light for preview renderings.
Use this to define a custom RIB archive that will be used for lights. This option is disabled when using Slim's internal renderer.
EnvironmentToggles the use of an environment map-based light in preview renders. This environment performs an inexpensive approximation of diffuse and specular light for the purposes of previewing your shader.
Texture to use for the environment light in preview renders
Strength of the diffuse component of the environment map
Amount to blur the environment map for diffuse approximation
Strength of the specular component of the environment map
SceneUp Axis for preview renders
Texture to use for background plate in preview renders
Toggles the presence of a sphere that surrounds the scene. This may be useful when ray-tracing.
Texture map used on the surrounding sphere
Textures
TabThese settings apply to the rendering of textures only.
The resolution, in pixels, of the rendered image. Textures are always rendered square.
The renderer to employ to render the textures. The line above causes Alfred to distribute the rendering to up to six processors. Slim substitutes %f with the name of a RIB file in the expression. Another common choice would be render %f.
Flipbooks
Tab These settings apply to the rendering of flipbooks only.
The resolution of each frame in the flipbook, in pixels. Flipbook frames are always square.
The number of frames in a flipbook.
The first and last frames of your sequence. These are used by the
scripting subsystem to calculate the $pct variable. Specifically:
$pct = ($f - $firstframe) / ($lastframe - $firstframe).
The renderer to use for flipbook rendering. Choice are: internal, render and netrender.
Controls automatic reloading of templates. When a function is loaded and it is found to have a different number of parameters than its template, the template will automatically be reloaded. This can help prevent compile problems when developing templates.
Controls how much information is stored in a palette. Saving in "Full" mode means that all information related to parameters (descriptions, ranges, values) are always saved. Saving in "Minimal" mode means that only items changed by the user will be saved. Saving in Minimal mode results in a smaller palette file and allows changes to templates to more easily be propagated to appearances in palettes. This preference is consulted when creating a new palette. Once the palette is created, its save mode can be changed via the File menu of the Palette Editor.
Controls whether rendered icons are stored in palette files. Disable this control for smaller palette file size and quicker palette I/O.
Controls whether to automatically truncate files selected via the file picker to relative pathnames. The current workspace's searchpaths are used to peform the truncation.
Sets a number of
checkpoints for versioning any given palette. With the default setting of
"0," no checkpoints will be kept. Higher settings will save a
checkpointed versions of the palette to disk when a palette is saved, to the
maximum setting provided by this preference. The palette checkpoints will
conform to a numerated *.bk naming convention. Palettes may be reverted
via Slim's "Revert" command.
Enter the command to execute the shader compiler. Note that %f will be replaced with the shader source filename and the %I will be replaced with the standard Slim include directory.
Enter the command to execute a secondary shader compiler. A secondary compiler may be useful when developing shaders for use in hybrid rendering schemes. As with the primary compiler %f will be replaced with the shader source filename and the %I will be replaced with the standard Slim include directory.
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Pixar Animation Studios
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