In the past, rendering systems used a range of different approaches, each compatible and able to handle certain kinds of images. However, the last few years have seen the development of practical techniques, which bring together many areas of research into stable, production ready rendering tools. Written by experienced graphics software developers, Production Rendering: Design and Implementation provides not only a complete framework of different topics including shading engines and compilers, but discusses also the techniques used to implement feature film quality rendering engines.

Key Topics

??A Rendering framework for managing a micro polygon-oriented graphics pipeline

??Problems presented by different types of geometry showing how different surface types can be made ready for shading

??Shading and how it fits into a rendering pipeline

??How to write a good shader compiler

??Ray tracing in a production renderer

??Incorporating global illumination into a renderer

??Gathering surface samples into a final image

??Tips and tricks in rendering

About the authors

Mark Elendt, Senior Mathematician, has been with Side Effects Software Inc, Canada for 11 years and has written at least 5 renderers over these years. He was chief architect for the Houdini renderers Mantra and VMantra. In 1997 he received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Rick LaMont, co-founder and CTO of Dot C Software, USA, currently acts as lead programmer of RenderDotC and Mai-Tai. He received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Technology Benefiting Mankind for his work on the WeyerhaeuserDesign Center (Foley and van Dam, Second Edition, color plate I.8).

Jacopo Pantaleoni, is currently a Developer for LightFlow Technologies, Italy, which he founded in 1999. His interests in mathematics, computer programming and, realistic rendering lead to the publication of Lightflow Rendering Tools. In 2000, he also began working with a team of beta testers, on a connection between his rendering software and MayaTM.

Scott Iverson, is the chief developer of the AIR renderer, and founder of Sitex Graphics Inc, USA

Paul Gregory, works for the Aqsis Team, UK. He is the originator, and lead developer of the open source renderer "Aqsis."

Matthew Bentham, is currently at ART VPS Ltd, UK. He is also the software developer responsible for compiler technology at ART VPS, creators of the RenderDrive rendering appliance.

Ian Stephenson, is a Senior Lecturer at the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), Bournemouth University, UK. Developer of the Angel rendering system, he is also the author of Essential RenderMan Fast.

Details the techniques used by experienced graphics software developers to implement feature film quality rendering engines.

Brings together all the skills needed to develop a rendering system.

RenderMan has long been associated with top-end film production and is an essential tool for creating many of the effects and images in recent animated films (such as Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles). RenderMan is widely available and, with the demand for higher quality images, is now used by computer-based artists at all levels of the graphics industry.

Intended to provide a straightforward and easy introduction to the basic techniques involved, this book provides an excellent grounding, enabling readers to confidently move to more advanced texts. This second edition includes a new chapter on global illumination, and, with plenty of illustrations and hands-on examples, Ian Stephenson: gives an overview of RenderMan, explains how scenes are described, illustrates (among other things) how to create surfaces; colour; lighting; shadows; and depth of field, using RIB and the C API, introduces the techniques involved in creating shaders, applying textures and using global illumination.

As a result of the Battle of Hastings the late Anglo-Saxon army has had a bad press. But it also had its victories in the campaigns of Scotland and Ireland. Examining its history, organisation, tactics and equipment, the author concludes that the army in the late Anglo-Saxon state was a part of the mainstream of military developments in this era.

Despite the popularity of the Punic Wars as a subject and of Hannibal as an individual, the Carthaginian army has remained an ignored topic. This book sets out to redress the balance. It brings together for the first time a range of evidence, which not only outlines the history of the Carthaginian army during the period of the Punic Wars but which also describes the organisation and equipment of the army. The evidence is also used to place Carthage's army in the context of the period and to address the question of how it matched up to other Hellenistic armies.

The period from the accession of Diocletian to the Islamic conquest was a tumultuous one: a period of catastrophic defeat (Adrianople and the fall of the Empire in the West), as well as a brilliant success (the Justinian reconquest and the final defeat of Sassanid Persia). The period is well studied in political and historian terms; however, the Imperial Roman Army, particularly its appearance and equipment, remains a neglected topic. As a result a number of misconceptions have arisen. This authoritative follow-up to the author's successful "Roman Infantry Equipment: The Later Empire" not only corrects these misconceptions, it also provides a comprehensive survey of the military material of the period. The equipment, both offensive and defensive, is considered not simply as artefacts in isolation, but rather as pieces of a whole. Form is considered in conjunction with the reasons being the development and adoption, as well as the usage, of the equipment. Finally, the book addresses the vexed question of what exactly was a shieldwall and how did it function, particularly in relation to enemy cavalry. Ian Stephenson has an M Litt in archaeology from the University of Newcastle and is widely published on the subject of Roman and Early Medieval warfare.