RManNotes: RSL Emacs Mode

Introduction

An Emacs editing mode, "rsl-mode" (source), exists for RenderMan Shading Language source files which makes editing, compiling, and testing shaders more convenient.

RSL-Mode provides the following:

C-style formatting commands and macros based on the Emacs c-mode (which is convenient since RSL is very similar to C);
colored highlighting (using hilit19) of keywords, variable declarations, etc.;
commands to compile the shader within Emacs for either PRMan or BMRT;
commands to render a RIB file using either "render" (PRMan) or "rendrib" (BMRT) for quick testing of shaders;
and commands to load an AL file into the AL interpreter which can also be used for quick testing of shaders.

**RSL-Mode Keyboard Command Extensions**
Command	Description
`Ctrl-c Ctrl-c`	save & compile the shader in the current Emacs buffer for PRMan
`Ctrl-c Shift-C`	save & compile the shader in the current Emacs buffer for BMRT
`Ctrl-c Ctrl-r`	render the current RIB file using PRMan
`Ctrl-c Shift-R`	render the current RIB file using BMRT
`Ctrl-c Ctrl-s`	set the current RIB file filename (the default is "rman.rib")
`Ctrl-c Ctrl-i`	set the list of directories included by the -I flag in both PRMan's and BMRT's shader compiler. This is specified, at the prompt, as a LISP list of strings where each string corresponds to one directory name.
`Ctrl-c Ctrl-l`	load the most recently loaded AL file (via Emacs) back into the AL interpreter

Changing the Defaults

There are two global variables defined by rsl-mode which specify default settings. These variables can be defined in your own .emacs file or site files to specify new defaults.

rsl-mode-rib-file: A string corresponding to the default filename of the RIB file loaded by the rendering commands. The default is "rman.rib."
rsl-mode-inc-list: A list containing strings where each string is a directory included by the compile commands. The default is nil (i.e. no directories).

The values can also be changed interactively by the Ctrl-c Ctrl-s and Ctrl-c Ctrl-i keystrokes shown in the table above.

Examples:

(setq rsl-mode-rib-file "myrib.rib"): Changes the default RIB file to "myrib.rib."
(setq rsl-mod-inc-list (list "/usr/local/shaders" "~/shaders")): Specifies two directories which will be "included" using the -I flag with either shader compiler. (The tilde will be expanded to the user's home directory.)

The Ctrl-c Ctr-l keyboard command in rsl-mode attempts to load an AL file into the AL interpreter (Ox). The interpreter must be running of course. It determines the name of the AL file to load in the following manner:

If an AL file has been loaded into Ox using Emacs (al-mode), rsl-mode will attempt to load this file;
Otherwise, it attempts to load an AL file with the same name as the current buffer except that the ".sl" extension is replaced by ".al".

Here are example scripts, one version for PRMan and the other for BMRT, which render a bilinear path with the plastic shader and two light sources. These sample files can be copied and edited to use the shader and/or geometry that you're testing. They can also be further optimized for faster rendering.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

Steve May (smay@pixar.com)

Last Modified: 3/27/96

Contents:

Introduction

Changing the Defaults

Using AL & OX With RSL Mode