Welcome to pbrtMayaPy

This is a cross-platform exporter Plugin for Maya that renders your Autodesk Maya scenes using PBRT v2. PBRT is a Physically Based Rendering system that is described in a wonderful book by Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys: "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory To Implementation".

About

The purpose of this plugin is to allow the reader of "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory To Implementation" to work with the system described in the book using Autodesk Maya.

Therefore, pbrtMayaPy is written with three principles in mind:

• Completeness. Comprehensive coverage of most features of PBRT
• The user is technically-savvy. User is capable to enter PBRT commands, when neccecary.
• Simplicity. The system has a simple and modular design. New exporter features should be easy to add by anyone with Python knowledge.

This plugin is based on Python LuxMaya translation by Doug Hammond (https://bitbucket.org/luxrender/luxmaya) , in turn base on translation of the c++ luxmaya exporter, in turn based on original maya-pbrt c++ exporter by Mark Colbert (http://graphics.cs.ucf.edu/mayapbrt/index.php).

Features

• Render settings and Film options
  • Samplers
  • Filtering
  • Renderers
  • Integrators
  • Accelerators
• Cameras
  • Perspective
  • Environment
  • Orthographic
• Lights
  • Point
  • Spot
  • Distant
  • Area
  • Other types (using a text object)
• Geometric primitives
  • Polygons only
  • Implicit shapes (using a text object)
• Materials
  • Basic Maya materials
  • Full PBRT Shading graph is accessible using text material

Requirements

• Autodesk Maya for Windows, Mac or Linux.
• PBRT Open-Source renderer

Installation

1. Get the source by pressing "Download ZIP" on the right (or via git). Unzip to any folder, e.g.: $HOME/youMayaStuff/pbrtMayaPy/

2. Download and compile PBRT from http://pbrt.org/downloads.php

3. Set the following Environment variables (you can add the following to your Maya.env):

• MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH = $HOME/youMayaStuff/pbrtMayaPy/
• PBRT_SEARCHPATH = $HOME/youMayaStuff/pbrt-v2/Build/Products/Release/

4. Load the plugin in Maya using Plug-in Manager

5. Press "Export and Render" from the top menu or execute MEL: pbrt_export (python: cmds.pbrt_export)

Useful links

• http://pbrt.org/downloads.php