Overview of the Features
Pixar's devkit, as of release 13.5 of prman, specifies nine API's that enable the development of a variety of plugins and executables that extend the capabilities of the RenderMan system. Cutter incorporates a number of features intended to ease the task of writing, developing, compiling and linking devkit DSOs and executables. In effect, Cutter implements a simple and easy to use devkit authoring environment. Cutter can assist users to develop the following devkit plugins and executables.
Shadeops,
RSL plugins,
Ri filters,
Procedural Primitives.
PointClouds,
Deep textures.
Feature 1 - Compilation and Linking
Cutter's most important feature is that devkit ".c" and ".cpp" files can be compiled and linked without the need for the user to write and maintain their own Makefiles (OSX and Linux) or Windows VS .bat files.
Feature 2 - Quick Access to Devkit Documentation
Pixar documentation can be
conveniently accessed via the keyboard shortcut alt+double click
(Linux and Windows) or apple+double click (OSX).
Figure 1 - Cutters internal browser
Cutters internal browser, figure 1, will search for the first instance of the text on which the keyboard shortcut was performed. The next instance of the word can be found using the return key. Alternatively, holding down the shift key with the keyboard shortcut will cause Cutter to display the web document in the users preferred external browser. This feature requires Pixar's documentation to be installed on the users computer.
Feature 3 - Opening Header Files
Header files can be conveniently opened by control+clicking in
the name of the #include file - figure 2. Cutter automatically
"expands" the selection to the boundaries of the file name - there is no need
for the user to manually select the full name of the header file.
Figure 2 - Popup menu for opening a header file
Feature 4 - Easy Setup
The preferences for the "Pixar Devkit" are shown in figure 3. The first path specifies
the path to the devkit directory in which the lib and
include directories that support devkit development are located - this
is a required path.
The "Other Directories & Files" paths specify the location and names of additional
libs and objs - those paths are optional.
Preferences (Rman->Docs->Pixar Specific) should also point to the index page of
the RenderMan Pro-Server documentation - figure 4.
