Please read this entire document as well as the Installation Instructions before proceeding with an installation.
The Windows version of ShadeTree corresponds closely to the original UNIX version. Here are the main differences:
It is recommended by Elan that the license server not be installed on a machine that uses Dialup Networking or a has a dynamically assigned IP address. Please refer to the Licensing documentation for further information.
Reflecting its origin on the UNIX platform, ShadeTree NT does not support file or path names with embedded whitespace. The whitespace would cause problems when rendering or exporting shader files. In general, ShadeTree will warn you should you specify an illegal shader name or export file path.
The Windows platform uses the DOS-style backslash delimiter in paths, although UNIX-style forward slashes are acceptable in C code and Perl scripts. The use of backslash as a delimiter often creates problems because it is widely used as escape character as well. Use the UNIX-style forward slash if you specify a path in a ShadeTree defaults (.def) file. You must also use the forward slash in any paths you enter within string slider controls since the string value gets inserted into generated code. The browser that you can bring up from these sliders automatically substitutes forward slashes for backslashes when you pick a file.
You will see certain undesirable behaviors if you use the standard image viewer supplied with Mental Ray, imf_disp, to capture and display the output of ShadeTree renders while they are running. For example, you will not be able to start a new render without dismissing the last imf_disp window. Cinema Graphics provides its own viewer program which gets around these limitations. This viewer also features a grid background to help you discern which areas of the image have been rendered. Our image viewer is selected by default. You can still use imf_disp from ShadeTree by selecting it from the Viewer menu in the Render Options Editor.
The log window can hold a maximum of 64K characters of text. When this limit is reached old output is removed from the beginning of the log to make room for new output.
ShadeTree creates temporary files in the standard Windows temporary file directory unless you specify an alternative location through the optional STREE_TMPDIR variable. Normally any directories created within the temp directory are cleaned up automatically when the program exits.
ShadeTree NT remembers the layout of its windows across sessions using the Windows registry. If you need to blow away these settings for any reason, use the Windows REGEDIT utility to remove the registry entries under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Cinema Graphics". IMPORTANT: Do not edit the registry unless you are familiar with its purpose and role in the Windows O/S.
If you encounter errors in this document, please email [email protected] with the URL, and enclose an example of the erroneous text, and what you feel to be the corrections, if possible.
Copyright (c) 1996-1998 Cinema Graphics Inc. All Rights reserved.