Installing RPS on Windows

Destination Folder

During the installation process, you will first be given a chance to select a root directory. By default, this directory is C:\Program Files\Pixar\. This will become the root directory for all of the software components listed above.

Licensing

After choosing a destination, you will be required to supply information about licensing. Pixar's software will run only with a valid license. Licenses are obtained from Pixar, and are keyed to a special machine designated as your license server. Pixar's software must be told which machine has been designated as the license server; you will be prompted for the Server Location and port number, you should enter the name of this machine and the port number here.

If you change the license server after the install, you will need to change the license configuration manually - see: License Configuration.

If you have not installed a license server, and are currently running the installer on the machine that you intend to be the license server, you should install PixarLicense-8.0-windowsVista_x86-64.msi before attemping to use RenderMan Pro Server.

Command Line Installs

You can also install RenderMan Pro Server without bringing up the installer GUI. The license server address and the port number can optionally be set from the command line by specifying the LICENSE_SERVER_NAME and LICENSE_SERVER_PORT properties in the standard Window Installer fashion (see the Windows Installer documentation for details).

As an example, you can set the license server address and stop the automatic reboot from occurring using the following command line (assuming the .msi file is downloaded to the default location):

C:\> msiexec /qn /i C:\Users\you\Downloads\RenderManProServer-16.0-windowsVista_x86-64.msi LICENSE_SERVER_NAME=licenseserver /norestart

Omitting the /norestart will cause the machine to reboot immediately after after the installation is finished.

Network Rendering Options

Alfserver is now bundled as part of the Alfred package. The executable should still be installed into $RMANTREE/bin. Alfserver can still be configured to multiplex between several PRMan distributions. For more information see the separate Alfred documentation.

License Server

(PixarLicense-8.0-windowsVista_x86-64.msi)

If you have decided to install the license server locally, you will need a valid license file. Licenses are obtained from Pixar, and are keyed to a special machine designated as your license server. Please see: Licensing for more information on obtaining this license file.

Rebooting

After installation you will be asked to reboot. This is necessary. During the installation process, services will be created and registry and environment variable entries will be set up. The reboot is necessary for these services to properly come on line.

Python

If you plan to take advantage of the new Python binding you will need to download Python installer from www.python.org. The RenderMan Pro Server 16 binding is built against Python 2.5. Additionally, the Windows x64 release of Python 2.5.x does not come bundled with the required ctypes module. You may separately download the ctypes installer for Windows x64 from sourceforge.net. Download the "1.0.2-win64" installer package.

RenderMan Environment Variables

The RenderMan Installation Wizard will add or modify these environment variables:

RMANTREE

establishes the location of your prman distribution

The PATH environment variable is not set by the installer, however it is strongly recommended that you set this manually. Please refer to Setting Environment Variables Manually, below.

PATH

establishes the searchpath for the execution of programs. "%RMANTREE%\bin" should be in your path.

Configuring "it" for Image Display

You may also set an environment variable to enable the image tool "it" as your framebuffer when displaying renders from RenderMan. Note: "it" is installed as part of the RenderMan Studio product, and is not part of the RenderMan Pro Server installation.

RMANFB

set to it in order to use the image tool "it" as your framebuffer for image display

If you prefer not to set this environment variable, an alternate way of doing this is to set it in the rendermn.ini configuration file by setting /displaytype/framebuffer to it. Additionally the PATH environment variable must include the location of it.exe if you would like RenderMan Pro Server to automatically lauch "it". This location would normally be %RMSTREE%\bin.

We highly recommend that, rather than editing the rendermn.ini file in your installation directory ($RMANTREE/etc), you create a duplicate file containing your site-specific overrides and place it in a separate directory, referenced via an $RDIR environment variable.

Setting Environment Variables Manually

In certain cases you may need to enter environment variables manually, if you've bypassed the RenderMan Installation Wizard, for instance, or if you want to edit variables to switch between software versions. The environment variables are easily edited through the System Properties control panel:

License Configuration

In order to run, Pixar software applications need to know which machine on the network has been designated as the license server. This is configured via the file %RMANTREE%\etc\rendermn.ini. By default, the installers for Pixar licensed software will prompt you for the name of the license server and automatically edit this file for you by changing the appropriate /licenseserver entry, which looks something like this:

/licenseserver 9010@licenseserver

If you subsequently change license servers, you will need to either reinstall the software, or manually edit rendermn.ini yourself and update the /licenseserver entry.

Documentation

All of the documentation for Pixar's RenderMan software is available online, or can be downloaded and installed locally. This documentation can be viewed in any HTML browser, such as Firefox or Internet Explorer.