# Documentation/Options

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# [edit] Searchpath options

These options control the directories where the renderer searches for external resources. The different directories can be separated by a `":"` character. The directories are searched in the order they are specified. Environment variables can be inserted by encapsulating them between `"%"` characters. The previous value of this item can be inserted by `"@"`.

    Option "searchpath" "string archive" ".:%PIXIEHOME%/models:%RIBS%"

Set the directory where the .rib files will be searched.

    Option "searchpath" "string procedural" ".:%PIXIEHOME%/lib:%PROCEDURALS%"

Sets the directory for the modules. A moldule is a dll/so file that the renderer needs. Examples include display drivers and dso shaders.

    Option "searchpath" "string display" ".:%PIXIEHOME%/lib:%DISPLAY%"

Sets the directory where the display drivers will be searched.

    Option "searchpath" "string texture" ".:%PIXIEHOME%/textures:%TEXTURES%"

Sets the directory where the textures will be searched.

    Option "searchpath" "string shader" ".:%PIXIEHOME%/shaders:%SHADERS%"

Sets the directory where the shaders will be searched.

    Option "searchpath" "string resource" ""

Sets the texture and shader directories at the same time.

# [edit] Limits option

These options control the renderer specific limits.

    Option "limits" "int gridsize" [512]

This number controls the maximum number of points to be shaded at a time. The bigger numbers decrease the rendering time but consume more memory.

    Option "limits" "int inheritattributes" [0]

If you want the instantiated objects to retain their attributes when they were defined, set this to 1.

    Option "limits" "int texturememory" [20000]

This controls the maximum texture amount to keep in the memory (through the texture/shadow/environment calls). This number is specified in kilobytes.

    Option "limits" "int brickmemory" [10000]

This controls the maximum 3D texture data amount to keep in the memory (thru the texture3d call). This number is specified in kilobytes.

`Option "limits" "int shadercache" [1000]` | Deprecated in 2.0.1

This controls the size of the memory allocated as shader cache. Bigger numbers decrease the rendering time in scenes with complicated shaders but increase the memory usage. This number is specified in kilobytes.

`Option "limits" "int geocachememory" [31457280]` | New in 2.0.1

This controls the maximum 3D texture data amount to keep in the memory (thru the texture3d call). This number is specified in kilobytes.

    Option "limits" "int bucketsize[2]" [32 32]

The image is rendered in buckets of this size. Bigger numbers decrease the rendering time but increase the memory usage.

    Option "limits" "int eyesplits" [10]

The maximum number of splits before we give up on a primitive that spans the image plane.

     Option "limits" "int metabuckets[2]" [5 5]

Controls the number of adjacent buckets which are dispatched to rendering servers in netrender or local paralell renders.

`Option "limits" "int numthreads" [2]` | New in 2.0.1

The number of threads to for paralell rendering.

`Option "limits" "int threadstride" [3]` | New in 2.2.2

The bucket stride to use when dispatching jobs to paralell threads.

`Option "limits" "color othreshold" [0.996 0.996 0.996]` | New in 2.0.3 (pending)

This controls the opacity at which a stack of transparent samples are considered to be fully opaque. When this happens, samples behind are culled. This represents a potentially large saving in terms of memory when rendering large numbers of overlapping transparent samples - for example hair.

# [edit] Hider options

Options in this category control the hider behavior. For compatibility purposes, you can pass these options directly to the renderer in the Hider command. (i.e., `Hider "hidden" "jitter" [1]`).

    Option "hider" "float jitter" [1]

This option controls the stochastic jittering amount for each sample. 0 means no jittering, 1 means jitter the size of a sample.

    Option "hider" "int falsecolor" [0]

For the raytracer hider, you can set this option to 1 to generate an image of the computation time used for each pixel. The whiter a pixel is, more samples for that pixel is computed.

    Option "hider" "int emit" [0]

This number specifies the number of photons to cast for each light source.

    Option "hider" "string depthfilter" ["midpoint"]

For the stochastic (hidden) hider, this option sets the depth filter for computing the regular shadow maps. "min" records the closest, "max" records the farthest, "average" records the average depth and finally "midpoint" sets the average depth of the closest two samples. Usually, you want to use "midpoint" (default) to generate bias - free shadow maps.

    Option "hider" "int samplespectrum" [0]

This option controls spectral sampling in the photon hider. When set to 1, the photon hider samples the specrtum of colors, and allows varying refractive indexes to be specified. (using the `iorrange` attribute). See Tutorials/Dispersion for more information.

`Option "hider" "int samplemotion" [1]` | New in 2.0.1

If samplemotion is 1 (the default), motion blur will be computed by the hider. By setting it to 0, the `dPdtime` variable will still be available, but no motion blurring will be performed.

# [edit] Trace options

These options control the raytracing behavior.

    Option "trace" "int maxdepth" [5]

This number gives the maximum raytracing recursion depth.

# [edit] Statistics Options

Options in this category control the renderer statistics.

    Option "statistics" "int endofframe" [0]

This option controls the renderer statstics output. 0 means don't print the statstics, 1 - memory / time stats, 2 - + renderer stats, 3 - + texture stats.

    Option "statstics" "string filelog" ""

The renderer will log the files that it has accessed during the rendering into this file.

# [edit] Ribgen Options

Set these options before `RiBegin()` to control the rib generation

    Option "rib" "compression" "none"

or

    Option "rib" "compression" "gzip"

This sets the rib generation to gzipped for smaller rib files which are directly readable by Pixie.

Retrieved from "http://www.george-graphics.co.uk/pixiewiki/Documentation/Options"

Category: Documentation

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