This tutorial is meant for newcomers to MantaRay and will walk you through setting up your first scene using the quick_render node provided in the MantaRay standard library. All files for this tutorial are included in the same folder as this readme.
You have one of two options for getting the MantaRay CLI (command line interface). You could either build it yourself by cloning the MantaRay repository and building the code using Visual Studio or you could download a prebuilt release version. For this tutorial we'll use the latter approach.
First navigate to "releases":
Select the most recent version and download the zipped version:
Inside this folder you will see the executable MantaRay CLI called mantaray_cli.exe.
MantaRay uses Piranha as its SDL (scene description language). To create a scene, we first need to create an empty Piranha script. To get syntax highlighting, a plugin for Visual Studio Code can be downloaded here.
Create a new file called getting_started.mr wherever you'd like to work on your computer.
Before we can use any of MantaRay's functionality we need to import it into our script. To do this, add the following line to the top of the file:
import "mantaray.mr"
The easiest way of getting geometry into MantaRay is through a .obj file. In this tutorial we'll use Blender which can export .obj files natively.
The Blender file shown below is available in the assets directory of this tutorial.
We are now ready to export the mesh to a .obj file. Some precautions must be taken at this step to ensure maximum compatibility with MantaRay.
Make sure that Triangulate Faces is checked as MantaRay does not currently support non-triangular meshes.
Now, export the geometry to the same location as getting_started.mr created in a previous step and call it simple_scene.obj.
At the bottom of our Piranha script add the following code:
quick_render(
object_file: "simple_scene.obj"
)
Run the MantaRay CLI by double clicking on the executable. Drag and drop getting_started.mr (or copy and paste the path name) into the command line interface.
After pressing enter, the renderer will begin compiling and executing the Piranha script. Render times will vary by system but shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
After rendering is complete, the results will be written to an image file in the same location as getting_started.mr. It will have the following format: 2019-08-20_T19_54_53_quick_render_S128.jpg
The final render will look something like this:
Congratulations, you've rendered your first scene with MantaRay! In upcoming tutorials you'll learn how to apply materials and use more advanced features of MantaRay.
Next tutorial: Basics of Materials