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If you are coming from another renderer where you have to set subdivision levels, forget about it: tesselation of surfaces is automatic in RenderMan (we call it dicing).
The main control is the micropolygon length.
- By default, it is expressed in pixels and a micropolygonlength of 1 (the default) means that every micropolygon will be approximately 1 pixel wide.
- If you don't want the tesselation to change dynamically, you can set it in object or world space or define a dicing camera.
| Tip |
|---|
| We recommend disabling "raster-oriented dicing", unless you see some artefacts. |
Model detailing
Often, it is better to rely on displacement and bump mapping to add details.
- Displacement allows you to add larger geometric features that impact your object's outline and shadowing.
- Displacement impacts time to first pixel but doesn't slow shading.
- Bump or normal maps will add small scale details, at a
- Bump mapping add small cost during shading.
If you have modeled a highly detailed object in ZBrush, you should consider retopologizing and extracting a displacement map.