Look for RenderMan preferences in Maya's Preferences window.

Render

Threads

Rendering Threads

The number of threads to use for preview or IPR renders. A value of 0 indicates that all processors will be used. Negative values indicate all processors minus the specified number will be used. The default of -2 allows the user interface to remain responsive during continuous rendering.

Batch Threads

The number of threads to use for batch renders.

IPR Display

Render To

The display to use for IPR renders. Choose "It" or Render View.

Output AOVs

Write out AOVs/LPE during interactive sessions. This is off by default to improve performance.

Prune Invisible Nodes

During IPR we only prune templated nodes, allowing other objects to be interactively hidden/unhidden. However, to save translation time you can tell RfM to also prune hidden nodes during IPR.

Batch Render

Chose between LocalQueue and Tractor. There is a separate section below for Tractor queuing settings.

Spool To

Choose LocalQueue or Tractor

Spool Style

Render from Maya Batch immediately, or generate RIB files locally for distribution to farm nodes.

Frames Per Server

How many frames in a chunk/at a time in sequence on a remote server. The default is 5.

Checkpoint

Use checkpointing in a batch render, choosing the number of minutes or iterations before a checkpoint is written. You can control this option using the same syntax found in the Checkpointing Document under "How to Specify". You may specify anything from individual render increments to seconds, minutes, hours, and days. As well as specify an exit time after a checkpoint time or an exit alone without the checkpointing at a given time. The help text popup over the field provides examples, such as: 5m,1h says create a checkpoint every 5 minutes and exit at 1hour, writing the final result.

Launch Denoiser

If deselected, the denoise operation will not launch, you can run the denoiser tool after the image is written manually. Note the display driver in the render settings must be set for denoising.

Tractor

Remote queuing settings only apply to Tractor, for LocalQueue all settings are applied locally.

Start Paused

Send the job to Tractor but do not begin the job immediately. Requires manual or scripted start.

Priority

This affects how active jobs are assigned to remote servers. It doesn't affect position in the dispatcher queue.

Service

Additional service selectors for the job

Env Keys

Switch between preset configurations. The JSON pref called DefaultEnvKey specifies the default value seen here. Multiple keys can be specified and should be space separated.

These environment keys are recognized by LocalQueue and Tractor:

After

Begin job processing after this date and time. Novemebr 24th at 1:45pm would be example: 11/24 13:45

Crews

Specifies the list of crews to be used when determining remote server access.

Tier

See Scheduling Modes in Tractor

Projects

See Limits Configuration in Tractor

Comments

Additional job comments from the user

Metadata

Data added to the job for your pipeline processing.

When Done

A command that should be executed when the job is finished

Example: /usr/sbin/Mail -s 'Job done: %j' %u < %f (%j = job title, %t = task title, %u = user, %f = temporary status file)

When Error

A command that should be executed if the job had an error

Example: /usr/sbin/Mail -s 'Job error: %j' %u < %f (%j = job title, %t = task title, %u = user, %f = temporary status file)

When Always

A command that should be executed regardless of job error status

Example: /usr/sbin/Mail -s 'Job error: %j' %u < %f (%j = job title, %t = task title, %u = user, %f = temporary status file)

Texture Manager

Number of Processes

The number of parallel processes txmake uses to process texture files. The default is 2. We suggest leaving the default unless you have more than 8 physical cores available on your CPU configuration.

Fallback Texture Path

By default we write .tex files to the Images project directory. If this fails (it doesn't exist or there are permissions issues) use the specified folder here. Do not use spaces or diacritics in your path text.

Show Advanced Options

Show more options for .tex conversion

Texture Extensions

The recognized file type extensions for textures

User Interface

External Editors

Text Editor

Set the default editor for opening ASCII RIB files.

Node Editor

Enable Solo

Allows soloing selected nodes in the Node Editor as you would in the Hypershade by selecting  the solo button.

Channel Box

Attributes in Channel box

Toggle whether or not the channel box displays RenderMan controls.

Script Editor Widget

Font Size

Change the size of displayed fonts.

Font (Typeface)

Change the font used in the editor.

Tab Width

When pressing Tab, move this many spaces in the editor.

Viewport

Real Time

Default Lights Shading

Default mode for light creation, wireframe or shaded.

Texture File Extensions

The extensions used to identify the displayed texture files. We default to RenderMan compliant types.

Display R in lights

Toggle for displaying the R logo on RenderMan lights.

Lights Wire Color

The color of the lines used to display these objects in the Viewport

Light Filters Wire Color

The color of the lines used to display these objects in the Viewport

Max Texture Resolution

The maximum resolution of displayed textures in the Viewport. Higher resolutions will impact performance, especially if many are to be displayed. This does not affect IPR rendering to the Viewport.

Viewport Controls

Show the controls for rendering to VIewport 2.0 in the icon bar of the panel.

Playblast

Playblast Viewer Command

Select an executable and use # to denote frame numbers and padding to pass along.

Show Command Output

Print the command into the script editor.

RenderMan

Viewport Controls

Display the RenderMan control icons in the viewport panel.

Crop Window Color

Select your preferred color for drawing a crop window.

Max FPS

Limit the frame rate to avoid some issues with lag or phantom mouse.

Progress Bar in Viewport

A small bar will show frame progress at the bottom of the viewport and be disabled here.

Viewport Info String

You can display useful information in the viewport, you can choose this based on selections here using the tokens provided from the Workspace Render Tab. The default is the maximum amount based on space to fit the output

Preset Browser


Configuration File

Current File

This is a *.rac RenderMan Asset Configuration file formatted as a JSON file. It contains other library locations specified by the user or even other *.rac files

Libraries From File

This displays the loaded libraries from the above *.rac file

Save Current Configuration

Saves a *.rac RenderMan Asset Configuration file formatted as a JSON file containing the loaded library locations specified by the user

User Libraries

Add a Library

Add a new path to a library folder

Forget Selected Library

Remove a library from the choices

Render all HDRs

Render a daylight swatch along with the default cloudy swatch when exporting materials

Hide local Factory Library

Remove the default shipping library frome the browser choices

Workflow

Shading Nodes

Shading Engine Connection

Connect RenderMan nodes to the RenderMan plug (default) or Maya plug. Using the default RenderMan plug leaves Maya plugs unused and available for other in-Maya options (like Surface Shader and Displacement for example)

Default Maya Surface

When using the RenderMan plugs, create this type of Maya node to assigning by default. Typically Lambert.

Scene Versioning

Increment Version

Manually: User must select to save and increment the scene.

On Preview Render: Scene is automatically incremented each time it is preview rendered (not interactive renders)

On Batch Render: Scene is automatically incremented each time it is batch rendered

Increment Take

Manually: User must select to save a new take

On Preview Render: Scene take is incremented on a preview render (not interactive renders)

On Batch Render: Scene take is incremented on a batch render

Version Padding

The padding used to increment a scene, the default is 3 meaning versions will have three digits, example: 001

Take Padding

The padding used to increment the takes of a scene, the default is 2 meaning takes will have two digits, example: 01