The Aqsis Team

Web Page: http://wiki.aqsis.org/dev/soc_2009

Mailing List: aqsis-development@lists.sourceforge.net

The Aqsis Team is responsible for producing a suite of tools for the purpose of photorealistic (non-realtime) rendering of 3D graphics. The tools adhere to the RenderMan® standard defined by Pixar Animation Studios, and as such are interoperable with a number of other tools that follow the same standard. The Aqsis Renderer project has been active for almost 8 years, during which time we have released stable versions of the tools, available from SourceForge, and have been actively developing new advanced features in keeping with the latest research in the field of 3D graphics. The Aqsis Renderer toolset has been used in film production, and by various academic institutions to facilitate the teaching of RenderMan® technology to students, an invaluable skill when applied to the VFX industry.

Projects

• native distributed rendering via network system and dedicated render server I propose an integrated distributed rendering system across a network to distribute and reassemble aqsis render jobs without the assistance of third party software. This system will allow acceleration of rendering and increase scalability.
• Optimization of Dicing Algorithm in the Aqsis Renderer As a Reyes renderer, Aqsis relies on dicing scene primitives into micropolygons which create all surface detail. While this method can produce rendered scenes of photographic quality with greater efficiency than previous raytracing methods, a robust dicer implementation must be flexible enough to efficiently dice any degenerate geometry presented to it. I propose to refactor the Aqsis dicing module with specific optimizations in mind, rewriting critical sections where necessary.