What is this?

   	This is terry, a Python binding for the RenderMan interface.
	Named after Terry Gilliam, of course.

Compiling and installing

	Terry now uses Makefile.pre.in from the Python 1.4 distribution.
	Follow the instructions at the beginning of that file. Note
	that Terry needs an ANSI C compiler, even though the rest of
	Python does not. For example, if you're on a HP system, you'll
	have to say something like "make CC=cc\ -Aa" to compile Terry.

	Terry works for me on Solaris and AIX 4, though building shared
	modules on AIX is still a bit adventurous.

Using
	
	The module is named "terry" to get a name with a reasonable
	chance of being unique. I suggest that you rename it to "ri"
	after importing it:
	
	    import terry
	    ri = terry

	Alternatively, you could use

	    ri = __import__("terry")

	All requests have their usual name, but all lower case (that
	seems to mix in better with other Python code). Most requests
	take the same parameters and the same parameter order as in
	the C binding. Ints and floats are passed as ints and floats
	(surprise!), strings and tokens are passed as strings, points
	and colours are passed as 3-tuples of floats (want to use
	spectral colour? You lose...). Arrays are passed as lists. 

        The token/value pair lists at the end of some requests can
        be passed either as dictionaries och using Pyhton's keyword
        arguments. I.e, the two following lines are equivalent:

            ri.projection("perspective", {"fov": 40})
            ri.projection("perspective", fov=40)

	The `polygon' request takes only one parameter, the dictionary.
	The number of points is computed from the length of the
	"P" argument.

	The `nupatch' request omits the `nu' and `nv' parameters;
	the number of control points is computed from the order
	of the patch and the number of elements in the knot
	vectors.

Known bugs

	The following requests are not implemented: GeneralPolygon, 
	PointsPolygons, PointsGeneralPolygons, Procedural, MotionBegin
	and TrimCurve.

Copyright

	This file is part of Terry, a Python binding for RenderMan.
	
	Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Ture Plsson.
	
	This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
	modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
	as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
	of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
	
	This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
	but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
	MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
	GNU General Public License for more details.
	
	You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
	along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
	Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
	
	The RenderMan (R) Interface Procedures and RIB Protocol are:
	    Copyright 1988, 1989, Pixar.  All rights reserved.
	RenderMan (R) is a registered trademark of Pixar.

Contact info

	Send bug reports, suggestions and whatnot to
	Ture Plsson <ture@lysator.liu.se>.

See also

	http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ture/terry.html
