RenderMan by Pixar

RenderMan Interface Specification, or RISpec in short, is an API developed by Pixar Animation Studios to describe three dimensional scenes and turn them into digital photorealistic images. It includes the RenderMan Shading Language.

As Pixar's technical specification for a standard communications protocol (or interface) between modeling programs and rendering programs capable of producing photorealistic-quality images, RISpec is a similar concept to PostScript but for describing 3D scenes rather than 2D page layouts. Thus, modelling programs which understand the RenderMan Interface protocol can send data to rendering software which implements the RenderMan Interface, without caring what rendering algorithms are utilized by the latter. The interface was first published in 1988 and was designed to be sufficiently future proof to encompass advances in technology for a significant number of years.

Built from the ground up as an entirely new product, RenderMan for Maya brings RenderMan's speed, power, and stability directly to Maya users, without the added cost and complexities of our premium, high-end products, RenderMan Pro Server and the RenderMan Artist Tools. If you've been looking for an affordable, easy way to get RenderMan, your wait is over.

MTOR provides a seamless interface between Maya and Pixar’s RenderMan. MTOR automatically translates a wealth of data from Maya, including Maya’s subdivision surfaces. MTOR, however, is much more than a simple file format converter, offering many advanced features for the management of complex scenes to allow a high degree of scalability. Automatic RIB archiving, conditional shader attachment and enhanced scriptability are among these cutting-edge features. MTOR is the backbone of the RenderMan Artist Tools, providing a clean interface with uncompromised extensibility.

Slim is a powerful shader management tool developed to meet the demands of sophisticated productions. Through scripting, Slim’s support for Maya attributes, and its general extensibility, Slim is a capable tool that provides automated and customized solutions for shading workflow. Slim also functions as a shader generator, allowing RenderMan shaders to be generated interactively, without programming. With Slim it is possible to generate a wide range of the highest quality procedural shaders. Slim, as a combined shader generation and management system, plays a key role in the RenderMan Artist Tools.
A Hilarious RenderMan Animation - Alien Sings 'I Will Survive'

The History of 3G

3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation technology. It is used in the context of mobile phone standards. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer simultaneously both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging). In marketing 3G services, video telephony has often been used as the killer application for 3G.

Worldwide roll-out of 3G networks was delayed in some countries by the enormous costs of additional spectrum licensing fees. In many parts of the world 3G networks do not use the same radio frequencies as 2G, requiring mobile operators to build entirely new networks and license entirely new frequencies; a notable exception is the United States where carriers operate 3G service in the same frequencies as other services. The license fees in some European countries were particularly high, bolstered by initial excitement over 3G's potential. Other delays were as a result of the expenses related to upgrading equipment for the new systems.

Japan and South Korea were relatively quick to adopt 3G, because their governments prioritize technological infrastructure development, and spectrum licensing fees are minimal.

The first country which introduced 3G on a large commercial scale was Japan. In 2005, about 40% of subscribers used 3G networks only, with 2G being on the way out in Japan. It was expected that during 2006 the transition from 2G to 3G would be largely completed in Japan, and upgrades to the next 3.5G stage with 3 Mbit/s data rates were underway.

The successful 3G introduction in Japan showed that video telephony was not the killer application for 3G networks after all. The real-life usage of video telephony on 3G networks was found to be a small fraction of all services. On the other hand, downloading of music found strong acceptance by customers. Music download services in Japan were pioneered by KDDI with the EZchakuuta and Chaku Uta Full services.

Technically, 3G networks are not IEEE 802.11 networks. IEEE 802.11 networks are short range, primarily internet access networks, while 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony.

Advantages and disadvantages of having a Mac

The Macintosh does not differ much anymore in any way from other x86 personal computers, especially those that run the Windows operating system. For Macs, both the hardware and bundled software, including the operating system, are put together by Apple Computer, whereas Microsoft supplies their software to original equipment manufacturers, including Dell, HP/Compaq, and Lenovo, who make the hardware using a wider range of components. This less-common operating system means that a much smaller range of third-party software is available, although suitable applications, such as Microsoft Office, are available in most areas. The design of the Macintosh operating system has contributed to the near-absence of the types of malware and spyware that plague Microsoft Windows users. This is also due to the small user base, which deters the attention of malware designers. However, a virus as well as a potential vulnerability was noted in February 2006, which led some industry analysts and anti-virus companies to issue warnings that Apple's Mac OS X is not immune to viruses.

Apple has a history of innovation and making bold changes that is met by a strong uptake of software upgrades. The Classic application allowed users to run “old” (Mac OS 9) applications on Mac OS X computers, though without the advantages of a native Mac OS X application. The Apple Intel transition started in 2006 does not support Classic on new Intel Macs, and purchasers of these computers who are still using Classic applications have to either replace, upgrade this software, or run it in a PowerPC emulator such as SheepShaver. The transition involved the recompilation of most Mac OS X software to maximize performance; in the interim, unmodified Mac OS X applications can run on the Intel chip under the emulation software “Rosetta.” Applications do not run as fast under Rosetta as a normal application. Many analysts have stated that certain high-profile programs, such as those from Adobe Systems, should not be used under Rosetta until native versions are released. [verification needed] This has not stopped other analysts from fully recommending Apple computers, as can be seen in reviews for the recent MacBook.

Early in its history, up until the PCI-based Power Macs, Macintosh hardware was notoriously closed. Connectors were often proprietary, requiring specialized peripherals or adapter cable. However, since the introduction of the original iMac in 1997, Apple computers have used standard USB and FireWire connections, which allow users a greatly expanded choice of peripherals.

Originally, the hardware architecture was so closely tied to the Mac OS that it was impossible to boot an alternative operating system; the most common workaround, used even by Apple for its A/UX Unix implementation, was to boot into Mac OS and then to hand over control to a program that took over the system and acted as a boot loader. This technique is not necessary on Open Firmware-based PCI Macs, though it was formerly used for convenience on many Old World ROM systems due to bugs in the firmware implementation. Modern Mac hardware boots directly from Open Firmware or EFI, and is not limited to the Mac OS. In 2006 Apple introduced Boot Camp, which allows owners of Intel-based Macs to install and boot Windows, without the use of emulation software.

The Mac Operating System

The Macintosh operating system was originally known as the System Software or more simply System. With the release of System 7.6, the official name became Mac OS. From 2001, the “classic” Mac OS was phased out in favor of the new BSD Unix-based Mac OS X. Apple had offered another UNIX system, A/UX, for its Macintosh servers earlier, but without much success. The Mac OS operating system is widely considered one of the main selling points of the Macintosh platform, and Apple heavily touts its releases with large release-day special events. Apple has generally chosen to stick with some loose user-interface elements in all of its releases, and many similarities can be seen between the legacy Mac OS 9 and the modern Mac OS X.

Mac OS was the first widely used operating system with a graphical interface. No versions of the “classic” Mac OS featured a command line interface. It was originally a single-tasking OS with limited background execution ability, but optional co-operative multitasking was introduced in System Software 5. The next major upgrade was System 7 in 1991, which featured a new full-color design, built-in multitasking, AppleScript, and more user configuration options. Mac OS continued to evolve up to version 9.2.2, but its dated architecture—though retrofited a few times (for example, as part of the PowerPC port, a nanokernel was added and later in Mac OS 8.6 was modified to support Multiprocessing Services—made a replacement necessary.

In March 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, a modern and more secure Unix-based successor, using Darwin, XNU, and Mach as foundations. Mac OS X is directly derived from NeXTSTEP, the operating system developed by Steve Jobs’ company NeXT before Apple bought it. Older Mac OS programs can still run under Mac OS X in a special virtual machine called Classic, but this is only possible using Apple software on Macintoshes using PowerPC processors; Macintoshes using Intel processors need third party software to run older code. A program similar to Classic called “Rosetta” will allow PowerPC programs to run on Intel machines. Mac OS X remains the most common UNIX-based desktop operating system, and even though Mac OS X was never originally certified as a UNIX implementation by The Open Group, Apple is currently working on full UNIX compliance and certification for its next server release. Mac OS X is currently at version 10.4 (released on April 29, 2005), code-named Tiger. The next version, Mac OS X v10.5, code-named Leopard, is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2007.

Non-Apple operating systems for today’s Macintoshes include Linux, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. With the release of Intel-based Macintosh computers, the potential to natively run Windows-based operating systems on Apple hardware without the need for emulation software such as Virtual PC was introduced. In March of 2006, a group of hackers announced that they were able to run Windows XP on an Intel based Mac. The group has released their software as open source and has posted it for download on their website. On April 5, 2006 Apple announced the public beta availability of their own Boot Camp software which will allow owners of Intel-based Macs to install Windows XP on their machines. Boot Camp will be a standard feature in Leopard.

Designing and constructing an aircraft

Small aircraft can be designed and constructed by amateurs as homebuilts. Other aviators with less knowledge make their aircraft using pre-manufactured kits, assembling the parts into a complete aircraft.
Most aircraft are constructed by companies with the objective of producing them in quantity for customers. The design and planning process, including safety tests, can last up to four years for small turboprops, and up to 12 years for aircraft with the capacity of the A380.

During this process, the objectives and design specifications of the aircraft are established. First the construction company uses drawings and equations, simulations, wind tunnel tests and experience to predict the behavior of the aircraft. Computers are used by companies to draw, plan and do initial simulations of the aircraft. Small models and mockups of all or certain parts of the aircraft are then tested in wind tunnels to verify the aerodynamics of the aircraft.

When the design has passed through these processes, the company constructs a limited number of these aircraft for testing on the ground. Representatives from an aviation governing agency often make a first flight. The flight tests continue until the aircraft has fulfilled all the requirements. Then, the governing public agency of aviation of the country authorizes the company to begin production of the aircraft.

In the United States, this agency is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the European Union, Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA). In Canada, the public agency in charge and authorizing the mass production of aircraft is Transport Canada.

In the case of the international sales of aircraft, a license from the public agency of aviation or transports of the country where the aircraft is also to be used is necessary. For example, aircraft from Airbus need to be certified by the FAA to be flown in the United States and vice versa, aircraft of Boeing need to be approved by the JAA to be flown in the European Union.

Quieter aircraft are becoming more and more needed due to the increase in air traffic, particularly over urban areas, as noise pollution is a major concern. MIT and Cambridge University have been designing delta-wing aircraft that are 25 times more silent (63dB) than current craft and can be used for military and commercial purposes. The project is called the Silent Aircraft Initiative, but production models will not be available until around 2030.

History first flight attempts

Sir George Cayley, the inventor of the science of aerodynamics, was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as early as 1803, and he built a successful passenger-carrying glider in 1853. In 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider "L'Albatros artificiel" pulled by a horse on a beach. On 28 August 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a glider. Other aviators who had made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher and Octave Chanute.

Self-powered aircraft were designed and constructed by Clément Ader. On October 9, 1890, Ader attempted to fly the Éole, which succeeded in taking off and flying a distance of approximately 50 meters before witnesses. In August 1892 the Avion II flew for a distance of 200 metres, and on October 14, 1897, Avion III flew a distance of more than 300 metres. Richard Pearse made a poorly documented uncontrolled flight on March 31, 1903 in Waitohi, New Zealand, and on August 28, 1903 in Hanover, the German Karl Jatho made his first flight.

The Wright Brothers are commonly credited with the invention of the aircraft, but like Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, theirs was rather the first sustainable and well documented attempt. They made their first successful test flights on December 17, 1903 and by 1905 Flyer III was capable of fully controllable, stable flight for substantial periods. Strictly speaking, the Flyer's wings were not completely fixed, as it depended for stability on a flexing mechanism named wing warping. This was later superseded by the development of ailerons, devices which performed a similar function but were attached to an otherwise rigid wing. This was the first manned flight.

Alberto Santos-Dumont a Brazilian living in France, built the first practical dirigible balloons from the end of the nineteenth century. In 1906 he flew the first fixed wing aircraft in Europe, the 14-bis, which was of his own design. It was the first aircraft to take off, fly and land without the use of catapults, high winds, or other external assistance. A later design of his, the Demoiselle, introduced ailerons and brought all around pilot control during a flight. Santos-Dumont is put forward as the true inventor of the aircraft, but owing to the competing claims, the concept of the invention of the first flying machine has substantial ambiguity.

Wars in Europe, in particular World War I, served as initial tests for the use of the aircraft as a weapon. First seen by generals and commanders as a "toy", the aircraft proved to be a machine of war capable of causing casualties to the enemy. In the first world war, the fighter "aces" appeared, of which the greatest was the German Manfred von Richthofen, commonly called the Red Baron. On the side of the allies, the ace with the highest number of downed aircraft was René Fonck, of France.
After the First World War, aircraft technology continued to develop. Alcock and Brown crossed the Atlantic non-stop for the first time in 1919, a feat first performed solo by Charles Lindbergh in 1927. The first commercial flights took place between the United States and Canada in 1919. The turbine or the jet engine was in development in the 1930s; military jet aircraft began operating in the 1940s.

Aircraft played a primary role in the Second World War, having a presence in all the major battles of the war, especially in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battles of the Pacific and D-Day, as well as the Battle of Britain. They were also an essential part of several of the military strategies of the period, such as the German Blitzkrieg or the American and Japanese Aircraft carriers.

In October 1947, Chuck Yeager, in the Bell X-1, was the first recorded person to exceed the speed of sound. However, some British Spitfire pilots claimed to have exceeded Mach 1 in a dive. The Boeing X-43 is an experimental scramjet with a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph.

Aircraft in a civil military role continued to feed and supply Berlin in 1948, when access to railroads and roads to the city, completely surrounded by Eastern Germany, were blocked, by order of the Soviet Union.

The first commercial jet, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952. A few Boeing 707s, the first widely successful commercial jet, are still in service after nearly 50 years. The Boeing 727 was another widely used passenger aircraft, and the Boeing 747, was the biggest commercial aircraft in the world up until 2005, when it was surpassed by the Airbus A380.

The Timeline of Engineering

|---3,500,000 BC human origin
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|---300,000 BC evidence of counting using notches in animal bones
|---250,000 BC 250,000 oldest surviving wool tool
|---100,000 BC the Chinese invented kites that carried scouts on reconnaissance
|---40,000 BC hunters, gatherers settled in Greece
|---20,000 BC the bow and arrow is developed by the Cro-Magnon people
| start of the Ice Age
|---10,000 BC end of the last Ice Age
|---8,000 BC domestication of the animals
|---7,000 BC agiculture starts in the americas
|---4,000 BC wheels is used on the carts
|---3,500 BC the Potter’s wheel is used
|---3,100 BC the rice is domesticated in the region near the Yangtze River
|---3,000 BC dams are used
|---2,900 BC the Bronze age starts in Greece
|---2,800 BC the plywood is invented in Egypt
|---2,000 BC the spoke wheel is used for the first time
|---1,800 BC the lever is used
|---1,500 BC the Phoenicians develop the alphabet
|---700 BC the Invention of the Aqueduct
|---500 BC the Pythagoras develop the use of geometry
|---476 BC the Roman empire fell
|---400 BC the water wheel is made
|---387 BC a academy is started in Athens
|---350 BC the Chinese developed the printing press
|---332 BC the City of Alexandria in Egypt
|---200 BC the lever is first used
|---50 Vitruvis writes ten volumes compendium of Roman engineering
|---105 invention of paper
|---400 the windmill is first used in China
|---1450 the Chinese developed the printing press
|---the printing press that uses movable metal type is invented by Johannes Gutenburg
|---1588 the first engineering handbook is written
|---1607 the first permanent English settlement was Jamestown
|---1622the slide rule is invented by William Oughtred
|---1662 theory of elasticity is developed by Robert Hooke
|---1687 the Newton law is written
|---1709 the first piano is built
|---1752 Benjamin Franklin found that lighting was a form of electricity
|---1769 the steam engine was built
|---1776 USA declared it independence
|---1783 Montgolfier brothers launched the first public balloon flight
|---1784 Elisabeth Thible was the first woman to make a balloon flight
|---1785 french aeronaut Jean-pierre flew on the first flight across the English channel
|---1793 the Cotton Gin was invented by Eli Whitney
|---1795 the metric system is adopted in france
|---1799 the first battery was built by Alessandro Volta
|---1804 Sir George Cayley built and flew the world’s first successful model glider
|---1807 the steam ship was built by Robert Fulton
|---1814 George Stephenson built the first steam locomotive
|---1827 Ohm’s law
|---1830 the first ever passenger train service began
|---1836 the first telegraph was used
|---1856 the process for making steel was developed
|---1876 the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell
|---1879 the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison
|---1884 the institute of electrical engineers was founded
|---1895 the X-ray is discovered
|---1896 Samuel P. Langley launched the first steam-powered model aircraft
|---1899 Wilbur Wright wrote the Smithsonian that said human flight was possible
|---1900 the wright brother flew their first of several gliders
|---1902 the air conditioning was invented
|---1903 the Wright brother completed the first powered, piloted controlled flight
|---1905 the Wright’s Flyer 3 became the world’s flight practical airplane
|---1907 Paul Cornu, a French inventor, flew the first helicopter, lasted 20 seconds
|---1909 the first flight across the English Channel By Louis Bleriot
|---1912 Harriet Quimby was first female pilot to fly across the English Channel
|---1924 the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line became the first scheduled airline service
|---1915 Albert Einstein published the General Theory of Relativity and NACA started
|---1919 the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
|---1920 the first Transcontinental mail service arrived in New York from San Francisco
|---1923 first nonstop coast-to-coast airplane was between New York and San Diego
|---1924 the first round-the-world flight was completed by Douglas world Cruiser
|---1926 the first flight across the North Pole by Richard E. Byrd
|---1927 first solo flight across the Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh
|---1928 the first nonstop crossing of the pascific
|---1929 first flight over the south pole
|---1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
|---1935 the first airway traffic control went into affect
|---1937 first jet engine was built
|---1939 the Radar was developed by the British
|---1940 the penicillin drug was make
|---1942 the worlds first operational Jet-powered fighter took to air
|---1944 V-2 rocket first used in combat
|---1945 B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
|---1947 United States Air Force was formed as a separate service
|---1949 this Boeing B-509 made the first nonstop around-the-world flight
|---1953 Mount Everest was climbed for the first time
|---1954 the U.S. Air Force Academy was created
|---1957 a jet flew around the world for the first time
|---1958 NASA was established
|---1961 Alan Shepard was the first American in space
|---1963 the X-15 aircraft set an altitude record of 67 miles
|---1968 Apollo 8 circumnavigated the Moon
|---1969 Apollo 11 landed on the Moon
|---1971 the worlds first space station
|---1973 NASA launched the Skylab orbital workshop into orbit
|---1977 apple computer releases the apple 2 computer
|---1981 the first Space Shuttel orbiter, flew into Earth orbit
|---1988 the human-powered aircraft flew around the world nonstop
|---1989 the B-2 stealth bomber made its first flight
|---1991 the first flight of the Yf23 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor occurred
|---1998 the first part of the International Space Station was assembled in orbit
|---2000 the international Space Station crew arrived in orbit
|---2002 Bell Digital Jukebox
|---2004 Apple I-Pod (40 GB)