🚀 go-pugleaf

OK, prman gurus out there:

I am trying to do reflections in surfaces (a nice, obvious sort of  
thing to want a renderer to do.)  I can make environment maps work, but  
they don't seem suitable for close-quarters reflections (the RM  
Companion even says so.)

So, the question is:  Does "trace()" do what it sounds like it should  
do (that is, actually trace rays), or does it only consider light  
sources?  The RM Companion implies that it is up to the renderer, a la  
illuminate().  So then, what does prman do?  illuminate() SEEMS to only  
consider light sources.  prman doesn't seem to be implement shaders  
using trace(), and thinks it wants only one argument anyway!?  What is  
going on here?

The results oriented question:  How can I get good, up close,  
convoluted reflections?

The knowledge oriented question:  What is the philosophy of prman in  
this regard?  For that matter, what is the definitive spec of the  
implementation of prman on the NeXT.  I can't afford Pixar's RenderMan  
toolkit.

Enough rambling.  Is there a renderman newsgroup?

-- Donovan Kolbly
   dkolbly@cs.utexas.edu