RIB Fragments are used to store in files the geometry data produced right before every rendering. A RIB Fragment file contains the geometry of all objects in the fragment’s associated object set. Once the fragment file is written, subsequent renderings can simply assume that the objects in the fragment’s set have already been processed and skip several of the steps that occur before the actual image rendering begins.
RIB fragments aim to speed up multiple renderings and multi-frame renderings. When re- rendering multiple times the same frame, a single fragment will suffice. When rendering multiple frames, fragments work best when using distinct fragments for static and animated objects.
The RIB fragment files contain only geometric information about the objects. All other data, such as light linking, transformations, shading and attributes, are not stored in the fragment file. The RIB archive node is better suited when some (or all) of this extra data is needed in the file; see Section 3.11 [The RIB Archive Node], page 82.
If a scene object is set to be in several fragments, only the fragment closer to the top of the list will actually contain that object. In other words, if several fragments are used and only the last one’s "Object Set" is set to ‘<all visible objects>’, this last fragment will contain only the objects that none of the above fragments contain.
Figure 3.58: The RIB Fragments panel
Each fragment is shown in its own panel. To add a fragment, either click on the Add RIB Fragment button, or select "Add RIB Fragment" in the contextual popup menu that appears when right-clicking almost everywhere in the RIB Fragments panel. This menu also offers options to expand or collapse all display panels at once, and turn on or off all fragment’s "Use" or "Write" toggles. To remove a display, click on its Remove Display button, which appears as a trashcan.
At the top of the RIB Fragments panel are a few general controls, followed by a list of per- fragment panels. The general controls affect all RIB fragments, and are:
‘Binary Rib’
When this options is on, the RIB file will be saved in binary format, producing a smaller file. Turn this option off to produce a text RIB file, which is bigger but easier to edit. By default, this option is off.
‘Compressed Rib’
This option controls if the RIB file will be compressed, producing a smaller file. By default this option is off.
‘Write Mode’
This attribute controls when a fragment file is written. The available values are:
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