*Introduction.     -What is ALEPH?.     -Problem Setting.     -Facts and Details.     -Programming. *Specifications.     -The libaleph library.     -The libru library.     -Auxiliary Script.     -Utility Programs.     -Shaders and Textures.     -Distributed Rendering.     -Future Work. *Gallery.     -First Stage.     -Second Stage.     -Third Stage.     -Fourth Stage.

Facts and Details   ALEPH's core is a programming library that allows the definition of the geometry, properties, camera etc. of a scene. The interface for defining the scene is RenderMan, which allows realistic specification of environments. The ALEPH library follows C binding rules as specified by RenderMan. The library provides for the simulation of the illumination process by numeric resolution of the integral equation of radiance, making use of the Monte Carlo methods where necessary. This development tool is complemented by other modules, that among other things enable the following: Creation of images via descriptions of scenes saved in RIB format files (RenderMan Interface Bytestream, RenderMan's file format), thus avoiding programming RIB conversion of non-RIB format files, e.g. DXF, Irit, NFF, etc. Definition of complex geometries such as trees or mountains Visualisation and analysis of radiance values for a scene About ALEPh: seron@posta.unizar.es; magallon@ivo.cps.unizar.es