New versions of RenderMan Pro Server and Studio

Pixar today announced it has released both RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 and RenderMan Studio 4.0. The company says that Pro Server 17.0 includes object instancing, photon mapping enhancements and volume-rendering optimizations, while Studio 4.0 features include a new physically plausible shader library.

The full release follows:

Pixar Releases RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 and RenderMan Studio 4.0

EMERYVILLE, CA – (October 4th, 2012) Pixar Animation Studios today simultaneously released RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 and RenderMan Studio 4.0, extensively upgrading its Academy-Award®-winning rendering software renowned as the industry standard for the highest quality animation and photorealistic visual effects.

Amongst many powerful feature highlights, RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 includes significant performance gains including object instancing, photon mapping enhancements, and volume-rendering optimizations, all developed for the escalating visual demands of today’s feature films. RenderMan Studio 4.0 features include a new physically plausible shader library allowing Maya users to intuitively focus on the creation of photorealistic imagery, with an emphasis on artist-friendly out-of-the-box workflows. Both new releases are the result of an enormous collaborative effort combining the insight of the world’s premier visual effects studios with Pixar’s unparalleled rendering development expertise. Extensive beta testing has been unanimously positive:

“With its revamped photon mapping and volume rendering, RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 extends our shading framework across the board including awesome volumetrics. Coupled with true instancing, this release seriously extends our arsenal in its ability to handle incredibly complex scenes.” Said Philippe LePrince, Head of Lighting & Rendering at Double Negative, London.

“The new ray-tracing workflow in RenderMan Studio 4.0 helps us achieve photo-realistic results while decreasing setup time dramatically. The new physically plausible shading system makes RenderMan more artist friendly while maintaining the same deep level of customization we all love.” Said Leif Pedersen, Senior Computer Graphics Artist, Telefutura Network. “There are so many positive things to say about this release. I could go on for a while.

“We learned that object instancing was a key feature of RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 when we were starting a new project that we thought would be an excellent fit for this technique. We’ve worked closely with the responsive development team to achieve a level of visual quality and complexity that would have otherwise been impossible.” Said Daniel Heckenberg, Lead R&D Developer, Animal Logic. “Pixar’s RenderMan is an extraordinary (and growing) toolbox of rendering techniques that we can customize and extend at almost any point. We’re constantly advancing the limits of what we can realize.”

“The new physically plausible shaders are great! They’re easy to use and the results are incredible.” said Tom Painter, Director, Bigman. “For beginners it’s so much easier, but the coolest thing is RenderMan’s hybrid architecture that offers so many advanced workflows such as baking shadows into the static background, and allowing us to reuse expensive FX whenever we want. Pixar has really delivered with RenderMan Studio 4.0.”

Availability

RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 is $2,000 per license with volume discounts available for render farm purchases. RenderMan Studio 4.0 is $1,300 per license and compatible with Maya 2013 on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Upgrade pricing from RenderMan Studio 3.0 and the former RenderMan for Maya is available upon request. A student bundle consisting of both RenderMan Studio 4.0 and RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 is available for $200. Further details can be found on the new RenderMan website at https://renderman.pixar.com/. For direct assistance concerning sales, operating system compatibility, evaluation licenses, or any other questions about Pixar’s RenderMan, please contact [email protected].

About Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL•E,” “Up” and “Toy Story 3,” the Northern California studio has won 29 Academy Awards® and its films have grossed more than $7.7 billion at the worldwide box office to date. “Brave,” Pixar’s thirteenth feature, opened in theaters on June 22, 2012, and on December 19, 2012, the studio will release “Monsters, Inc.” in theaters for the first time in 3D.