RenderMan at SIGGRAPH 2014
Posted in: AnimationSun 10th Aug 2014 | News
Pixar Animation Studios is set to present its new RenderMan RIS rendering architecture at SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver. Scheduled for release in the fall of 2014, this landmark advancement in cinematic rendering features a state-of-the-art ray tracing engine with the fastest progressive re-rendering in the industry, delivering the most advanced and flexible solution for computing global illumination for VFX and animation. RenderMan will be available to commercial users for only $495 per license and to non-commercial users for free. RenderMan is currently in beta, with extensive testing underway in a wide variety of production environments, both large and small. Feedback about this generational shift in RenderMan is highly positive:
“The team at MPC has been working with the new RIS mode for a few months now and has been very impressed by the speed and level of customization it delivers,” said Damien Fagnou, Global Head of VFX Operations at MPC Film. “RIS represents a new phase in ray tracing for VFX and we are extremely happy with our plan to consolidate our rendering strategy around RenderMan including RenderMan for KATANA and RenderMan for Maya.”
“If you think you know RenderMan then think again. The brand new RIS mode offers blazing fast, photorealistic artist friendly workflows,” said Tom Painter, Director, Bigman. “I lit a heavy production scene with GI on my laptop and the RIS re-renderer smashed it!”
“The latest RenderMan brings a whole new era of rendering to VFX post production with its speed, flexibility and extensibility. Its new APIs are completely open and make is possible to extend the renderer like never before. We achieve results straight out of the box that are unobtainable in other renderers.” Said Marc Bannister, Head of Lighting and Rendering, Double Negative. “We have been working very closely with Pixar over the last 6 months and are consistently amazed by its performance and quality with our most complex production assets. With its new re-rendering capabilities we get completely interactive lighting and are actively building a pipeline around it.”
Pixar’s SIGGRAPH 2014 booth (#1033) in Vancouver features regular demonstrations of the RenderMan RIS architecture and features, illustrating its ease of use and flexibility, along with key partner presentations highlighting how RenderMan integrates into popular applications and workflows. The annual RenderMan Users Group meeting takes place on Wednesday August 13th at 6:30 pm in the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel, 1133 Hastings Street.
Availability
The new RenderMan will be released in the fall after SIGGRAPH 2014 and will be compatible with the following 64-bit operating systems: Mac OS 10.8 and 10.7, Windows 8, 7, and Vista, and Linux. Current customers are encouraged to contact RenderMan Sales to join in the beta program. Autodesk Maya compatibility is with versions 2013, 2013.5, 2014, and 2015. Pixar’s annual maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and free upgrades. For more information please contact rendermansales@pixar.com.
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