Pixar Releases Free version of RenderMan

The non-commercial version of RenderMan is fully functional without watermark or limitation.

Featuring Pixar’s new RIS technology, RenderMan delivers extremely fast global illumination and interactive shading and lighting for artists. Currently in use at many studios, RIS is fast, robust, and changing how movies are made. Today, exactly the same technology is available to all users of Non-Commercial RenderMan.

In conjunction with the release, Pixar has also launched a new RenderMan Community site where users can exchange knowledge and resources, showcase their own work, share assets such as shaders and scripts, and learn about RenderMan from tutorials created by the best in the community.

The latest release of RenderMan is a technological reinvention. It’s the result of focused research and development at both Pixar and Disney, and these advancements are now freely available to the visual effects and animation community through Non-Commercial RenderMan - said Dr Ed Catmull, President of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and also one of the founders of the original RenderMan architecture.

We’ve recently begun to see some final images for ‘Finding Dory.’ It’s our first feature using RenderMan’s RIS technology… and it’s just unbelievable, said Andrew Stanton, Director. 

Availability & Compatibility

RenderMan is compatible with the following 64-bit operating systems:

• Mac OS 10.9, 10.8 and 10.7,
• Windows 8 and 7
• Linux glibc 2.12 or higher and gcc 4.4.5 and higher.

RenderMan is compatible with versions 2013.5, 2014, and 2015 of Autodesk’s Maya, and with versions 1.5, 1.6, and 2.0 of The Foundry’s KATANA.

RenderMan is available commercially as individual licenses with volume discounts or through custom site licensing packages tailored for each customer. In addition, Pixar’s annual maintenance program provides access to ongoing support and free upgrades. For more information please visit www.pixar.com or contact [email protected].

• Non-commercial Renderman FAQ
• Download and installation
• Renderman tutorials