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Pixar Gives Away Renderman Software

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Every time I go to SIGGRAPH, I always stop by the Pixar booth for a demo of their great Renderman software. It’s amazing and seeing it in action at the hands of skilled users doing the demo is always a treat. I’ve always wanted to buy it because it’s a great rendering app for visual effects and 3D, but sadly my meager, independent post-production budget has never been able to afford it, so I could learn it… until now. Pixar has just announced that it’s now free for non commercial use.

 

RenderMan going forwards will be the conduit through which applicable rendering technologies developed within Disney / Pixar research will be channeled into the public domain to establish a common platform for production, research and development, trials and experimentation, learning, and other applications … it is Pixar's belief that limitations on software access have become a brake on the development of the production industry, and that universal access and a set of common standards and practices can only stimulate greater growth and development. – Pixar’s Renderman FAQ page

Believing the that the current state-of-the-art for demoing software is an “unsatisfying” experience for proper evaluation, Disney has decided to just give a non commercial version of Renderman away for free.? “… existing trial and evaluation methods of providing access through watermarked or time-expiry licenses are unsatisfying,” the FAQ says. “The resources and technology now being invested in RenderMan are of superior quality… Providing RenderMan free for non-commercial usage represents the commitment of Disney/Pixar that RenderMan is the long-term film rendering standard.”

Renderman, has been developed by Pixar over the last 25 years, and has been the Oscar winning standard for VFX thanks to its exceptional strengths in, per the FAQ:

  • Photorealism: Pixar's RenderMan is capable of producing highly realistic images with a system of physically based shaders and lights.
  • Performance: Render the largest scenes with efficiency.
  • Quality: Create the highest quality images possible with features like advanced filtering and true 3D motion blur.
  • Control: The RenderMan Shading Language and Pixar's 3D data format (RIB) offer many opportunities to develop solutions for any type of creative challenge

And as long as filmmakers don’t use it to make a profit, they are free to learn the software and experiment with it. And users can also learn it for the creation of plug-ins and others tools as well. And once a filmmaker is at the stage that they are ready to make a for profit project, they can contact Pixar via email and register as a commercial user. And believe it or not, this is common with Disney. They gave away the smokeless mortar system they use for their nightly fireworks displays at their theme parks, to make the whole concept of fireworks displays safer. So moving an industry forward it right in their wheelhouse.

Disney/Pixar plans to release the non-commercial version of Renderman alongside version 19 at SIGGRAPH 2014 later this summer. Meanwhile, users can register to download it here.

Hat Tip – NFS

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