Pixar’s Renderman Overhaul
This week at BAFTA’s Picadilly headquarters, Pixar unveiled the latest version of their leading CG Rendering software, Renderman 19.
Talkers at the event included London-based Renderman developer Philippe Leprince, who introduced the new versions ability to produce progressive renders of complex scenes almost in real-time, the ability to tweak colour, lighting and textures live, along with a new collection of camera projections including fisheye and rolling shutter effects for those trying to imitate cameras.
Also speaking was Rob Pieke, who gave a great little demonstration about the use of Renderman to create MC Escher-like optical illusions within the software.
Forever at the forefront of CG animation software and solutions, the usual slew of ground-breaking advances in rendering come as no surprise at this event, however the biggest surprise came in the form of availability and pricing.
Chris Ford, business Director of Renderman products announced big price reductions for the commercial software, at $495(about £296) per license, $200(about £120) for maintenance, and a $450 upgrade cost. This includes Maya and Katana plug-ins.
For non-commercial use however (I’m talking to you students and hobbyists), Renderman from here on is FREE to download from renderman.pixar.com, without need of approval. Right now, Renderman 18 is available for download and can be updated for version 19 when it is released around August at SIGGRAPH 2014.