RenderMan Pro Server Software

Pixar Animation Studios, today released version 13.0 of its Academy Award®-winning RenderMan Pro Server software. RenderMan is the recognized industry standard for CG feature animation and visual effects rendering, and was used in each of the last 30 movies nominated for a Visual Effects Oscar® by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. Relied upon by artists and technical directors worldwide, RenderMan is central to today’s CG film making process.

“Among renderers, RenderMan is without peer,” said Dan Lemmon, Digital FX Supervisor at Weta Studios. “It’s the cornerstone of our rendering pipeline. For reliability, flexibility, performance, and image-quality, no other software comes close.” Lemmon added, “Pixar's culture of innovation shines through each new version of RenderMan. I am constantly amazed by their ability to add extremely useful technology while still improving speed, stability, and flexibility. I can't imagine doing my job without RenderMan.”

RenderMan Pro Server 13.0 performance and feature innovations include a 3X speed-up in ray tracing shading calculations; higher quality fur and particles for less computation; improved statistics for shader profiling; brick maps as geometry; approximate occlusion and color bleeding; and, for the first time, multi-threading allowing RenderMan to process even more sophisticated scenes by maximizing CPU and memory availability. In addition a revamped plug-in interface, and a whole range of general systems optimizations offer dramatic reductions in memory usage including 4X in Langrangian filtered texture performance.

RenderMan Pro Server 13.0 is completely customizable and can create any look or effect imaginable. Though its high performance REYES architecture, powerful RenderMan Shading Language, and cinematic camera effects, artists can create completely stylized rendered worlds, or seamlessly integrate stunning synthetic effects with live-action footage in a manner that is completely convincing.

“RenderMan has the added benefit of constant development and refinement through use in our films,” said Ed Catmull, President of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. “Not only does RenderMan 13.0 embody the latest studio experience and rendering methodologies, but just as importantly, it delivers to deadline an astounding new level of visual sophistication and quality.”

Pricing and Availability
RenderMan Pro Server 13.0 is available for US $ 3,500 per license. Upgrade pricing from RenderMan Pro Server 12.5 is US $ 1,050, and RenderMan Pro Server 12.0 or earlier for US $ 1,750. In addition, Pixar’s maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and upgrades for an annual fee. For more information visit www.pixar.com

About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios combines creative and technical artistry to create original stories in the medium of computer animation. Pixar has created six of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards® and its six films have grossed more than $ 3.2 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The Northern California studio's next two film releases are Cars (June 9, 2006) and Ratatouille (summer 2007).