RenderMan Releases Version 25.0

Pixar has released the next major update to its VFX and animation production rendering engine, RenderMan 25.0.

Elemental © Disney/Pixar

Significant changes include the integration of Pixar's artificial intelligence-trained denoiser used in their own animation films, updates to the MaterialX Lama layered material system, and enhancements to the Stylized Looks toolset.

Pixar's hybrid CPU/GPU rendering engine, RenderMan XPU, received a significant update with the addition of volume and deformation motion blur support. It now offers a broader range of look development capabilities and all integration plugins for Blender, Houdini, Katana, and Maya have been updated.

New artificial intelligence-based denoising technology trained on VFX and animation datasets from ILM, Pixar, and Disney.

While RenderMan 25 may not be as significant an update as the milestone RenderMan 24 from 2021, it features the AI denoiser feature that has been used in every Pixar film since Toy Story 4.

Developed using production data from ILM, Pixar, and Walt Disney Animation Studios, this system has been adapted for both photorealistic VFX and stylized animation. It's also highly adept at preserving intricate details in shots.

According to Pixar, it excels in complex, detailed images such as those with a lot of hair and fur, or FX shots with intricate point-based effects, where "other denoisers might fail." You can read more about the news HERE.

You can download the non-commercial version HERE.