Pixar RenderMan (also known as RenderMan) is a photorealistic 3D rendering software produced by

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...

. Pixar uses RenderMan to render their in-house 3D animated movie productions and it is also available as a commercial product licensed to third parties. In 2015, a free non-commercial version of RenderMan became available.

Name

To speed up rendering, Pixar engineers performed experiments with parallel rendering computers using

Transputer The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. ...

chips inside a

Pixar Image Computer The Pixar Image Computer is a graphics computer originally developed by the Graphics Group, the computer division of Lucasfilm, which was later renamed Pixar. Aimed at commercial and scientific high-end visualization markets, such as medicine, ge ...

. The name comes from the nickname of a small circuit board (2.5 × 5 inches or 6.4 × 13 cm) containing one Transputer that engineer Jeff Mock could put in his pocket. During that time the

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Walkman is a brand of Personal stereo, portable audio players manufactured by Sony since 1979. It was originally introduced as a portable Compact Cassette, cassette player and later expanded to include a range of portable audio products. Since 2011, ...

was very popular and Jeff Mock called his portable board Renderman, leading to the software name.

Technology

RenderMan defines cameras, geometry, materials, and lights using the

RenderMan Interface Specification The RenderMan Interface Specification, or RISpec in short, is an open API developed by Pixar Animation Studios to describe three-dimensional scenes and turn them into digital photorealistic images. It includes the RenderMan Shading Language. A ...

. This specification facilitates communication between 3D modeling and animation applications and the render engine that generates the final high quality images. In the past RenderMan used the Reyes Rendering Architecture. The Renderman standard was first presented at 1993

SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference centered around computer graphics organized by ACM, starting in 1974 in Boulder, CO. The main conference has always been held in North ...

, developed with input from 19 companies and 6 or 7 big partners, with

Pat Hanrahan Patrick M. Hanrahan (born May 8, 1955) is an American computer graphics researcher, the Canon USA Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on render ...

taking a leading role.

Ed Catmull Edwin Earl Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist and animator who served as the co-founder of Pixar and the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, ...

said no software product met the RenderMan Standard in 1993. RenderMan met it after about two years. Additionally RenderMan supports

Open Shading Language Open Shading Language (OSL) is a shading language developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks, a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the ...

to define textural patterns. When Pixar started development,

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

described the original goal for RenderMan in 1991: During this time, Pixar used the

C language C (''pronounced'' '' – like the letter c'') is a general-purpose programming language. It was created in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie and remains very widely used and influential. By design, C's features cleanly reflect the capabilities o ...

for developing Renderman, which allowed them to port it to many platforms. Historically, RenderMan used the Reyes algorithm to render images with added support for advanced effects such as ray tracing and

global illumination Global illumination (GI), or indirect illumination, is a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics that are meant to add more realistic lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aest ...

. Support for Reyes rendering and the

RenderMan Shading Language Renderman Shading Language (abbreviated RSL) is a component of the RenderMan Interface Specification, and is used to define shaders. The language syntax is C-like. A shader written in RSL can be used without changes on any RenderMan-compliant rend ...

were removed from RenderMan in 2016. RenderMan currently uses

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

path tracing Path tracing is a rendering algorithm in computer graphics that Simulation, simulates how light interacts with Physical object, objects, voxels, and Volumetric_path_tracing, participating media to generate realistic (''physically plausible'') R ...

to generate images.

Awards

RenderMan has been used to create digital

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

for

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

blockbuster movies such as ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'', ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'', ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

'', '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...

'', ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...

'', ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

'', ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'', the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' prequels, and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

''. RenderMan has received four

Academy Scientific and Technical Award The Scientific and Technical Awards are three different Honorary Awards that are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) during the annual Academy Awards season. The Awards have been presented since the 4th Academy Awards ...

s. The first was in 1993 honoring

, Anthony A. Apodaca,

Loren Carpenter Loren C. Carpenter (born February 7, 1947) is a computer graphics researcher and developer. Biography He was a co-founder and chief scientist of Pixar Animation Studios. He is the inventor of the Reyes rendering algorithm and is one of the aut ...

, Rob Cook,

, Darwyn Peachey, and Tom Porter. The second was as part of the 73rd Scientific and Technical Academy Awards ceremony presentation on March 3, 2001: the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

' Board of Governors honored

and Rob Cook with an

Academy Award of Merit The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

"for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar’s RenderMan". The third was in 2010 honoring "Per Christensen, Christophe Hery, and Michael Bunnell for the development of point-based rendering for indirect illumination and ambient occlusion." The fourth was in 2011 honoring David Laur. It has also won the Gordon E. Sawyer Award in 2009 and The Coons Award. It is the first software product awarded an Oscar.''And the Oscar goes to...''
IEEE Spectrum, 2 April 2001.

Filmography

Feature films

*''

'' (1995) *''

Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...

'' (1998) *''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and the first sequel to Toy Story. It is the second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and was directed by J ...

'' (1999) *''

Chicken Run ''Chicken Run'' is a 2000 animated adventure comedy film directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park and written by Karey Kirkpatrick from an original story by Lord and Park. Produced by Pathé and Aardman Features in partnership with DreamWork ...

'' (2000) *''

Monsters Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'' (2001) *''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...

'' (2003) *''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

'' (2004) *'' Valiant'' (2005) *'' Chicken Little'' (2005) *''

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

'' (2006) *''

The Ant Bully ''The Ant Bully'' () is a 1999 children's book drawn and written by John Nickle. It is about a young boy named Lucas, who is the title character in the book and who likes to torment ants. It was later adapted into the 2006 animated film '' The ...

'' (2006) *''

Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ; ) is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables that originated in Nice and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include tomato, garlic ...

'' (2007) *''

Space Chimps ''Space Chimps'' is a 2008 animated comic science fiction film directed by Kirk DeMicco, who wrote the screenplay with Rob Moreland. It features the voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth ...

'' (2008) *''

WALL-E ''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American animated Romance film, romantic science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, produced b ...

'' (2008) *'' Up'' (2009) *''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 volumes by Akita Shoten. Da ...

'' (2009) *''

Toy Story 3 ''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The third installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' series, it was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor ...

'' (2010) *''

Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to '' Cars'' (2006), the second film in the ''Cars'' franchise, and the 12th animated film from the studio ...

'' (2011) *''

Brave Brave(s) or The Brave(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Brave, an adjective for one who possesses courage * Braves (Native Americans), a Euro-American stereotype for Native American warriors Film and television * ''Brave'' (1994 film), a concept ...

'' (2012) *''

Monsters University ''Monsters University'' is a 2013 American animated Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. A prequel to ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), it was directed by Dan Scanlon (in his fea ...

'' (2013) *''

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, the film stars the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will ...

'' (2014) *''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: * Backwards or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', espionage thriller by Barry Eisler * ...

'' (2015) *''

The Good Dinosaur ''The Good Dinosaur'' is a 2015 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream, from a screenplay written by Meg Le ...

'' (2015) *''

Finding Dory ''Finding Dory'' is a 2016 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Angus MacLane, produced by Lindsey Collins, and written b ...

'' (2016) *''

Cars 3 ''Cars 3'' is a 2017 American animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is a sequel to '' Cars 2'' (2011) and the third film in the ''Cars'' franchise. It was directed by Brian Fe ...

'' (2017) *''

Coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...

'' (2017) *''

Incredibles 2 ''Incredibles 2'' is a 2018 American animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is the sequel to '' The Incredibles'' (2004) and the second full-length instal ...

'' (2018) *''

Toy Story 4 ''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' (2010). It was dire ...

'' (2019) *'' Onward'' (2019) *''

Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

'' (2020) *''

Luca Luca or LUCA may refer to: People * Luca (masculine given name), including a list of people * Luca (feminine given name), including a list of people * Luca (surname), including a list of people Places * The ancient name of Lucca, an Etruscan ...

'' (2021) *''

Turning Red ''Turning Red'' is a 2022 American animated coming-of-age fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Domee Shi and produced by Lindsey Collins, from a screenplay written by S ...

'' (2022) *''

Lightyear A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by t ...

'' (2022) *''

Elemental An elemental is a mythic supernatural being that is described in occult and alchemy, alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsu ...

'' (2023) *''

The Garfield Movie ''The Garfield Movie'' is a 2024 American animated comedy film based on the comic strip ''Garfield'' created by Jim Davis. The film was directed by Mark Dindal from a screenplay by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds. It serves ...

'' (2024) *''

Inside Out 2 ''Inside Out 2'' is a 2024 American animated coming-of-age film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The sequel to '' Inside Out'' (2015), it was directed by Kelsey Mann and was produced by Mark Nielsen, from a screen ...

'' (2024) *'' Elio'' (2025)

Notable studios using RenderMan

North America

United States

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

* Disney Animation *

Laika Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...

Tippett Studio Tippett Studio is an American visual effects and computer animation company specializing in computer graphics (CG) for films and television commercials. The studio has created visual effects and animations on over fifty feature films and commerci ...

Canada

Bardel Entertainment Bardel Entertainment (formerly Bardel Animation, Bardel Entertainment Inc.) is a Canadian animation studio founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1987. The studio's name comes from its founders, Barry Ward and his wife Delna Bhesania. Bardel ...

Bron Studios Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) was a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. The company's notable productions included '' Joker'', '' Bombshell'', '' Queen & Slim'', ''Greyhound'', '' Judas and ...

* Mr. X * Spin VFX

South America

Brazil

* StartAnima

Europe

United Kingdom

DNEG The DNEG Group, or DNEG (formerly known as Double Negative and stylized as D N E G), is a British-Indian visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion studio that was founded in 1998 in London, and rebranded as DNEG in 2014 after ...

Locksmith Animation Locksmith Animation is a British-American independent computer animation feature film studio owned by Sister Group. Headquartered in London, England with an office in Los Angeles, California, Locksmith is best known for producing and developing ...

Moving Picture Company The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a British multinational company providing visual effects, CG, animation, motion design and other services for the film, TV, brand experience and advertising industries. Their artists have produced Academy ...

France

Mac Guff Mac Guff (also known as Mac Guff Ligne) is a French visual effects company based in Los Angeles, United States, Brussels, Belgium and Paris, France, where it is headquartered. Mac Guff specializes in the creation of computer graphics for commerci ...

* TeamTO * Zag Inc.

Germany

Rise FX Rise FX is a German visual effects company with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and London. Rise FX has worked on several films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like '' Avengers: Endgame'', '' Captain Marvel'', ''Ant-Man and the W ...

Trixter Trixter is an American glam metal band formed in 1983 in Paramus, New Jersey. The band gained popularity in the early 1990s with hits like "Give It To Me Good" that peaked at sixty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990 and "One In A Million". ...

Asia

China

Base FX Base FX is a visual effects and animation company with production studios in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Wuxi and Xiamen, and an office in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2006 and has completed more than 150 films. Base FX specializes in high- ...

Light Chaser Animation Studios Light Chaser Animation Studios ( zh, s=追光动画, hp=Zhuī Guāng Dònghuà) is a Chinese CG animation film studio based in Beijing, China. The studio was founded in early 2013 by Gary Wang, the founder and ex-CEO of the popular Chinese video ...

South Korea

* Dexter Studios

References

External links

* {{3D software 3D computer graphics software for Linux 3D graphics software IRIX software Pixar Proprietary commercial software for Linux Rendering systems RenderMan Custom software projects 3D rendering software for Linux

Name

Technology

Awards

Filmography

Feature films

Notable studios using RenderMan

North America

United States

Canada

South America

Brazil

Europe

United Kingdom

France

Germany

Asia

China

South Korea

See also

References

External links