1. What is Non-Commercial RenderMan?
Pixar’s RenderMan is the premier professional rendering software used by talented creators and studios large and small, to generate the photorealistic visuals used in most visual effects and animated movies including all of Pixar’s films. Additional insight into what RenderMan does can be found here. Non-Commercial RenderMan is exactly the same RenderMan software used across the production industry, the only restriction is Non-Commercial use.
2. Why should I use RenderMan?
Unlike other solutions, RenderMan is the product of a working production studio that remains the paramount innovator in modern CG animation and visual effects rendering. Today there are more licenses of RenderMan, generating more photorealistic pixels for movies than any other rendering solution by far. In choosing to use RenderMan, you are benefitting from the same expertise and production proven technology used by Pixar and most major visual effects studios, along with the research resources of the entire Walt Disney organization. There is no other rendering solution that can compare in depth, flexibility, and capability.
3. Can RenderMan be used on its own to create animation?
No. RenderMan itself is not animation software and requires scene data from compatible CG modeling and animation authoring software or other external sources to generate photorealistic images. RenderMan is most commonly used with such well known software solutions as Autodesk’s Maya, Maxon’s Cinema4D, Side Effects Houdini, and The Foundry’s KATANA.
4. What skills do I need to use Non-Commercial RenderMan?
As professional rendering software at the leading edge of technical development, familiarity with general computer graphics modeling, animation, lighting, and rendering concepts is important to properly utilize RenderMan’s capabilities. If you are not familiar with the process of rendering images, we recommend becoming familiar with one of the supported CG authoring solutions listed above first.
5. Is Non-Commercial RenderMan restricted in any way?
No. Non-Commercial RenderMan is functionally identical to the commercial version used by creative artists the world over, offering free and complete access to its capabilities. There are no limitations except that Non-Commercial RenderMan is node-locked and does not have a floating network license. Upon installation and acceptance of the EULA, Non-Commercial RenderMan should only thereafter be used for non-commercial purposes.