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Pixar unveils RenderMan 25, the latest update for their animation and VFX renderer.
RenderMan 25 features advanced denoising, more tools for stylization, increased integration with Pixar’s USD, as well as updates for XPU, Pixar’s next generation renderer.
RenderMan 25: next-gen denoising
RenderMan 25 features advanced denoising technology developped by Disney Research. It uses training data from Disney, ILM, and Pixar.
Pixar explains that this technology has been used, for example, on every Pixar movie since Toy Story 4. According to Pixar, “this denoiser excels at preserving fine details, like hair and scratches, which have traditionally been challenging for other denoisers”. Furthermore, this denoiser features increased performance which should reduce your render times.
Here is a video preview showcasing the capabilities of this new denoising technology. The video includes a short Lightyear sequence rendered with 4 then 64 samples per pixel, then various sequences including stadium and bamboo shots from Turning Red, rendered using 64 samples, without then with denoising.
We advise you to watch the video in full screen mode.
XPU gets new features
XPU, Pixar’s next generation renderer, now supports volumes, secondary passes (with full support for LPEs and arbitrary AOVs), trace groups. The texture cache has been improved for better support on GPUs when memory size is an issue and if the texture cache needs to do out-of-core texture lookups. Interactive performance has been prioritized and XPU should be more responsive when you move the camera or tweak shaders.
It should also be noted that XPU is now available in Non-Commercial RenderMan.
At this stage, XPU is ready to be used for look development, lighting as well as interactive vizualization. RIS remains the renderer of choice when rendering final images, but in time XPU will take its place.
Stylized rendering
The stylized looks toolset has been updated with line distort (this will help you create a more hand-drawn appearance), overhauled Toon shading system including Toon Mask support, more hatching presets, a UI overhaul.
Other improvements
RenderMan 25 also features various improvements such as:
- MaterialX Lama: new technologies from ILM provide more physically accurate renders, a new iridescence material response.
- Global illumination light baking has been improved by up to x2, and more controls for controlling resolution have been added.
- RenderMan 25 supports the latest versions of most DCCS: Houdini, Katana, Maya & Solaris (support for the latest Blender to follow).
- New preset libraries are included for fur, hair, stylized rendering, skins. Pyrotechnic presets are also included with various fire and smoke presets developed in collaboration with VFX TD Hope Shroers.
For more information
Head over to the official website for more information as well as the release notes. We should also mention that our sister company Progiss is the official RenderMan reseller for France, which means you can find RenderMan 25 on the 3DVF.fr online store. You can also get in touch with them if you want to try RenderMan for yourself.
