Pixar's RenderMan free

[Canoro Philipp]

Somebody pass me this tip, Pixar is giving away the software that it used to make Wall-E, Toy story, and other animations, maybe this software will be useful for mesh creators and animators.

heres the link to the story: http://gizmodo.com/you-can-grab-the-same-software-pixar-used-to-make-wall-1584470644?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[jordanit0]

Yeah I saw that a week ago I think I signed up to try it out.  Sadly this one is for non commercial use but will still be good to play around with.  

Though on a side note they have cut the price of the commercial use license.

[Canoro Philipp]

well, i hope it helps creators that like to do things as a hobby, maybe to practice their skills, or to do things that they are going to give as freebies.

[jordanit0]

Thats why im going to try it always good to learn how to use new stuff.  Though its not new but you know what I mean.    

[Madelaine McMasters]

Canoro, I don't think Renderman will be of much use to SL creators, as it's a back end renderer for things created elsewhere. Pixar uses Maya, Lightwave and the like for character/object creation, then they use internally created programs like Marionette for character animation and Gepetto for facial articulation.

SL Creators work at the front end of that process, creating objects and animating them. The resulting creations are then rendered in the viewer. Renderman is the only tool in the workflow that SL creators don't need.

[Canoro Philipp]

mmm... RenderMan is like the viewer, renderering the final scene?

if that's so.. i hope someone find it useful for something.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Canoro Philipp wrote:

mmm... RenderMan is like the viewer, renderering the final scene?

if that's so.. i hope someone find it useful for something.

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Yep, Renderman is nearly the last step in the workflow, and it's wonderful. I am glad to see Pixar release a version for free. It's certainly not the version they're using internally, but I'm sure it will inspire people to try their hands at creating little gems for us all to enjoy. And the best of the best will seek employment at Pixar, armed with some working knowledge of their craft and Pixar's tools.

This sounds like win/win to me!

Now, if they released free versions of Marionette and Gepetto, SL creators would have reason to wet their pants. And if Autodeck released a free version of Maya... oooh.

;-).

[Medhue Simoni]

Read the first comment in that link. He/she explains it fully. This would be something that I could use, as I'm doing quite a bit of rendering. That said, I'm a full blown Blender user now, and the rendering in Blender is quite good and gives me quite a bit of control. Much more control than I've ever seen in other programs. With more studios using Blender all the time, rendering options are guaranteed to improve. Heck, today, there is a huge industry for Render Farms, which almost all studios are using now.

The non commercial use is another HUGE negative. I seriously doubt people just render animation things for fun. 6 hours to render a few minutes of animation is not something I would suggest putting your computer thru, just for fun.

[Jake Koronikov]

Maybe the RenderMan texture (and various map) baking capabilities could be used when designing for SL. But, not commercially....