[News] Pixar Reveals Latest RenderMan Technology at SIGGRAPH 2006

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New products include RenderMan Studio 1.0, RenderMan for Maya 2.0, and RenderMan Artist Tools 7.0

EMERYVILLE, CA – (July 28th, 2006) Pixar Animation Studios today revealed the next stage in RenderMan development at the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference in Boston, where the studio will demonstrate the latest upcoming RenderMan products, including version 2.0 of its popular RenderMan for Maya plugin, the latest RenderMan Artist Tools 7.0, and the debut of its next generation successor: RenderMan Studio.

Available later in 2006, RenderMan Studio 1.0 combines the ease of use of RenderMan for Maya with the advanced capabilities of the existing RenderMan Artist Tools and can be used either standalone or as an interface to render farms using RenderMan Pro Server 13.0. Consisting of a Pro version of the RenderMan for Maya plugin with RIB output, plugin shader functions and procedural geometry support, together with the latest versions of Slim, “it”, and Alfred, along with an embedded RenderMan renderer built into Maya, RenderMan Studio is the most comprehensive and powerful rendering solution available anywhere.

At SIGGRAPH 2006 Pixar will demonstrate the latest version 7.0 of RenderMan Artist Tools including major feature and GUI upgrades to Slim, enhancements to “it” and support for Maya 8. As RenderMan Studio will ultimately replace RenderMan Artist Tools, all users on current maintenance will be offered the option of a free transition to RenderMan Studio at a time of their convenience.

Pixar will also reveal RenderMan for Maya 2.0, the latest version of Pixar’s acclaimed Maya rendering plugin bringing RenderMan’s peerless feature film quality to all Maya artists. Version 2.0 incorporates multiple enhancements including multi-threading, ray-tracing optimizations, and Maya 8 compatibility. In addition, from the first day of the SIGGRAPH 2006 tradeshow, all new purchasers of the current RenderMan for Maya 1.2 will be offered a free upgrade to version 2.0 when it is released later in 2006.

“Pixar is investing heavily in both the core RenderMan renderer and its supporting software for artists and TDs. RenderMan Studio in particular brings all our artist tools together in one comprehensive solution,” said Dana Batali, Development Director for RenderMan at Pixar Animation Studios. “RenderMan Studio also unifies the RenderMan product family by providing a natural upgrade path from RenderMan for Maya.”

Relied on by artists and technical directors worldwide, RenderMan is the recognized industry standard for CG feature animation and visual effects rendering and has been used in each of the last 30 movies nominated for a Visual Effects Oscar® by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

SIGGRAPH 2006 attendees are invited to visit the Pixar booth (#811) to see the latest developments in cinematic rendering technology and to meet with RenderMan sales and development personnel. For more details on RenderMan products and Pixar Animation Studios please visit www.pixar.com

About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios combines creative and technical artistry to create original stories in the medium of computer animation. Pixar has created seven of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards® and its seven films have grossed more than $3.4 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The Northern California studio's next film release is Ratatouille (Summer 2007).