FAQ — RenderMan Studio

  1. What is the relationship between RenderMan® Studio and other Pixar products?
  2. What are the main components of RenderMan Studio?
  3. How much does RenderMan Studio cost?
  4. How does RenderMan Studio fit into my Maya pipeline?
  5. I already have some existing RenderMan Pro Server licenses. Do I need the optional Renderman Embedded Renderer to test and preview frames?
  6. How is RenderMan for Maya "Pro" different from the separately priced RenderMan for Maya?
  7. Is RenderMan for Maya compatible with RenderMan Studio?
  8. Is there an upgrade path from RenderMan for Maya to RenderMan studio?
  9. What is the difference between the RenderMan Embedded Renderer and RenderMan Pro Server?
  10. Can RenderMan Studio be used as a render farm renderer?
  11. What versions of Autodesk Maya does RenderMan Studio support?
  12. What support options are available for RenderMan Studio?
  13. Is RenderMan Studio available as either a floating or node-locked license?
  14. If Renderman Studio has a RenderMan Embedded Renderer license, how many threads and invocations (instances) can be run at any one time?
  15. When will RenderMan Studio 3.0 be released?

 

  1. What is the relationship between RenderMan Studio and other Pixar products?
    RenderMan Studio is a collection of independent software tools that together provides an advanced render pipeline that takes data from Maya (or other software applications) and sends it to a render farm using the RenderMan Pro Server renderer. RenderMan Studio also has the option of an Embedded RenderMan Renderer that enables you to render locally as a standalone workstation seat.
  2. What are the main components of RenderMan Studio?
    RenderMan Studio consists of the following software tools:
    " RenderMan for Maya "Pro", an integrated interface for Maya that is the "bridge" between Maya and RenderMan
    " Slim, an interactive graphical shader editor.
    " Alfred, a scriptable render farm management system.
    " "it", a powerful script based compositor.
    " RenderMan Embedded Renderer, (optional) an integrated "preview" renderer
  3. How much does RenderMan Studio cost?
    The standard RenderMan Studio costs $2,000 (US dollars) per license. There is an optional RenderMan Embedded Renderer for local rendering and preview that costs an additional $1,500, however you may not require this option if you already have RenderMan Pro Server licenses that you can use to render your test or final frames.
  4. How does RenderMan Studio fit into my Maya pipeline?
    RenderMan Studio can be used in one of two ways:
    A) The "standard" RenderMan Studio ($2,000) including a "pro" version of RenderMan for Maya as the interface to a remote render farm using RenderMan Pro Server. It does this by generating RIB files that are sent to Renderman Pro Server via the Alfred dispatcher that handles all the job scheduling. Renderman Studio also includes the Slim shader creator/editor that enables artists to set up custom shaders in a GUI, and the "it" image compositing tool.
    B) The "standard" RenderMan Studio as described above, ($2,000) plus an additional internal RenderMan Embedded Renderer ($1,500) for either render preview or final output. (Exactly the same way the renderer works within the standard RenderMan for Maya) For final rendering this is more integrated, but it is not as efficient or configurable as the batch RenderMan Pro Server as it has to run within the software limitations and memory footprint of Maya.
  5. I already have some existing RenderMan Pro Server licenses. Do I need the optional Renderman Embedded Renderer to test and preview frames?
    No, you can send RIB files to RenderMan Pro Server and easily render test frames. The main advantage of the Renderman Embedded Renderer is that it is more "Maya centric" and offers a more integrated preview capability.
  6. How is RenderMan for Maya "Pro" different from the separately priced RenderMan for Maya?
    ??RenderMan for Maya "Pro" is a more flexible and extensible version of the standard Renderman for Maya plug-in with a number of extra features. For example you can export RIB files to remote RenderMan Pro Server licenses and work with DSOs. Please look at the RenderMan for Maya FAQ for a full list of features.
  7. Is RenderMan for Maya compatible with RenderMan Studio?
    Everything created in RenderMan for Maya will render exactly the same way in RenderMan Studio. No additional setup or workflow is required.
  8. Is there an upgrade path from RenderMan for Maya to RenderMan studio?
    Yes, upgrading to RenderMan Studio is easy and straight forwards. Please check our pricelist or contact rendermansales@pixar.com for more information.
  9. What is the difference between the RenderMan Embedded Renderer and RenderMan Pro Server?
    For final rendering the RenderMan Embedded Renderer is more integrated from a user workflow perspective, (it is more "Maya centric") but it is not as efficient or configurable as RenderMan Pro Server as it has to run within the software limitations and memory footprint of Maya. Sending RIB files to a dedicated stand alone render farm running RenderMan Pro Server allows RenderMan to be customized for greater performance and flexibility.
  10. Can RenderMan Studio be used as a render farm renderer?
    Yes if you have the optional RenderMan Embedded Renderer. Though primarily engineered as an interactive workstation solution, RenderMan Studio with the RenderMan Embedded Renderer is usable on either artist workstations or in a remote render farm environment using Maya's "Batch Mode". Floating licenses enable you to move licenses from artist workstation to render nodes on demand.
  11. What versions of Autodesk Maya does RenderMan Studio support?
    The current Maya 2009, previous Maya 2008, and Maya 8.5 are all supported. When RenderMan Studio 3.0 is released we will also support the next version of Maya when announced by Autodesk. Maya 8.0 is not supported due to its very short lifespan in the market.
  12. What support options are available for RenderMan Studio?
    A full annual maintenance offering is available for RenderMan Studio including all upgrades and hotline technical support within the term of maintenance. There is also a dedicated online support forum and many of your questions may be answered on this forum by either the RenderMan support and development team or by other customers who have encountered similar issues.
  13. Is RenderMan Studio available as either a floating or node-locked license?
    Yes, RenderMan Studio is available as either node locked or floating license at no extra cost.
  14. If Renderman Studio has a RenderMan Embedded Renderer license, how many threads and invocations (instances) can be run at any one time?
    Currently RenderMan Studio v2.0 with the Renderman Embedded Renderer enables you to use 4 threads or 4 invocations for any one license. Following are some example run-time scenarios:
    • 1 batch render with 4 threads and no interactive session
    • 2 batch renders with 2 threads each and no interactive session
    • 4 batch renders with 1 thread each and no interactive session
    • 1 batch render with 2 threads and one interactive session with 2 threads.
      When RenderMan Studio v3.0 is released licensing will change to 1 invocation and unlimited threads.
  15. When will RenderMan Studio 3.0 be released?
    RenderMan Studio v3.0 is in active development. Please check this website when details of the final release date will be first announced.

 

If this FAQ does not completely answer your questions, please contact us directly at  RenderMan Sales

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