Pixar has released RenderMan Pro Server 12.0 as a free download for registered RenderMan users. The package contains rendering tools for film and video production and can turn a server or desktop workstation into a render engine.
Version 12.0 removes the need for eyesplits and adds 3D baking, interior and exterior shaders, post-visibility atmosphere and interior shading, reduced ray-tracing bias, automatic continuation rays, and shader message-passing extensions.
Geometry and output changes include Loop subdivision surfaces, improved Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces, more memory-efficient polygon meshes, improved triangles, arbitrary output variables, OpenEXR support and varying-length arrays.
The release also provides improved midpoint depth filters, dicing-camera options and strategies, Ri filter plug-ins, NetRender configuration, and numerous smaller changes and bug fixes.
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