Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 22, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Pixar’s RenderMan Pro Server rendering software is said to be the same software the company uses for its own feature films and is regarded as the industry standard for high-end animation and photorealistic VFX effects. It is said to have already been used on "Ratatouille" and "Cars 2".
In version 17.0, RenderMan Pro Server is intended to bring significantly improved performance in the areas of object instancing, photon mapping and volume rendering. Features of RenderMan Studio 4.0 are said to include a new ShaderLibrary tailored to Maya and intended to accelerate the workflow significantly.
Pixar RenderMan Pro Server 17.0 is available for 2,000 dollars per licence; RenderMan Studio costs 1,300 dollars and is compatible with Maya 2013 on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
You can find more information here: http://renderman.pixar.com/view/Press_Release_RPS17_RMS4
