Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 7, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
According to Pixar, version 18.0 of RenderMan Pro Server sets new standards in rendering technology and anticipates upcoming requirements for visual effects and animation for feature films. The improvements in this release are intended primarily to affect the lighting workflow, including important features such as path tracing for accelerated re-rendering.
At the same time, this version is intended to offer a new level of lighting performance through geometric area lights, while improved subsurface scattering is intended to enable a more realistic simulation of human skin. Polygon meshes have also been substantially reworked, so that they should require significantly less memory.
In addition, Pixar is said to have substantially expanded the range of tools and made many bug fixes.
A complete list of the new features is available here.
RenderMan Pro Server 18.0 costs 2,000 dollars, while an upgrade from version 17.0 is available for 700 dollars.
