For those who don’t know the tool: RenderMan from Pixar is a production renderer used across VFX and animation. It integrates with basically all DCC apps and USD pipelines.

Pixar has released RenderMan 27.2, the latest update to its production rendering system. According to the official documentation and release notes, the update focuses on improvements to USD workflows, XPU rendering, and core stability. RenderMan is developed by Pixar and is used in feature animation and VFX production. The 27.2 release follows the established 27 series architecture.

USD and Hydra workflow updates

RenderMan 27.2 continues to refine its USD centric rendering path. USD serves as the backbone for scene descriptions in many production pipelines, and RenderMan’s Hydra delegate enables interactive and final-frame rendering of USD stages within host applications. The update includes adjustments to how USD stages are translated and synchronised. Changes affect the evaluation and propagation of attributes from USD primitives into RenderMan’s internal scene representation. This includes refinements to light, material and geometry handling when rendering directly from USD.

Behaviour between Hydra-driven rendering and traditional scene translation paths has been aligned in several areas. Parameter evaluation and state updates have been corrected to reduce discrepancies between USD and non-USD workflows. OpenPBR support is extended within USD contexts. OpenPBR is an open material model designed for renderer-agnostic material definition. RenderMan 27.2 improves the mapping and interpretation of OpenPBR parameters, ensuring more consistent shading results when using USD-defined materials.

Light handling in USD scenes has been refined, including updates to parameter interpretation and light linking behaviour. Attribute inheritance and override cases have also been corrected in specific scenarios.

XPU feature coverage expands

RenderMan XPU, Pixar’s hybrid CPU GPU rendering architecture, receives additional feature support in 27.2. XPU is designed to distribute rendering workloads across CPU and GPU devices in a single render session. In earlier 27.x builds, some shading nodes and features were restricted to RIS, the CPU based renderer. The 27.2 update brings further parity between RIS and XPU.

Additional shading nodes and material features are now supported in XPU. Parameter handling and default values have been aligned more closely with RIS, reducing behavioural differences between the two modes. Updates also affect integrator behaviour and light transport handling in XPU. Certain light types and rendering options now behave consistently across CPU and hybrid modes. Texture evaluation and displacement workflows have been corrected in XPU, addressing cases where results diverged from RIS. This includes fixes to shading artefacts and inconsistencies in displacement evaluation under specific configurations.

Shading system refinements

RenderMan 27.2 introduces updates across its shading and material system. Changes affect specific shader nodes, parameter ranges and default values. In several cases, adjustments were made to ensure consistent evaluation between RIS and XPU.

OpenPBR integration continues to evolve, with improved correspondence between OpenPBR inputs and RenderMan’s internal shading representation. This reduces mismatches when exchanging materials through USD based pipelines.

Layered material evaluation has been corrected in edge cases involving texture lookups and attribute overrides. Procedural shading nodes receive fixes addressing order of operations and attribute inheritance issues. Arbitrary Output Variables, or AOVs, are also affected. The update corrects output behaviour in certain configurations, ensuring that custom render passes produce the expected data for compositing workflows.

Geometry and motion updates

Geometry handling has been refined in 27.2. Subdivision surface evaluation has been corrected in specific cases, particularly when driven by USD scene data. Instancing behaviour and attribute propagation across instances have also been updated to ensure accurate rendering results.

Motion blur evaluation receives fixes addressing timing and interpolation of animated attributes. These corrections affect both geometry deformation and transformation blur under certain configurations. Displacement workflows have been adjusted, improving consistency in how displacement is evaluated across rendering modes. This reduces visible discrepancies between CPU and hybrid renders.

Volume rendering and lights

Volume rendering receives targeted corrections in sampling and shading behaviour. These address edge cases that previously resulted in artefacts or incorrect density evaluation in particular setups. Lighting workflows are refined in both USD and non USD contexts. Light parameter interpretation, linking and shadow behaviour have been corrected where inconsistencies were identified. These changes contribute to more predictable lighting results when switching between RIS and XPU or between traditional and USD based scene translation.

Incremental

RenderMan 27.2 is an incremental update focused on expanding USD and XPU coverage, aligning behaviour between rendering modes, and correcting shading, geometry and lighting edge cases. There are no architectural overhauls in this release. Instead, the emphasis is on feature parity, correctness and stability across established workflows.

Facilities relying on USD centric pipelines or actively deploying XPU will find broader feature support and fewer fallback scenarios. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production.

// RenderMan 27.2 documentation
// https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/726761480/RenderMan+27.2/

The post RenderMan 27.2 adds USD and XPU updates first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the event: FMX is an annual conference in Stuttgart focused on animation, VFX and digital media production. It connects studios, software vendors and production teams across features, commercials and games. Details and tickets are available via FMX.

FMX 2026 has confirmed new sessions covering large-scale feature VFX, stylised feature animation and high-end commercial character work. The programme additions include speakers from Wētā FX, Pixar and Illogic Studios, alongside new Premium Partners AMCRS, Accenture Song VFX and AYON. The event will take place on site from May 5 to 7, followed by online and on-campus sessions on May 8, with on-demand access running from May 9 to June 9. Early Bird ticket options are available until March 20 via the FMX ticket shop.

Pandora, fire and 3,100 shots

Senior VFX Supervisor Eric Saindon and VFX Supervisor Sam Cole from Wētā FX will present work from Avatar: Fire and Ash. According to FMX, the studio delivered more than 3,100 shots for the film.

The presentation will cover the integration of extensive native stereo photography with CG environments, fully digital performance captured characters and physics based coupled effects simulations. Native stereo photography refers to imagery captured simultaneously for left and right eye views, rather than converted in post. Coupled effects simulations describe interdependent simulations, for example fire interacting with wind and character motion, solved together to maintain physical consistency.

Saindon and Cole will also discuss a new tool called Kora, developed to provide more art directable fire. FMX states that Kora was created to allow greater control over flame behaviour while retaining physically based characteristics. No further technical specifications have been released at press time.

Stylisation as pipeline logic

In the Feature Animation track, Visual Effects Supervisor Beth Albright from Pixar will present Hoppers. The session is titled Stylization as a System.

The session will address how the team preserved physical realism to maintain emotional stakes while shaping surfaces for clarity and appeal. This includes coordination across modelling, animation, simulation and lighting.

A wolf, a supermarket and feature grade craft

The Shorts track will include a presentation by animation director Benoit Bargeton from Illogic Studios on the Intermarché commercial Le mal aimé. The campaign features a wolf attempting to gain the trust of other animals in the forrest by becoming vegetarian. The film went viral globally, and you propaly have already seen it.

Bargeton’s talk will focus on how feature film animation was achieved in a commercial context. This includes artistic and acting choices, as well as technical decisions supporting those directions. Cross department collaboration between modelling, rigging and animation will be addressed.

Commercial schedules typically impose tighter timelines and smaller teams than feature productions. FMX states that Illogic Studios adapted its workflow and resources to deliver a project of this scale. Specific software, renderers or proprietary systems used have not been disclosed in the announcement.

Premium Partners on the floor

FMX has also announced three Premium Partners.

AMCRS, the Animation Media Creators Region Stuttgart network, represents more than 30 VFX providers, animation studios, game developers and interactive media companies, along with six colleges. The network was initiated by MFG, the regional media and film society.

Accenture Song VFX is an award winning team guiding projects from script and concept art to final delivery. FMX states that the team has earned nine Emmy nominations over the past six years and secured an Emmy Award last year for work on HBO’s The Penguin. No additional production credits are listed in the announcement.

AYON is presented as a production backbone for animation and VFX, combining pipeline and production tracking with review, planning, scheduling and resource management. Producers, supervisors, pipeline TDs and developers use AYON to unify creative data and automate handoffs. At FMX, AYON will host talks, demos, panels and Q&As in its dedicated room. The focus will include review, scheduling and resource planning updates, roadmap insights and practical studio case studies.

Many additional sessions are still to be announced!

The post FMX 2026 spotlights fire, fur and pipelines first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

VIEW Conference is an annual CG, VFX and animation event in Turin, Italy, connecting artists with studios such as Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Between the in-person editions, it runs free online panels for production professionals.

VIEW Conference has announced a free online panel featuring the directors of the films nominated for the 2026 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The one-hour virtual discussion takes place on Friday, February 27th, 2026, from 9:00 to 10:00am PST, which corresponds to 18:00 to 19:00 CET and 5:00pm UK time. Registration is free. Zoom details will be emailed to registered participants as the event approaches.

The event is free to attend. VIEW Conference welcomes donations of any amount to support future programming.

Pixar voices return

Madeline Sharafian began her career at Cartoon Network and later became a story artist at Pixar on Coco, Onward and Turning Red. She directed the short Burrow and co-directed Elio in 2025. Domee Shi joined Pixar as a storyboard artist after graduating from Sheridan College and directed the short Bao, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. She later directed Turning Red and co-directed Elio.

Disney sequel territory

Byron Howard began his career at Walt Disney Animation Studios and later directed Bolt, Tangled and Zootopia, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Zootopia. He most recently directed Zootopia 2 in 2025.

Sony Pictures Animation on stage

Maggie Kang studied at Sheridan College and worked as a story artist on multiple DreamWorks Animation features before moving into directing. She co-directed and co-wrote K-Pop Demon Hunters for Sony Pictures Animation. Chris Appelhans began as a concept artist and production designer on films including Coraline and The Princess and the Frog before directing Wish Dragon. He co-directed K-Pop Demon Hunters with Kang. The official biography describes K-Pop Demon Hunters as a global phenomenon upon release. This is a claim from the organisers and not independently verified at press time.

A Cannes and Annecy presence

Ugo Bienvenu is a French illustrator and director whose work spans short films, music videos and advertising. His first feature, Arco, was selected for Cannes and received the Annecy Crystal Award for Best Film.

Feature debuts from France

Maïlys Vallade is a director and storyboard artist who has worked on features including The Little Prince, Long Way North and I Lost My Body. Little Amélie marks her feature debut as director and screenwriter. Liane-Cho Han began as a key animator and later moved into storyboarding and animation direction on features such as The Illusionist and Calamity. Little Amélie is his first feature as director and screenwriter.

Industry access without a plane ticket

The panel is presented as a live Zoom session with audience Q and A. For production artists, it offers direct access to directors working across Pixar, Disney, Sony Pictures Animation and independent European features without travel costs.

https://www.viewconference.it/

The post Oscar animation directors go live online first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Pixar has released RenderMan 27.1, a maintenance update that stabilises and refines the hybrid XPU renderer introduced in version 27. The release extends MaterialX Lama functionality, aligns checkpointing with RIS behaviour, and improves stability across DCC integrations.

XPU: coating and checkpointing refined

The hybrid RenderMan XPU renderer now supports coating behaviour in the MaterialX Lama shading system. In practice, base nodes such as LamaDielectric and LamaGeneralizedSchlick correctly adjust absorption when layered with LamaLayer. This brings XPU into parity with the older RIS renderer for complex layered materials.

The update also fixes multiple shading issues. Subsurface scattering in PxrSurface and PxrDisneyBsdf now supports bump mapping when diffuse front-matter parameters are zero. Several Lama-specific bugs have been resolved, including incorrect subset computation inside combiner networks and misweighted LamaSSS importance that led to dim results. Shader memory use has been reduced by roughly 380 MB on GPU, improving efficiency on multi-layered materials.

RenderMan 27.1 also changes how XPU executes checkpoint commands. They are now triggered after a successful render rather than solely after each checkpoint, matching RIS behaviour and improving automation consistency in scripted pipelines.

Lighting and statistics

The release addresses a lighting artefact in the cylinder light’s radiance estimate function and corrects iteration-based pixel reporting in XPU statistics. The live statistics overview for both RIS and XPU now displays active pixel counts alongside iteration numbers. Data in DCC live stats panels now persists correctly after a render stops.

Blender and Houdini integration

In RenderMan for Blender, a bug that prevented AOVs from rendering correctly across multiple sessions has been fixed. RenderMan for Houdini receives several updates: the args2hda tool now generates valid disable and hide conditions, HdPrman automatically sets frame numbers in USD 25.05 and Solaris for older USD versions, and USD plugins have been moved to the dso directory for consistency.

Platform support and licensing

RenderMan 27.1 supports Windows 10+, macOS 15.x+, and glibc 2.34+ Linux. XPU is available on Windows and Linux with NVIDIA Pascal or newer GPUs. Integration plugins are provided for Blender 3.6+, Houdini 20+, Katana 7+, and Maya 2024+. Licences start at USD 845 (perpetual or floating, including 12 months of maintenance), with a non-commercial edition available for free.

Get more iNformation in the Renderman Wiki here.

The post Checkpoint, fixed: Pixar ships RenderMan 27.1 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0 is not a mere update: For the first time since the RIS introduction in 2014, RenderMan’s rendering core has been fundamentally rebuilt. The headline act: XPU, Pixar’s hybrid CPU+GPU architecture, now capable of producing final-frame renders. With multi-GPU support, full compositing pipelines, and feature parity with RIS in most production cases, XPU has stepped from experimental preview to the new backbone of RenderMan’s future.

According to Pixar, version 27 marks the most significant performance and interactivity leap in over a decade. The new architecture combines compute scalability with physically based consistency, while also supporting new aesthetic flexibility through a fully integrated Stylized Looks framework.

XPU: From Preview to Production

RenderMan’s XPU engine now operates as a complete production renderer, supporting both CPU and GPU resources simultaneously. This dual utilisation allows artists to push hardware to its maximum throughput, whether on workstations or render farms. The new final-frame rendering mode eliminates the former division between lookdev and production rendering, streamlining pipelines previously dependent on RIS for the last mile. XPU now supports multi-GPU rendering, with the caveat that all GPUs in use must be identical and contain full scene memory. The engine’s minimum requirement has been raised to CUDA 12.8.1, reflecting its deeper reliance on modern GPU driver capabilities. Pixar confirms that this configuration is the foundation for all future RenderMan development.

Adaptive, Smarter, Faster

Under the hood, Pixar’s engineers have reworked adaptive sampling, aligning it with internal techniques used in Pixar Animation Studios’ own productions. Adaptive metrics such as “relativepixelvariance” and “mse” AOV-based control now run per object, delivering more accurate sampling without inflating render times. Checkpointing, a feature long requested by production supervisors, has been fully implemented. Artists can now save partial renders at defined intervals, resuming from checkpoints without rerendering full frames. This system, combined with interactive denoising, significantly tightens iteration loops in look development. The denoiser itself now outputs timing data, integrates directly with live renders, and can be toggled interactively. Pipeline engineers can expect improved configurability for modern, distributed render farms.

Deep Compositing and AOV Control

Version 27 brings complete deep data workflows to XPU. OpenEXR 3.0 Deep IDs are fully supported, allowing compressed ID manifests to be automatically generated for compositing. Artists can extract object-level data directly from deep renders using Pixar’s new deepidextract utility. Compositing teams gain matte and holdout workflows, expanded AOV handling, and support for the shadows and invshadows LPE prefixes. OpenEXR metadata is now written natively, ensuring compatibility with Nuke and other deep compositing tools. Cryptomatte, while not yet part of the initial 27.0 release, is scheduled to arrive in a dot update, according to Pixar’s release notes.

Geometry, Lighting, and Volume Precision

Geometry handling in XPU 27 has been heavily rewritten to achieve parity with RIS. Nested instancing, long a sticking point, now supports material inheritance and attribute propagation without breaking shading hierarchies. Displacement, motion blur, and volume interactions have been stabilised, with notable improvements in the handling of semi-sharp subdivision creases.

Lighting gains precision as well. Mesh lights are now fully supported, and light filters have been corrected for spline and falloff anomalies. The PxrPathTracer integrator adds new clamping controls (clampDepth and clampLuminance), aligning noise handling across both rendering architectures. Volumetric fidelity benefits from the new interior volume aggregates, enabling complex materials such as murky liquids or translucent crystals. Artists can now fine-tune deep shadow error parameters for exact compositing control.

MaterialX Lama: Early Access, Serious Potential

RenderMan 27 introduces MaterialX Lama, Industrial Light & Magic’s modular shading system, as Early Access inside XPU. The system allows layered material construction using physically accurate combiners. Pixar’s current implementation supports LamaDielectric, LamaConductor, and GeneralizedSchlick nodes with anisotropy, single scattering, and extinction behaviour now properly matching or exceeding RIS accuracy. Full support is scheduled during the 27.x release cycle. Pixar notes that look differences compared to RIS are expected in this early phase and requests feedback from studios integrating Lama in production.

Stylised Looks: Non-Photorealism, Physically Based

The Stylized Looks suite has matured from experiment to production toolset. It now ships as a unified subsystem under XPU, comprising PxrStylizedControl, PainterlyBrush, Lines, Hatching, Canvas, and Toon filters. Each operates as a display or sample filter, allowing NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) effects such as painterly brush strokes, toon shading, curvature-based outlines, and cross-hatching, all integrated directly with RenderMan’s physically based lighting.

The system supports AOV outputs, interactive denoising, and compositing passes. The new PainterlyBrushXPU filter enables procedural brush strokes with depth and lighting awareness. StylizedCanvasXPU and StylizedLinesXPU introduce compositing and in-filter distortion options with up to 96 preset line textures. Pixar’s stated goal: to let stylised rendering coexist with physically plausible shading without breaking pipeline compatibility.

Integration and Pipeline Alignment

RenderMan 27 strengthens its integration with major DCC applications and pipeline frameworks. Solaris, SideFX’s USD-based environment in Houdini, now features deeper RenderMan embedding, including improved UI, native support for OpenSubdiv 3.6.1, and GPU progress tracking in hdPrman. RenderMan LOP nodes have been refactored, and “RenderMan Render Vars” replace the older “Standard Render Vars” for more robust USD conformity.

RenderMan for Blender reintroduces Qt-based UIs via PySide6, restoring the texture manager and preset browser on Blender 4.x. Artists now benefit from native light linking, velocity blur control, and on-the-fly texture conversion.

In Maya, RenderMan’s Texture Manager has been modernised, adopting OpenImageIO for mipmapped texture conversion. Pixar’s proprietary texture format has been replaced by OpenEXR, aligning with the VFX Reference Platform 2024 standards. The legacy txmake utility remains available for backward compatibility but is now officially deprecated.

The Texture Manager now supports ACES-compliant defaults, HiDPI UIs, and multi-selection editing. Pixar warns that lowercase <udim> tokens will no longer be recognised; pipelines must adopt the uppercase <UDIM> convention for USD compliance.

Complying with the VFX Reference Platform 2024

RenderMan 27 aligns fully with VFX Reference Platform 2024, standardising on current builds of Python, OpenEXR, OpenImageIO, and USD. For production pipelines, this ensures compatibility with other industry-standard applications and reduces dependency conflicts across render nodes. The change affects texture formats, shader APIs, and compositing metadata. Pixar’s move to OpenEXR for both image outputs and texture caching is particularly significant, replacing proprietary workflows with interoperable standards.

Performance and Statistics

Performance instrumentation across XPU has been expanded, with scene ingestion, GPU allocation, and adaptive ray counters now visible in live statistics panels across DCCs. The stportal interface presents real-time timers, counters, and memory metrics, enabling TDs to diagnose bottlenecks without external profiling tools. RenderMan’s JSON reporting system has been refined for both RIS and XPU, offering standard and detailed modes for automated render diagnostics. Memory tracking now includes deduplication efficiency, critical for large USD scenes.

Future of RIS

While RIS remains functional in version 27, Pixar has confirmed its future deprecation. The renderer continues to support legacy pipelines, but new features including deep compositing, MaterialX Lama, and multi-GPU acceleration, are exclusive to XPU. Pixar recommends transitioning new projects to XPU immediately to ensure feature parity and forward compatibility. The company has maintained RIS only for existing productions requiring deterministic CPU-only rendering or legacy shader behaviour.

Non-Commercial Version – still free.

The free Non-Commercial RenderMan 27 is Pixar’s way of saying, “Go ahead, break it, just don’t charge for it.” The edition now includes full XPU support, right down to final-frame rendering, meaning anyone can experiment with the same hybrid CPU–GPU tech used on Pixar features. It’s designed for personal projects, research, and plugin tinkering, with no watermarks, only a polite request to credit RenderMan if your test project accidentally becomes an internet hit.

Naturally, there’s a catch or two. The licence is strictly non-commercial, locked to two machines, and politely expires every 120 days, because nothing keeps a pipeline sharp like forced renewals. The Stylized Looks suite, Pixar’s NPR playground of painterly brushes and toon shaders, is absent here, reminding users that true artistry still costs a studio licence. Still, for anyone wanting to explore the XPU ecosystem without opening the budget spreadsheet, it’s a generous, production-grade sandbox.

Compatibility, Stability, and What Comes Next

RenderMan 27’s release is a clear signal: Pixar’s renderer is now fully committed to hybrid GPU computing and open pipeline standards. With XPU stabilised for final-frame rendering, Solaris deeply embedded, and MaterialX Lama laying the foundation for unified shading, the software’s architecture is more extensible than at any point in its history. The move to industry formats and the inclusion of non-photorealistic rendering tools reflect Pixar’s recognition that creative flexibility and pipeline efficiency must coexist.

RenderMan 27.0 should be thoroughly tested before deployment in production, especially when adopting early access features such as MaterialX Lama. Pixar’s documentation explicitly requests user feedback to refine those systems during the 27.x cycle.

The post Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.