RenderMan^® Bridge Tools

Production Proven Tools for Artists

RenderMan now supports more 3D applications than ever before, allowing you to get creative with your favorite tools.

Production Technology

RenderMan bridge tools are used and tested by the biggest VFX and animation studios in the world.

Fine Tuned and Battle Tested

RenderMan Bridge Tools are custom made for every application and made in collaboration with the application's developers, making the most efficient use of the applications interface.

They are used to create some of the most ambitious VFX and animation shots in the business, creating an ecosystem for incredibly demanding app development, which leads to cutting edge technology and stability depended upon by the biggest blockbusters.

Take your rendering to the next level with native support for Solaris, the amazing USD authoring toolset from SideFX.

RenderMan is capable of rendering native MaterialX networks via openUSD, making material exchange easy and predictable.

The Open Chess Set (authored by Moeen and Mujtaba Sayed, contributed to MaterialX by SideFX)

Preset Browser

Access an extensive out-of-the-box library of materials and lighting presets with every RenderMan bridge product or make your own and share them between apps.

OpenColorIO

Robust support for the industry standard ACES color management system in all bridge products.

A Wide Color Standard

RenderMan has new artist-centric tools for supporting the Aces color standard, which has been designed for and embraced by the animation and visual effects industry.

Worflows are automatic in all bridge tools, including changes to materials, lights, textures, and IT, RenderMan's interactive Image Tool.

Prehistooric Planet © BBC Studios

Next Gen Rendering

Look develop with XPU and transition seamlessly to RIS for final shot production in all bridge products.

The Future is Here

Every RenderMan bridge product has access to RIS, Pixar's flagship production CPU renderer, as well as XPU, Pixar's next generation renderer, which uses GPU + CPU hybrid technology for blazing fast speeds.

Faster and more feature rich

XPU has many new advancements in version 26. Highlights include improvements in sampling, an expanded lighting and camera toolset, as well as light selection, significantly speeding up rendering in a wider range of production use cases, such as shot lighting.

Live Statistics

Watch your rendering resource usage live, thanks to a completely redesigned statistics system focused on interactivity and extensibility.

Made for Creatives

From the biggest studios in the world to the single artist, each RenderMan bridge tool is made with artists in mind, giving your creative ambitions direct access to Pixar's toolbox.

Pixar Tools

RenderMan includes the same tools used at Pixar productions, including materials, lights, and integrators, for the most cutting-edge images.

RenderMan Art Challenges

Check out the amazing work done by single artists on our Art Challenges.

Learn More

"We are deeply impressed by the new denoiser's quality, ease of use, and speed. It will dramatically cut render times and ultimately costs."

- Dennis Rettkowski | Co-Founder & VFX Supervisor, Lumatic

Highlights

Interactive and Offline Machine Learning Denoiser
RenderMan XPU™
MaterialX Lama, Layerable Materials
Stylized Looks for non-photorealistic rendering
Live statistics
Use RenderMan Inside the Viewport
Interactive Shading, Lighting, and Geometry Edits
Interactive editing of AOVs and LPEs
Interactive Displacement Edits
Light and Pattern Baking
Pixar Surface Material approximation for Mari
Plugin Support (Shave and Haircut, Yeti, Golaem, Realflow...)
Image Checkpointing
Advanced Pixar Patterns
Self-configuring installation with multi-version support
Dynamic Shader Binding
Easy Deep Data Output
OpenSubdiv
Precompiled and Fast Shading
Arbitrary Variables via Tokens
Comprehensive Python API
For more see the Release Notes

	Maya	Houdini	Katana	Blender
Machine Learning Denoiser	✅	✅	✅	✅
RenderMan XPU™	✅	✅	✅	✅
MaterialX Lama / Layered Materials	✅	✅	✅	✅
Stylized Looks	✅	✅	✅	✅
Bump Roughness	✅	✅	✅	✅
OpenColorIO - ACES	✅	✅	✅	✅
Native USD Support	❌	✅	❌	❌
Viewport Rendering	✅	✅	✅	✅
Light and Pattern Baking	✅	✅	✅	✅
Offline and Optix Denoiser	✅	✅	✅	✅
Image Checkpointing	✅	✅	✅	✅
SIMD Hardware Accelerated OSL	✅	✅	✅	✅
MNEE & Manifold Walk	✅	✅	✅	✅
Pixar Surface Material System	✅	✅	✅	✅
OpenVDB Support	✅	✅	✅	✅
RIB & Alembic Archives	✅	✅	✅	✅
RiProcedural Plug-ins	✅	✅	✅	✅
Particles	✅	✅	✅	✅
Fur and Hair	✅	✅	✅	✅
Native Curve Rendering	✅	✅	✅	✅
Native NURBS Rendering	✅	✅	✅	✅
Advanced Pixar Patterns	✅	✅	✅	✅
Dynamic Shader Binding	✅	❌	❌	❌
Interactive Hair Grooming	✅	✅	❌	✅
Interactive UV Editing	✅	✅	❌	✅

Featured Artists

Check out what artists around the world are doing with RenderMan