Just over a year ago, the masterminds at Pixar announced their intention to publish a free edition of the RenderMan rendering engine, which we've seen in high-profile projects like Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit, and the Bourne saga. After some delays, RenderMan is finally available under a non-commercial license, and from what we've seen, Pixar means business when it says “non-commercial”.
A freeware edition for everyone
Thirty years ago, the idea of a film enthusiast or a visual arts student having free access to the same tools that Hollywood uses for its international hits would have seemed absurd. Today, the story is very different. Computers have extraordinary processing power, and a simple workstation with the right software can produce projects of phenomenal quality. We've recently seen a similar trend in the gaming world: advanced graphics engines like Unreal Engine and Unity have free versions that are very useful for developers. But if we look at the film territory, we'll see that the folks at Pixar have just released a freeware edition (and I emphasize freeware, since it is neither open nor free) of their rendering engine, RenderMan.
RenderMan technology has been involved in film since the late '80s, and last year we saw it in action in films like Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Edge of Tomorrow, The LEGO Movie, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Actually, the release of this “free RenderMan” is not new, as Pixar had announced its creation in June 2014. At that time, the company said RenderMan would be available in August (to coincide with SIGGRAPH 2014), but a series of delays forced them to adjust plans and push the launch back almost a year. The new version has no watermarks or artificial limits of any kind.
The fine print: non-commercial only
Now, the big asterisk to the release is that RenderMan can be downloaded for free as long as it is used in non-commercial initiatives. Research, education, evaluation (for example, testing something in free RenderMan and then bringing it to work on commercial RenderMan), plugin development (something Pixar actively encourages), experimentation, and personal projects are some of the conditions compatible with the non-commercial license. But there are elements that even impose restrictions on non-profit organizations if they receive direct income via subscriptions or donations. Fortunately, Pixar decided to publish an important exception for so-called “indirect income”, such as earnings from YouTube advertising.
Finally, it's important to remember that RenderMan is a rendering engine, and not a 3D development environment, so you need a compatible platform like Autodesk Maya or Katana. In theory, Blender support is possible, but it will take a little time.
