Contents
System Requirements
Hardware
RenderMan RIS requires CPUs capable of running the AVX instruction set or better. A minimum of 8GB of RAM is recommended for RIS.
RenderMan XPU requires CPUs capable of running the AVX instruction set. RenderMan XPU supports the Linux and Windows systems. GPU acceleration is supported on NVIDIA graphics cards from the Quadro, Tesla or Data Center GPU ranges, with the Pascal architecture or later. A minimum of 11 GB of VRAM is recommended and 24 GB of VRAM is suggested for best performance. A minimum of 16GB of system RAM is recommended for hybrid (CPU + GPU) processing. For more information on driver requirements, please consult the XPU Technical Specifications.
For utilizing the NVIDIA Optix AI Denoiser in "it", Optix 7 supported hardware, NVIDIA "Pascal" architecture and newer is required.
Operating System
Linux: Compatible with CentOS/RHEL 7.2 - 7.9 (EL9 support will be coming in a point release)
Windows: Compatible with Windows 10 and 11
macOS: Compatible with 12 Monterey and 13 Ventura
Please visit the installation pages for your bridge product to ensure you have the correct setup before running RenderMan. Note some, like Houdini and Katana, may require manual configuration of environment files.
Bridge Products
Houdini 19.0, 19.5, and 20 (production versions only). Solaris support for 19.5 and 20 (production versions only)
Katana 5.0, 6.0, 6.5 (7.0 support will come in a later release)
Maya 2022, 2023, and 2024 (2024 is Windows and macOS only, support for Linux will come in a later release)
Blender 3.0+ and 4.1+
Building Plugins and Tools
Plugins for RenderMan: Custom RenderMan plugins need to be built with the same version of the compiler that is specified in the VFX Reference Platform that RenderMan supports. See the RenderMan Release Notes for the version of the VFX Reference Platform we support in this release.
The Download Menu. Choose the main installer highlighted here at the top. Versions below are useful for sys admins creating deployments.
On Centos/RHEL, the RtxSVG.so plugin requires the compat-expat1 package be installed.
Installing RenderMan With a Floating License
Pixar's RenderMan is best installed with our integrated installer. Using your forum login and password and the serial number from your purchase, you can use the installer to automatically download the license and install both the license server software and the applications, plugins, and examples.
Only one machine on your network needs to have the Pixar License Server installed, and that machine can be the same machine you install the applications and plugins on. However the machine that runs the license server does not need to have the RenderMan application itself installed. It is recommended that you first run the installer on the machine you want to designate as your license server, before running the installer on other workstations.
For further details, visit each section for the operating system you're installing on:
Installing RenderMan With Node-Locked Licenses
Pixar's RenderMan is delivered as a single installer. The steps to install a Node-locked licenses are the same as the floating-license however there will be no need to install or run the floating license server.
Using your forum login you can use the installer to automatically download the license and install your node-locked licensed copies of the RenderMan Software.
Installing for Large Sites
RenderMan installation is automated and installs to your system drive by default. Other system variables are automatically set to allow:
- Plugin discovery by your DCC Application such as Autodesk Maya
- Command line rendering using the RenderMan executable
If you choose a non-standard installation location you may be required to customize these environment variables yourself to complete the installation.
While it may be possible to install and use RenderMan on a different operating system or even a different version of the supported operating systems, it is not recommended. It may be unstable and a general headache, therefore it is not supported for the sanity of everyone involved.