...

Please consult API Changes from 25.X to 26.X for information on updated developer APIs between release 25 and release 26.

Bridge Tools

RenderMan For

...

RenderMan For Katana

• New features:
  •  XPU selection for batch rendering
    • RfK now lets users set the renderVariant setting in PrmanGlobalStatements to either XPU - CPU or XPU - GPU for cases where you need to render with only the cpu or only the gpu.
    • Note that the settings in the Preferences menu will still take precedence for live and preview renders, unless the new "interactiveXPUSettingsOverride" preference is disabled.
    • For batch renders, we also added a way to override the renderVariant and the gpu selection using command line options, i.e. katana --batch --katana-file=myfile.katana --render-node=Render -t 1 -- --prmanRenderVariant=xpugpu --prmanGpuSelection=0. Please note that the -- needs to precede the prman command line arguments.
  • Support for Katana 6.5
    • The new openvdbasset style of volumes is supported. This enables importing volumes with UsdIn.
    • RenderMan Hydra Render Delegates are supported in this version (not supported in the RenderMan 25 version of 6.5)
  • Interactive Denoiser - You can now use denoise live renders in the Katana Monitor when rendering with RIS. To enable interactive denoising, enable the checkbox PrmanGlobalStatements. Extra settings for the denoiser are available in the renderman section of the Katana Preferences.
• hdPrman in the Viewer Fixes:
  • Fixed a crash when switching between different RenderMan delegates in the Viewer.
  • Fixed bug where image files without the .tex extension would sometimes be ignored.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented usd lights from rendering in Katana 6.0
• Other fixes:
  •  Fixed the paths in the denoise_teapots.katana example file so that it works on Windows.
  • Fixed an issue where the RenderMan Denoiser window would freeze the Katana UI when opened with the shelf script.
  • The PrmanStylizedLooks macro has been updated to support new features. You will need to recreate the node in your scenes to get the new required AOVs.

RenderMan For Houdini - Solaris

RenderMan For Houdini - Classic

• New Features:
  • Added new PxrLightFilter, PxrDisplayFilter, PxrSampleFilter, PxrIntegrator LOP nodes
  • Added Support for PxrMeshLight in Solaris. There is a new LOP node to set a mesh as a mesh light
  • Support pinned curves in Houdini 19.5
  • Visualizer node (pattern soloing) now supported. This also supports soloing Lama BXDF nodes in a network.
• Changes
  • Nested instancing is now supported for instancer nodes, which can bring significant performance improvement.
  • Significantly improved performance of processing of many instances at the start of a render.
  • Improved support for velocity motion blur.
  • Husk --snapshot 0 disables checkpointing.
  • New "import into selected material library" behavior in the preset browser
  • Rendersettings should match RenderMan defaults more closely.
  • Volume "fieldIndex" attribute is now supported.
  • No longer need array node to set MatteID.
  • Support for rendering OpenEXR images with overscan.
• Bug Fixes
  • UsdSkel no longer culls time samples after 4.
  • For the RenderMan LOP, fixed LPE Lobe Mappings parameters so they are correctly passed to the Usd Stage.
  • "light group" and "visible in refraction" light attibutes now correctly working.

  • Fixed a bug where materialX shaders wouldn't be correctly generated if an upstream node was both part of a pattern network and also directly connected to the material node.

  • Fixed a bug in UsdPreviewSurface support for normal maps, which could lead to artifacts.

RenderMan For Houdini - Classic

• Bump to roughness textures correctly processed in RfH.
• A bug that caused RIB generation to fail via hbatch has been addressed.
• Stylized AOVs are added in UI.

RenderMan For Maya

• Bug Fixes:
  • A bug that caused Maya to crash when it is unable to checkout a license for the material viewer and swatch renders has been addressed.
  • A bug that was causing RfM to use the wrong filename for the denoiser when illegal characters (ex: ':') were in the camera name has been addressed.
  • Fixed bug where rman materials would lose connections when exported from maya as usd.
  • Fixed a bug where presets saved for stylized looks wouldn't import correctly.
  • Fixed a bug where mayabatch renders were not respecting the integrator type from the globals.
  • Fixed a bug where on windows textures weren't always converted properly for shading networks generated by Substance for Maya.
• bump to roughness textures correctly processed in RfH
• a bug that caused RIB generation to fail via hbatch has been addressed.
• stylized aovs are added in UI

RenderMan For Blender

• New Features:
  • Blender 3.6 and 4.1 are now officially supported. Note, the Qt framework is not supported in 4.1
  • Viewport renders can now use the RenderMan AI denoiser as well as the OptiX denoiser. See the Blender denoising page for more information.
  • Add a new menu item in the shader graph to convert selected Cycles image nodes to PxrTexture nodes. This is useful when dragging and dropping image files from the file
    browser to the shader graph.
• Changes:
  • We now pay attention to the Viewport and Render levels when using the subdivision modifier. Note, the subdivision scheme setting on the object data properties still takes precedence.
  • A new json filename statistics option has been added to the workspace editor. This should be used in favor over the older XML filename.
  • The drawing the barn light filter projection in the viewport when in physical mode has been disabled
  • A LamaSurface node will automatically be created for you, when attach a Lama node bxdf to your object.
  • The addon will now present a dialog when importing presets that include display filters.
  • The "volume:temporalmethod" primvar has been removed.
  • The package scene operator will now print an error message if the directory selected is not empty.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fix a bug where importing presets with array parameters failed.
  • Fix the orientation of the PxrEnvDayLight. The sun was rising and setting in the wrong directions. Note, older scenes will change with this fix
  • Fixed a bug where RIB files were not getting created correctly on Windows.
  • Fixed a bug with relative paths not working with OpenVDB files, on Windows.
  • Fixed a bug where lights, lightfilters and RenderMan objects were not created at the cursor location.
  • An issue that caused a slowdown when rendering hair curves object has been addressed.
  • Fixed a bug where using "name" for the layer parameter in PxrCryptomatte didn't work.
  • Fixed a bug where the "attribute" parameter would not show up when using PxrCryptomatte.
  • Fixed a bug where trace sets didn't updated correctly during IPR.
  • A bug that caused metaballs to not render when using Blender 3.6 has been fixed.
  • A bug that caused an error when dealing with meshes with multiple materials and using boolean modifiers has been addressed.
  • Fix a bug where making the wrong connection to a RenderManOutput node would lead to a crash
  • Fixed a stretching issue with dome light texturing in the viewport when using a newer Blender (3.3 and above)
  • A bug that caused a crash when using a hair particle system with equal root and tip diameters has been addressed.
  • A number of bugs when using the PxrOSL node have been addressed, including IPR not updating correctly when a parameter value was changed.
  • A bug that caused material updates to not work on a Volume Box object has been addressed.
  • A bug that caused hair to look shorter than the GL view when using the newer hair curves node has been addressed.
  • Fixed a bug when the preset browser would fail to import the Stylized Toon 2 Steps preset.
  • A bug that caused "it" to display the wrong Pixel Variance value when rendering with IPR has been addressed.
  • A bug that caused PxrRamp nodes to not update during IPR when they are inside of group nodes has been fixed.
  • A bug that caused assets to fail to export in the preset browser, when you have a color to float connection has been addressed.
  • A bug that caused meshes with the subdivision modifier  attached to not render properly when the Blender viewport GPU subdivision option was turned on has been worked around.
  • A bug that caused chaining of PxrOSL nodes to fail has been fixed.

...