...

RenderMan for Maya provides automatic support for Maya particles, including Maya particle instancing.

The following particles particle types are supported.

• Points
• Spheres
• Streak
• Multistreak
• Sprites

...

Real Primitives

RfM renders particles as real geometric primitives. RenderMan's highly optimized particle primitives are fast and efficient and carry many benefits, including:

...

RenderMan for Maya automatically establishes the correct rendering context for variations in particle color, opacity, and radius. A useful way to attach the particle's color and opacity, is to use the Cs and Ci Os primvars. You can attach the primvars to the material by using a PxrPrimvar pattern.

...