Disney and Pixar have their own way of story-telling. The animation is loved all over the globe because of the realistic touch the team at these studios gives to the characters and the story as a whole. Good story-telling requires good output and, a software developed by Pixar helps the team generate animation which is appreciated everywhere.
Renderman is the software developed by Pixar to build community amongst young artists. Animation Xpress got an opportunity to talk with Renderman marketing manager Dylan Sisson at SIGGRAPH Asia Tokyo 2018. He stated the use of Renderman in big and small studios alike. The non-commercial version of the software is available free for the small studios and aspiring artists to use,and one can use it for personal or non-commercial projects.
“The team at Renderman invites people to participate in a challenge and create their own entries using the software. The level of contributions has blown us away. People have great stuff to show and we give feedback to the entrants, create space for networking and try to bring in more people in the Renderman community,” added Sisson.
Is there region specific marketing for Renderman?
Sometimes we visit regions and meet people and find out where the software is working. The modernised version Renderman 22 has irradiance, ray tracing, and is hybrid. Pixar’s RenderMan team develops tools especially for feature films which focus on shading and lighting.
What are the additions to Renderman 22?
We have modernised the RIB format. Popularly known as Riley interface, it helps in faster interactive shading and lighting. Using the software we have created great background cityscapes in Incredibles 2, Coco, and other features. The complexity in the film s has interactive illumination with radiance and complex geometry at the same time.
What are the different strategies in place to bring Renderman in India?
We have some resellers in India. We are planning to create a tool suited for the market in India that runs on both GPUs and CPUs. All other studios have different requirements than Pixar, but we plan to bring the software in the market in 2020. We are also bringing non-commercial Renderman for people not working in studios and schools. We can get the studios to send the pipeline to India.
Indian Studios has a lot coming out of in the field of animation and studios in India are doing fantastic work.
How important is marketing apart from content for a film to be a success?
When it comes to marketing, distribution requires savvy arrangements. When Pixar was starting with Disney, no one knew what will happen, but it turned out to be the best decision. Just do the best you can do for your company and success will follow!
Sisson also mentioned about a slate of new IPs, and original films Pixar has in pipeline after Toy Story 4. “New ideas and new stories make Pixar what it is today. We hope people continue enjoying the movies created here,” he concluded.
