RenderMan 25.1 released

Pixar has released RenderMan version 25.1, which builds on the previous version, RenderMan 25.0, by providing minor enhancements and several bug fixes.

In the RenderMan Integrated Subdivision Surfaces (RIS) and XPU, minor enhancements include better constant fold space transformations and improved performance in RIS. The built-in listeners for stats now expand environment variables for file names found in the stats.ini configuration file. Also, Python 3.10 is now supported by RenderMan.

The updates also address a range of issues related to Boundaries Extension to Finite Elements (BxDFs), Geometry, and Ray Tracing. These updates aim to provide better user control, increase rendering quality, and reduce error occurrences.

The update also brought enhancements to XPU, a powerful rendering technology developed by Pixar, with improved support for denoising quality and compatibility. These enhancements include better behavior when the camera is placed in volume, improved performance for dsominmax 0 volumes, and fixed issues related to underdicing geometry depending on the aspect ratio.

The Denoiser feature of XPU also receives significant improvements. XPU now fully supports the denoiser and a new feature that allows users to specify which specific frames should be denoised has been added.

In terms of Stylized Looks, simplifying the Arbitrary Output Variables (AOV) names within all Digital Content Creation (DCC) tools and various enhancements to PxrStylizedControl and PxrStylizedHatching have been made to improve user experience.

Several bugs in Bridge Products have been fixed to provide better user experience and performance. This includes a fix on the bug where user’s PYTHONPATH could cause denoise_batch to fail and an improvement where XPU responds to rapid light edits more quickly than before.

Various issues regarding the use of RenderMan in Houdini, Katana, Maya, and Blender have also been addressed to improve functionality and provide a more seamless experience for users.

See the full release notes on the Renderman wiki.