Pixar RenderMan 5-Part Tutorial Series

Visual effects artist Rusty Hazelden has released an in-depth 5 part RenderMan tutorial series on YouTube. The Art of RenderMan Volume 1 provides an introduction to Pixar’s RenderMan for Maya.

Watch the RenderMan tutorial series today on the Rusty Hazelden YouTube Channel, and also get the link for the project files, or scroll down this page to view all 5 tutorials.

Unlock the secrets of Pixar’s RenderMan through a series of in-depth tutorials that focus on rendering an animation in Autodesk Maya with photo-realistic materials and dramatic lighting.

For over 30 years RenderMan has been used in the film industry to render movies featuring groundbreaking visual effects and animation.

In this tutorial series, visual effects artist Rusty Hazelden takes an animated shot from start to finish, and reveals all the techniques used to create the final animation with Pixar’s RenderMan for Maya.

No steps are left out and every detail is explained with easy to follow step-by-step instructions.

Essential topics include:

• adjusting Pixar surface material attributes to create the look of plastic, wood, and metal
• applying texture maps to add more detail to surfaces
• aging a shiny metal surface by adding a layer of tarnish
• using the RenderMan IPR to interactively develop materials and lighting in real-time.

Learn a wide range of lighting techniques that can be used to create a dramatic night time scene.

Discover how to enhance the realism of a shot by enabling depth of field and motion blur.

Explore the powerful Alembic workflow in RenderMan and find out how to assign materials to Alembic archives using the Dynamic Rules Editor.

Advanced topics include:

• using a light filter and light linking to control scene illumination
• sharing 2D texture placement nodes to make shading networks simpler to maintain
• fine-tuning the render settings
• using the RenderMan denoiser to cut down on render time
• batch rendering the final animation

The Art of RenderMan Vol. 1 – Chapter 1

This is chapter 1 in a 5 part tutorial series that provides visual effects artists with an introduction to Pixar RenderMan for Maya.

The Art of RenderMan Vol. 1 – Chapter 2

This is chapter 2 in a 5 part tutorial series that provides visual effects artists with an introduction to Pixar RenderMan for Maya.

The Art of RenderMan Vol. 1 – Chapter 3

This is chapter 3 in a 5 part tutorial series that provides visual effects artists with an introduction to Pixar RenderMan for Maya.

The Art of RenderMan Vol. 1 – Chapter 4

This is chapter 4 in a 5 part tutorial series that provides visual effects artists with an introduction to Pixar RenderMan for Maya.

The Art of RenderMan Vol. 1 – Chapter 5

This is chapter 5 in a 5 part tutorial series that provides visual effects artists with an introduction to Pixar RenderMan for Maya.