Pixar Offers RenderMan Certified Courseware

Pixar Animation Studios released the first version of its RenderMan Certified Courseware created in association with Escape Studios. With contributions from the world's most accomplished visual effects and feature animation studios, Pixar's RenderMan Certified Courseware is the perfect educational resource for everyone from the beginner to the advanced professional.

Pixar's RenderMan Certified Courseware is divided into four main categories. The "Fundamentals" section covers all of the key concepts of Pixar's core rendering technology. In the "How To" section, these key concepts are applied to real-world production scenarios. The "Production Examples" section provides case studies from leading film studios as they describe methodologies for creating feature film effects, and in the "Library" section, course notes and references are provided for further study. Additionally, universities, colleges and training establishments, are provided with detailed lesson plans that cover all aspects of teaching these materials in a classroom environment.

Backed up by a formal certification program, Pixar's RenderMan Certified Courseware provides access to the hard-won experience of the world's most advanced RenderMan users, and represents an invaluable resource for production-focused techniques and insights unavailable elsewhere.

"Solving rendering problems in the thick of production requires a fundamental understanding of RenderMan and knowledge of the tips and tricks that users and studios have developed over the years," said Apurva Shah, effects supervisor at Pixar Animation Studios (RATATOUILLE). "The Courseware does a great job of presenting both aspects in one central repository."

For more information about Pixar's RenderMan Certified Courseware, please register to review the sample version at renderman.escapestudios.com/demo or contact Escape Studios directly at the same website.

Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., is an Academy Award-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including TOY STORY, MONSTERS, INC., FINDING NEMO, THE INCREDIBLES and, most recently, RATATOUILLE. The Northern California studio has won 20 Academy Awards and its eight films have grossed more than $4 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The next film release from Disney-Pixar is WALL*E on June 27.

Escape Studios has built a global reputation delivering premium training, recruitment, software and hardware services to the computer graphics community. The London-based company boasts one of the world's foremost schools of computer animation and visual effects. Escape's partnerships with top studios give students the opportunity to work on "live" visual effects and games projects such as BATTLEFIELD 360 (X-Box 360) and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN. Escape Studios is the leading visual effects recruiter in the UK and Europe's largest reseller for Autodesk Maya, Pixar's RenderMan and Boxx Technologies.