Monday, November 15th, 2010 Posted by Jim Thacker

Pixar cuts 40% off price of RenderMan Pro Server

Pixar has cut the price of its industry-standard rendering software, RenderMan Pro Server, by 40%. The move brings the price of Pro Server 15.0 down from $3,500 to just $2,000.

The cost of annual maintenance contract has also been reduced by 15%, to $600. The prices of RenderMan for Maya and RfM product bundle RenderMan Studio remain unchanged.

Update: we haven’t seen a price cut of this magnitude to a major product for several years, so we contacted Pixar to discuss the reasons behind it.

According to RenderMan Business Director Chris Ford, the new pricing reflects the increasing size of renderfarms, enabling studios to buy licenses of the software for each render node without breaking the bank – and presumably, while still maintaining Pixar’s profit line.

“Render farms just keep getting larger and larger while at the same time multi-core architectures are now commonplace,” he commented. “Our new pricing allows all RenderMan Pro Server customers to expand their render farms more economically and provides new opportunities for smaller studios to take on larger projects.”

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Pixar Animation Studios today announced a new price for its Academy Award®-winning RenderMan Pro Server software. Over the last two decades, Pixar’s RenderMan has led the revolution in rendering visual effects and animation, and is today the standard for creating the outstanding levels of photorealism that audiences now demand. With RenderMan Pro Server’s new price, studios and artists everywhere can access the highest levels of rendered visual quality at new levels of affordability.

Effective immediately, the price of an individual license of RenderMan Pro Server is $2,000 per license, a reduction of 40% with additional price discounts available when purchasing multiple licenses. In addition, annual maintenance for each RenderMan Pro Server license is now $600 per license, a reduction of 15%.

“RenderMan Pro Server’s new price adapts to the ever increasing scale of rendering requirements and is the largest adjustment in many years” said Chris Ford, RenderMan Business Director at Pixar Animation Studios, “RenderMan’s quality is now even more accessible to anyone aspiring to create the highest levels of cinematic imagery, and we look forward to seeing what our customers will produce next.”

Availability
RenderMan Pro Server is now available from Pixar at the new price of $2,000 per license, with additional discounts available for volume purchases. Maintenance for each RenderMan Pro Server license is $600 per license. Pixar’s annual maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and free upgrades. RenderMan Studio 3.0 and RenderMan for Maya 4.0 are available at their existing pricing.

Visit the RenderMan home page