The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...
:
*
RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec), an open
API
An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...
(technical specification) developed by Pixar for a standard communications protocol (or interface) between 3D computer graphics programs and rendering programs to describe three-dimensional scenes and turn them into digital
photorealistic images
**
RenderMan Shading Language, a component of the RenderMan Interface Specification used to define shaders
*
Pixar RenderMan, a RenderMan Interface Specification-compliant rendering software system developed by Pixar based on their own interface specification
* RenderMan, also commonly used to refer to other renderers because of their compliance with the RenderMan standard
{{Pixar