Maximus - 3D school of Animation & Visual Effects, announced courses on Pixar's RenderMan in India. Maximus is the first education institute to offer certified RenderMan Training in the whole of Asia.

This is a new and upcoming trend in the field of animation. Maximus is the first certified Pixar's RenderMan instructor in India as well as the first institute that provides the training facility in Asia.

"We are excited to have Maximus as the first training facility in Asia to be offering RenderMan Certified Training. Also of note is that Mithun, the Tech Head at Maximus is the first Certified Pixar's RenderMan instructor in Asia. This further strengthens our relationship with Aditya Infotech, as we expand the distribution relationship in to the education market", said Peter Moxom, worldwide RenderMan Channels Head, Pixar Animation Studios.

NNE caught up with Mithun to understand more on the courses front.

In conversation with Mr. Mithun Pangal, tech head, Maximus on becoming the first Certified Pixar's RenderMan Instructor in Asia, here are the excerpts:

Q. Can you tell us what RenderMan is?

RenderMan is the rendering solution developed by Pixar Animation Studios. It is the most widely used rendering solution in the area of Film Visual Effects and Animation with Projects like Finding Nemo. The Incredibles, Ratatouile, Happy Feet, Lord of Rings, King Kong, the Golden Compass, Wall-E and many more. In fact, 80 percent of the world's film visual effects are rendered on RenderMan. You can say that virtually every movie that has won Oscar for Visual Effects was done using RenderMan Technology.

Q. Do production houses use RenderMan in India?

Yes, production houses like Prana, VCL, BiG Animation, Red Chillies, Nipuna and many others use RenderMan as the rendering solution in their pipes. Roadside Romeo, the first big budget 3D feature in India from Disney/Yashraj has been entirely rendered on RenderMan at VCL. Many other studios are on the verge of adopting RenderMan as their rendering solution.

Q. Is RenderMan a stand alone application as a plug-in?

It is both the introductory product RenderMan for Maya is basically a plug-in and advanced level product. RenderMan studio is a perfect suite of applications connected via RFM pro plug-in which is very advanced and used- friendly, helps artists and technicians to achieve world class quality output.

Q. Can you tell us about the education plans of Maximus on RenderMan?

Maximus has designed various RenderMan course modules that we have announced. The courses have three level - Fundamentals, where candidates learn about the history the evolution of the most powerful rendering technology, including lot of facts and stories about the legends like Ed Catmull, Loren Carpenter and Rob Cook; Intermediate, where candidate learn RenderMan studio and finally in Advanced level they learn the RenderMan Shading Language.

Q. Who should learn RenderMan?

Professionals who understand the whole production pipeline and a 3D application and are looking forward to upgrade themselves to a higher level should learn RenderMan. Also production houses who want their teams to be geared up with the best rendering technology to give the right look and feel should do the same.

Q. What kind of hard work is required to use RenderMan?

RenderMan is a much optimized technology so usually it doesn't require too much of hardware assets, even a normal desktop with basic configuration running Maya property can run RenderMan effectively.