Courses

Proceduralism is a powerful concept in computer graphics. It facilitates scenes of enormous scale, exquisite varieties of detail, and impressive efficiency. However, artists who are fluent in procedural techniques are still rare, and many studios miss out on the possibilities that this exciting field offers. This course explores how to create procedural shaders without programming, using Pixar's industry standard renderer, RenderMan, and its Autodesk Maya-based front-end, RenderMan Studio.
The first section of the course is an overview of RenderMan, its history, use in the industry, important features, and how it works. Topics include the Reyes pipeline and how it has helped to create some of the most impressive visuals in computer graphics, and proceduralism: its pros and cons, both in general and as it applies to shading.

The second section is a live demonstration of how to create a procedural animated shader for an orange that ages over time, from unripe to fresh to old and dusty. The demo begins with a sphere in Maya, then shows how to create all the detail using a shading network in RenderMan Studio. No textures are used. The look is created entirely with noise, splines, displacement, and more! Finally, the course presents examples of how the techniques used in shading the orange apply in industry and beyond.