Pixar today announced a new version of its Academy Award-winning RenderMan 3D rendering software. RenderMan Pro Server Release 12 offers 3D Baking, volume rendering, significant memory reductions, geometry improvements, shading language improvements, arbitrary output variables, “Rif” filters, OpenEXR support, reduction of ray tracing bias, and dicing camera and strategies. Pixar’s RenderMan Pro Server Release 12 is entering beta now, with the final release expected Q3 2004.