---
title: "RenderMan CheatSheet"
canonical: "https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/RU/384368745/RenderMan%20CheatSheet"
format: markdown
---
Whether you’re new to rendering or coming to RenderMan from another renderer, this cheatsheet will help you get up to speed with the many technical and creative nodes that RenderMan artists have in their shading toolkit.
## Shaders
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Simple Metallic PBR shader | [PxrDisneyBsdf](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542220743) | All CG animations made at Walt Disney Animation Studios use this material model |
| I want to use the shader used at Pixar Animation Studios | [PxrSurface](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542213836) | This is the same material model used in Pixar Animation Studios' feature animation. |
| I want to layer up multiple PxrSurfaces | [PxrLayerSurface](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542216714) | Same as the PxrSurface, but allows for layering driven by layer masks |
| Use ILMs production layering shaders | [LamaSurface](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542220286) | MaterialX Lama is a state of the art material layering system developed at Industrial Light & Magic that introduces a modular approach to building material networks and includes recent shading R&D work on energy conservation and dispersion. |
| I just need a constant material | PxrConstant | A basic constant shader. |
| A shader to apply to volumes, clouds, pyro, and VDBs | [PxrVolume](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542220781) | PxrVolume is a material that can be used to render volumetric effects which can vary wildly in complexity |
| I want to use a hair shader used by Pixar! | [PxrMarschnerHair](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542221154) | PxrMarschner is a material designed to render realistic hair, fur, and fibers. |
| I want to use a Lama hair shader. | [LamaHairChiang](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542219952) | LamaHairChiang is a layerable version of the Pixar Chiang hair shader used in production at Pixar. |
| I want to add displacement to my material | [PxrDisplace](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542221096) | Add this node to the shader output to add displacement to your material |
---
## Texture Loading, tiling & placement
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Load a texture map | [PxrTexture](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542225070) | RenderMan’s version of a texture file load node |
| Triplanar Mapping | PxrRoundCube + PxrMultiTexture | Triplanar mapping of textures |
| HexTiling | PxrHexTile + PxrMultiTexture | Useful when creating large seamless landscapes |
| Adjust the tiling and offset of a Texture map | PxrManifold2d | This node allows artists to place patterns using a 2D solution that typically relies on UVs provided by the artist. |
| Use Metallic PBR maps with RenderMan | [PxrMetallicWorkflow](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224201) | Allows Metallic PBR maps to be used with RenderMan shaders |
---
## Texture Correction
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Turn a color map into b/w map, | [PxrThreshold](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542225099) | Great for creating roughness/breakup maps from diffuse maps |
| Finer adjustments of texture maps | [PxrRemap](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224612) | Allows finer control over the Input, Bias, Gain, and Output values of your textures |
| Color correct a texture | [PxrColorGrade](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223051)
[PxrColorCorrect](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223036) | Adjust the saturation, gain, contrast, and other elements of your textures |
| Adjust Hue, Saturation, and Value of texture | [PxrHSL](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224012) | Adjust the hue, saturation, and value of a given input color. |
| Adjust a texture using a curve | [PxrSplineMap](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224924) | Use this pattern to remap an input to both float and color outputs |
| Bake | [PxrBakeTexture](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542222597) | Bake network patterns to Textures - model needs UVs |
---
## Texture Layering & Blending
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Blend two textures | [PxrBlend](https://rmanwiki-26.pixar.com/space/REN26/19661585/PxrBlend) | Allows two textures to be layered and blended together using various blend modes |
| Blend a stack of up to 8 textures | [PxrLayeredBlend](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224038) | Similar to PxrBlend, but allows for up to 8 textures to be layered and individually blended. |
| Blend textures and their masks. | [PxrLayeredTexture](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224051) | This is useful for adding decals, labels, damage, and more to your texture result. |
---
## Bump & Displacement
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Add a bump to the material network | [PxrBumpMixer](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542222881) | This node provides a modern way to generate and layer bump maps |
| Adjust displacement texture values | [PxrDispTransform](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223359) | This pattern transforms the input displacement values to a customized range of values for the input to PxrDisplace. |
| Create a BumpRoughness map from a b/w bump map | [PxrBumpRoughness](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542222907) | With this pattern, RenderMan automatically switches from a bump map to a roughness value depending on the size of a feature in the camera, |
| Some nodes don’t have NG out, but I want them to contribute to the bump | [PxrRGBtoNG](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224681) | There might be times when you want to create a bump map input to the PxrBumpMixer, but the last node is missing NG OUT. Use this node to convert RGB to NG |
---
## Generators
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Create a solid color | [PxrHSL](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224012) | This node can be used to create a solid color |
| Generate checker pattern | [PxrChecker](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542222962) | PxrChecker computes a simple checkerboard pattern. |
| Generate procedural flakes | [PxrFlakes](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223474) | Making car paints or metallic shaders? Use PxrFlakes to add specular variety. |
| Procedural Fractal Noise | [PxrFractal](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223600) | Fractal noises are useful for all sorts! |
---
## Randomization
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Randomize texture outputs per object, name, or ID | [PxrVary](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542225490) | Useful for random roughness, diffuse, and manifold placement per instance or duplicates |
| Randomly assign textures to many objects | [PxrRandomTextureManifold](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542224582) | PxrRandomTextureManifold with PxrMultiTexture to assign random textures to many objects. |
| Blend textures and their masks | PxrLayeredTexture | This is useful for adding decals, labels, damage, and more to your texture result. |
| Bake | PxrManifold2d | |
---
## Edge Detection
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I want to create procedural edge masks and breakup | [PxrCurvature](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223097) | This is a practical and straightforward pattern for creating edge effects and curvature-based results like wear on edges and objects in contact with other surfaces. |
| I want to add dust and dirt into the crevices. | [PxrDirt](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223198) | PxrDirt renders local geometric occlusion. This is useful for applying shading effects to nooks and crevices. |
| I want Wireframe renders | [PxrWireframe](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542225547) | This pattern is meant to draw geometry wireframes as a pattern assignment. |
| Detect the facing ratio of geometry | [PxrFacingRatio](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542223459) | Useful for all sorts, including procedural edge dirt and crafting light bulb emission. |
---
## Lights
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Use a HDRI map with RenderMan | [PxrDomeLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542226975) | In much of visual effects and animation work, scenes are primarily lit through a High Dynamic Range Image or HDRI. |
| Use a dynamic Sun / Sky environment | [PxrEnvDayLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542227181) | Daylight simulations are helpful when you want a quick and easy setup for exterior lighting. |
| Rect or Area light | [PxrRectLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542225952) | This one-sided area light simulates a rectangular-shaped light source. |
| Disc-shaped Light | [PxrDiscLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542226613) | This one-sided area light simulates a disk-shaped light source. |
| Sphere-shaped Light | [PxrSphereLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542227440) | This area light simulates point and spherical-shaped light sources, such as light bulbs, headlamps, and more. |
| Cylinder or tube-shaped light | [PxrCylinderLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542226291) | Its usage includes illuminating objects, simulating commercial lighting used in many buildings, linear lights, fluorescent lights, and light panels. This is also used for making lightsabers. |
| Distant, infinite, or sun/moon directional light | [PxrDistantLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542227947) | This infinite light simulates a bright, distant light source, like the sun or the moon. This light bathes the entire scene and treats the light as if the rays are parallel by default. |
| Portal Light | [PxrPortalLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542228147) | Since lighting interiors with little or no direct lighting is difficult for a renderer to resolve, portal lights help direct the renderer's attention to the exterior source of light. |
| Create AOVs for shot-specific masks | [PxrAovLight](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542228318) | Allows a lighting artist to output an AOV (Area of Interest) mask. Since it is a "light", we can use light linking as well as light filter(s) to modify the output mask. |
## Light Filters
| **Action** | **RenderMan Node** | **Uses** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Add advanced spotlight and barn door features to a light | [PxrBarnLightFilter](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542228360) | The PxrBarnLightFilter enables us to create physically accurate window barns that simulate real set lighting with correct shadowing. |
| Add a Cookie or gobo texture to the light, like in a projector or pretend window shadows | [PxrCookieLightFilter](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542228829) | PxrCookieLightFilter projects a painted texture in front of the light. |
| Block light from the selected light in certain areas of your scene | [PxrRodLightFilter](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542229813) | PxrRodLightFilter uses a "rod" like object to block light. |
| Adjust the exposure of selected light in certain areas of your scene | [PxrIntMultiLightFilter](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542229435) | This is very useful when you want to isolate a particular asset(s) from the rest of the scene that has different intensity/exposure. |