In 2025, I helped manage Xencelabs’ partnership with Pixar’s RenderMan team, coordinating our participation around SIGGRAPH and the annual RenderMan Art & Science Fair in Vancouver. The partnership went beyond event sponsorship. Xencelabs supported the RenderMan creative community through hardware, artist collaborations, promotional content, event activation, and prizes for RenderMan’s global Art Challenge.

The Art & Science Fair brought together Pixar artists, engineers, technology partners, and members of the VFX and animation community to showcase emerging rendering technology and creative workflows. During the event, Pixar announced the “First Contact” RenderMan Art Challenge, inspired by Elio

and the 30th anniversary of Toy Story. Xencelabs participated as a supporting partner, providing products for the event and challenge while helping promote the collaboration to our own creative community.

Held during SIGGRAPH 2025, Pixar’s invitation-only Art & Science Fair showcased new RenderMan technology, artist demonstrations, production workflows, and presentations from leaders across Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, Disney Animation, and Disney Research. Xencelabs supported the event with a Pen Display 16 raffle prize and participated in the launch of the new RenderMan Art Challenge.

As part of the partnership, Xencelabs collaborated with DAMN! Vizdev, whose artists incorporated Xencelabs equipment into their creative process while developing stylized artwork using Pixar RenderMan. The making-of video provides a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic process and demonstrates how professional artists combine creative hardware with advanced rendering tools as part of a real production workflow.

Pixar’s RenderMan team also featured DAMN! Vizdev as one of the creative collaborators helping develop and demonstrate RenderMan’s evolving Stylized Looks workflow.

The First Contact Art Challenge became RenderMan’s major global community competition for 2025. Artists were invited to build original work using production-quality assets from Pixar and technology partners while receiving access to professional tools, community mentorship, and industry judging. The challenge attracted 239 participants, 109 submissions and 51 finalists, ultimately recognizing three winners and 15 honorable mentions.

The winning artists were Felix Gourlaouen for Something’s Fishy, Noémie Layre for Starry Eyed, and Elio Humbert for The Patient X. Xencelabs joined companies including AMD, Dell, NVIDIA, Adobe, Foundry, Ozone and others in supporting the challenge with prizes and creative-industry resources.

View the First Contact Art Challenge Winners