MoPA at the RenderMan Challenge 2025: an outstanding showing with 14 finalists and 3 honorable mentions

This artistic and technical challenge, open to professionals and artists from around the world, brought together 239 participants and 109 submitted entries. After several weeks of intensive work centered on the theme “First Contact”—a free and creative interpretation of an encounter with the unknown, inspired by the Pixar universe—51 finalists were selected.

A strong presence for MoPA

We are particularly proud to announce that 14 of our fourth-year students from the 3D Animation Film program – Image specialization were among these 51 finalists. Their selection highlights not only a high level of artistic excellence, but also a sophisticated technical mastery of RenderMan, Pixar’s rendering engine used in major international productions.

This strong representation underscores the quality of MoPA’s training in modeling, shading, lighting, and rendering, as well as our students’ ability to take on ambitious creative challenges on the international stage.

Honorable mentions for three of our talents

Among these finalists, three MoPA students received an Honorable Mention from the jury—an achievement that recognizes the excellence of their visual and narrative proposals in an extremely competitive contest.

Honorable Mentions are awarded to works that, while not among the top three prize winners, stand out for their creativity, artistic vision, and technical quality.

A demanding and educational competition

The RenderMan Art Challenge is judged on criteria combining storytelling, composition, texturing/shading, and final lighting/rendering, reflecting the standards of a professional production pipeline.

Participants work with models provided by prestigious partners (Adobe, KitBash3D, Greyscalegorilla, Ozone, and Pixar) and must build their entire scene within the RenderMan engine, regardless of the software used (Maya, Blender, Houdini, etc.).

Congratulations to our students

Warm congratulations to the 14 MoPA finalists, and especially to the three students awarded an Honorable Mention! Their creativity, rigor, and artistic sensitivity allowed MoPA to be proudly represented in this highly demanding international context.

A special congratulations to:

Mathieu JEAN, Damien DECHAUD, Clémence DE MACEDO, Lisa LARSONNEUR, Manon GOLIRO, Luca ARCIDIACONO, Lino HERMELOUP, Thibaud DEPROST, Nolwenn CHAUFOUR, Pauline NULLANS, Gaëlle CONRAUX, Tiphaine MAILLARD, Lou FERCHAUD et Angel SALMERON.

We look forward to seeing how this experience will enrich their careers and propel their future creative projects.

Discover the full Renderman Challenge rankings

Article banner credit: Lisa LARSONNEUR