---
title: "Getting Started in Blender"
canonical: "https://rmanwiki-25.pixar.com/space/RFB25/21561946/Getting%20Started%20in%20Blender"
format: markdown
---
![image](media://b0be44b8-7649-448d-bbb7-69ce5ab2ad0d)

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### Loading the Addon

Like any other addon for Blender, RenderMan for Blender can be loaded/enabled from the Preferences (Edit→Preferences), under the Addons tab. 

![image](media://f2f64c19-1312-446a-8a78-1c32c847f1a3)

  
  


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### Finding RenderMan Pro Server

As mentioned in the [installation](https://renderman.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RFB25/pages/21561948) docs, RenderMan for Blender requires RenderMan Pro Server (RPS) to be installed on your machine. How the addon finds RPS can be set in the preferences:

![image](media://d274e199-5a39-4cce-a1b6-9c6a39007332)

Changing **RenderMan Location** to **Choose From Installed** will allow you to select from the ones that are installed in the default location. You can also set it to **Set Manually** and manually set the location of RPS. The default is to consult the **RMANTREE** environment variable. Any changes to this will require a restart of Blender.

The addon will try a couple of different fallbacks if one of the methods fails. Here's the order of operations:

- First, try and find based on your preference.
- If the choice from installed or set manually has failed, we fallback on consulting the **RMANTREE** environment variable
- If the preference was to consult **RMANTREE **and that failed, we fallback to try and detect the latest version found in the default installation path


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### Your First Render

To start rendering with RenderMan, change the current Render Engine setting to RenderMan Render.  
  


**To do that you can either:**

1. Use the handy Use RenderMan shortcut in the object context menu. Right-click in the viewport and select Use RenderMan.

![image](media://9bdefcd4-ff86-4b45-a02d-16453bc61274)


2. Or change it from the render properties panel

![image](media://39369836-a7f4-49c1-8713-b1df50d83ca4)


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To render, you can click on the Render button in the render properties panel, or use the Render shortcut from the object context menu in the viewport:

![image](media://44166356-db15-453b-8ddc-c3f989697f48)

![image](media://759eed26-821f-418c-9b27-b842c28ed04a)


Your render should appear in the Blender render window.

Alternatively, you can also render to RenderMan's "[/wiki/spaces/REN20/pages/21561593](https://renderman.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/REN20/pages/21561593)" framebuffer by changing the **Render To** setting from "Blender" to "it".