..well thats what I am trying to setup. I want to be able to export RenderMan compliant RIB files from Maya 8.5 with shaders. I have a final year project coming up and will have about 600 Hours of rendertime to try and push through in a week. I am looking at a few different options LiquidMaya and MentalRIB.

As for the renderer itself, Im leaning towards Pixie or Aqsis