Even if you aren't taking these classes, you can sign up for a free non-commercial license for Render Man. It comes with the full feature-set of the commercial

Even if you aren't taking these classes, you can sign up for a free non-commercial license for Render Man. It comes with the full feature-set of the commercial version and there aren't any academic attendance requirements. While Renderman can also be installed on Linux, I can't personally vouch for feature parity with the Windows version as I haven't made the comparison myself. Nuke also has a hobbyist license. No watermarking or end date, but there are limitations on output. https://renderman.pixar.com/install https://renderman.pixar.com/install https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke-family/non-commercial https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke-family/non-commercial