I have no experience with moonray, but it being a render, the answer would be.. No.
The renderer is only one piece of the entire animated movie production pipeline.
Modeling -> Texturing ~ rigging /Animation -> post processing effects -> rendering - > video editing
That's a simplified view of the visual part of producing a short or long cgi film
It is a lot of knowledge to aquire so a production team is likely made of specialists and sub specialists (lighting?) working to a degree together.
The best achieving software, especially given its affordability is likely Blender. Other tools lile cinema4d, Maya and of course 3d smax are also pretty good all in one products that cover the whole pileline, although pricey.
Start with modeling, then texturing, then animation. Etc. Then dive into the slice that attracts you the most. Realistically you aren't going to ship a professional grade film so you may as well just learn what you love, and who knows perhaps one day become a professional and appear in the long credit name list at the end of a Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks hit.
> Modeling -> Texturing ~ rigging /Animation -> post processing effects -> rendering - > video editing
In animation (and VFX), editing comes at the beginning. Throwing away frames (and all the work done to create them) is simply too expensive. Handles (the extra frames at the beginning and start of a shot) are usually very small. I'd say <5 frames.
Also modeling & texturing and animation usually happen in parallel. Later, animation and lighting & rendering usually happen in parallel as well.
Are there books that teach people about the sorts of systems used to make animated movies? I’ve seen game engine books and the like. Physically based rendering is on my list, but I wonder if there are other interesting reads I’m missing.
Yes, classic book where from 90's like "The Renderman Companion" or "Advanced RenderMan", and then there is toolings books, for each tool. I used to own many Maya books and 3DS Max books.
The renderer is only one piece of the entire animated movie production pipeline.
Modeling -> Texturing ~ rigging /Animation -> post processing effects -> rendering - > video editing
That's a simplified view of the visual part of producing a short or long cgi film
It is a lot of knowledge to aquire so a production team is likely made of specialists and sub specialists (lighting?) working to a degree together.
The best achieving software, especially given its affordability is likely Blender. Other tools lile cinema4d, Maya and of course 3d smax are also pretty good all in one products that cover the whole pileline, although pricey.
Start with modeling, then texturing, then animation. Etc. Then dive into the slice that attracts you the most. Realistically you aren't going to ship a professional grade film so you may as well just learn what you love, and who knows perhaps one day become a professional and appear in the long credit name list at the end of a Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks hit.