Katana 3.6 raises the bar on traditional workflows with powerful UI updates

VFX Online June 17, 2020, 6:56 am 1.8k Views

Katana 3.6 raises the bar on traditional workflows with powerful UI updates

London, 16 June 2020 – Foundry, the leading developer of creative software for the Media and Entertainment and Digital Design industries, today releases Katana 3.6.

This latest version features fundamental UI and workflow updates with artist-focused snapping functionality that accelerates tasks like light placement. The new Katana 3.6 enjoys the advancements included in 3Delight NSI 2.0, featuring a powerful toon shading toolset, overhauled live rendering, and powerful new texturing tools

The new Network Material Edit node provides a new UX on top of Katana’s industry leading procedural shading workflows. Existing network materials can be edited with minor tweaks or whole new sections of node graph allowing procedural shot based edits. Changes are captured in a color coded UI that clearly document all changes made by any artist facilitating collaboration and subsequent edits..

Katana 3.6 highlights include:

Snapping in the Hydra powered viewer is just one of many features that have been developed with the specific needs of lighting and look development challenges in mind. Thanks to intuitive visual clues including wireframe, object outline, and face and edge highlighting artists know exactly how they are managing objects.

The new Material Edit node combines the basis of Katana 3.2’s UI work with the powerful, procedural functionality of the legacy Network Material Splice and Network Material Parameter Edit tools. It offers a natural and intuitive workflow to artists familiar with the Network Material node graph, and a powerful new UX tboosting procedural power across entire look development and lighting teams.

Dockable Widgets are a key update to its UI with a new modular system, providing the ability to use Dockable areas on the top, bottom, left and right of the UI.

3Delight NSI 2.0 features a powerful toon shading workflow which can now leverage all the benefits of Katana’s bulk asset look development and sequence based lighting, plus overhauled live rendering and powerful new tools for texture-based look development.

Jordan Thistlewood, Director of Product – Pre-production, Look Development & Lighting, Foundry comments:

“Katana 3.6 represents another release that brings us closer to Foundry’s vision of the digital cinematography platform of the future. The work on tools like Snapping is more than just a tool to itself, it is the foundation of much more to come in the future. The new Network Material Edit tool demonstrates our commitment to artist focused UX even in complex production scenarios.

Whether an artist is tasked with Look Development or Lighting they can rest assured that Katana is a tool that is being developed to empower them to do their best work. Studios can invest in Katana, confident on the return in their ability to handle increased volumes of production or complexity, raise the quality bar, and control team sizes. Given a track record that spans over a decade of the toughest projects and our plans for 2020 and beyond, Katana is going from strength to strength .”

The full list of features for Katana 3.6 can be found here. To try or purchase Katana 3.6 contact .

About Katana

Katana® is an asset-based approach to look development and lighting that gives you the creative scope and scalability to meet the needs of the most demanding CG projects.

For more information visit https://www.foundry.com/products/katana

About Foundry

Foundry develops creative software for the digital design, media and entertainment industries. With a 20-year heritage and a portfolio of award-winning products, Foundry advances the art and technology of visual experience in partnership with creative leaders around the globe.

Clients and partners include major feature film studios and post-production houses such as Pixar, ILM, MPC, Walt Disney Animation, Weta Digital, DNEG, and Framestore as well as automotive, footwear, apparel and technology companies such as Mercedes, New Balance, Adidas and Google. Foundry partners with these companies to solve complex visualization challenges to turn incredible ideas into reality.

The company’s products are used to create breathtaking visual effects sequences on a wide range of feature films, video-on-demand, television and commercials. Foundry software was integral in the making of every VFX Oscar-winning film, award-winning TV shows and commercials for more than a decade.

Founded in 1996, Foundry is headquartered in London, with over 300 employees and a presence in the US, China, Japan, Australia and Europe. In 2019, the London Stock Exchange named Foundry one of the “1000 Companies to Inspire Britain.” It regularly features in The Sunday Times’ Tech Track as one of Britain’s fastest-growing private technology companies.