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The Foundry Unveils COLORWAY

New app accelerates the creative design process, giving users access to a simple environment where they can develop and share various iterations of 3D objects and scenes.

London -- Creative software developer The Foundry has unveiled COLORWAY, a brand-new application that speeds up and changes the process of iterating on and finalizing an image.

COLORWAY accelerates the creative design process, giving users access to a simple environment where they can develop looks of 3D objects and scenes and then share a selection of iterations with clients.

The COLORWAY ecosystem also includes COLORWAY Presenter, a free desktop app that lets clients pick the images they prefer and make real-time changes, allowing for instant feedback on designs.

A COLORWAY kit for MODO, to let users import and export their COLORWAY files into the main app, is available today. A kit compatible with Maxon’s Cinema4D will be available soon.

How does it work?

  1. Using the COLORWAY kit, users can export a .DCI file into the main COLORWAY app.
  2. Once in COLORWAY they have creative freedom to quickly experiment with their looks and finalise a selection of configurable scenes.
  3. They can then send those files over to a client or colleague working in the COLORWAY Presenter app.
  4. The COLORWAY Presenter user can tweak to find their favourite variation of the image, before sending their chosen looks back to COLORWAY.
  5. All color, texture and light changes stored in the signed-off looks can then be sent directly back from COLORWAY to the source 3D application in the .DCI file for final rendering.

“The process of creating a final look in 3D can be slow and frustrating for designers and clients. Simple changes involve round tripping back into a 3D application for time consuming re-rendering,” comments COLORWAY Product Manager Matt Brealey. “With COLORWAY these barriers are removed, enabling artists with the ability to make almost limitless real-time changes to an image.”

Why COLORWAY?

  • Iterative workflow - Make almost limitless changes to a 3D scene's colors, textures, decals and even lighting set-ups.
  • Realtime, GPU powered updates - Make instant changes without the need to re-render. Changes to renderings are stored independently of the source image.
  • Virtual lookbook - Save multiple image variations and ‘looks’, enabling clear downstream communication and design review.
  • Share ideas - Send desired configurations to the free COLORWAY Presenter app.
  • Finalize the image - COLORWAY Presenter lets clients iterate on images choosing from options defined in the full COLORWAY app.

“COLORWAY will really change the way I work as a designer and make my life so much easier for sure,” comments 3D designer Tomasz Lechociński. “For me the best thing about it is being able to make live changes to lights, which allows me to test many different lighting scenarios in no time at all. It's so much fun that I spend a lot of time just playing around with different light colors. The instant feedback is amazing.”

"Changing the colors, textures, and materials is particularly straightforward, which makes it an invaluable app for use at a wide range of companies -- both by 2D artists refining their renders and by 3D departments,” Lechociński continues. “With COLORWAY Presenter, I can also get rapid feedback from clients, which helps me to quickly understand exactly what they want, and they love it because they get to experiment like artists themselves!”

 “This application is not for one specific industry. It could be used in fashion design to pitch a range of shoe colors and textures to a marketing team, or maybe by an interior designer to show an alternate lighting environment or the grey wall versus the blue,” The Foundry’s Brealey continues. “The scene becomes as customizable as you decide to make it when you first render it out of 3D. Once it’s in COLORWAY, the possibilities are endless and lightning fast.”

A COLORWAY kit for MODO, to let users import and export their COLORWAY files into the main app, is available today. A kit compatible with Maxon’s Cinema4D will be available soon.

People keen to try COLORWAY can access a free unrestricted trial today, available until the commercial release later this year.

COLORWAY Presenter and the exporter kits for MODO and Cinema4D are free.

The COLORWAY family are available on both Windows and Mac OSX, with and iOs version of COLORWAY Presenter coming soon.

Source: The Foundry

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.