The Foundry Builds a Bridge Between NUKE Compositing & MARI Paint

Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), today announced the latest version of its creative paint and texture tool - MARI 1.3 v2.

Press Release from The Foundry

London – Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), today announced the latest version of its creative paint and texture tool - MARI 1.3 v2.

Now shipping, MARI 1.3v2 delivers a focused workflow to provide NUKE artists with dedicated 3D paint tools, that make digital environment and projection work more efficient and final composited scenes more believable. The new NUKE<>MARI bridge creates an intuitive workflow between two of The Foundry’s leading visual effects software products.

MARI offers the best possible interface and toolset for creating and editing 3D textures. NUKE artists can now access the benefits of MARI the moment they need dedicated paint tools, keeping context of the models, cameras and projections in their compositing scene. By bridging the two toolsets artists immediately benefit from applying the most appropriate tools to the task. This frees them to concentrate on creative and accurate work and removes the pain of manual round-trip and data management, which is now automatically handled for them in the background.

“A NUKE, MARI combination workflow is saving me 20% to 30% of my time creating clean plates” said Brandon Fayette, CG Supervisor and production lead, Bad Robot. “I’ve already completed 14 shots this way and I am really happy with the results.” Brandon has been using a similar workflow for matte paintings; “Combining compositing, 3D modelling and texture painting in the same workflow is just amazing”.

Benefits of the NUKE<>MARI bridge include:• Simple to setup, quick and easy to use – models, projections and images are sent from NUKE to MARI and back in a single step, or over a network when artists need to collaborate, share skills or save time.• Better integration of digital environments and matte paintings – artists can address common and time-consuming challenges faced when using projection techniques to build digital environments:• Manage reference photography and paint seamless 3D projections.• Easily fix warping and stretching artefacts.• In-paint holes and occluded areas, often exposed from adjusted camera views.• Remove unwanted markers and scene objects.• Build invisible set-extensions.• Access to the full NUKE and MARI toolset, each dedicated to the task – gives the artists the best tools and workflow combined, to achieve the best quality results in the shortest time.

MARI Product Manager, Jack Greasley, said, “The NUKE<>MARI bridge makes the process of fixing troublesome, but common, challenges a breeze. The ability to combine NUKE’s powerful procedural work flow and MARI's fluid paint based tools gives the artist the best of both worlds when dealing with previously time consuming digital environment and matte painting issues.”NUKE Product Manager, Jon Wadelton adds, "NUKE compositors who need to be able to paint or modify projections for their 3D models and environments will benefit the most from this workflow. Right now to repaint in NUKE you’re limited to 2D paint. Our new workflow gives you access to MARI’s tailored tool set and allows you to paint directly in a 3D environment.”

MARI 1.3 is available on Linux and Windows. MARI 1.3 is priced at $1,980/ £1,200.

• Watch videos about the Nuke <> MARI workflow here: http://vimeo.com/22989271• Learn more about MARI here:http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/mari/• Learn more about NUKE here:http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/

About The FoundryThe Foundry is a world-leading innovator in visual effects technologies. The UK-based company has established itself as a critical partner to major feature film studios and post production houses worldwide including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Walt Disney Studios, Weta Digital, The Moving Picture Company, Framestore and Digital Domain.

In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry’s development team for the Furnace image processing suite. The company's widely adopted, high-end compositing system Nuke is also based on AMPAS Sci-Tech Award® winning technology.

The Foundry is at the cutting edge of software development, marketing and sales for visual effects software. Its products have facilitated ambitious VFX sequences on numerous “must see” movies such as Avatar, Tron: Legacy, Alice in Wonderland, The King's Speech, 127 Hours and Black Swan.

The Foundry received a Distinguished Honoree medal in The 2010 International Business Awards (‘The Stevies’) as the Most Innovative Company of the Year in Europe. The company was also listed among The Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 and The Guardian’s 2010 Tech Media Invest Top 100.

In March 2011, The Carlyle Group invested a majority stake in The Foundry for an undisclosed sum, following the 2009 management buyout backed by Advent Venture Partners. The Foundry is a fast growing and highly profitable business, and is still run by its original management team led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the company's founders. The company has offices in London and Los Angeles.

Further Information & Images:For further information please visit www.thefoundry.co.uk.