Press Release from The Foundry.
Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry, is delighted to announce a new major release of its powerful compositing applications NUKE and NUKEX 6.2.
Now shipping, this release encompasses artist feedback to deliver continued refinements to core operations whilst also incorporating the latest technology to emerge from The Foundry's highly regarded in-house research team. New image-based modeling and projection tools advance artists’ ability to create and use scene geometry in their visual effects.
NUKE 6.2
NUKE 6.2 gets the eagerly anticipated timeline Dope Sheet, making light work of manipulating animation key frames and interactively positioning and trimming read clips. It also brings significant improvement to rendering performance, flip book playback and 2D tracker interaction, along with enhancements to the expression editor and file browser - all core improvements contributing to improved productivity and workflow.
NUKEX 6.2
NUKEX 6.2 adds new image-based modeling tools allowing any artist to easily combine a tracked 3D camera with a selection of 2D image features, automatically creating simple scene geometry. When added to new dense point cloud generation and automatic calibration of projection cameras from 2D images and geometry, NUKEX 6.2 provides new ways to reference and re-apply composited elements more efficiently and realistically into live action scenes.
For those working with CGI rendered elements, NUKEX 6.2 brings Pixar RenderMan Pro Server support to the 3D compositing environment. As an alterative to the in-built scanline renderer, integration with RenderMan aligns NUKE-rendered scenes with the rest of the 3D pipeline, seamlessly matching motion blur and depth of field, whilst providing the compositor with more flexible control of new rendering capabilities such as ray-traced shadows and reflections.
Chris Ford, Business Director RenderMan Pixar, comments ”Nuke and RenderMan exist in the same production ecosystem and compliment each other very well." Said Chris Ford, RenderMan Business Director, at Pixar Animation Studios. "We are delighted that Nuke 6.2 is now able to leverage RenderMan-compatible 3D data facilitating closer integration with pipelines using our software."
The Foundry’s Head of Product Development, Richard Shackleton, says, “This product release arms artists with an improved experience and expanding toolset as they face new visual effects challenges. Core operational improvements compliment the growth of the 3D toolset, allowing compositors to work more efficiently and to create and use scene geometry and external rendering, opening up a whole new level of 3D compositing capability.”
About The FoundryThe Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post-production.
The Foundry has a well-established client base that includes leading visual effects facilities worldwide, such as Warner Bros, The Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain. It is at the cutting edge of software development, marketing and sales for visual effects compositing.
In June 2009 The Foundry announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led by Advent Venture Partners. Advent backed The Foundry’s management team, led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders.
The Foundry is highly profitable and has more than doubled in size in the past two years.
The Foundry’s products support a wide range of award-winning host platforms including After Effects, Autodesk® Media and Entertainment Systems, Avid DS, Nuke, Shake and Final Cut Pro. 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 – and the company now holds two products with AMPAS Sci-Tech Award® winning technology including high-end compositing system Nuke.
In 2010, The Foundry also received a Distinguished Honoree medal in The 2010 International Business Awards (“The Stevies”) as the Most Innovative Company of the Year in Europe – and Simon Robinson, Founder and Chief Scientist, The Foundry, was voted number 52 in Fast Company’s second annual ranking of The 100 Most Creative People in Business.
The Foundry is headquartered in London, and has offices in Los Angeles. For more information please visit: http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/ [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/