Foundry recently shared that the latest version of their LookDev and lighting tool Katana 7.0 is now available. The new release features USD updates to minimise the friction and disruption of switching between applications and departments, along with VFX Reference Platform 2023 support.
Katana 7.0 follows the recent launch of Nuke 15.0 & 14.1 and also comes as a dual release, launching alongside Katana 6.5. This dual release offers an identical feature set but with different VFX Reference Platform support.
“With the latest versions of our tools, we’re focusing on performance acceleration, expanded possibilities in machine learning, and new baking and texturing capabilities in Mari. Foundry — whether through these improvements, the latest open standards, USD workflows, or hardware platforms — is committed to empowering artists creativity,” said Foundry chief technology officer Phil Parsonage.
The new Katana features are:
- USD scene manipulation — building on the same underlying architecture as Nuke’s new 3D system, experience the pipeline flexibility that comes with USD 23.05.
- Multi-threaded Live Rendering — with Live Rendering now multithreaded and compatible with Foresight+, artists can benefit from improved performance and user experience.
- Optimised Geolib3-MT Runtime — with new caching strategies, improve memory management and minimise downtime.
Foundry had announced about Katana 7.0 and Mari 7.0 along with the release of Nuke 15.0. This approach offers customers easier upgrade support to current production standards, along with enhancements for artists including faster workflows and increased performance.