Katana 6.0 prioritizes artists’ needs, introducing new features to save time and accelerate creativity

Foundry, the leading developer of creative software for the Media and Entertainment industries, today announces the next major version of its look development and lighting tool, Katana 6.0. This latest release introduces new features, including a Performance tab and Material Solo, to speed up manual tasks and processes unlocking valuable time for artists. 

The release is the third product update from Foundry this December, following Nuke 14.0 and Mari 6.0 respectively. Katana 6.0 aligns with Nuke and Mari on software standards including VFX Reference Platform 2022 and USD 22.05. Beyond Katana 6.0, work is underway to introduce native USD workflows with a shared approach to the new USD-native 3D system in Nuke.

With an increasingly evolved toolset, Katana 6.0 features a new Performance tab so artists can keep track of the scale of their scenes, Material Solo allowing users to easily preview their lookdev and get a better understanding of how every node impacts the final result, and a further extension to look development with LiveShadingGroups. 

Paul Denhard, Senior Product Manager for Look Development and Lighting at Foundry, comments: “Our focus for this release was simple: make it easier and more efficient than ever for artists to work in Katana. These exciting updates are the result of ongoing collaboration with lighting and lookdev artists and we are confident these will help get them to the first pixel quicker without sacrificing visibility and control. We’re excited to see how Katana continues to streamline artists’ workflow and enable creativity, even when producing high volumes of work in a short timeframe.”

The full list of features for Katana 6.0 can be found here. To try or purchase Katana 6.0, contact sales@foundry.com or click here.