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Foundry supports learning and development with free version of Mari

Mari Non-commercial 3D texture painting software will allow artists to learn at their own pace.

Free 3d painting and texturing software from Foundry

Leading creative software developer Foundry has today announced the launch of Mari Non-commercial. The free, non-watermarked version of the company’s Academy Award®-winning 3D texture painting software allows artists to work on personal projects and learn at their own pace.

With our non-commercial products, we want to give artists all the time they need to get familiar with the software. They can work on personal projects such as making their demo reels stand out from the crowd, or simply use our extensive free tutorials to thoroughly learn the software—for as long as it takes.

Andy Whitmore, Chief Product Officer at Foundry

Mari Non-commercial enables artists to use intuitive paint tools to texture 3D meshes for VFX, animation and games projects directly in the 3D environment, and offers powerful layering, adjustments, procedurals and advanced masking. With access to professional-level features and workflows for an unrestricted timespan, artists can hone their talent and gain experience that will help them develop the skills top entertainment studios seek out in their 3D texture artists.

“Having a non-commercial version of any of the tools we use (and Mari is one of the important ones) is the best idea you could ever come up with,” says Laurent Taillefer, CG supervisor at Atomic Fiction.

“When we hire people on our teams, something I pay a lot of attention to is how autonomous they are; for someone to be autonomous, having access to a non-commercial version at home is the best way. You just install it, start to work, develop your skills, consider your questions, find out what’s not working for you—so when you meet professional artists, you know exactly what to ask, you know exactly what you need to work on, and then you can just become a better artist.”

Mari is the second product that the company has offered for non-commercial use at no cost to artists; it has previously made its Nuke® compositing, editorial and review software available in the same manner.