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Foundry launches award-winning software, Katana, for Windows

Katana 2.5 brings greater efficiency to studios of all sizes with new Windows port. Professional look development and lighting tool is now easier to install and supports plug-ins for RenderMan, V-Ray, Arnold and 3Delight.

Foundry's Katana, look and lighting software is now on Windows

Today, Foundry launches the latest update to its professional look development and lighting tool. Responding to customer demand, Katana® 2.5 will offer support for Windows, putting the award-winning tool in front of more artists working in VFX, broadcast and animation.

The new port makes Katana's full toolset available to Windows-based studios, previously unable to take advantage of the famous “lighting recipes”. Additionally, the toolset is easier to install and supports a number of plug-ins including Renderman, V-Ray, Arnold and recently 3Delight.

Foundry is constantly striving to help artists be more creative by providing them with the best software solutions in the industry. Launching on Windows and adding support for more industry-standard renderers is a fantastic example of us giving artists more flexibility to work the way they want.

Andy Whitmore, Chief Product Officer, Foundry

Equally suited to both short and long-form animation and VFX projects, Katana's unique design was created to help artists conquer a notoriously time-consuming process. Used in studios from Industrial Light & Magic and Pixar to Atomic Fiction, Katana allows artists to turn creative lighting setups into “recipes” that can be shared amongst the team, cutting down the time it takes to turn out complicated shots.

“Katana has become the bedrock of our pipeline,” said Kevin Baillie, co-founder at Atomic Fiction. “Big scenes, experimental lighting set-ups, we can throw anything at it and it’ll give us production-ready results that we can share up and down the chain. With timelines getting shorter and shorter, you need tools like Katana around; there’s no other way to get the work done.”