The Foundry and Sony Pictures Imageworks are embarking on a technology sharing relationship that they hope will advance vfx and digital production techniques across the industry.
Under the agreement, Sony Pictures Imageworks now adds The Foundry’s industry renowned compositing software, Nuke, to its existing stable of the company’s plug-ins, while The Foundry gains access to a range of Imageworks’ innovative in-house technology including the highly regarded lighting tool, Katana.
The agreement also involves close cooperation going forward. The two companies will work together to ensure the successful use and integration of each other’s technology, and exchange updates and new discoveries.
Sony Pictures Imageworks now joins ILM and Weta Digital as Nuke site license holders.
Bill Collis, The Foundry CEO, said: “It’s highly unusual for software or post production companies to share technologies and that’s what makes our new relationship with Sony Pictures Imageworks so special. There are some exciting ideas we can explore over the coming year, building on Imageworks’ Katana technology and The Foundry’s customer-driven product focus for Nuke to deliver the next generation of compositing software.”
Rob Bredow, chief technology officer at Sony Pictures Imageworks, said: “Imageworks is taking a far more open approach to its technology. Sharing software with a progressive company like The Foundry is an important step for both of our companies. First, it enables Imageworks to provide the best compositing tools to our artists today by adopting Nuke widely into our VFX and animation workflows. And second, The Foundry has a proven track record of taking production proven software and turning it into industry-leading solutions. We’re looking forward to collaborating with The Foundry to help create the next generation of tools leveraging the best of our mutual technologies. We are expecting great things from this relationship to give artists the tools to create even greater imagery.”
