Leading visual effects software company The Foundry announces the latest release of its creative paint and texture tool - MARI 1.2.
Press Release from The Foundry
London – 25th January 2011. – Leading visual effects software company The Foundry announces the latest release of its creative paint and texture tool - MARI 1.2.
Now shipping, MARI 1.2 adds Python integration, Fractal Noise Tools, Texture Mirroring and new Shader tools as well as improved detection and support for GPUs.
Support for Python 2.6.5 allows users to produce scripts that seamlessly integrate MARI into their workflow.
Texture Mirroring is useful for painting UV assets and, when combined with the two new fractal noise tools, can be used to add natural looking detail quickly and easily.
A new Levels Filter allows you to change the colour levels in paint, and new shader modules have been added for masked bump and improved Normal mapping.
MARI Product Manager, Jack Greasley, said, “The Foundry has seen huge interest in MARI and it has had a significant uptake from artists within cutting edge facilities. We have consulted in detail with these users and the new features in MARI 1.2 are a result of our initial consultations and customised engineering solutions. We will continue to develop MARI collaboratively so we can ensure it evolves to meet the needs of textures artists.”
Fredrik Sundqvist, CG Supervisor at Baseblack, said, “We were immediately very impressed by how well MARI handles multiples of very big textures. It looks like a piece of software that has actually been designed in close cooperation with artists. We thought at last here's a 3D paint package that might do away with the need for Photoshop.”
Martin Preston, Framestore, adds, “One of the many reasons that Framestore like Mari is that it allows us to smoothly integrate texture painting into our pipeline. This most recent release of Mari has meant we've been able to place our asset management & publishing tools directly into the UI, so our texture painters lives get easier, and the pipeline gets simpler. Everyone wins!"
MARI continues to follow an aggressive development roadmap into 2011 with support for Ptex to follow this summer.
For more information on MARI or to download a fully functioning 15 day demo license visit www.thefoundry.co.uk/mari
There is also a full demo of MARI and much more on our YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/TheFoundryChannel
About The Foundry
The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post-production.
The Foundry has a well-established client base that includes leading visual effects facilities worldwide, such as Warner Bros, The Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain. It is at the cutting edge of software development, marketing and sales for visual effects compositing.
In June 2009 The Foundry announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led by Advent Venture Partners. Advent backed The Foundry’s management team, led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders.
The Foundry is highly profitable and has more than doubled in size in the past two years.
The Foundry’s products support a wide range of award-winning host platforms including After Effects, Autodesk® Media and Entertainment Systems, Avid DS, , Nuke, Shake and Final Cut Pro. In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry’s development team for the Furnace image processing suite – and the company now holds two products with AMPAS Sci-Tech Award® winning technology including high-end compositing system Nuke.
The Foundry is headquartered in London, and has offices in Los Angeles. For more information please visit: www.thefoundry.co.uk
