The Foundry's lighting package is quickly moving to become the industry standard package for high-end visual effects houses worldwide.
KATANA, The Foundry's commercially available software, which was originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI) is becoming the solution of choice, not just for large studios like SPI, Digital Domain, ILM and The Moving Picture Company, but also for smaller mid-sized studios and boutique facilities.
Showing a truly global presence, the list of clients now also includes Mikros Image in Paris, Fido in Stockholm, Newbreed Visual Effects in Montreal and most recently the famous Tippett Studio in Emeryville, CA. Other facilities to pick up KATANA this year include LAIKA, SPIN VFX, MPC and Reliance MediaWorks.
Why did they adopt?
Sanjay Das, CTO at Tippett Studio comments: We really looked at KATANA as a game changer for us. Pipeline is key to our operation and we need to push shots through it fast. KATANA fits the mentality of the way we work. It provides us with industrial strength architecture and is a great foundation to which we can add our own tools. Once integrated, it will replace around 50% of our existing pipeline and in the long term we expect it will improve our efficiency by at least 20%. This kind of streamlining means that KATANA will literally pay for itself.
Mikros is already using KATANA on the CG feature, Astrix and the Land of the Gods.
Fabrice Macagno, CTO at Mikros Image comments: KATANA is going to help us to have a more pragmatic approach to the lighting pipeline and at the same time we expect for it to give lighting artists a smoother and a more intuitive working environment, especially with the node based workflow. With KATANA in our pipeline, we will be able to handle large datasets to work in a full asset driven lighting workflow in a collaborative context and to improve the tools available to lighting artists.
Newbreed in Montreal and Fido in Stockholm are two of the growing number of boutique sized studios to pick up KATANA.
Hubert Maston, CG supervisor, Newbreed Visual Effects comments: KATANA fulfilled all of our principal requirements regarding look development and lighting work and was very easy to integrate. KATANA helps artists to spend all of their time working on what is most important; the final image. And this only results in better looking pictures. KATANA has been a fantastic accelerator in our pipeline development schedule, and enables us to handle volume and complexity in much more efficient manner, and by extension increase our productivity. It makes us able to tackle much more complex work, and much bigger volumes than in the past.
Newbreed will be using KATANA on the upcoming Alex Aja directed feature film, Horns, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Fredrik Limster, CTO at Fido in Stockholm comments: KATANA is the missing piece to our 3D pipeline puzzle, and is now the tool that glues together all our different 3D departments such as animation, hair and cloth, FX and lighting. The asset based workflow fits extremely well into our pipeline. We have been able to easily integrate our production and asset management with KATANA and have our artists pulling assets from FTrack, our asset management system. The ability to manipulate a scene graph on demand is a huge benefit to our lighters.
The Foundry is continuing its rapid development of KATANA and continues to look at ways of pushing KATANA to its limits.
Bill Collis, CEO at The Foundry comments: KATANA has been undergoing rapid in-house development at The Foundry. Its widespread adoption at a range of facilities is testament to the quality of the software. The way KATANA streamlines and simplifies the process within facilities is really changing the way that teams are working to deliver lighting and CG elements. Artists find it easier, more intuitive and less frustrating and facilities are discovering the cost benefits of choosing a package that ends up paying for itself in a relatively short period of time. The organisational structure KATANA enforces allows them to reduce costs and become more efficient than ever before. KATANA is not just for big studios. Take the KATANA survey and find out if KATANA is an ideal solution for you.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
The Foundry's lighting package is quickly moving to become the industry standard package for high-end visual effects houses worldwide. 
