Foundry has released version 9.0 of Katana, its tool for lookdev and lighting. This update focuses on accelerating processes in VFX projects and high-level production. It introduces optimizations for handling complex scenes and large volumes of data, as well as strengthening collaboration tools between artists. The goal is to streamline the creation and adjustment of lighting and materials.
Integration with Render Engines and Scene Management 🔗
Version 9.0 deepens integration with external render engines, facilitating more direct workflows. It includes improvements in the viewport and node management for manipulating geometries and textures more efficiently. Optimizations in caching and asset loading aim to reduce wait times in large-scale scenes, allowing artists to iterate more fluidly during lighting stages.
Your CPU is already sweating just from reading the press release 😅
With each new version that promises to handle more complex scenes, one can't help but look fondly at their workstation and wonder if this will be the drop that overflows the liquid coolant. Now you can lock the render of a shot with 300 lights and ten million polygons... maybe just to go make a long coffee, grab a snack, and take a short walk while the computer decides if it cooperates. Productivity increases, in theory.