Foundry continues pushing the boundaries of cloud-based VFX with updates to Athera platform

Foundry today announces a series of innovative updates to its cloud-based visual effects (VFX) platform, Athera. Artists can now use any application with any compatible machine profile and use their existing Foundry licenses in the cloud, making Athera even more affordable and easy to access.

Athera enables VFX studios and freelancers to move their entire pipeline to the cloud, giving users on-demand and flexible access to their preferred industry tools such as Nuke, Katana and Mari from Foundry, Houdini from SideFX, and Blender.

Since Athera’s launch in April 2018, Foundry has continued to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to understanding and anticipating customer needs by introducing a range of improvements that will substantially change how artists access and collaborate on Athera.

As part of this, Foundry has introduced a key update to provide artists with even more flexibility in their choice of applications, as well as greatly improved control over costs. Users can now mix and match any application with any compatible machine profile prior to launching an Athera session. This allows users to supercharge their Athera sessions with a more powerful machine when needed, and to dial down costs for day-to-day work.

Foundry is also seeking customers wanting to engage in a proof of concept to deliver projects using the cloud. Please email contact@athera.io for more details.

Matthieu Mazerolle, Senior Product Manager at Foundry, commented:

“These updates are all about empowering artists and studios to make infrastructure more easy, affordable and available. They will enable artists to push the boundaries of their creativity by giving them greater control over the tools they use. We are continuously looking at ways to raise the bar of what’s achievable in VFX cloud technology and are looking forward to seeing the results of our latest developments.”

Marc Morissette, Director and VFX Supervisor at Cluster Films, commented:

“Athera is the future of VFX production for us, offering flexibility and expansion on demand. It will give us unique insight into our efficiency as a company and we will be able to track employee performance and adapt this data to employee training. Very exciting!”

For more information, visit www.athera.io