Foundry Unveils Katana 9.0 With Enhanced Native USD Integration

Creative software developer Foundry has officially released Katana 9.0, the latest iteration of its industry-leading 3D lighting and look development toolset. This milestone update centers on deep-rooted native support for Universal Scene Description (USD), empowering artists with unprecedented control over lighting within complex USD-based workflows. By prioritizing ease of integration and high-level scalability, Katana 9.0 ensures that studios can manage massive scenes and maintain rigorous data integrity across their production pipelines without sacrificing creative speed.

"At a time where studios and artists have to deliver higher quality and complexity with less budget and time, USD workflows remain integral to those goals. The feature set in Katana 9.0, including UsdSuperLayer, marks the next evolution in our important native USD journey and provides artists incredible scalability without having to compromise on quality," said Steven Shapiro, Senior Director of Product & Engineering - Katana, Mari and Flix, Foundry.

Bringing industry leading speed and scalability, the UsdSuperLayer features a plugin system that enables users to incorporate proceduralism when needed. Katana 9.0 also includes improved scene management within the UsdSuperLayer, with a flexible and user-friendly interface, enabling artists to add, modify and edit any element from the stage. It treats USD as the source of truth for all properties serving as UI elements, supporting direct edits via Katana's Python API. 

The UsdGaffer node enables artists to easily create and edit lights, alongside curated and intuitive creative tools. They can light an entire sequence at once or fine-tune individual shot lighting, whilst working efficiently in a team. Only the changes made on the UsdGaffer node are stored within the underlying node's layer, making it lightweight and easier to manage.

Additionally, Katana 9.0 features a new UsdMaterial node, a lightweight solution for making quick edits on incoming USD looks or looks converted via KatanaToUsd workflows. It also introduces Hydra 2.0 support (in alpha), continuing Foundry's dedication to standardisation, and providing a framework for both USD and Geolib rendering in a new Hydra 2.0 Viewer.

Katana 9.0 feature highlights include: 
• UsdSuperLayer provides a dynamic, easily scalable framework that is derived from SuperTools and gives direct access to any USD element at the Node Graph level. It provides a foundation for future specialized and custom tools built around USD with huge computational savings as everything is in a single layer, rather than producing a new USD layer for each node. 
• UsdGaffer is Katana's first specialized node based on the UsdSuperLayer, and utilizes all its power. Artists can easily create and modify lights or adopt them from upstream, giving them full flexibility over the lighting of their entire USD stage. Only changes made are stored in UsdGaffer, providing transparency for artists to work collaboratively, and allowing them to work across large setups. The inheritance features also allow users to easily layer their work, as they can with traditional multishot setups using Katana's existing features. 
• UsdMaterial node enables artists to easily create single-shader materials and edit incoming Material setups. 
• New nodes allow artists to easily create Cube, Sphere, Plane, and other basic prim types. 
• Hydra 2.0 (alpha) support provides artists with a preview of how rendering Katana and USD scenes would look in the Hydra 2.0 Viewer tab and connect with your Hydra 2.0 compatible renderer of choice. 

Katana 9.0 is now available to download for customers with an active subscription. For more information and to learn how Katana has been used in production, visit: www.foundry.com/products/katana