Foundry

Founded in London in 1996, Foundry develops creative software and production-pipeline tools for visual effects, animation, post-production and virtual production. Its products support artists and technical teams working across feature film, episodic television, commercials, game cinematics and animation.

The company began with digital image-processing plug-ins including Tinder, Furnace and Keylight, then broadened its portfolio around specialist tools for image-making and collaborative production. Its flagship applications include Nuke for node-based compositing, Katana for look development and lighting, Mari for high-resolution 3D texture painting, and Flix for visual story development. Foundry also merged with Luxology in 2012, adding the 3D modelling and rendering application Modo to its history.

Production workflows

Foundry’s software is designed for demanding, pipeline-based creative work. Its capabilities span:

• Node-based compositing and image processing
• 3D texture painting, look development and lighting
• Editorial review and story-development workflows
• Virtual production and in-camera visual effects
• Machine-learning and AI-assisted tools for VFX artists

In 2025, the company launched Nuke Stage for virtual production and ICVFX workflows. It subsequently acquired Griptape, an enterprise generative-AI orchestration developer, in February 2026 as part of its work on agentic AI and machine-learning tools for artist pipelines.

Foundry’s tools have been used across acclaimed visual-effects productions including Avatar, Gravity, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, 1917, Dune and Dune: Part Two. The company operates as part of Roper Technologies’ Application/Network Software segment following Roper’s acquisition of Foundry in 2019.

Alongside commercial licensing, Foundry provides enterprise support and maintenance, pipeline consulting, developer SDK and API access, educational licensing, and training curricula for creative-technology users.