Software maker, studio form strategic bond
By DAVID S. COHEN
Variety
June 8, 2009
Lucasfilm and software maker GenArts have formed a strategic relationship aimed at improving visual effects production and vidgame graphics. GenArts makes popular visual effects software, including plug-ins for Autodesk’s Inferno and Flame.
Under the agreement, the two companies will share resources for developing software tools. GenArts engineers will work on-site at Lucasfilm’s San Francisco HQ, building tools as needed to meet the demands of the company’s vfx artists and animators.
Lucas Animation and visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic have adopted GenArts plug-ins as part of their standard compositing pipeline.
“GenArts wanted to get feature-film quality into other areas, like games, and that’s what we’re about at ILM,” said Richard Kerris, ILM’s chief technical officer.
ILM’s only other such strategic relationship is with software giant Autodesk. It’s the first such partnership for GenArts.