Some big news for the Mac came through London today to Architosh. One of the leading 3D software houses worldwide, UK-based The Foundry, announced the release of MARI for the Mac. This follows on an announcement the company made back in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference where an early release was shown to the audience.
One of the cool things about the announcement back at WWDC 2013 was that MARI for the Mac was demoed on the new Mac Pro in a special session about that new hardware.
About MARI
MARI is a 3D digital painting application that was originally developed by Weta Digital, a company that took off in the film industry during the making of Peter Jackson’s stellar three-film series “The Lord of the Rings.”
01 – The Foundry presenting MARI for OS X at Apple’s 2013 WWDC, special session on the new Mac Pro.
Weta Digital created MARI to enable the groundbreaking visuals on James Cameron’s hit film “Avatar,” one of the lushest and most advanced visual effects films in recent years. MARI is production proven and was designed to meet the needs of even the most challenging VFX projects. The Foundry took over development of MARI back in 2010 and released MARI 1.0 to the public and industry in July of that year. Today the software is widely used in the film industry and beyond.
MARI 2.x for OS X
Back in March of 2013 The Foundry released MARI 2, a revolutionary version of the software. It featured a brand new, artist-friendly layer system that presents a similar working environment for users of Adobe Photoshop and other layer-based paint tools.
02 – MARI for the Mac will be a key release for 3D studios who use Foundry products and would like to incorporate the new Mac Pro into their pipelines.
MARI was used in 9 out of 10 films shortlisted for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award for the 2013 Oscars, including “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Avengers” and “Prometheus.”
MARI for the Mac is at version 2.5 and is available now on all platforms. The Foundry is offering a special 25 percent discount on MARI on all platforms. Pricing with the discount is $1,495.USD.
For artists really looking to get their teeth into MARI, The Foundry is running an exciting texturing challenge on CG Society until 15 December 2013. The best entries will be competing for a prize pool of nearly 28,000.USD. Artists can enter the challenge here.
To learn more about MARI for the Mac go here.