Foundry has released Katana 3.5, featuring a redesigned core that reportedly boosts the speed of many operations by up to 30 times.
This release also introduces a new Monitor Layer, allowing users direct interaction with ray-traced renders within the viewer. Additionally, there are enhancements to Katana’s Shading Group mechanism and USD import nodes based on USD 19.11. The USD integration provides a renderer-agnostic set of tools designed to “allow studios to set up, experiment, and build powerful USD production pipelines.” The source code for these plugins is expected to be open-sourced shortly after release.
