Cambridge, Mass. - GenArts Inc., a provider of visual effects software for the film, television, and video industries, and The Foundry, a visual effects software developer, have entered into a broad strategic alliance. Under the terms of the agreement, GenArts will acquire The Foundry’s Tinder and Tinderbox plug-ins business and the two companies will enter into an arrangement to collaborate to expand the capabilities of the Nuke platform.
GenArts will immediately assume all development, sales, marketing and customer support of Tinder and Tinderbox as they work to breathe new life into the venerable Tinder brand.
The strategic alliance allows the development teams from The Foundry and GenArts to work together to maximize the functionality of their future products. This collaboration opens the door to more effective delivery of new technology as the host platform and plug-in development can be more synchronized, according to a representative.
Janelle Croshaw of Method Studios says: “Host platform development is often independent from the features and schedules of plug-in development. We’re very pleased to see that GenArts and The Foundry understand that the way we use their products is extremely intertwined. This collaboration allows us to provide more seamless solutions to clients as we continue to deliver visual effects that push the limits of our audience’s imagination.”
As part of the alliance, GenArts will become the flagship partner in The Foundry’s new third-party partner program for Nuke. GenArts will have an exclusive co-marketing relationship with The Foundry as a provider of visual effects plug-ins for Nuke and Nuke customers will have the option to install trial versions of GenArts plug-ins on Initial installation.
“The Foundry is very pleased to have come to this new arrangement with GenArts,” says Bill Collis, CEO, The Foundry. “We believe that it’s in the best interest of our customers for Tinder to be looked after by GenArts, while The Foundry concentrates on developing complex, problem-solving, image-processing plug-ins including further work on its award-winning Furnace and Ocula toolsets and new products based on our 3D scene technology. We hope our new third-party program, with GenArts as our first provider, will bring a variety of plug-ins to the attention of Nuke users enabling them to do even more within the platform.”