Foundry releases Flix 7.0
Foundry has released Flix 7.0, a major update to its heavyweight story development software for animation and visual effects production.
The update restores Flix’s integration with Maya, making it possible for shot layout and previs teams to collaborate with storyboard artists.
The update also introduces a new remote client API for building custom extensions for other apps, and a new metadata system for integration with production-tracking systems.
A ‘collaborative hub’ for story development
Originally developed in-house at Sony Pictures Imageworks, Flix is intended to enable directors, producers and editors to work collaboratively with artists during story development.
The platform provides a central repository for storyboard images scanned in or created in other software – primarily Photoshop and Storyboard Pro – complete with version management.
Flix processes and packages those images, converting them to the size and aspect ratio required for the production, and exporting them as automatically generated storyboards.
For generating animatics, Flix supports roundtripping with Media Composer and Premiere Pro, plus native tools for timing an image sequence to an audio track or recording voiceovers.
The software is split into two separate applications, central server-side hub Flix Server, plus a local client application, Flix Client, used by the artists themselves.
Can now be used with 3D as well as 2D pre-production workflows
Flix 7.0 is a significant update, restoring Flix’s integration with Maya, removed in Flix 6.0 in 2018.
The Maya extension is intended to bridge 2D storyboarding and 3D shot layout workflows, with artists now able to bring Flix panels into Maya to use as references during layout.
Views of the 3D scene can then be sent back to Flix, either as static snapshots, or as Playblasts to Flix to use as animated panels, making it possible to review camera moves.
In its news release, Foundry now bills Flix as complete “pre-production software”.
Updates to other plugins and improvements to pipeline integration
The Photoshop plugin and Premiere Pro adapter have also been updated to improve workflow and increase customizability: you can find a list of specific changes in the release notes.
To streamline the process of building integrations for other software, including in-house tools, Flix 7.0 introduces a new General Remote Client (GRC) API, and extensions management has been decoupled from Flix Client, making it possible to update extensions independently.
The release also introduces a more granular metadata system that can be used to drive external production-tracking tools like ftrack and ShotGrid via webhooks.
Flix 7.0 is compliant with the CY2023 spec for VFX Reference Platform, and is now supported on Rocky Linux as an eventual replacement for CentOS.
Support for single sign-on and new email notification preferences
Other changes in Flix 7.0 inclues support for single sign-on (SSO) for authenticating users, and an option to turn off automatic email updates each time a panel is published or changed.
Price and system requirements
Flix 7.0 Server is compatible with Rocky Linux 9 and CentOS 7. Flix 7.0 Client is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 12.0+. The software is subscription-only, and is priced on enquiry.
Read an overview of Flix 7.0 on Foundry’s product website
Find a full list of new features in Flix 7.0 in the online release notes
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