Isotropix - Clarisse BUiLDER

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CREATIVITY AT SCALE

Clarisse BUiLDER is an extremely powerful node-based solution for scalable and interactive scene assembly, lookdev, lighting, rendering and pre-comp – developed for high end, established studios.

Created over four years of R&D, Clarisse BUiLDER is a brand new solution that addresses the complex challenges of today’s high-end VFX and animation studios. It does this by introducing a node-based procedural rendering workflow that allows artists to both macro and micro-manage highly complex constructs containing bazillions of polygons. They can do this at the item level or scale outwards to make sweeping changes at the shot or layer level, all in one viewport that interactively visualizes pre-comped final renders.

Artists are given the power to make deep edits at both the assembly and asset level within a final shot context. That means reduced iteration cycles, lower budgets, and more creativity at the world’s tier-one studios.

Discover a revolutionary pipeline that will change your workflow forever. Meet Clarisse BUiLDER.

A tool designed for today

The problem

Today’s leading VFX & animation studios work with enormous amounts of data. Shows are growing more complex. The time to first rendered pixels is rising. Lighters are waiting longer to see results in shot context, so they’re troubleshooting blindly instead of making informed creative choices. This leads to artist downtime and high iteration costs as content is pumped back through the pipeline for updates – all while available time and budgets are shrinking.

The solution

Clarisse BUiLDER puts power back in the hands of lighters. It’s all-new, only-one-of-its-kind node-based solution allows lighting artists to perform non-destructive edits on an environment at sequence, shot or layer level, all while viewing the interactive output of their slap comp. This ability to make live edits in final shot context means lighters can regain control over their imagery, which in turn negates the need for costly iterations or department back-and-forth. Work more efficiently within today’s budgets. Empower your lighters. Discover a revolutionary workflow.

Clarisse BUiLDER: solutions designed for today's leading studios.

All the power of Clarisse iFX, supercharged

Access a superset of Clarisse iFX designed for major studios with complex rendering needs. Clarisse BUiLDER reinforces Clarisse iFX’s solutions with an accessible, node-based scene construction approach. The result is the industry’s deepest lighting, look-dev and rendering tool, marrying technical range with maximum visibility over final render pre- comps.

Access all of Clarisse iFX’s scene authoring tools within BUiLDER’s assembly construction node graph
Interactivity and visibility meets flexibility and scalability
Easy pipeline integration and deep customization

Manage the macro and micro of your scene…simultaneously

Take control over any scene via a procedural, non-destructive node-based workflow based on four years of R&D. Using logical or kinematic hierarchies users can macro manage overall asset flow at sequence level or scale down to make micro edits at the per-node level – all within one interface. It’s the ultimate package for dealing with scene complexity at scale.

Make detailed or sweeping changes to scene assembly, look-dev, lighting and more
Total control: prune, isolate and merge assets non-destructively
Visualize fully interactive pre-comps

Light and lookdev in final shot context

Explore lookdev and lighting within a unified application and in final shot context. Artists can easily change textures in an environment, break down specific elements of a character, or swap out lighting at a sequence or layer level – all with results quickly rendered as a final, interactive pre-comp.

Experiment with interactive visual changes: no more need for test renders
Remove the guesswork: see the impact of your changes in shot context
Reduce iteration costs – your creative decision making is there to see

Experience unprecedented
application speed

Clarisse BUiLDER features a modern and powerful evaluation engine. Only necessary scene elements are processed on the fly and complex project files load super quickly, meaning your waiting time is reduced to the bare minimum and you can make changes straight away. Renders are triggered immediately and time to first pixels is surprisingly small, meaning artists can work and iterate faster than ever.

Work with visibility: changes in the assembly are displayed interactively
Reduce artist downtime: work at speed with deferred scene construction
Stop wasting your time on optimizing: only needed assets are loaded and processed

Flexible content creation:
work non-destructively

Clarisse BUiLDER’s node graph and non-destructive interface empowers users with the most flexible look development and lighting pipeline available today. When directors change their mind about a shot, there’s no costly iteration process or lengthy backtracking through the pipeline. Small or sweeping changes can be achieved non-destructively within one interface.

Access entire scenes from one easy-to-read template
Work in parallel on extremely complex scenes
Reduce cost and complexity of the iteration process

Powerful tools to edit
and debug super quickly

With BUiLDER, users can view construction graphs and define render settings before any pixels hit the screen. Furthermore, they can create their templates and debug issues, without even having to kick-off a render. This means faster workflows, a more efficient team, and fewer missed deadlines.

A dedicated tool to setup and debug scenes with ease
Get involved fast: you don’t need to wait for a scene to load to start working on it
Blend user-friendliness with technical depth

WHY CLARISSE BUiLDER?

1Create at scale

Four years of R&D and feedback from the world’s tier-one studios have gone into Clarisse BUiLDER’s “macro meets micro” approach to content creation. Using Clarisse BUiLDER, artists and TDs can edit a sequence at a macro bird’s eye view, then scale down to make detailed cosmetic changes at the node level – all while watching real-time changes updated in the viewport via deferred scene construction and loading. Never before have high-end studios been able to work with such scale and visibility.

2Work in context

Clarisse BUiLDER removes the guesswork from your workflow. Whenever a change is made everything – from scene assembly to pre-comp – is automatically updated according to what’s displayed in the viewports. Users can choose to work in the full creative context of their production scenes and with almost-instant visual feedback on their decision making. Artists can make any kind of change and augment assets there and then, right within the template and all without the costly obligation of sending assets back through the pipeline – a feature unique to Clarisse BUiLDER.

3Take control over complexity

Today’s high-end projects are made up of a huge number of assets. Clarisse BUiLDER offers creative control over each and every one via its deep and flexible node-based scene construction template. Unlike competing solutions, which only allow editing of the assembly, Clarisse BUiLDER gives artists access to the powerful scene authoring tools found in Clarisse iFX. Lighting artists have the power to make changes directly to a scene themselves, from trying out multiple lighting scenarios to experimenting with look-dev, improving and tweaking layout at shot level, and much more – all non-destructively and guided by a live, interactive pre-comp of render layers.

clarisse builder FAQ

WHAT IS CLARISSE BUiLDER?
Clarisse BUiLDER is a powerful node-based solution for scalable and interactive scene assembly, lookdev, lighting, rendering and pre-comp. Designed with the most complex of VFX and Animation pipelines in mind, Clarisse BUiLDER is a new addition to the Clarisse product family, that harnesses the power of Clarisse iFX and introduces a node-based procedural rendering workflow. Allowing artists to both macro and micro-manage highly complex constructs containing bazillions of polygon, on a sequence, shot or layer level, all in one viewport that interactively visualizes pre-comped final renders.

WHO IS CLARISSE BUiLDER FOR?
Created over four years of R&D, in collaboration with leading Hollywood studios, Clarisse BUiLDER is uniquely positioned to solve the challenges facing today’s large-scale, high-end VFX and animation studios, where huge teams, enormous amounts of data and complex pipelines are standard practice.

DOES THIS MEAN CLARISSE iFX WILL BE DISCONTINUED?
No way! Clarisse iFX is going to continue its life as a 3D DCC. Its roadmap is pretty loaded and the software is, and will remain, under heavy active development. Moreover, all new features added in Clarisse iFX will be automatically available in Clarisse BUiLDER.

WILL CLARISSE BUiLDER REPLACE MY COMPOSITING APPLICATION?
While Clarisse BUiLDER provides a node-based compositing engine that supports AOVs, it has not been designed to replace an external compositing package. By integrating a native compositing engine, Clarisse BUiLDER aims to deliver every necessary tool for a 3D artist to easily rebuild beauty passes, add simple grading, quality check their work and visualise live action and CG integration. However, should you find your compositing needs are simple, Clarisse BUiLDER’s compositing engine could be up to the job!

HOW DOES CLARISSE BUilDER WORKFLOW DIFFER TO CLARISSE iFX WORKFLOW?
Clarisse BUiLDER workflow is highly targeted to suit the pipeline needs of those studios working on large-scale, complex projects, where Sups, Lighting TD’s and lighters can maximize the power of Clarisse BUiLDER and creative artists can continue to work freely using the familiar Clarisse iFX workflow already built in. For artists and studios working without these constraints, Clarisse iFX remains the most efficient and creative workflow for your needs. For a detailed look at how these workflows differ watch our Clarisse iFX and Clarisse BUiLDER comparison video.

WHAT’S THE LEARNING CURVE OF CLARISSE BUiLDER?
The Clarisse BUiLDER learning curve is extremely short for any artist that has mastered Clarisse iFX and is familiar with Foundry’s Nuke. It typically takes less than a week for such artists to get production ready with Clarisse BUiLDER.

IS CLARISSE BUiLDER SUITABLE FOR ALL TYPES AND SIZES OF STUDIO?
As Clarisse BUiLDER is powered by a brand new architecture, built off the back of several years of R&D, it is still very much a newborn in product terms and requires a higher level of support to get up and running. As a result, we are not making Clarisse BUiLDER freely available at this stage. Instead we are looking for a small number of large-scale VFX and Animation companies to work closely with us to continue its development.

For all other artists and studios interested in the power of Clarisse, and who are not dealing with the constraints of a heavy and complex pipeline, Clarisse iFX offers the best in speed, interactivity and creativity, designed especially for your needs. You can see this for yourself by downloading the Clarisse iFX PLE or requesting an evaluation.