Foundry has unveiled Flix 7.0, a significant upgrade to its highly regarded story development software tailored for animation and visual effects production. This release brings back Flix's integration with Maya, facilitating seamless cooperation among shot layout teams, previs teams, and storyboard artists. Moreover, the update comes with a new remote client API that enables the creation of custom extensions for other applications. It also features a renovated metadata system for enhanced integration with production-tracking tools.
A Collaborative Hub for Story Development
Originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Flix is designed to foster collaboration between directors, producers, editors, and artists during the story development process. It serves as a central repository for storyboard images created or imported from other software—such as Photoshop and Storyboard Pro—with built-in version management.
Flix processes these images, resizing and adjusting their aspect ratios to fit production requirements before exporting them as automatically generated storyboards. For animatics creation, Flix offers roundtripping with Media Composer and Premiere Pro, along with native tools for syncing image sequences to audio tracks and recording voiceovers.
The platform is comprised of two distinct applications: Flix Server, a central hub, and Flix Client, a local client application used by artists.
Expanded 3D Pre-Production Workflow Integration
Flix 7.0 marks a significant upgrade with the restoration of its integration with Maya, previously removed in Flix 6.0 (2018). This integration bridges the gap between 2D storyboarding and 3D shot layout, allowing artists to bring Flix panels into Maya for reference during layout stages. Users can send 3D scene views back to Flix as either static images or Playblasts, enabling camera move reviews directly within Flix.
Plugin Enhancements and Pipeline Integration Improvements
This update also includes improvements to the Photoshop plugin and Premiere Pro adapter, enhancing workflow efficiency and customization. A new General Remote Client (GRC) API simplifies the process of building integrations for external software, including in-house tools. Extensions management has been decoupled from Flix Client, enabling independent updates to custom extensions.
The new granular metadata system offers deeper integration with production-tracking software like ftrack and ShotGrid, supporting webhooks for automated workflows.
Flix 7.0 also aligns with the CY2023 VFX Reference Platform and introduces support for Rocky Linux, paving the way for it to replace CentOS in production environments.
Additional Features: SSO and Email Preferences
Other updates in Flix 7.0 include support for single sign-on (SSO) user authentication and a new option to disable automatic email notifications when panels are published or updated.
Updated 6 September 2024: Flix 7.1 Release
Flix 7.1 introduces experimental browser-based support, allowing users to access projects remotely, such as viewing storyboards on set via a tablet. While it includes all core Flix Client features, plugins and extensions are not yet supported in the web version.
Other enhancements include the ability to archive entire shows and their associated assets, hide discarded assets, and improved sequence revision workflows. Color tagging and autosave management have also been introduced. Additionally, Flix now supports the Univisium 2:1 aspect ratio.
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