The Foundry said the new version of its Mari 3D painting software, including an interface for working directly with the node graph and new integration with the rendering system inside Modo, will be released in the third quarter.

The traditional layer-based interface will still be available in this version, but users can choose to create and edit channels and layers in the node graph. Gizmos, which are user-grouped nodes combining multiple frequently used functions, can be exported for use in other projects or by other artists. The Foundry said this is the first phase of a continuing exposure of the node graph, giving users more options for directly manipulating their work.

Modo rendering will be included in Mari so that users don't need a separate license for the technology. Renders can be checked during the painting process, and textures can be baked inside MARI's UI. A set of APIs — Texture Data Access, Geometry Data Acess, Display Driver, and Custom Graph Context — will allow developers to integrate other offline renderers in their studio pipelines, The Foundry said.

Also new in Mari 3 are OpenSubdiv support, allowing users to work with subdivision surface meshes, new shaders that simulate the results when rendered by Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift, and Unreal Engine, and support for FBX files.

Mari starts at $2013 and runs on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. See system requirements at The Foundry's website.