Foundry

About Foundry

Foundry has a heritage of more than 25 years developing creative software for the Media and Entertainment industry. Its portfolio of award-winning products solves complex visualization challenges to turn incredible ideas into reality.

Working with creative leaders around the globe, Foundry products are used to create breathtaking visual effects and animation on a wide range of feature films, episodic content, and commercials.

Through its academic program, Foundry empowers the next generation of artists by providing students with access to industry-standard tools, training, and support. The program provides access to The Education Collective, a software suite which is designed to give students everything they need in a single license including compositing with Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio, lighting and look development with Katana, 3D painting and texturing with Mari, and 3D modeling with Modo.

Challenge

In 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a transition to remote learning, students lost access to on-campus lab computers and subsequently Foundry software. It was crucial that students had access to Foundry software to continue their studies from home. Foundry made student licenses available through home use codes, but these were distributed manually and only to schools that were able to share them with the students. It was difficult to manage and required a lot of follow-up.

“When the pandemic started, we met with our educational partners and it was clear that students needed home access to Foundry products to keep learning.” – Kalen Arnold, Senior Sales Manager - Education & Strategic Accounts, Foundry

The quick spike in demand from students for home use access placed increased pressure on Foundry’s small academic team. A lot of time was spent manually verifying users and not on more valuable tasks. Over time verifying users became unsustainable for the team, leading to the search for a better solution.

“The main challenge was the sheer volume of academic users asking to be verified, with thousands of students applying within the first 30 days of the new program. That wasn’t going to be sustainable,” adds Kalen.

Solution

Foundry sought a solution that would take the burden of verifying students off their team and make it easier for students to access their products. The company knew that they needed a solution that would verify users globally and provide excellent end-user support.

“We have a global program that includes students who speak different languages and have different eligibility criteria. Verifying all these users would be an impossible task for anyone on our team,” says Kalen.

After evaluating different options, Foundry chose the Proxi.id verification service. The service not only took the onus of verifying users from the team, but also streamlined the user experience without compromising on end-user privacy which aligned perfectly with Foundry’s needs. This solution simplifies the application process for students and speeds up license distribution, ensuring that eligible students can access Foundry products from anywhere.

“Our original approach wasn’t the best. With our software being an industry standard tool, we knew that our process to verify students also needed to match that standard,” says Kalen.

Results

The Proxi.id verification service removed the administrative burden of verifying student eligibility for the program and has improved the process for students. These improvements have allowed Foundry’s education team to focus on other projects, enhancing the overall quality of educational resources.

In addition to improving the experience for both students and the education team, insights provided by Proxi.id’s reporting tools have enabled Foundry to identify trends, engage with educational institutions, and expand the reach of the program.

Kalen remarks: “The reporting we get back is invaluable as it allows us to determine whether our products are being used at new schools. If we see multiple students from the same school accessing our products, then we know it’s worth having a conversation with that school.”

Conclusion

Switching from manually verifying students to using the Proxi.id verification service has given students an improved user experience with Foundry software, leaving the team more time to focus on growing their academic program.

With the initial success of using the verification service, Foundry is planning on expanding the use of the service in other parts of the academic program.

“A big part of our decision to work with Proxi.id was their team. From the first conversation we had it’s clear that we are working with a partner that is joining us in our journey. We look forward to working together as we grow our academic program,” adds Kalen.