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London, UK. 1 June 2010. Simon Robinson, Founder and Chief Scientist at leading visual effects software company, The Foundry, has been voted number 52 in Fast Company's second annual ranking of The 100 Most Creative People in Business.
Simon established The Foundry with Bruno Nicoletti in 1996 and together they went on to pioneer the Tinder plug-ins for Discreet's Flame systems - the first ever set of such plug-ins to be commercially available. With over 18 years' experience in the film and broadcast industry and close connections within high-end post production facilities across the globe, Simon is the driving force behind many of The Foundry's cutting edge software developments which serve leading visual effects facilities worldwide including Industrial Light & Magic, The Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain.
Having begun his career at IBM Research in New York, where he spent two years researching computer algebra, Simon has also worked extensively in post-production and in 2007 was awarded an AMPAS Sci-Tech Award for the technology behind the company's Furnace product.
Simon commented: "I'm delighted to have been named in Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business".This is a real testament to the hard work and dedication put in by the team at The Foundry and we will continue to innovate and push the limits of what's possible in order to create stunning results for our clients."
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The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post-production.
The Foundry has a well-established client base that includes leading visual effects facilities worldwide, such as Warner Bros, The Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain. It is at the cutting edge of software development, marketing and sales for visual effects compositing.
In June 2009 The Foundry announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led by Advent Venture Partners. Advent backed The Foundry’s management team, led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders.
The Foundry is highly profitable and has doubled in size in the past two years.
The Foundry’s products support a wide range of award-winning host platforms including After Effects, Autodesk® Media and Entertainment Systems, Avid DS, Nuke, Shake and Final Cut Pro. In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry’s development team for the Furnace image processing suite – and the company now holds two products with AMPAS Sci-Tech Award® winning technology including high-end compositing system Nuke.
The Foundry is headquartered in London, and has offices in Los Angeles. For more information please visit: www.thefoundry.co.uk.
© The Foundry, its logo and product names are registered trademarks in the UK, USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
For further information please visit www.thefoundry.co.uk, or contact:
Cordelia Meacher, IF Communications, T: +44 (0)7961 311080, E: cordelia@if-communications.com
Lucy Cooper, The Foundry, T: +44 (0)20 7434 0449, E: lucy.cooper@thefoundry.co.uk