Find out how Unity Wētā Tools is transforming workflows for artists

It’s been nearly two years since we began integrating Wētā Digital’s tools, technology, and talent into Unity’s offerings.

During our keynote at SIGGRAPH 2023, we announced that Unity Art Tools has officially been rebranded as Unity Wētā Tools to reflect our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

The creative industries face significant challenges, including time pressure and inflexible pipelines. Unity Wētā Tools tackles these problems head-on by offering solutions that reduce menial tasks, automate processes, encourage collaboration, and democratize creativity.

Our vision is clear: We’re building trusted real-time 3D tools that empower artists and meet you where you are, regardless of your preferred software. This means you can continue to work in applications like Maya and Houdini, while also having access to content creation tools that were once reserved for top-tier VFX houses. Now, anyone – from Indie game devs to VFX pros – can access powerful tools like Eddy and Wig and integrate them directly into your chosen workflows.

Configurable content, proceduralism, and AI-assisted workflows are revolutionizing the way that artists bring their visions to life. Our tools make it easier and more affordable for you to create content while retaining ownership of your work.

At Unity, we’re not just building a collection of standalone tools; we’re shaping an ecosystem with a shift in production pipelines, transforming the traditional “waterfall” approach into a dynamic and efficient process.

The comprehensive product portfolio of Unity Wētā Tools brings together the award-winning tools from Wētā Digital, Ziva, SpeedTree, and proprietary tools from Unity, organized into three workflows: character, environment, and compositing.

Developed by Wētā and used for over 12 years on some of Hollywood’s highest-grossing films, Wig enables advanced hair generation and grooming. It can accelerate the creation of hero grooms to just days using procedural workflows that give greater runtime performance and higher-quality outputs. Wig will launch later this year.

Ziva VFX 2.2 is a powerful simulation software that enables the creation of lifelike characters and creatures by replicating organic physics and biomechanics. It can be applied to either hyper-realistic or stylized creations.

With Ziva Real-Time, you can seamlessly integrate film-quality characters into games and real-time experiences without compromising visual fidelity.

Unity’s SpeedTree is the industry standard for high-performance vegetation creation, allowing you to make realistic or stylized environments for any production across game or film. It has recently been updated to version 9.5 with advanced control and additional artistry features.

Whether you need advanced gaseous simulations or want to edit realistic sims during compositing, our tools remove common constraints and reduce costs for VFX. Solve simulation challenges in context, achieve greater realism, and reduce compositing time without compromising on output quality.

Eddy is a plug-in for Nuke, written entirely on the GPU, that sets a new standard for solving complex VFX simulation challenges in-shot, enabling previously impossible workflows without the need for simulation or lighting changes in the pipeline. Eddy 3.0 will be available later this year.

Stay tuned for more Unity Wētā Tools updates and register your interest for future releases. For more on what’s next for artists, catch our SIGGRAPH 2023 keynote session below.

Once exclusive to Wētā, over 80 new deep compositing nodes in Nuke help compositors combine complex elements with deep data, layer in 2D cards, edit objects with deep IDs, generate god rays, manage data with built-in compression, and troubleshoot issues. Deep Compositing Tools will be available later this year. 

Stay tuned for more Unity Wētā Tools updates and register your interest for future releases. For more on what’s next for artists, catch our SIGGRAPH 2023 keynote session below.