The studio pipeline on your machine
URSA (User Refined Studio Automation) is VFX pipeline software for independent artists and small studios. The base application and the Launcher plugin are free. Next comes URSA Project Essentials, so shots arrive named, tracked and in the right color space, and leave the same way. It is the pipeline a Toronto VFX studio ran on real productions, packaged for one artist or a small team.
- Studio pipeline in use
- 2017 to 2026
- Canadian Screen Award nominations
- 2
- Color standard
- ACES
- Shot
- SEQ010 / SH0040
- Source
- ARRI LogC3 / AWG3
- Working
- ACEScg
- Delivery
- Rec.709 / client spec
- File
- seq010_sh0040_comp_v012.exr
- Versions
- 12 tracked
Three jobs you stop doing by hand
URSA is built on the 3 Keystones: data and metadata, color and files. Each one replaces a task that is done by hand, and done differently, on every production. URSA Project Essentials, the next release after the free Launcher, brings all three to your shots.
Data and metadata management
Every incoming asset is read, identified and tied to its shot: camera, lens, color science, frame range. You stop retyping production notes into spreadsheets, and nothing downstream has to guess what a file is.
Color management
Every shot gets an ACES pipeline built from the color science of its camera. Mixed cameras conform under one working space, and deliveries convert back to the client spec, so the image you approved is the image they receive.
File management
Folders, file names and version numbers are created for you, from conventions set once per project or per sequence. No more v01_final_final. Every file sits where the next tool expects it, and a handoff to a larger studio needs no rework.
Built inside a working studio
URSA started as the internal pipeline of Blue Rain Productions, a Toronto VFX studio that ran from 2017 to 2026 and earned two Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Visual Effects.
It named files, conformed shots and packaged deliveries under real deadlines, and every rule in it exists because a production needed it. URSA is that pipeline rebuilt from the ground up as a product you can install, with the single-studio assumptions taken out.
One base app, installable plugins
URSA is a base application plus plugins you install as you need them. The Launcher comes first, and it is free. The Configurator, Ingester and Deliverer come next, together as one bundle: URSA Project Essentials.
Launcher
Starts your Nuke, Maya, Houdini and any other DCC executables with the project environment, working folder and launch arguments set.
Configurator
Builds projects and shots with the tasks each one requires and the deliverables each task must produce.
Ingester
Ingests client files automatically and captures the metadata for each asset as it arrives.
Deliverer
Packages final shots in the naming and color space the client specifies, then sends them.
Works with the tools you run
URSA hooks into what you already run: the Launcher starts your DCCs today, and later releases will link to the tracker a production already uses, so nothing is entered twice.
Nuke
Tools that run inside Nuke and do the routine work for you: shot file setup, checks before a render and publishes, all from your project rules. Released alongside URSA Project Essentials.
Maya
Tools that run inside Maya and do the routine work for you: scene setup, checks and publishes for assets, caches and renders, all from your project rules. Released alongside URSA Project Essentials.
Flow Production Tracking (formerly ShotGrid)
Planned after URSA Project Essentials: each project connects to its client's Flow instance, so your versions upload straight to the correct shot.
Create your URSA account
One account for the site and the desktop app. Download the Windows 11 app from your account, then install the free Launcher plugin from inside it.
- First plugin
- Launcher
- Launcher price
- Free
- Platform
- Windows 11