Q100254: Getting started with Katana

Pete

Updated: January 23, 2026 21:54

Created: January 20, 2026 16:02

SUMMARY

This article is meant to provide a getting started guide for installing, setting up, and using Katana. 

MORE INFORMATION

Download

Katana is currently supported on both Linux and Windows operating systems. You can download the latest version from our Downloads page.

Installation and licensing

To install and license Katana on Windows, please follow the instructions on the Installing on Windows  page of the Katana Install Guide.

Installing Katana on Linux is covered in the Installing on Linux  page of the Katana Install Guide.

For full information on licensing Katana depending on license type, please refer to these articles:

• Q100027: How to install a floating/server license
• Q100026: How to install a node-locked license

To render your Katana scene you will require a dedicated renderer. More information on the available renderers renderer plug-ins that work with Katana can be found on the Supported Renderers page of the Katana Install Guide.

NOTE: You can also find an article providing a full example launcher script for Katana, with the required resources (including renderers and renderer plug-ins) here:

• Q100242: How to Launch Katana With Third-party Renderer Plugins Using a Launcher Script For Windows
• Q100272: How to Launch Katana With Third-party Renderer Plugins Using a Launcher Script For Linux

Documentation

Explore Katana's Documentation using the links below:

• If you are new to Katana, you can find tutorials on the Foundry Learn page that will guide you through your first steps in Katana.
• The Katana User Guide provides comprehensive instructions and best practices for using Katana.

• The Katana Developer Guide provides API references, examples, and guidelines for developing scripts and plug-ins for Foundry's Katana using Python, Lua, and C++, enabling automation, customization, and pipeline integration.

• You can find definitions for the most commonly used terms throughout the Katana application and documentation in the Glossary of Katana Terms resource.

Example projects

To help you get started, we have some useful example projects accessible through the Help menu from inside Katana, or within your Katana installation directory under: $KATANA_HOME\demos\katana_files

The compilation of example projects is designed to demonstrate a number of techniques within Katana. They cover texture resolving concepts, defining AOVs, using OpScripts, creating and using Look Files, and should be a good starting point for new users.

Community forums

Join the Public Katana forums to connect with other users and developers.

These forums are aimed to discuss general issues, receive feedback and advice from expert users worldwide.

Further Reading

Our Support Portal hosts the Katana Knowledge Base which contains multiple articles explaining different topics of Katana, and the public Bug Tracker which exposes the lists of known issues in Katana.  

If you are encountering any issues with the information contained in this article, then please open a Support ticket and let us know the issue you are encountering and the troubleshooting steps you have taken so far.

For more information on how to open a Support ticket, please refer to Q100064: How to raise a support ticket.