LOFTai derives its roots from a rich history that demonstrates deep knowledge and experience in VFX, games, industrial visualization, and AI research.

Our History:

Gaming and VFX project management started with white boards, excel spreadsheets, sticky notes or MS Project. In the 90’s; tracking shots, assets and deliveries was a nightmare and it still is! Project status was delivered on paper and was instantly outdated. Not too long ago a  big studio was managing a terabyte of data at a time, now over a terabyte of data can be in one shot. Assets and their dependencies is still a logistical nightmare and LOFT is the first product to address the entire production process, disk to delivery. 

In 1995, Remo Noteboom and Gary Mundell started working together at Alias Wavefront in Toronto as a part of the new Maya development team. They started off as regular jogging partners and eventually teamed up to innovate new applications including the first flocking system for Alias|Wavefront (SGI) and a subsurface scatter rendering system. 

Gary went on to work as CG Supervisor on the breakthrough film “Final Fantasy, The Spirits Within” one of the most complex and ambitious full CG animation films of the time and there were very few production management tools available. It was enlightening and gave him a glimpse into the future of complex CGI production. Remko went on to NELVANA, one of the world’s largest animation studios and developed the first real asset management systems for episodic animation NELNET, which went on to win an Emmy and is still in use today.

In 2002, Gary joined Disney’s CG film “The Wild” at C.O.R.E. Animation in Toronto.  Gary recruited Remko to come on board where he immediately went to work and shifted the R&D into an asset based system. Working with Don Parker, who was developing the project management side of the software, they created the precursors to both TACTIC and Shotgun. 

Enter Tom Sinnott, who was working at Technicolor in Toronto and looking for VFX management software that he could employ across all their facilities. He met with Gary and Remko as “The Wild” was wrapping up and immediately started to “what if?’. They stayed in touch.

In 2005, Gary and Remko formed Southpaw Technology and invented the flagship product TACTIC to solve digital asset management and production. TACTIC was adopted by a wide range of industries utilizing digital content including medical, aerospace and consumer goods. 

In 2010, Reuniting with Tom at Legend 3D, they integrated TACTIC into Legend’s proprietary 3D Stereo conversion software and pipeline. Creating a revolutionary multi-site production and asset management solution, allowing an expansion by Legend to over 450 artists worldwide. 

TACTIC is now a global, open source resource with ongoing R&D, still based in Toronto.

In 2022, The genesis of LOFT started with “What’s next?” discussions in early 2020 and what needs to change going forward. We’ve focused on assets and Unreal, working with GIT and TACTIC, creating groundbreaking software that is highly scalable, adaptable and very powerful. 

Our team’s background and experience allows us to develop what works and to know what doesn’t. We see what’s next and are seeking to partner with Gaming and VFX Studios to work with our new LOFT Beta software.