NUKE Tutorials

Throughout the tutorial, we'll cover all of the hidden details that are needed to use HDR imagery for lighting in Maya. We'll start with physically based lighting, world scene scale, color management, proper render preview and verification of valid floating point linear color images. Once the rules for using HDR images are clearly laid out, we will take a look at how you can create your own HDR images at home using a DSLR camera, tripod, nodal head and software. Lastly, we'll go over examples of using and editing these images for a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting situations as well as covering light extraction and making HDR kooks from an HDR photo of a light.

Some of these tips will be obvious, like using proxies and the region of interest to speed up viewer performance. Others will be a bit more complex like building an expensive node disable-enable expression control system tied into our write nodes using Python commands. We'll also learn how most 3D applications create EXR files and ways we can increase performance by re-rendering them out of NUKE in its' preferred format. Finally we'll look at a cheap way to improve our motion blur from NUKE's 3D system using a combination of samples and vector blurs.

We're going to be covering many topics, such as why we break Maya scenes into layers, getting the most information out of Maya for high dynamic range composites and how to process EXRs for much faster interaction in NUKE. From there we'll examine some render pass and layer workflows that will eliminate errors and give us much more flexibility in NUKE. Finally we'll jump completely into NUKE and look at some compositing techniques for CG renders and finally unravel the proper premultiply workflow.

These video lessons will introduce a compositing workflow that emphasizes efficiency. We'll look at a variety of color correction methods, depth and height-based haze, and faked camera effects such as depth of field and motion blur. Throughout, we'll develop a visual style for our comp that will be easy to replicate and re-use for later shots.

We’ll begin this project by jumping into the new features only in NUKEX including the all new 3d particle system, which allows for new effects like rain, snow, fog or fire. From there, we will use the new Planar tracker, also only in NUKEX to track a planar surface that leaves the frame. Finally we'll learn how to use the new Denoise node in NUKEX to remove noise while preserving an incredible amount of detail. From there, we will dive into the NUKE features like the new Spline and Grid Warp nodes and the new Audio Read node. Finally we'll learn how to speed up our workflow tremendously with user presets and toolsets. We'll end the tutorial with a look at the new 3d displacement tessellation features.

We'll begin the tutorial by solving a 3D camera with the NUKEX camera tracker. Then we'll make the 3D scene more human readable and examine the card workflow. Then we'll use Photoshop to create a clean-plate of our primary foreground element. Then we'll learn techniques for matching a card to our 3d footage. For here we will repeat the process a number of times for the rest of the foreground sign, the background sign and even the walls. Along the way we will encounter issues and examine ways to fix or get around these common problems. We'll finish the tutorial with a shot that has the object completely removed.

We’ll begin this tutorial by learning about the card node in NUKE, and setting up the card to correctly have lens distortion, fit our lens, and set-up the initial node networks for faster duplication. We'll then connect the rest of our sky cards and use some math to make a rough placement. From there, we will refine the rotations and placement to hide as much of the seams as possible. We'll then tie all the cards together into an axis so we can control the entire sky using a single transform. After that, we'll match our sun placement, color correct our sky and render it separately to use z-blending to hide our seams. Finally, we'll learn how to fix issues with our tiles using NUKE and Photoshop, then do a few final compositing tricks and render our sky sequence.

We have our usual transform node, but we also have nodes that let us change the bounding box, distort our images and even change our camera's movement. There are also several nodes that interact with the 3D system, including a Card3D node that lets us skip setting up a 3D scene and gives us direct access to 3D cards and a SphericalTransform node which is very helpful when converting between different types of panoramic image types. We can also quickly and easily convert 2D position data into 3D space, or vice-versa by using the PointsTo3D node or the Reconcile 3D node. Along with all of these nodes, we also cover properties found in many nodes in NUKE; such as motion blur, 3D snap, and the filtering options.

We will begin this tutorial by importing and formatting our render passes from Maya. From there we will do some basic compositing. We will then begin troubleshooting our shot and using a variety of tools and techniques to integrate our elements. We will also learn how to fix issues in our background plate using masks, keyers and other nodes. During this shot, we will be animating various elements to tell the story of the director. Finally, we will complete the NUKE tutorial by using distortion and blurs to create an ending for our infiltrator shot.

We will start off by covering what compositing is and what a node is. We will then take a look at reading images into NUKE so you learn how to begin work on your own projects. After that, you will learn to use the common nodes to build NUKE node graphs. And to wrap up the series of tutorials, we will go over how to write your projects out of NUKE to show the world what you have accomplished. This series of step-by-step videos were developed with artists new to NUKE in mind so we will be moving at a steady, easy-to-follow pace making sure you understand terms and basic techniques.

We will begin the tutorials by learning the fastest and best way to key, which is shooting a clean plate. We will then learn how to create a garbage mask for our key, and modify the IBK Gizmo controls to pull the best alpha. The IBK node usually leaves some holes in our alpha, so we will then learn how to create a core matte or inner key using Keylight to fill in our holes and create a solid alpha. We will then learn about the background integration controls of the IBK Gizmo, and how to get around some common issues. We will then learn how to automatically generate a clean plate using the IBK color gizmo, and how to create the best alpha when we have no clean plate. We will then finish the tutorials by learning how to keep just our alpha, reduce our noise, and do manual spill suppression outside the IBK gizmo.

We will begin the tutorials by importing our footage into NUKE and analyzing the job ahead of us. Then we will create garbage masks to break apart our person into manageable pieces. We will then add Keylight effects to our layers to create an initial key. After that, we will analyze the best way to remove noise on each layer. Then we will fill in our alpha by creating a core matte. Finally we will focus on the hair and all the detailed roto and keying work involved. We will complete the tutorials by doing some heavy-duty rotoscoping work on the bottle.

We'll begin the tutorials by learning what a chroma key is and what we need to look out for while we shoot the greenscreen footage. From there, we begin keying a sample shot using the Keylight keyer included in NUKE 6. We'll then learn how to refine our matte and edge using the various built-in modifiers. Then we'll combine multiple Keyers to get the best possible result. Finally, we will composite our keyed footage over a background and learn about spill suppression and some compositing tricks to integrate our pieces of footage. We'll end the tutorials by learning a method of treating compressed or chroma sub-sampled footage to pull better keys.

We'll begin the tutorials by manually tracking our sequence in MatchMover and exporting it for use in Maya. We'll then take our solved camera into our Maya scene and move our object into place. We'll then learn how to capture our 3d environment reflections and create some helpful matte layers. Once we've rendered our Maya sequence, wecll learn how to combine all of our images in NUKE. We'll learn about processing our background footage to capture traveling mattes, as well as many different ways to combine our various mattes to create effects. We'll finish the tutorials by adding a silhouette and color correcting our images.

We'll begin the tutorial by learning about the theories behind camera projection what makes a good image to project. We'll then set-up our camera in Maya for match moving and look at a technique to get our camera in the correct position. We'll then model the our buildings and animate a new camera. Then we'll export our Maya data and bring it in to NUKE's 3D toolset and set-up our projections. We'll finish the scene in NUKE by creating a sky dome and using it's 2d tools to create appealing effects. Finally, we'll use Maya's mental ray renderer to create realistic reflections and composite them on top of our NUKE projections to create our final composite.

We'll begin the tutorials by importing our background plate and creating the text we'll integrate. Then we'll track the footage and attach our text. We'll then learn how to combine various nodes to make our text look more three dimensional. Then we'll take elements from our background and layer them into our text to create the illusion that the text is in the scene. We'll finish by doing a quick color correction to complete our shot!

We'll begin the tutorial by solving four of our shots in MatchMover and combining them in Maya into a cohesive 3d scene. Then we'll create our last camera in Maya and match it. Once all our camera are set-up, we'll learn how to model our object, create dynamics, animate, texture and render our scene. We'll then jump into NUKE to do some color treatment on our backgrounds and then composite our layers together. Now, this is a long project that will take some time to complete. If you get stuck or have any questions, please join our forums and ask. We check the forums often and have a very active and helpful community.

We'll begin this project by learning what 2.5D relighting is, how we need a normals and point position pass from our 3d application, and the limitations of relighting in NUKE. We'll then learn how to use the un-supported ReLight node available in newer versions of NUKE, and how to connect all the passes together to make it work. We'll then learn a few techniques to get the most out of the relight node and how to use multiple relight nodes together. We will finish by taking a look at various methods of getting our image passes out of Maya and Softimage. By the end of this course, you should be able to begin experimenting with relighting in NUKE using your own projects.

We'll begin by taking a look at what is depth-based compositing or layering and why we would want to use it. Then we'll learn about some of the downsides of using this technique. We'll then dive in to NUKE and create a matte for our foreground layer using it's depth map and the background depth map. We'll then learn how to work with depth maps including combining maps from different scene scales, using depth-based layering to fix interpenetration issues and making depth maps human readable and error-free.

We'll begin this project by learning what issues are created by a rolling shutter and what they look like in real footage. We'll also learn which of these issues can be fixed by the RollingShutter plug-in and which cannot. We'll then learn how we can shoot some test footage and bring it into NUKE to find the right correction value for our specific camera. We'll then solve a basic shot by looking at some of the quality and estimation controls. Once we have a basic shot working, we'll take a look at some footage that breaks and how we can modify RollingShutter's basic and advanced properties to solve these problems. We'll see a simple animation fix and a more complex way to solve the problem.

We'll begin this project by learning the basics of reading-in external images and learning the various parts of the NUKE user interface. Then we'll do some basic compositing, masking, transforming and color correction. We'll finish with a project to composite a 3D render and write it out of NUKE into an image sequence. This series of lessons will cover the basic, everyday tools and techniques we use in NUKE to composite. With this basic overview of NUKE's workflows and tools, you will be able to begin using this powerful compositing software in your own production pipeline.

We'll begin this project by learning about NUKE's interpretation and implementation of disparity maps. Then we'll dive right in and learn the mathematical relationship between depth and disparity maps and learn how to offset and multiply our depth into a pixel offset value and shuffle that value into the disparity channels. With our disparity map we will be able to use the advanced reconverge features, as well as automatically place any node that has a position or translate property from one view to the other. We'll finish by learning how to use our disparity values to automatically update stereo offset using expressions.

We'll begin this project by learning how to set-up our project for stereo work and the basic stereo workflows. We'll then learn about the stereo features built into the Read and Write nodes which make is easier to work with stereo image pairs. We'll then learn how to edit our stereo images in NUKE and how to edit only part of the stereo pair. Finally, we'll go through an entire practical application of using the RotoPaint tools to fix our stereo images. During this we'll learn how and when we can re-use data from the left to the right side, and how to actually apply this in NUKE. We'll finish by learning how to use the ReConverge tool to change our screen depth.

We'll begin this project by going through a simple camera track and learn the proper workflow to get a usable 3d scene and camera. We'll then learn how to add NUKE 3D geometry into our scene as well ass geometry we import from another application. We'll then learn about the various properties and pipes in the camera tracker that let us control our tracks better. After getting a track, we'll learn how to use the DepthGenerator node to take our 3D camera and generate a rough Depth map for our footage. We'll then learn how to convert a 3d point back into 2d space so we can drive 2d transforms in our nodes.

We'll begin this project by setting up our motion tracked scene by adding the original footage and aligning everything to make working easier. We'll then bring in our 3d object and learn how to place it in our scene. We'll then learn how to create ground geometry and create lighting that matches our original shot. We'll then create multiple render passes and layers to make compositing much easier. After we render, we'll jump into NUKE and learn about such topics as shadow matching, color matte usage and various techniques to match our 3d render with our live action back-plate. We'll finish with a global color correct and add realistic motion blur to finish our shot.

During this project we'll learn how to use the Shuffle, Copy, ChannelMerge, Add, Remove and ShuffleCopy nodes to do things like: move one channel from one to another, change many channels at the same time, add new channels, remove or keep channels, combine specific channels and copy channels from one node to another. The channels system in NUKE can be an extremely powerful compositing tool if you understand the workflows and tools underlying it. Channels hold all of our image data, so knowing how to move, manipulate and merge channels is an important skill for every NUKE compositor.

We'll begin this project by learning about the new User Interface of the RotoPaint node and learn where everything lives. We'll then learn about the new stroke/shape list and all of the options we can quickly modify through the list shortcuts. We'll then learn about the new features of the RotoPaint node, such as copying animation on a per-shape-point basis, using layers to transform multiple shapes/strokes and using Ripple Edit to change a shape across multiple keyframes. We'll then learn how to use each of the basic tools such as Bezier and the new Bspline shapes and the selection and editing tools for shapes. Then we'll learn how to use the brush, clone, reveal, blur, sharpen, smear, dodge and burn tools to create strokes on our footage.

We'll begin this project by importing our elements and tracking various features of the face. Once we have a base of tracking data to work off of, we'll learn the basic math terms and ideas that we will use to translate our 2D tracker data into 3D rotation. We'll then learn how to take our mathematical equation, and translate it into an expression NUKE understands. Once we have our rotation expressions working, we'll finish our 2d elements using a variety of color correction, masking and animation techniques. Then we'll combine all our nodes using compositing math to correctly mix everything together.

We'll begin this project by dropping in some basic geometry and learning how to move around the 3D interface. We'll then learn the basic components of a 3D system which is comprised of your geometry, a scene, a camera, and a scanline render to convert all of that back into 2d image data. We'll then learn how to bring in external geometry and how to use shaders, materials and lights to gain more control over our 3d geometry. We'll also learn some various tips on using 2D nodes with 3D nodes.

We'll begin this project by learning the basics of using trackers to speed up the rotoscoping process by removing camera jitter, translation, rotation and scaling. We'll then dive into our main project where we will use a combination of tracking, stabilizing, luminance keying and Bezier shape animation to create a clean mask for our foreground actor. We'll learn how each of these different methods can be used to speed up our rotoscoping workflow.

We'll begin this project by learning about the Bezier node. We'll then learn how to easily and quickly control our bezier shape and edge per-point blurring. We'll then jump into the basic workflows of animating masks and how we can keep a consistent shape for a more appealing matte. We'll end by outputting our mask into an image sequence that can be used in other nuke scripts or applications.

We will dedicate the first portion of this course to using Render Passes in Maya to separate various elements of our scene at render time. We'll use mental ray's render passes, contribution maps, custom framebuffers, and render layers to create the necessary render passes for our scene. In the second portion of this course we will begin with some quick compositing similar to our Multi-Channel Compositing in NUKE course, but we will quickly get into more advanced topics such as Depth-of-Field, Depth-based compositing, working with HDR data, painting fixes and chromatic aberration.

We'll begin this project by learning the basics of the tracker node and create a one point track using some simple footage. We'll then learn how to apply the tracker data to other nodes using expressions. We'll then learn how to do a two point track on real footage and create a black-bar effect over someone's eyes. We'll track the four corners of a TV to replace the image on the screen. Lastly, we'll then learn some tips for getting a track from difficult footage using color correct techniques.

We'll begin this course by learning how we can use the Merge node with a multi-channel pipeline. We'll then learn how we can isolate nodes such as color correct to only work on a single channel. After we merge our basic passes, we'll do some basic color correcting and masking. At this point, we'll learn how to use the Backdrop and Dot nodes to organize our node tree. After that, we'll add in the final passes and composite our render on top of a photograph while keeping our shadow. We'll then make final tweaks to our image and add a light wrap, erode and grade node to make our two layers fit together better. This series of lessons will illustrate the basics of compositing a 3D render using the channel workflow inside of NUKE. For further information on creating and working with channels, check out our 'Introduction to Channels in NUKE' course.

We'll begin this course by taking an overview of the Red, Green, Blue and alpha channels inside of NUKE. We'll then learn how we can copy, add and view new custom channels. Using these new channels, we can control nodes such as a color corrector. We'll end by using the copy and shuffle copy to bring together multiple 3D render passes into channels in a single Node tree and then output a multi-channel EXR file for easier use later down the line. This series of lessons will illustrate the basics of the channel workflow inside of NUKE. By bringing together all of our image information into channels, we can then access that information at any point in the node tree.

We'll begin this project by learning the basics of reading-in external images and learning the various parts of the NUKE user interface. Then we'll do some basic compositing, masking, transforming and color correction. We'll finish with a project to composite a 3D render and create an animated transition and finally render it into an image sequence. This series of lessons will cover the basic, everyday tools and techniques we use in NUKE to composite. With this basic overview of NUKE's workflows and tools, you will be able to begin using this powerful compositing software in your own production pipeline