Foundry releases Nuke 15.1, NukeX 15.1 and Nuke Studio 15.1
Foundry has released Nuke 15.1, the latest update to its family of compositing apps.
The release introduces new time-based workflows in the USD-based 3D system, unlocks layer channel mapping in BlinkScript, and extends support for OpenAssetIO.
NukeX, the advanced edition of the software, gets updates to the AI features.
Nuke Studio, which includes editorial capabilities, gets a new Saturation slider for in-context adjustments, and support for OpenTimelineIO round-tripping.
Nuke Indie, for artists earning under $100,000/year, gets the new features from all three editions, as does the free Nuke Non-Commercial.
The update also lays the foundations for a native multi-shot compositing workflow, although it will only really become usable in future releases.
Nuke 15.1, NukeX 15.1, Nuke Studio 15.1: new 3D ‘Time Ops’ features
The Nuke 15.1 updates continue to extend the USD-based 3D compositing system introduced in Nuke 14.0.
The latest update focuses on time-based operations, with changes aimed at enabling artists to use existing workflows with the new 3D system.
The GeoImport and GeoReference nodes, for importing and instancing USD objects, get new Time remapping knobs for retiming or offsetting part or all of a USD stage.
The GeoUVProject node, for texture projection, gets a new Reference Frame control knob making it possible to ‘stick’ the projection to moving geometry.
The TimeOffset and FrameHold nodes, for offsetting or using certain frames from video clips, get a Fractional Time mode for sub-frame precision when aligning geometry.
Nuke 15.1, NukeX 15.1, Nuke Studio 15.1: updates to BlinkScript and OpenAssetIO
Other changes common to all editions of Nuke include updates to BlinkScript, Nuke’s internal coding framework.
The BlinkScript node now accepts up to four channels of any kind of image layer as inputs, making it easier to build RGBA channels into custom BlinkScript Effects.
Support for OpenAssetIO, the Foundry-developed open standard for exchange of data between DCC and asset-management software, has been expanded.
File knobs within Nuke can now contain OpenAssetIO entity references instead of direct file paths, making it possible to reference data in an asset-management system.
For shot review, the UI of the Viewer A/B compare tools has been redesigned to streamline workflow.
Nuke 15.1, NukeX 15.1, Nuke Studio 15.1: groundwork for multi-shot workflow
The Nuke 15.1 releases also “start the journey towards a native Multishot compositing workflow”.
The update seems to be more about laying the foundations for the new workflow than anything usable in production, and the UI for the new features is hidden by default.
New features include Graph Scope Variables (GSVs) – described as the “backbone” of Multishot – for storing data required for multiple contexts in a single Nuke script.
In addition, a new Group View feature makes it possible to view and edit multiple Group nodes without having to jump between tabs; and a new Variable mode for the Switch node “enables a split and join style workflow similar [the one] in the Views system”.
NukeX 15.1 and Nuke Studio 15.1: updates to the AI features
CopyCat, Nuke’s system for training a neural network to automate repetitive tasks, gets a new context menu in the runs table.
The change lets users resume or create inferences from previous training runs, not just the most recent one; and to remove runs without having to delete files manually.
On NVIDIA GPUs, CopyCat also now supports mixed-precision training, making it possible to use half-precision floating point operations on some tasks, while retaining full precision on operations that require it, improving performance by “up to 2x”.
Nuke Studio 15.1: new Saturation slider and OTIO round-tripping
Nuke Studio now supports full OpenTimelineIO (OTIO) round-tripping, for exchanging timelines with editorial tools that support the OpenTimeLineIO open standard.
The Timeline Viewer gets a Saturation slider, to adjust the saturation of shots in context.
When using NDI in the Monitor Out, resolution control makes it possible to limit the resolution of the NDI stream while maintaining full resolution in the local display.
Price and system requirements
Nuke 15.1 is compatible with Windows 10+, Rocky Linux 9.0 and macOS 12.0+.
The software is now rental-only, with annual subscriptions costing $3,469/year for Nuke, $4,729/year for NukeX, and $5,779/year for Nuke Studio, each up $170-280 since Nuke 15.0 was released.
Nuke Render licenses, for use on render farms, now cost $419/year.
Subscriptions to Nuke Indie, the feature- and resolution-limited commercial edition for artists earning under $100,000/year, now cost $499/year.
Read an overview of the new features in Nuke 15.1 on Foundry’s website
Read a full list of new features in Nuke 15.1 in the online release notes
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