USER GUIDE Nuke 6.1v2 Visual Effects Software The Foundry Nuke™ User Guide. Copyright © 2010 The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Use of this User Guide and the Nuke software is subject to an End User License Agreement (the "EULA"), the terms of which are incorporated herein by reference. This User Guide and the Nuke software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the EULA. This User Guide, the Nuke software and all intellectual property rights relating thereto are and shall remain the sole property of The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd. ("The Foundry") and/or The Foundry's licensors. The EULA can be read in the Nuke User Guide, Appendix E. The Foundry assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this User Guide and this User Guide is subject to change without notice. The content of this User Guide is furnished for informational use only. Except as permitted by the EULA, no part of this User Guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Foundry. To the extent that the EULA authorizes the making of copies of this User Guide, such copies shall be reproduced with all copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights notices included herein. The EULA expressly prohibits any action that could adversely affect the property rights of The Foundry and/or The Foundry's licensors, including, but not limited to, the removal of the following (or any other copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice included herein): Nuke™ compositing software © 2010 The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Nuke™ is a trademark of The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd. Digital Domain ® is a registered trademark of Digital Domain, Inc. Primatte™ keyer tool © 1997-2010 Photron USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Primatte™ is a trademark of IMAGICA Corp. Primatte™ patent is held by IMAGICA Corp. In addition to those names set forth on this page, the names of other actual companies and products mentioned in this User Guide (including, but not limited to, those set forth below) may be the trademarks or service marks, or registered trademarks or service marks, of their respective owners in the United States and/or other countries. No association with any company or product is intended or inferred by the mention of its name in this User Guide. ACADEMY AWARD ® is a registered service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Linux ® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows ® is the registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Mac, Mac OS, Tiger, Shake, Final Cut Pro and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Adobe ® and Photoshop ® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Maya ® is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. Houdini ® is a registered trademark of Side Effects Software, Inc. Boujou is a trademark of 2d3 Ltd. 3D-Equalizer is a trademark of Science.D.Visions. FrameCycler ® is a registered trademark of Iridas, Inc. OpenGL ® is a trademark or registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Cineon™ is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company. Stereoscopic images courtesy of Mr. Henry Chung, HKSC (http://www.stereoscopy.com/henry/). Images illustrating warping and morphing courtesy The Foundry Nuke 6.1v2 of Ron Brinkmann (http://www.digitalcompositing.com). Images from “The Day After Tomorrow” ©2004 courtesy of and copyright by 20th Century Fox. Images from "Stealth" courtesy of and copyright by Sony Pictures Inc. Images from "xXx" ©2002 courtesy of and copyright by Columbia Pictures Industries. All rights reserved by their respective owners in the United States and/or other countries. The Foundry 1 Wardour Street London W1D 6PA UK Rev: September 23, 2010 The Foundry Nuke 6.1v2 CONTENTS 4 Contents PREFACE About this Manual . 21 Getting Help . 22 Viewing Online Help . 22 Contacting Customer Support. 22 GETTING STARTED About the Chapters. 23 INSTALLATION AND System Requirements . 24 LICENSING Windows and Linux . 24 Mac OS X. 24 Licensing Nuke . 25 Obtaining Licenses . 25 Installing Licenses. 26 Further Reading . 27 Installing Nuke . 27 Installation on Windows . 27 Installation on Linux . 29 Installation on Mac OS X. 31 Launching Nuke. 32 Launching the Commercial Version. 32 Launching the Nuke Personal Learning Edition (PLE) . 34 About the Personal Learning Edition . 34 PLE Versus the Commercial Version of Nuke . 34 THE NUKE PLUG-IN What Is the Nuke Plug-in Installer . 36 INSTALLER Accessing the Nuke Plug-in Installer . 36 Getting an Overview of the Plug-ins . 36 Viewing Details of Plug-ins . 36 Downloading Plug-ins. 36 USING THE INTERFACE Understanding the Workflow . 37 The Nuke Window . 38 Panes and Panels . 38 Tabbed Panels. 39 Toolbar, Menu Bar, and Content Menus . 40 The Foundry Nuke 6.1v2 CONTENTS 5 Using the Toolbar . 42 Using the Menu Bar . 43 Working with Nodes . 44 Adding Nodes . 44 Selecting Nodes . 45 Replacing Nodes . 47 Renaming Nodes . 47 Editing Nodes . 48 Cloning Nodes . 49 Disabling and Deleting Nodes. 50 Connecting Nodes . 50 Indicators on Nodes . 53 Searching for Nodes . 54 Viewing Information on Nodes . 54 Customizing the Node Display . 55 Navigating Inside the Node Graph . 56 Panning . 56 Zooming . 57 Fitting Selected Nodes in the Node Graph . 58 Fitting the Node Tree in the Node Graph . 58 Properties Panels . 58 Managing the Properties Bin . 58 Controls That Appear on All Properties Panels . 59 Displaying Parameters . 61 Using Input Fields . 62 Using Sliders . 63 Separating Channels . 63 Using the Color Picker and Color Controls . 63 Using Color Sliders and Color Wheel . 65 Animating Parameters . 69 Working with Animated Parameters . 70 Animated Parameters in the Curve Editor . 71 Using the Curve Editor . 71 Displaying Curves . 71 Editing Curves . 73 Viewers . 82 Adding Viewer Nodes . 82 Connecting Viewer Nodes. 83 Toggling Views . 83 Panning and Zooming the Viewer Window . 84 Hiding Floating Viewers . ..