With the divide between 2D and 3D becoming increasingly indistinguishable, I thought I'd share some information about an interesting alternative to Nuke’s default scanline render node and indeed much of Nuke’s current 3D shading tool set.
The Studio Workshop: Exporting Camera From Maya to NUKE
So it’s almost bank holiday weekend and your old pal Ash is gonna give you another one of his awesome tips before you spend the next three days drinking your body weight in alcohol and watching The Avengers… seriously, how awesome is that film?!
A Successful NAB for The Foundry
The Foundry returned triumphant from this year’s NAB show in Las Vegas. For them, this was by far their biggest and most successful NAB, as they exhibited their most advanced portfolio yet. Showcasing the latest versions of NUKE, NUKEX, HIERO, KATANA and MARI they had crowds gathering throughout the event to check out live demos of all these products, as well as the incredible line-up of speakers invited to share their experiences using each of the products above.
The Studio Workshop: ID passes - Part Two
It's important to only isolate three separate elements per ID pass, or the technique becomes redundant. For example, if I had made both the windows and door red in the image for Part One of this blog, then any colour correction I applied to the red channel in NUKE would affect them both. You've already seen a broad example, but there's no reason you can’t use ID passes to focus on more specific areas of your render. The image above shows an example of an ID pass refined to specialise in the windows only. This kind of pass would be useful if the texture I added to the window transoms (red bits) had rendered far too dark, but everything else rendered correctly, as I would be able to adjust them without damaging the rest of my render.
I Only Have Eyes For Nuke "2.5D" Part Three
For any 3D system to work efficiently, a sufficient camera solve is essential. This is a virtual representation of the real-world camera move shot on scene. After downloading the assets, I attempted to follow the tutorial video only using the track pad. Regardless of the system, as a NUKE user, the Wacom pen and pad have become second nature when navigating the interface. As anticipated, it was straight away confirmed that the lack of a Wacom pen and tablet made the task extremely awkward and I've found myself falling behind. Therefore, plugging in an external to my Air has been far easier than being constrained to a track pad. Connecting the tablet allowed me to finish the task efficiently, even ahead of the tutorial.
I Only Have Eyes For Nuke "2.5D" Part Two
Following on from yesterday’s post, I want to continue the discussion of why NUKE has revolutionised the industry and is an incredible asset to any compositor. The popularity of NUKE is largely down to its advancements in 3D integration, not only with its own user interface (UI), but also its ability to communicate with other packages such as MARI and AtomKraft. Being acutely punned as NUKE's 2.5D space, the 3D system has sped up the conventional 2D workflow in areas such as paint and roto, as well as depth compositing. This 2.5D space allows users to build rudimentary geometries, which can then be projected on, textured, lit, shaded and rendered as complimentary 3D assets or as part of a standard 2D workflow.
I Only Have Eyes for NUKE - Part One
I can't help the techy-ness of this blog post but I guess now its official, NUKE is my one true love. And, it's not just me! NUKE has become the alpha compositing tool of choice within the VFX world.
How to Survive Post Production Book!
A compositing tutor who previously taught here at Escape Studios, Klaudija Cermak, has just published a great little book all about the post production industry. It's called “How to get into and survive Film, Advertising and TV post-production.” Rather impressively it made the Kindle Art and Reference bestseller list on Amazon within 24 hours.
HIERO Launch Party in London
Wednesday 29th of February marks the official release of HIERO, a VFX tool we’ve been lusting over for the past 6 months. Following rigorous beta testing this product is now ready for integration with VFX pipelines around the globe. To give this product the welcome it deserves, The Foundry are hosting launch events in LA, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, London, Paris, Hamburg, Munich and Sydney. Escape Studios are teaming up with The Foundry for the launch in London, an event we hope you can all attend. The event is on Tuesday, 6th March at the VUE Leicester Square, running from 7-9pm, followed by drinks. Registrations will start at 6:15pm so try to get there early to avoid queues.
NUKE Gets Results at Flipbook Studios
Flipbook, the Manchester based animation and VFX boutique studio, are celebrating a second year in business this week. Quite literally two years ago to the date (February 8th 2010) they took on their very first job. Since then Flipbook have grown from strength to strength, and look forward to a prosperous future as they make some significant upgrades in the company’s workflow.
The RV/NUKE Integration Package from Tweak Software!
Tweak Software, the guys who created RV-image and sequence viewer software, have teamed up with The Foundry to build an RV/NUKE integration package that provides a beautifully seamless workflow between the two applications, which are said to deliver high-performance RV playback as you work in NUKE.
The Foundry Open Beta for HIERO
This is possibly the moment many of you have been waiting for… HIERO, The Foundry's latest software project, has gone to beta. A closed beta ran over a short period of time for few individuals who got their name on a waiting list nice and early, and from what I’ve heard, they really enjoyed putting it to the test.
iNuked - Part Deux (Read & Write Nodes)
After an incredibly busy couple of months dealing with students' end of courses projects, as well as completing the first shot for my own showreel, I've found the time to work on the next episode of iNuked: my personal project to explore the possibilities of using The Foundry's professional compositing software NUKE, on my MacBook Air.
MARI 1.4 Has Launched!
MARI has already gained a reputation for being a powerful compositing tool, but the team at The Foundry continue developing this software to make MARI an even faster, more flexible tool.
Book A HIERO Demonstration with Escape Studios
The news is travelling fast that The Foundry have a new product in development. This product is called HIERO and is thought to be the 'missing link' in shot management system for VFX pipelines. Designed specifically to help increase output and manage multiple jobs, this tool is said to be a game changer for the post production community.
MARI vs. Photoshop Webinar Now Available to Watch Online
The MARI vs. Photoshop webinar held on November 2nd 2011 was hugely successful. Registrations were record breaking and there was an encouraging attendance on the day. For what is becoming a popular topic at the moment, The Foundry are certainly paving the way for the future of compositing pipelines with products like NUKE and MARI.
MARI Tuition: A Very Popular Subject
Back in September, Escape Studios and The Foundry joined forces to run a series of free MARI tutorials. To start with, there were two training programmes on offer, but due to an overwhelming demand we scheduled in a third. The aim for the tuition was to introduce professional artists working in the industry to some key features available in MARI, that are fast becoming an integral part of the modern pipeline.
The Foundry Release OCULA 3.0
The latest version of OCULA has arrived. Last Thursday, 3rd November 2011, The Foundry announced their release of OCULA 3.0, a leading live action, stereo-3D correction and integration toolset for compositors. A production proven tool, OCULA is a plug-in that has been used extensively on major productions such as Avatar, TRON: Legacy, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. For these films, working in stereoscopic 3D had many undiscovered challenges. Over a course of trial and discovery, OCULA has developed into a reliable tool that meets the demands of artists to mend polarisation issues in photographic plates or correct common stereo-3D defects with precise speed and ease.
iNuked: Part 1
I was on the hunt for an appropriate piece of tech to occupy my mind whilst travelling to and from Escape Studios, during my epic commute into London each day and initially the novelty of an iPad seemed the best source of distraction. However after further investigation the answer came in the form of Hugo Guerra (Escape Studios compositing tutor) who, in less than ten minutes, managed to persuade me to spend an extra £600 on an alternative Apple product.