Who Should Take This Workshop

This workshop assumes that you already have a basic understanding of the concepts of 2D compositing of visual effects using one of the packages mentioned above and want to learn about Nuke's powerful capabilities including its 3D compositing workflow. Compositors should also have at least a basic understanding of 3D vocabulary and core concepts such as XYZ space, 3D geometry, and surface properties such as diffuse and specular lighting.

This course is also ideal for 3D animators that want to get a great overview of the Nuke workflow and how it integrates into a modern 3D production pipeline. Many shops actually require their 3D artists to do “slap comps” in Nuke to make sure their rendered elements are suitable for the 2D department down the line.

Why Take This Workshop

Nuke’s importance to the VFX industry is how it moves compositing to the next level as an extension of the 3D department. This is the current trend in visual effects where more and more of the shot development is moved from the 3D department to the 2D department where they are faster and cheaper to produce and revise. This trend will only increase over time, so compositors who want to stay current will need to learn 3D compositing. The addition of 3D compositing skills also upgrades the importance of the compositor in the VFX pipeline with a commensurate increase in prestige and pay.

Many large VFX studios are also looking at ways to transition from their in-house legacy software that requires a steep learning curve to a broader market pool of talented VFX professionals and are acquiring Nuke site licenses.  The latest examples being ILM, Weta Digital and Framestore. (Read Steve's article: Legacy Software Conundrum).

To future-proof your career in visual effects compositing sign up for Steve's One-on-One Nuke workshop today!

course curriculum

In this workshop, you will acquire a basic understanding of Nuke and its many advanced compositing tools, most especially 3D compositing. Upon completion you will have a full command of the Nuke user interface, its unique color management system, how to work with Nuke’s deep channel management system, HDR images, color correction, masking, keyframe animation, motion blur (2D and 3D), and keying. Workshop participants turn in their Nuke scripts and get a live review with Steve via Skype and desktop sharing software.

Starting with a grand tour of Nukes excellent user interface (GUI), we will see how to navigate the viewer and timeline, the node view, the property panels, and the tool tabs. There will be a sneak peak at the 3D interface, but the details are saved for the 3D classes. Next is a demonstration of Nukes workflow - how to load images, build node trees, adjust node parameters, and render to disk. There are also two handouts prepared by Steve, his personal Keyboard Shortcuts list plus his Tool Tabs list of every node and its function - unavailable in any manual.

The use of Nuke’s powerful Transform node for 2D images is covered, including motion blur. Following that is keyframe animation plus how to work with Nuke’s powerful animation Curve Editor. How to link parameters within and between nodes is covered including how to add simple math expressions to your animation. Special attention will be given to Nuke’s management of project formats (resolution and pixel aspect ratio), which is unique in the industry.

An explanation of Nukes 32 bit floating point color space as well as its approach to color management, which is, again, unique in the industry. The subject then turns to the key color correcting nodes - the Grade node, the ColorCorrect node, and the ColorLookup node. Selecting colors from the screen with the Eyedropper and the workings of Nuke’s very robust Color Picker are also covered. Nuke’s Bezier node (the shape drawing node for masking) is examined in great detail due to its pervasive use in compositing, including its keyframing capabilities (and limitations) as well as how to use the Bezier node for masking operations.

Another of Nuke’s unique design features is its channel management, where up to 1024 channels of image data are maintained for CGI compositing. How it works and why it is so cool are revealed along with how it affects proper node tree structure. We see how to organize and manage multi-pass CGI composites along with managing your premultiply/unpremultiply states. The Merge node is next which offers 30 different image-blending modes from the mundane Over operation to key Photoshop blending modes such as Overlay.

Bluescreen and greenscreen keying are, of course, the bread and butter of visual effects compositing so Nuke’s proprietary IBK keyer and the Primatte keyer are given close scrutiny along with Nuke’s Keyer node which contains a list of useful simple keyers you will need to know about. How to use the HueCorrect node for spill suppression is covered as well as how to work with the all-important KeyMix node. An introduction to clip timing is included to address basic timing operations such as holding a still frame, shifting the timing of a clip, and selected a frame range within a clip.

This week starts the 3-week program of 3D compositing. In the Basics we see how to add 3D geometric primitives (card, cube, cylinder, and sphere) and apply texture maps to them. Next we add cameras and lights and see how to render 3D objects into the 2D world where they can join in the composite. This class assumes the compositor has a very basic understanding of 3D so it does not teach 3D itself. If you have absolutely no experience with 3D it is recommended that you become familiar with the basic terminology and concepts before this class.

Now that we can build 3D scenes and add cameras and lights, its time to start moving things around with animation. How to apply 3D transformations to the geometry, keyframe animation, the use of the Axis node (a null object) including how to add 3D motion blur. The subject of Shaders is introduced where ambient, diffuse, and specular materials are applied to 3D geometry for sophisticated lighting effects.

In the final week we will pull it all together to see how to apply the techniques learned above to execute three classic types of 3D compositing production scenarios - the classic “Pan and Tile” shot where a panoramic background plate is re-photographed behind CGI with a moving camera, a 3D compositing shot where 3D objects are rendered and composited with 2D images, and an environmental lighting example using spherical High Dynamic Range (HDR) images to light a scene.

About Nuke

Nuke runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms. Students can take advantage of Nuke’s FREE Personal Learning Edition that can be downloaded and used before and after the class to get a head start or perfect their new found knowledge afterwards. Click here to go to the Nuke page on The Foundry’s website to download the free Personal Learning Edition. Download and install apropos your machine type/OS and it will automatically run in the PLE mode.

By special arrangement with The Foundry, Steve's One-on-One students will receive a fully functional 10 week license for a fee of $75.

Testimonials

Thanks so much for teaching this class!  I really appreciate your clear and concise teaching style as it made following along that much easier.  I've gained a solid foundation of Nuke and feel comfortable enough to start mixing it into our pipeline.  Well worth the money!

- Colin Trenter
Autofuss
 Senior VFX Artist

Thanks so much for your amazing instruction. The other day, right before my Nuke license expired on me, I wanted to play around with a friend's music video and try out some ideas. I suddenly felt like the Karate Kid... all those mind-numbing hours spent on tedious, abstract homework suddenly had such clear purpose! I could do all these tricks and I knew the many steps to make it look just like I wanted!  :)

-Scott Dickson
Alchemy360
Stereoscopic 3D Artist