Keying and compositing in Nuke-- free tutorial and template

[donstarnes]

i just published an article and tutorial about keying and compositing in The Foundry’s Nuke on ProVideo Coalition: http://www.provideocoalition.com/keying-and-compositing-in-nukex

I find Nuke to be much better at making delicate, seamless composites than FCPX or After Effects, for example, and their non-commercial version is free. My tutorial includes my NukeX keying and compositing template. Nuke has worked really well for me; I recommend that you try it out.


Don Starnes
Director of Photography
don@donstarnes.com
donstarnes.com/dp/

 

[Kim Welch]

Welcome to the forums. I wonder if I should still start an individual forum for Nuke?

 

[donstarnes]

Ok, I wonder if I should still start an individual forum for it. It is that widely used in post?

Nuke is mainly used in big post houses, but I think that it is gaining in popularity with indies, because The Foundry is giving the Non-Commercial version away for free (to increase market share). It is way more powerful than Adobe After Effects, in my opinion.

 

[Kim Welch]

What makes it better in your opinion?

 

[donstarnes]

Nuke requires the compositor to do some things manually that After Effects does automatically (for example, premultiplying the alpha channel with RGB channels). This gives the compositor more control. It's node-based UI enables very efficient and intuitive routing of picture data (which is sometimes difficult to get to or clumsily handled in layer-based UIs such as AE's). And, I believe that Nuke does pixel math better and faster than After Effects.

These attributes make the keyers in Nuke better, in my experience, at pulling convincing keys. I don't know much about Nuke's 3D features, but I'm told that AE is not truly 3D (but is, instead, some kind of 2.5D) and is less capable of working in 3D. I have seen that Nuke seems faster at rendering 3D views.

Nuke was designed to be maintained by engineers in big post houses; it is evolving into a more user-friendly software (which is why The Foundry is giving the Non-Commercial version away). It can have a steep learning curve for people who are used to After Effects and other more commercial software. It is a bit buggy for the same reason (some errors aren't handled well and some "knobs" don't seem to work for me), and some of the UI is inelegant and confusing so far. But The Foundry provides a lot of tutorial materials, and, once learned, Nuke is a lot of fun to use.

 

[Kim Welch]

Hi Don, Are you working on anything cool at the moment?

 

[donstarnes]

Hello, Kim! I just shot a VR short, and am shooting some extra features for a Netflix series that I worked on last year (Thirteen Reasons Why, premiering March 31). Mostly, though, I'm seeking up-and-coming commercial directors who are making good spec commercials. I need to shoot some good spec spots to enhance my commercials reel. Know any?

 

[Kim Welch]

I don't know anyone at this time but I was just searching and found this interesting 6 Mistakes to avoid particle. http://www.jaeminyi.com/6-mistakes-to-avoid-when-directing-a-spec-commercial/ If I hear of anyone I will let you know.

 

[donstarnes]

Great article! Thanks, Kim.

 

[donstarnes]

You are correct: I learn something every day that I work. We're artists: we're supposed to notice things and learn from them. I always say that an artist is someone who can't look away. Keep up the good work.