Ganbar R. - NUKE 101. Professional Compositing and Visual Effects - 2011

INTRoDUCTIoN
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necessary. once a chapter has been presented from start to finish, give students
time to run through the same chapter on their own in the classroom in front of a
computer, using the book to read the instructions and follow the steps. This second
pass will reiterate everything the trainer has explained and, through actual
experience, show the students how to use the software with the trainer still there
to answer questions and help when things go wrong.
iNsTALLiNg Nuke
While this book was originally written for Nuke version 6.2v1, The Foundry updates
Nuke on a regular basis and the lessons can be followed using more recent updates.
Small interface and behavior updates might slightly alter the Nuke interface from version
to version, especially for so-called “point” updates (such as if Nuke version 6.3
were released). I recommend using this book with Nuke version 6.2v1 if you haven’t
already downloaded the most current version and you want the exact results as
shown in the book.
You can download Nuke in a variety of versions from The Foundry’s web site at
www.thefoundry.co.uk as discussed in the next sections.
Different flavors of Nuke
Nuke comes in three different flavors with different features at different prices. There
is only a single installation file for Nuke, but the license you purchase determines
which type of Nuke you will be running. The Foundry offers a 15-day trial license, so
you can try it before you purchase it (see “Getting a trial license” later in this section).
Here are the three flavors of Nuke.
1. Nuke PLE (Personal Learning Edition): This license (or lack of) is free—as in, you
pay nothing. You can install Nuke on your computer and not purchase a license.
With the PLE you can use Nuke as much as you want, although certain limitations
apply. These include the placement of a watermark on the Viewer and on renders,
and the disabling of WriteGeo, Primatte, Framecycler, and Monitor output.
2. Nuke: This is regular Nuke—the flavor this book covers. Nuke requires a trial
license or regular paid license, which should cost about $4,500.
3. Nukex: This license includes all the regular Nuke features with a few additional
high-end tools. These tools include the CameraTracker, PointCloudGenerator,
LensDistortion, DepthGenerator, Modeler, FurnaceCore plug-ins, and PRman-
Render (allowing for Renderman integration). NukeX costs in the region of
$7,000. Chapter 10 covers the Camera Tracker and shows how to use it under
the NukeX license; however, the exercises in the chapter can also be done without
a NukeX license.