About this release
Nuke is the compositor that sits at the finishing end of most film and high end television visual effects work. Where layer based tools stack effects on a timeline, Nuke builds a node tree, so every operation is a labelled node you can reorder, branch, reuse and reason about. On a complex shot with dozens of elements, that graph is the only sane way to keep track of what is happening.
The toolset is deep and precise. A true 3D compositing environment with cameras, geometry and projection, industry standard keyers for pulling a clean matte off a green screen, planar and point tracking, a full deep compositing pipeline, and the CopyCat machine learning tool for training a bespoke effect from a handful of hand painted frames. Colour is managed end to end so what you see matches what is delivered.
The Studio tier adds the parts that turn it into a finishing suite rather than a shot tool. A full editorial timeline with conform, so you can pull in an edit, break it into shots, comp them and lay them back, plus review tools and a flexible export for delivery. The build here is the complete Studio package with the compositor, timeline and the whole node library unlocked.
What it does
- Node based compositing graph for complex multi element shots
- True 3D environment with cameras, geometry and projection
- Industry standard keyers for green and blue screen extraction
- Planar and point tracking for match moving and screen inserts
- Deep compositing pipeline for holdouts without hard mattes
- CopyCat machine learning tool for training a custom effect
- Full colour management for accurate delivery
- Studio timeline with conform for cutting and laying back shots
- Review and annotation tools for supervision
- Python and expression scripting for building reusable setups
Changes in this version
- Faster viewer playback on heavy graphs with many reads
- Improved CopyCat training speed on current GPUs
- Reworked timeline conform with clearer version handling
- Better deep compositing performance on large frames
- Updated colour management configuration options
What the package contains
- The Foundry Nuke Studio 17.0v4 offline installer
- Complete node library and the Studio timeline tools
- Sample scripts demonstrating common comp setups
- Readme with the install order written out step by step
- Notes on setting the colour management configuration
Installation notes
Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.
- Disconnect from the network before you start.
- Turn off real time protection for the length of the install.
- Extract the archive to a short path such as C:\Setup.
- Run setup as administrator and complete the wizard.
- Apply the included activation step before first launch.
- Launch once, then reconnect to the network.
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11 |
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit multi core processor |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB or more strongly recommended |
| Graphics | GPU with 4 GB VRAM, 8 GB for CopyCat and heavy 3D |
| Storage | 10 GB for the install plus fast media and cache space |
| Display | 1920 by 1080 or larger, wide gamut recommended |
Things worth knowing
- Set the colour management configuration to match your project before you start comping, changing it later shifts everything.
- CopyCat training is GPU heavy, a strong card makes the difference between minutes and hours.
- Keep media on fast storage, the viewer plays back straight off disk and a slow drive stalls it.
Questions about this title
Why node based instead of layers?
What does the Studio tier add?
Is CopyCat worth using?
Does it manage colour properly?
What people are saying
Node tree on a forty element shot stays readable. Try that in a layer stack and you lose your mind.
CopyCat trained on eight painted frames and carried the rest of the shot. Saved days.
Set the colour config first, comp second. Learned that the hard way once.
Listing information
This entry is catalogued under Video & Motion and carries the tags below. Language coverage is English interface, and the supported platform list is Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 17.0v4 is the current catalogued build, last checked 6 days ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 1 year ago.