Nuke 12.1 delivers artist-focused improvements across the Nuke family

Building on the Nuke 12.0 release, Nuke 12.1 brings updates across the entire Nuke family with an emphasis on enhancing the artist experience through UI and tool improvements, the largest update to Blink and BlinkScript in recent years improves Cara VR node performance and introduces new tools for developers, and extended functionality in the timeline-based applications speeds up and enriches artist and team review.

Nuke 12.1 Highlights:

• New Shuffle Node: updates the classic checkboxes with an artist-friendly node-based UI, support for up to Nuke’s limit of 8-channels per layer and consistent channel ordering, offering a more robust toolset at the heart of Nuke’s multi-channel workflow.
• Lens Distortion Workflow improvements: the LensDistortion node in NukeX is updated to have a more intuitive workflow and UI, making it easier and quicker to access the faster and more accurate algorithms and expanded options introduced in Nuke 11.
• Blink and BlinkScript improvements: Nuke’s architecture for GPU-accelerated nodes and the associated API receive significant improvements in Nuke 12.1, with the ability to store data on the GPU between operations, resulting in dramatic performance improvements to chains of nodes with GPU caching enabled. This new functionality is available to developers using BlinkScript, along with bug fixes and a debug print out on Linux.
• Cara VR GPU Performance: the Cara VR nodes in NukeX have been updated to take advantage of the new GPU-caching functionality in Blink, resulting in dramatic performance improvements in viewer processing and rendering when using chains of these nodes together. Internal tests on production projects show up to a 2.4x faster rendering time.
• Updated Nuke Spherical Transform and Bilateral: the Cara VR versions of the SphericalTransform and Bilateral nodes have been merged with the Nuke versions of these nodes, adding increased functionality and GPU support in Nuke. Both nodes take advantage of the GPU performance improvements added in Nuke 12.1 and are now available in Nuke and no longer require a NukeX license.
• New BlinkScript Particle node: NukeX now includes a new ParticleBlinkScript node allowing developers to write BlinkScripts which operate on particles. Nuke 12.1 ships with more than 15 new gizmos offering a starting point for artists working with particle effects and developers looking to use BlinkScript.
• QuickTime Audio & Surround Sound Support: multichannel audio support has now been added to Nuke Studio, Hiero and HieroPlayer. Artists can now import MOV containers holding audio on Linux and Windows without the need to extract and import the audio as a separate Wav file.
• Faster HieroPlayer Launch and Nuke Flipbook integration: Improving the experience for artists using HieroPlayer for review, new instances of HieroPlayer launch 1.2x faster on Windows and up to 1.5x on Linux in internal tests. Nuke 12.1 also includes the ability to use HieroPlayer as the Flipbook tool for Nuke and NukeX, giving artists more control when comparing different versions of their work in progress.
• High DPI Windows and Linux: UI scaling when using high-resolution monitors is now available on Windows and Linux. This brings all platforms inline with high-resolution display support added for macOS in Nuke 12.0v1.
• Extended ARRI Camera support: Nuke 12.1 adds support for ARRI formats including Codex HDE .arx files and ProRes MXFs, along with support for the popular Alexa Mini LF, performance gains when debayering footage on CUDA GPUs and a SDK update. See the website for details on further file format updates in Nuke 12.1.

Christy Anzelmo, Director of Product - Compositing & Finishing, Foundry, comments:

"This next release, Nuke 12.1, is a broad and varied one responding to many user requests. I’m excited that we’ve been able to focus on enhancing the day-to-day work of artists and developers including improvements to some areas that have been dormant for a while, such as key updates and extensions to BlinkScript and Particles, a new Shuffle workflow and support for high DPI monitors and popular codecs and cameras. These long-awaited improvements in core systems will improve the experience of our users and extend what’s possible in the Nuke family."

Mads Hagbarth Damsbo, VFX & Pipeline Technical Director, Nordisk Film Shortcut comments:

"The ParticleBlinkScript node unleashes so much untapped potential in the Nuke particle system. This node will be able to shape this core NukeX feature for years to come, and let the community dictate what the particle system should be able to do and be used for. The included example scripts serve as a great learning resource for people who want to get into using this new node and BlinkScript in general."

The full list of features for Nuke 12.1 can be found here. To demo or purchase Nuke 12.1, visit the Foundry website.