fxphd - NUK902: NUKE for Trainers Level Two
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Genre: eLearning

Over these next ten classes you will cover many aspects of Nuke including working with 3rd party data, accurate pan and tile systems for sky replacements, 3D roto, advanced keying and grain management. We’ll also be looking at 3D tracking, lens distortion tools, rig removal and cleanup techniques, set extensions, and Coverage and Environmental Mapping. On top of all this we’ll be covering the creation of dense point clouds and generating geometry from them, photogrammetry techniques and working with the projection solver. We’ll be covering stereoscopic compositing plus a detailed look at expressions and python in Nuke. Finally we’ll look in-depth at Nuke’s preferences, metadata, gizmos and more Utilities.

class syllabus

Class 1: Preferences, Utilities, Contact and Layer Contact Sheet (1 hour 10 mins Approx.) - Our first class of level II starts with a detailed 50 minute look at the preferences in Nuke, from there we continue to look at utilities started in Level I. This includes an in-depth look at the Precomp node, Disk and Memory Caching. Finally we cover the use of the Contact Sheet and Layer Contact Sheet.

Class 2: 3rd Party Data, 3D Roto, Sky Replacements and PointTo3D (1 hour 20 mins Approx.) - Project 5 - Class 2 sees the start of our first project for Level II - another shot from the award-winning short film ‘I Love Sarah Jane‘ (first shot used in Level I, Class 1). We begin by looking through the shot gaining an understanding as to how it works. From there we talk about 3rd party data which can be brought into Nuke from other programs such as Maya, Houdini, Mari, Silhouette and Photoshop. We then use data from Maya to help us place 3D roto systems for masking purposes. From here we look at various techniques for creating a matte of the sky ready for a 3D pan and tile system which we build from scratch based on accurate photographic information. The class ends with a detailed look at PointTo3D which converts 2D position data to a 3D Axis.

Class 3: Reconcile3D, Motion Blur and Expressions (1 hour 10 mins Approx.) - Project 5 - In our third class we start by looking at Reconcile3D using it to stabilize a 3D plate. We then move on to look at various types of motion blur inside of Nuke including blur created from 3D transform data, 2D transform data, and time based nodes. From here we finish looking at the CurveTool which we started back in Level I, focusing this time on its ability to create curve data from color values. The remaining three-quarters of the class focuses on Expressions and their many uses inside of Nuke.

Class 4: Grain Management and Advanced Keying (1 hour 40 mins Approx.) - Project 6 - In class 4 we spend the majority of the class looking at our new project, a kung fu fight sequence which takes place in a 3D environment based on projections. We look in-depth at various advanced keying methods and specifically cover Nuke’s unique Image Based Keyer (IBK), Primatte and Ultimatte. From there we build a custom Luma Keyer and lightwrap tool, and then finish off looking at degraining and regraining a plate.

Class 5: Lens Distortion, 3D Tracking, DensePointCloud and PoissonMesh (1 hour 2 mins Approx.) - Project 7 - We start class 5 with a detailed look at how the Lens Distortion node works in Nuke, including its automated system, grid analysis and line analysis methods. We also look at how the Lens Distortion tool can output UV data and how this can be used with the STMap node, another way of adding or removing lens distortion. From here we look at iDistort which also works with UV data and can be used to add various effects such as heat refraction, etc. We then go on to take an in-depth look at Nuke’s fantastic 3D Tracker and how 3D geometry can be integrated into a shot based off the Point Cloud data generated. We end the class looking at the DensePointCloud node which is useful for positioning objects in 3D or as a starting point for model building. Using this data we then create a 3D mesh using the PoissonMesh node which can be used to project onto.

Class 6: Rig Removal, Clean-up, Set Extension and AOV Passes (1 hour 40 mins Approx.) - Project 7 - In our sixth class we start by removing some camera track rails from our project. We do this in two ways, firstly using a UV unwrap approach and then using a projection setup. We then pull various keys on the green screen areas of the plate, along with utilizing the 3D roto system we learnt earlier in the course. Next we bring in some geometry and create a 3D room based off of projections and composited into our main shot. From here we look at building an outside set using various cards and other geometry types inside of Nuke. The final part of the class focuses on Arbitrary Output Variables (or AOV) including Fresnel, zDepth, Motion Vector, Position, Normal, UV, and Mattes.

Class 7: Stereoscopic (1 hour Approx.) - Project 8 - In this class we look at Nuke’s ability to work with Stereo projects. We begin first with a basic overview of Stereoscopic terms and concepts. From here we move into Nuke where we look at setting up a project to work with stereo footage, and explore how many nodes have the ability to work with both the left and right eye. Then we look specifically at some of the nodes you may use most often in a stereo project including roto, paint, tracking, color correction, etc. We also cover all the stereo nodes such as Anaglyph, ReConverge, Split and Join, etc.

Class 8: Coverage Mapping and Environmental Mapping (1 hour 20 mins Approx.) - Project 9 - In our eighth class we start by looking at the Spherical Transform node which converts environmental maps from one system to another (i.e. LatLong to Spherical). From here we look at creating a Coverage Map setup which works out where a matte painting is needed based off a camera track. We also look at building an Environmental Map setup which can be used to build a set extension from a Spherical/Fish Eye photograph and can also enable you to reflect a Nuke 3D environment back onto other 3D geometry without the use of Retracing.

Class 9: Modeler and Projection Solver (1 hour Approx.) - Project 9 - In our final project we look at building 3D geometry from multiple photographs and the Modeler node. We also work out the position of a camera based on a single photo and an accurate 3D model of the photographed subject using the Projection Solver node.

Class 10: Metadata, Gizmo’s and Python (1 hour 30 Approx.) - In our final project we explore how Nuke works with Metadata, reading it in, editing it and writing it out. We then have an in-depth look at building gizmos, adding custom controls and other specialized setups. However, the majority of the class is dedicated to looking at Python including accessing basic workflow commands, nodes, adding menu items, callback knobs and fractions. We also cover installing plugins, panel callbacks, panel UI’s and more.



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