NukeSurvivalToolkit Documentation Release v2.1.0

Nuke Survival Toolkit
Documentation

Release v2.1.0

Tony Lyons | 2021
1

About
The Nuke Survival Toolkit is a portable tool menu for the Foundry’s Nuke with a hand-picked
selection of nuke gizmos collected from all over the web, organized into 1 easy-to-install
toolbar.
Installation
Here’s how to install and use the Nuke Survival Toolkit:

1.) Download the .zip folder from the Nuke Survival Toolkit github website.

https://github.com/CreativeLyons/NukeSurvivalToolkit_publicRelease/releases/latest

This github will have all of the up to date changes, bug fixes, tweaks, additions, etc. So feel
free to watch or star the github, and check back regularly if you’d like to stay up to date.

2.) Copy or move the NukeSurvivalToolkit Folder either in your User/.nuke/ folder for personal
use, or for use in a pipeline or to share with multiple artists, place the folder in any shared and
accessible network folder.

3.) Open your init.py file in your /.nuke/ folder into any text editor (or create a new init.py in
your User/.nuke/ directory if one doesn’t already exist)

4.) Copy the following code into your init.py file:

nuke.pluginAddPath("Your/NukeSurvivalToolkit/FolderPath/Here")

5.) Copy the filepath location of where you placed your NukeSurvivalToolkit. Replace the
Your/NukeSurvivalToolkit/FolderPath/Here text with the NukeSurvivalToolkit
filepath location, making sure to keep quotation marks around the filepath.

6.) Save your init.py file, and restart your Nuke session
7.) That’s it! Congrats, you will now see a little red multi-tool in your nuke toolbar.

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Technical Details

There are a few things about this menu that try and make it both easy and safe to use.

1.) In the main folder there is a menu.py file that is used to add 5 relative plugin paths.
These are the following folders:
a.) ./gizmos - for all NST gizmo files
b.) ./nk_files - for all NST .nk scripts
c.) ./python - 1 helper file, and a handful of tool-specific python files
d.) ./icons - for all tool icons
e.) ./images - for all image files required for some tools/examples

** This has changed from the v1.1.1 version of the NST to be relative paths. There were some
network startup slowdowns happening from nuke recursively adding many pluginPaths in the
previous init.py. Removing all the folders and narrowing it down to just 5 seemed to speed up
start up time while keeping the menu looking the same. Also adding the plugin paths in the
menu instead of the init made sure that there was not unnecessary load time happening for
renderfarms or command-line nuke sessions where the GUI and menu isn’t needed.

2.) The menu.py in the main folder is primarily building almost the entire toolkit menu. You
will find it organized into sections: Draw, Time, Color, Filter, etc. The tools will show up
in the order that you designate them in this menu.

Because the init.py is loading downstream folders, any menu.py files located in
another folder, will be loaded along with the main menu.py. This is happening with
“Expression Nodes”, “Hagbarth Tools” and “Xavier Martin’s X_Tools” toolset menus. It
was sometimes easier to group these tools together by artist and add them to
Draw/Expression AG, Draw/Hagbarth Tools, or Filter/X_Tools XM.
These submenus are being added by the menu.py files in their artist’s respective folder.

3.) Nuke does not like to load multiple gizmo files with the same name. Because the Nuke
Survival Toolkit may be added into company pipelines that already have many gizmo’s
being loaded in, I have given all .gizmo files their own prefix “NST_”. This means all
files should have a unique name to any file that would be already installed. For
example, if there was an iBlur.gizmo installed, the one in Nuke Survival Toolkit is
named NST_iBlur.gizmo, so there should be no conflicts. In the main menu.py at
the top, there is a variable that you can replace if you choose to find/replace the
“NST_” prefix to a custom one for all the gizmos. You could do this with a renaming
software or via the terminal for all gizmos with the “NST_” prefix. If you change
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“NST_” to “WOW_” for example, just enter “WOW_” in this variable. This might help if
two different Nuke Survival Toolkits are being loaded at once, to keep them unique.

4.) All gizmo’s are stored as .gizmo files on the folder system, but are all actually loaded
into nuke as Groups, with no link back to the gizmo filepath. This is a strange bug /
feature / work around that sort of tricks nuke into thinking you have loaded a gizmo,
but actually have loaded a group. There are a few advantages to this method:

a.) Nuke will automatically open the properties panel of the tool, unlike if you
nuke.nodePaste() a .nk file

b.) Nuke actually stores the defaults of the gizmo in memory, during that specific
nuke session. This means you will be able to ctrl + click on knobs and reset
them to their intended default settings. This unfortunately goes away once you
close and re-open the script, as nuke will just consider the nodes a normal
group and will not know what the defaults are.

c.) Groups are generally easier to debug and enter inside to see what is going on.

d.) This will help with render farms or other users opening scripts that would
normally be sourcing the gizmos from wherever you have placed the Nuke
Survival Toolkit. Sometimes render farms or other users cannot access your
local directories, which might cause errors when other artists or render farms
are trying to open the script, since they may not be loading the
NukeSurvivalToolkit. Making sure the tools are Groups will mean the tools exist
in your nuke script and will never be unlinked/unsourced when someone else is
opening the nuke script.

If you prefer to use gizmos instead of groups, you simply have to open the
gizmo in a text editor and change where it says “Group” at the top of each
.gizmo file, and replace it with “Gizmo”. It is case sensitive, so make sure you
capitalize Gizmo or Group.

5.) Removed all x and y node graph positions from the gizmos, (xpos and ypos). If you
leave these in; when you have a node selected and create a gizmo, instead of
spawning under the node, it can fly to the part of the node graph where the x and y
positions were stored at.

6.) Removed all Nuke Version lines from the gizmos to avoid annoying errors about
different versions. Most of these tools were tested using Nuke 11.3v4, but that does
not mean they require that version. Some gizmos were created for different versions,
so please use the links provided to see what versions the tools are compatible with if
something is not working.
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7.) Tried consolidating the types of channels the gizmos might be bringing into your
scripts by making sure they are using the same types of channel names. For example,
all Position World pass channels will come in as P.red, P.green, P.blue, P.alpha, and all
Normals World pass channels will come in as N.red, N.green, N.blue, N.alpha. There
are a few exceptions where some tools are using unique channel names, but for the
most part they are always using .red, .green, .blue, .alpha, .u, or .v at the end of the
channels. Most channel/layer names are kept as the original tool had them. For
example apChroma, hag_pos, despill, etc.

8.) Added an Author Tag to the end of all Gizmos in the menu. NKPD just stands for
Nukepedia, where I did not make a custom tag if there weren't many tools from this
author. These might help in 2 ways:
1.) To filter for certain tools if you want to search by all of Adrian Pueyo’s AP tools or
Mark Joey Tang’s MJT tools using nuke’s tab search. Will also help you identify who
made what, and make it easier to find in the Tool Documentation
2.) To help identify that this gizmo is from the Nuke Survival Toolkit, in case there are
duplicate tools in the pipeline loaded with the same name.

9.) Dealing with Hard Coded filepaths on Gizmo Creation
a.) There is a function, filepathCreateNode(), stored in the NST_helper.py file, that
first detects if the Group/Gizmo being created has a Read, DeepRead,
ReadGeo, Camera, Axis. Then, if the file knob in the node contains the string
<<<replace>>> in the filepath, this will be replaced by the location where the
NukeSurvivalToolkit is stored.
b.) This means for templates, example scripts, and occasional gizmos that require
image files, They will be created with hardcoded links pointing to images in the
Nuke Survival Toolkit.
c.) This was necessary because if I manually hardcoded the filepath, it will error
because it does not know where your NST image is. If you use a live variable,
similar to [root.name] to try and point to the NST, it will work for you and
anyone with the same NST installed, but not if you try and render on a
renderfarm without the NST installed or pass the script to the artist without the
NST installed, as nuke won’t find the variable and won’t know where to point
to. Replacing the variable and hard coding the filepath on creation is the best
way to make sure the tool to work with anyone opening the script, as long as
the Nuke Survival Toolkit does not move locations, or the image file is not
moved, deleted, renamed, etc

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Menus

The tool menu’s categorization is laid out in a bit of a mix between Nuke’s original toolbar
organization, and Nukepedia’s gizmo categories. This should be helpful and intuitive when
browsing for certain types of tools, or to quickly find the tool you are looking for if you forget
the name. Some of these menus have sub-menus such as Filter/Glows/ for further
groupings to reduce the overall list size of each menu.

Nuke Survival Toolkit Menu Bar: Nukepedia’s gizmo Categories

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Tool Index
About 2
Installation 2
Technical Details 3
Menus 6
Tool Index 7
1. Image 15
LabelFromRead TL 15
2. Draw 16
Expression Nodes AG Menu 16
GradMagic TL 17
NoiseAdvanced TL 18
RadialAdvanced TL 19
UV_Map AG 20
WaterLens MJT 21
Silk MHD 22
Gradient Editor MHD 23
VoronoiGradient NKPD 24
CellNoise NKPD 26
LineTool NKPD 27
PlotScanline NKPD 28
SliceTool FR 29
PerspectiveGuide NKPD 30
DasGrain FH 31
LumaGrain NKPD 32
GrainAdvanced SPIN 33
X_Tesla XM 34
SpotFlare MHD 35
FlareSuperStar NKPD 36
AutoFlare NKPD 37
3. Time 38
apLoop AP 38
Looper NKPD 39
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FrameMedian MHD 40

TimeMachine NKPD 41
FrameFiller MJT 42
4. Channel 43
BinaryAlpha TL 43
ChannelCombiner TL 44
ChannelControl TL 45
ChannelCreator TL 46
InjectMatteChannel TL 47
StreamCart MJT 48
RenameChannels AG 50
5. Color 51
BlacksMatch TL 51
ColorCopy TL 52
Contrast TL 53
GradeLayerPass TL 54
HighlightSuppress TL 55
ShadowMult TL 56
WhiteSoftClip TL 57
WhiteBalance TL 58
apColorSampler AP 59
apVignette AP 60
GammaPlus MJT 61
MonochromePlus CF 62
Suppress_RGBCMY SPIN 63
BiasedSaturation NKPD 64
HSL_Tool NKPD 65
6.) Filter 66

Glows Menu 66
apGlow AP 66
ExponGlow TL 67
Glow_Exponential SPIN 68
Optical Glow BM 69
Blurs Menu 70
ExponBlurSimple TL 70
Directional Blur TL 71
IBlur NKPD 72
WaveletBlur MHD 73
8

Edges Menu 74

apEdgePush AP 74
EdgeDetectAlias TL 75
AntiAliasFilter AG 76
ErodeSmooth TL 77
Edge_RimLight AG 78
EdgeDetectPRO AG 79
Erode_Fine SPIN 80
Edge_Expand SPIN 81
Edge RB 82
ColourSmear NKPD 85
KillOutline NKPD 86
EdgeFromAlpha FR 87
VectorExtendEdge NKPD 88
FractalBlur NKPD 89
Distortions Menu 90
Glass FR 90
HeatWave NKPD 91
X_Distort XM 92
X Tools XM 93
X Aton Volumetrics XM 93
X_Denoise XM 94
X_Sharpen XM 95
X_Soften XM 95
BeautifulSkin TL 96
BlacksExpon TL 97
Halation TL 98
Highpass TL 99
Diffusion TL 100
LightWrapPro TL 101
bm_Lightwrap BM 102
iConvolve AP 103
ConvolutionMatrix AG 104
apChroma Tools AP 105
apChroma AP 106
apChromaTransform AP 107
apChromaBlur AP 108
apChromaUnpremult AP 109
apChromaPremult AP 109
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apChromaMerge AP 110
Chromatik SPIN 110
CatsEyeDefocus NKPD 112
DefocusSwirlyBokeh NKPD 113
deHaze NKPD 113
DeflickerVelocity NKPD 115
FillSampler NKPD 118
MECfiller NKPD 119
7.) Keyer 120

apDespill AP 121
SpillCorrect SPIN 122
DespillToColor NKPD 123
AdditiveKeyerPro TL 123
apeScreenClean AP 124
apScreenGrow AP 126
KeyChew RK 127
LumaKeyer DR 128
8.) Merge 129

ContactSheetAuto TL 129
KeymixBBox TL 129
MergeAtmos TL 130
MergeBlend TL 131
MergeAll AP 133
9.) Transform 133

Vector Math Tools MGA-EL 134
InvertAxis MT 135
ZeroAxis MT 135
InvertMatrix4 MT 135
ProductMatrix4 MT 135
RotateMatrix4 MT 135
ScaleMatrix4 MT 136
TransformMatrix4 MT 136
TranslateMatrix4 MT 136
TransposeMatrix4 MT 136
CrossProductVector2 MT 137
DotProductVector2 MT 137
MagnitudeVector2 MT 137
NormalizeVector2 MT 137
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RotateVector2 MT 137
TransformVector2 MT 137
CrossProductVector3 MT 138
DotProductVector3 MT 138
MagnitudeVector3 MT 138
MultiplyVector3Matrix3 MT 139
NormalizeVector3 MT 139
RotateVector3 MT 139
TransformVector3 MT 139
GenerateMatrix4 MT 139
GenerateSTMap MT 140
LumaToVector3 MT 140
STMapToVector2 MT 140
Vector2ToSTMap MT 141
Vector3ToMatrix4 MT 141
vector3DMathExpression EL 142
Vectors_Direction EL 142
Vectors_to_Degrees EL 142
VectorTracker NKPD 143
AutoCropTool TL 144
BBoxToFormat TL 145
ImagePlane3D 146
Matrix4x4_Inverse TL 149
Matrix4x4_Math TL 150
MirrorBorder TL 151
TransformCutOut TL 152
IMorph TL 153
RP_Reformat MJT 153
InverseMatrix MJT 156
CardToTrack AK 157
CProject AK 157
TProject AK 158
STiCKiT MHD 159
TransformMatrix AG 161
CornerPin2D_Matrix AG 161
IIDistort EL 162
CameraShake BM 164
MorphDissolve SPIN 165
ITransform FR 165
11

RotoCentroid NKPD 167

STMapInverse NKPD 168
Transform_Mix NKPD 169
PlanarProjection NKPD 170
Reconcile3DFast DR 170
10.) 3D 172
aPCard AP 172
DummyCam AP 172
mScatterGeo MJT 173
Origami MJT 174
RayDeepAO MJT 180
SceneDepthCalculator MJT 182
SSMesh MJT 184
Unify3DCoordinate MJT 184
UVEditor MJT 185
Distance3D NKPD 190
DistanceBetween_CS NKPD 192
Lightning3D EL 193
GeoToPoints MHD 194
Noise3DTexture NKPD 195
GodRaysProjector CF 196
11.) Particles 196

WaterSchmutz DR 197
Sparky NKPD 197
ParticleLights MHD 201
ParticleKiller NKPD 202
12.) Deep 202

Deep2VP Suite MJT 203
Deep2VPosition MJT 204
DVPToImage MJT 206
DVPort MJT 206
DVPmatte MJT 207
DVPattern MJT 211
DVProjection MJT 211
DVPsetLight MJT 215
DVPfresnel MJT 216
DVPrelight MJT 218
DVPscene MJT 219
12

DeepFromDepth AG 222
DeepToPosition TL 223
DeepRecolorMatte TL 224
DeepMerge_Advanced BM 225
DeepCropSoft NKPD 227
DeepKeyMix NKPD 228
DeepHoldoutSmoother NKPD 229
DeepCopyBBox NKPD 230
DeepBoolean MJT 231
DeepFromPosition MJT 234
DeepSampleCount MJT 236
DeepSer MJT 236
13.) CG 240
UV_Mapper TL 240
PNZ Suite MJT 243
ConvertPNZ MJT 243
P2N MJT 244
P2Z MJT 245
Z2N MJT 246
Z2P MJT 247
Pos Toolkit MJT 248
PosMatte MJT 249
PosPattern MJT 250
PosProjection MJT 251
Noise3D SPIN 252
Noise4D MHD 253
Relight_Simple SPIN 255
Reproject3D SPIN 255
C44Kernal AP 256
apDirLight AP 258
apFresnel AP 258
CameraNormals NKPD 260
NormalsRotate NKPD 261
EnvReflect_BB NKPD 261
Relight_BB NKPD 262
N_Reflection KNPD 263
SimpleSSS MHD 265
aPmatte AP 265
13

P_Project NKPD 268

GlueP LS 268
P_Ramp NKPD 269
P_NoiseAdvanced NKPD 270
14.) Curves 271

WaveMachine FL 272
WaveMaker FL 273
WaveCustom FL 273
WaveGrade FL 274
WaveRetime FL 274
WaveMerge FL 275
Randomizer TL 276
AnimationCurve AG 277
CurveRemapper BM 287
NoiseGen BM 287
15.) Utilities 288

GUI_Switch TL 289
NAN_INF_Killer TL 289
apViewerBlocker AP 291
Python_and_TCL AG 291
RotoQC NKPD 294
bm_MatteCheck BM 295
ViewerRender MJT 296
NukeZ MJT 296
Pyclopedia MJT 298
16.) Templates 299

Advanced Keying Template TL 300
Advanced Keying Template Stamps TL 301
STMap Keyer Setup EL 301
Gizmo Demo Scripts 302
WaterLens Demo MJT 303
SSMesh Demo MJT 303
UV Editor Demo MJT 303
Sparky Demo NKPD 303
Particle Lights Demo MHD 303
Special Thanks 304
Contact 305
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1. Image
LabelFromRead TL
Author: Tony Lyons
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/image/labelfromread

Displays Filepath of topmost read node over the image. Useful when viewing sequence contact
sheets / matching shots.

Includes some split path variables to help grab the section of the filepath that you need.
Check split path, choose the character you’d like to split with ( _ , . - / etc) and the range
you’d like to grab, 0-1 will grab first 2 items for example.
Can also choose to split the full path or just the tail (The part after the last / in the filepath)

Should allow quick and useful file splitting that you can change on the fly without needing to
remember the split tcl code

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2. Draw
Expression Nodes AG Menu
Author: Andrea Geremia - www.andreageremia.it/tutorial.html

Full tool details: http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_expression_node.html
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/expression-node-collection-for-nuke
Quick preview of some of the tools: https://vimeo.com/364508565

Various premade expressions. Separated into 6 categories. Please go to the first link above
for full details on Andrea Geremia’s main website.
1. CREATIONS
2. ALPHA
3. PIXEL
4. KEYING and DESPILL
5. TRANSFORM
6. 3D and DEEP
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GradMagic TL
Author: Tony Lyons - www.CompositingMentor.com

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/gradmagic

A live sampling 4 point gradient tool with ability to bake colors.

Demo video:
https://youtu.be/oge8jMR0LRw
Or here on vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/341514150

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NoiseAdvanced TL

http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/noiseadvanced

Noise with user friendly animation sliders and overscan.

Demo:
https://youtu.be/EsHDBGonwEs

18

RadialAdvanced TL

A radial tool that creates a circle and ramped falloff to create a “ring” effect. Easy animation
settings. Useful for shockwaves or other lookDev tasks.

19

UV_Map AG
Author: Andrea Geremia

From Expression AG menu

Creates a standard UV map with overscan percent options

20

WaterLens MJT
Author: Mark Joey Tang - www.facebook.com/MJTlab
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/waterlens_11

Create water droplet on lens.

21

Silk MHD
Author: Mads Hagbarth Damsbo - https://hagbarth.net/blog/

Main description website: https://hagbarth.net/project/silk/
Nukepedia download: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/silk

Silk is a creative 2d processing effect that takes your footage and turns it into laser spaghetti.

Video demo: https://vimeo.com/195532256
Demo: https://vimeo.com/156336299
Introduction Video: https://vimeo.com/195883171

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Gradient Editor MHD


Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/gradient-editor
Preview: https://vimeo.com/223874378

This is a simple little visual gradient editor for Nuke

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VoronoiGradient NKPD
Author: Nikolai Wüstemann - www.wuestemann.net

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/voronoi-gradient/

Nuke implementation for 2D Gradients. Create an arbitrary number of color-samples in 2D and
produce a smooth, natural interpolation over the entire image.

The Gizmo uses Natural Neigbor Interpolation to calculate the pixels inbetween samples,
using Blinkscripts.

You can also output the underlying Voronoi Diagram or play with the smoothness value to
control the amount of the softening (0 = Voronoi Diagram, 1 = Accurate Natural Neighbor
Interpolation).

Another important function is the ability to sample input colors, instead of defining them
yourself. Setting the Type to 'Sample' uses all created points to sample the input colors at
given positions. Furthermore you can use the 'Fill' Type to interpolate missing information in
any image. A premultiplied input is required for this.

Changing the Colorspace will change the color falloff. This can be used to achieve the best
artistic result. Setting the Colorspace to HSV for example, will interpolate the colors over the
spectrum.

There are several tricks and hacks used in this Gizmo to make it work, so please report any
bugs you find, I am sure there still are some.
The user knobs and the inside of the gizmo are well documented to help with understanding
the concept.
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(The algorithm implemented is not the elegant geometric process, but a simple brute-force
method, which was easy to implement. This however makes the tool super slow and you
might wanna use the speed optimization control to make it a little bit faster at the cost of
some quality. That's why I would still consider the whole thing a proof of concept. Although,
with my update to v2.7 I'd say we are production ready now :) )

25

CellNoise NKPD
Author: Matthew Shaw
Website: www.gizmosandgames.com

Nukepedia: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/image/cell-noise

6 cellular noise types :
Worley, Voronoi, Manhattan, Chebyshev, Euclidian, and Worley Inverse.

Uses the same transformation controls as standard nuke noise.

26

LineTool NKPD
Author: Fredrik Brännbacka

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/mcp-line

Line drawing gizmo. Use it to draw lines on an input or use it as an input draw node.
Subsample or don't if you are drawing vertical or horizontal lines.

27

PlotScanline NKPD
Author: Theodore Groembroome

Website Download: https://euqahuba.com/blog/?p=121

Slice and plot scanlines in Nuke!

Set up point 1 and point 2 and calculate alone whole line from edge of frame to edge of frame
or calculate only the area between the 2 points.

28

SliceTool FR
Author: Frank Rueter - www.ohufx.com

analyze an arbitrary slice of an image. Place start and end position on the incoming image to
plot a scan line to represent an arbitrary slice.
Thanks to Ben Pierre for a little magic under the hood.

29

PerspectiveGuide NKPD
Author: Peter Farkas - Baseblack (London) Ltd.

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/perspective-guide-110

Simple perspective guide. Move around origin to set horizon line, and move around points to
set perspective lines. Can duplicate node and set up 2 or 3 point perspectives

30

DasGrain FH
Author: Fabian Holtz
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/dasgrain

Semiautomatic regraining tool.

DasGrain takes the pain out of the re-graining process by automatically adapting the plate
grain to your comp.
For areas where the original grain doesn't work, you can generate a new grain that is based
on the original grain.
Having a good degrain is crucial for this tool!

Amazing Video demo here: https://vimeo.com/284820390

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LumaGrain NKPD
Author: Luma Pictures

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/l_grain

Added functionality to Nuke's default grain node.

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GrainAdvanced SPIN
Author: Spin FX

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/spin_nuke_gizmos-1
Github link: https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos

Adds synthetic grain. The defaults are setup to resemble an HD Alexa plate's grain. You can
adjust the sliders to match a sample grain.

33

X_Tesla XM
Author: Xavier Martin - http://www.xaviermartinvfx.com/articles/

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/x_tesla
Website Documentation: http://www.xaviermartinvfx.com/x_tesla/

With this Gizmo you will be able to create lightning and electricity effects. Animated electric
arcs will be procedurally created between two points.

The gizmo includes some realistic render option such as the temperature based chromatic
aberration and glow, an advanced soften filter, an easy to use 2 colour system. Or you can just
disable everything with a simple check box, that’s also OK.

34

SpotFlare MHD

Website: https://hagbarth.net/project/spotflare/
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/spot-flare

Spotflare is a procedural flare generator, that generates a general radial light but also allow for
light shimmer and "cone" masking.

At the core of spotflare is a radial light, that is generated from the inverse square of the
distance to the center. Unlike a liniear falloff, a inverse square falloff gives a very realistic light
look.

If you look at the diffrence between a gaussian and a gamma adjusted inverse square profile
you can clearly see the effect.

Demo: https://vimeo.com/116440577

35

FlareSuperStar NKPD
Author: Lukas Fabian

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/flaresuperstar

Main features
- easily create star flares with saperate controls over rays, glare and glow
- automatic animation on the glare either by shimmer (over time) and/or by changing the
position of the flare
- rays are very customizable and have controls for adjusting thickness and angle + spread (or
shrink) from a specific distance
- position the flare either manual or let it spawn automatically from the highlights of an input
image with convolve mode

36

AutoFlare NKPD
Author: Vincent Wauters - www.vincentwauters.com

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/autoflare

Detailed description on AutoFlare:
http://vincentwauters.com/programming/autoflare20-for-nuke

This is an automatic lens flare filter based on image content and values.

It is using simple expressions and convolution filters to create lens flares. Since it is based on
image content, there are no position parameters, and therefore no need to track the hotspots
in the image.

37

3. Time
apLoop AP
Author: Adrian Pueyo - http://www.adrianpueyo.com/

Quick tool to simulate a loop effect while affecting the gain, blur and transformations on each
"iteration".

Feel free to play with it and see its applications. Some of them: create an exponential (or
normal) glow in seconds, an expo blur, a grid or mosaic (adding this gizmo twice), godrays,
directional blurs, etc.

38

Looper NKPD
Author: Damian Binder

Original: Morph:
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/looper

Looper is a tool that allows you to create seamless loops of playing clips.

Looping is not only a useful way to lengthen clips that are too short to be used in a comp but
it is also a great way to save rendering times since only a specific frame range needs to be
rendered.

Looper has two looping methods: Dissolve and Morph

Dissolve: Uses a simple Dissolve node to dissolve the input clip between an offset version of
the same clip. The offset amount is determined by the number of frames looped. Works great
when looping clips with constant/similar movement like rain or snow stock footage.

Morph: Similar to the Dissolve method but instead uses a Kronos node to calculate motion
vectors to then generate a morphed loop. Best used with clips containing complex but well
defined movement.

Other Features:

- FgMatte input: An optional matte of the foreground can be used which may improve
Kronos's motion estimation. (Highly recommended)
- Vector generator settings like Vector Detail and Strength are accessible.
- Avoid Clip End knob: Negatively offsets the input clip to avoid looping unexisting frames
before first frame.
- A dynamic text visually indicates the total number of frames being looped.

39

FrameMedian MHD

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/time/framemedian
Website: https://hagbarth.net/1054/

FrameMedian is a temporal median toolset that calculates a median from a range of frames.
Unlike the TemporalMedian tool that samples 3 frames, the FrameMedian can sample up to 20
frames.

What is it for?

The tool is generally used for creating cleanplates from super very busy shots.

40

TimeMachine NKPD
Author: Ivan Busquets

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/timemachine

Does a per-pixel time offset on the image, based on a secondary mask input.

This is sort of a copy of Houdini's Time Machine. Takes an image sequence plus a mask, then
offsets the image in time based on the input mask as follows:

- Pixels with a mask value of 1 will be offset by the number of frames set in the "frames" knob.
- Mask values of 0 return the image at the current frame.
- Values between 0-1 will return an interpolated offset.
- Mask gets clamped to 0-1, so values <0 and >1 are not accounted for.

Very simple as it stands, but could be a good example of rebuilding a gizmo's internals using
callbacks.

41

FrameFiller MJT
Author: Mark Joey Tang - blog: www.facebook.com/MJTLab
Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/framefiller

Github link: https://github.com/xmjtx/MJTLab/tree/main/gizmo_library/Time/FrameFiller_v10

Video Demo: https://youtu.be/VZSk7j1zOCU

Using frame interpolation to fill up missing frames. Support multiple frames at once, support
Regularized motion estimation, no NukeX Required. Motion blur, sub-frames bias adjustable.

42

4. Channel

BinaryAlpha TL

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/channel/binaryalpha

Analyzes a choice of the RGB, RGBA, or Alpha input and outputs an Alpha Channel (or RGBA)
that is Binary, 0 or 1. Any Pixels that are not 0 will be turned into 1 (negative numbers also),
and 0 will remain 0. This is perfect for those blur + unpremult tricks or if you need a quick
matte for finding any rgb color above or below 0, in a CG render passes for example.

Tcl expression:
r!=0 || g!=0 || b!=0 || a! = 0 ? 1 : 0

43

ChannelCombiner TL

Quickly combine 4 channels with an operation between each of them. Works best with ID
mattes or roto’s that are injected into a single stream. The channels dropdown lists every
channel in the stream, so the best workflow would be to have a “mattes Stream” or “ID
stream” with all the matte/roto/ID channels copied into an empty stream (no other channels)

Then you can use this node to make quick combinations:
Helmet.red plus Visor.red minus Antenna.red, for example

44

ChannelControl TL

Mix the ratio of Red, Green, Blue, Alpha Channels and choose a Merge operation.
Result is a black and white matte output into RGBA. Mask and mix options available.

45

ChannelCreator TL
python help by Carlo Cherisier

This tool is meant to be used with ID’s or mattes that are in the RGBA layer. Create new
names for the channel you wish to copy over and this node will create a copy node that
converts rgba.red rgba.green, rgba.blue, and rgba.alpha over to new channels. Just enter a
name in the right side column and the suffix will be <string>.red

Use this to quickly transfer and rename channels into a new “channel” stream in nuke that are
uniquely named and can be identified and pulled out later to be used when compositing.
Good for roto shapes or ID’s when CG compositing.

Example:
rgba.red --> hat = hat.red
rgba.green --> glasses = glasses.red
rgba.blue --> shoes = shoes.red
rgba.alpha --> jacket = jacket.red

Generate copy node will generate a copy node as follows:
rgba.red --> hat.red
rgba.green --> glasses.red
rgba.blue --> shoes.red
rgba.alpha --> jacket.red
Any fields left blank will not copy over in the generated copy node.
46

InjectMatteChannel TL
Takes a matte input and injects it into the stream as a new channel, using the “New Channel
Name text input” and adding ‘.red’ to the end, creating a new <channelName>.red channel.

A couple of buttons for ease of use, but ‘grab title’ requires adrian pueyo’s stamps installed to
work properly because it is running a function from his code.

Grab Title: Will try and grab either the nearest stamp name, from the matte stream, or else a
read node name if it finds a read node. Hopefully if you are using a pipeline, and stamps, and
have configured stamps to default to part of the name of a read node to use as the name (you
can adjust this in the stamps_config.py file) then it will run the same function to find the ‘right’
name to use and fill in the “New Channel Name” text input.

Inject New Channel: This will generate a new channel based off the new channel name input
text and the add prefix, add post fix text inputs. It will copy the selected channel from ‘Input
Matte Channel” into the stream

Reset: Set node to default (does not remove the channel from the script)

New Channel Name: Manually enter the new channel name, or try the Grab Title to autofill

Input Matte Channel: Choose which channel from the matte input with be copied as new
channel
Add Prefix, Add Postfix : click to reveal additional input text fields, where you can add a prefix,
which will appear before the new channel name, with an underscore. ie. “ID_” or a postfix,
which will add text after your new channel name, with an underscore. ie. “_DImatte”

47

StreamCart MJT

Demo video : https://vimeo.com/367649727
Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/channel/streamcart
Download Mark Joey Tang’s entire Toolset: http://bit.ly/menupy

Select channel or geo and quickly shuffle it.

How to use (channel shuffle) :
- connect streamCart node to anywhere of the tree.
- click 'get channels / geo'. It will scan through available channels from upstream
- click the channels to create shuffle node

How to use (Geo select) :
- connect streamCart node directly to 'ReadGeo'
- click 'get channels / geo'. It will scan through avaliable geo mesh from upstream
'scene_view'
- select all the individual objects
- click 'ReadGeo Checkout' to create a new ReadGeo with the selection.

48

Above is an example of InjectMatteChannel ‘Grab Title’ grabbing the name of the incoming
stamp. This can speed up your workflow quite a bit if you are used to using stamps to move
around AOVs and mattes, and parts of your script with an alpha that you might want to use as
a matte

To the Right is a small example of
how you might use a channel
workflow. I have roto’ed the eyes
and mouth of Marcie, and used
InjectMatteChannel to copy the
alpha into a new channel
‘EyesMouth”.

This channel now exists in the
stream as another ‘layer’ you can see
it in your viewer channels, and later
on you can shuffle out the channel
and use it for masks, grain matte, DI
mattes, etc

49

RenameChannels AG
With this Gizmo you can rename Channels and Layers through Copy and Remove Nodes. In
this way you have more control with the possibility to cancel the operation.

Instruction:

1. Connect renameChannels node to your script.
2. Select the oldLayer and insert the name of the newLayer. Basically you want to rename the
old name with the new one.
3. Select the Channels you want to create. They depend from the oldLayer
4. Click on button "Create Copy and Remove Nodes"
5. Connect the nodes created to your script.

50

5. Color

BlacksMatch TL

Full Tool Description Breakdown:
https://compositingmentor.com/2019/06/30/blacksmatch/
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/blacksmatch_20

Full tutorial/ Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw3bcsmkGuk

This tool recreates a toe operation that's able to input an external image as it's black point
and has controls for the multiply (the amount above the blackpoint that the operation stops
affecting the midtones and highlights), and a control for the Gamma, or falloff, which is the
bottom part of the curve and how it's blending with the blackpoint. You can toggle a preview
overlay of a plotscanline and see how your blackpoint is affecting the rest of your image.

51

ColorCopy TL

ColorCopy converts A and B images into HSV or HSL colorspace and mixes hue, saturation,
and luminance (value) from image A to image B.

The other modes are a way of separating color and luminance from the image by dividing the
original image by a desaturated version. The other methods are the methods found in the
saturation node: rec709, average, maximum, etc.

When you are on HSV or HSL you have control over hue and saturation separately, and in the
rest of the methods have just a single ‘color mix’ control (along with the luminance mix).

Can toggle Operations to be done in Log space.

52

Contrast TL

Simple contrast tool with a pivot point controlling areas about and below the pivot separately.

53

GradeLayerPass TL

Useful for grading CG AOVs. Choose AOV from the channels dropdown that you wish to
grade. I’ve chosen the most common grade adjustments (also useful from a lighting artist
point of view that translates well back to lighting application).

Exposure - for luminance, Multiply - for color, Gamma - midtones, Saturation.

This tool will minus the AOV layer from the beauty, makes adjustments to the AOV layer, and
plus the changed layer back. It also injects the changed AOV layer back into the stream so if
you shuffle it out afterwards it will reflect the changes made to the AOV layer.

54

HighlightSuppress TL
Author: Iiro Harra - Originally Lazy_Tonemap
Modified and renamed by: Tony Lyons - www.CompositingMentor.com

Original Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/lazy_tonemap

Uses expression to try and suppress highlights above 1 to a more aesthetic fall off, retaining
color information. When the whitepoint is set to 1, the image will be the same as the original,
higher the whitepoint, the stronger the effect. Gain and gamma can be used to compensate
for the slight decontrasting that occurs on the image.

Limit Affected Area is a Luminance key on the original image. Setting to 1 will gradually ramp
up the effect towards (and above) a value of 1 and helps preserve lows and midtones.

55

ShadowMult TL

Arnold rendering and other renderers enable you to output a layer called “shadowMatte”. This
can be a bit of a mysterious pass to figure out. Most artists just desaturate the image, shuffle
to alpha and use it as a mask to multiply the plate or CG down to 0.

There is in fact color information in the shadowMatte pass. Each channel, red, green, blue,
needs to be used as a mask to multiply the corresponding channel.
shadowMatte.red - used as mask to multiply red to 0
shadowMatte.green - used as mask to multiply green to 0
shadowMatte.blue - used as mask to multiply blue to 0

I made this tool to automatically apply this method quickly and effortlessly. Simple additional
controls for multiply (in case you want to change color) and gamma.

56

WhiteSoftClip TL

This tool’s aim is to better approach the softClip tool. There are many times where you want
to set a max value amount for the shot, 16, 25, 50, whichever. Unfortunately, the softClip tool
in nuke tends to clamp all channels at the top amount equally, which seems to break the ratio
between the channels and lose the color of the highlights.

Set the max value you’d like to max your highlights out at.

Adjust the FallOff and Color Mult to adjust where the whiteclipping begins in the highlights.

The Restore Color slider restores more of the color by pushing the ratio between the colors a
bit farther apart and maintaining the original colors. Default is set to .5

57

WhiteBalance TL

Sample the ‘white’ or neutral area of the plate you wish to white balance. This tool preserves
the overall luminance of the image. There is also a reverse option. Can be used to balance
plates before greenscreen/bluescreen keying, and then reverse back after the keying/despill
process to preserve original colors.

58

apColorSampler AP

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/colour/colorsampler
Tutorial/Overview video: https://vimeo.com/adrianpueyo/colorsampler

apColorSampler is a tool that calculates the average color of a target input (or the src image if
there's no target input), weighted through the area input (or the whole frame if there's no area
input). It can also calculate the maximum or minimum value over the area. Additionally, you
can directly remove color flickering to an image, or apply it from a target.

You can think of ColorSampler as a live version of CurveTool with some additional features
using the power of Blinkscript, where instead of being limited to a rectangle you can plug a
roto to use for the sampling area... or a key... :)

Bake options available for framerange

59

apVignette AP

Simple and lightweight vignetting gizmo with controls for size, falloff, color
Option for outputting matte in the alpha channel.

60

GammaPlus MJT
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/gammaplus

Demo Video: https://youtu.be/bhjwnHXHPxQ

Provide more options on Gamma math. Make contrast more easier in color integration. Break
the boundary of default Gamma method.

Algorithm of Color Integration in Nuke :

[Nuke Math] Color Grade
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=MJTlab&set=a.665976340650857
[Nuke Math] ColorCorrect - contrast
[Nuke Math] Keyer - Luminance & Saturation
[Nuke Math] HSV & sRGB
[Nuke Math] Saturation in Nuke
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=MJTlab&set=a.709545469627277

61

MonochromePlus CF
Author: Chris Fryer - https://www.chrisfryer.co.uk/blog

Blog Post + Demo Video: https://www.chrisfryer.co.uk/post/monochrome-plus

Monochome workflows are a great standard for doing channel difference based operations
(e.g. removing tracking markers)

Monochrome Plus provides a couple of extra features to make the workflow faster.

Features:

Weight - controls each channel's contribution to the final monochromatic channel
Source/Target - allows the user to divide/multiply the monochromatic channel.

Use weighted target as source - replaces the source values with a weighted multiply to allow
colour matching with one colour pick.

62

Suppress_RGBCMY SPIN
Author: Spin VFX

Spin tools github: https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos
Vimeo Demo: https://vimeo.com/381270956/f7399b6e1d @ 9:15

Suppress (or boost) specific colors: Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta or Yellow.

63

BiasedSaturation NKPD
Created by: Paul Raeburn
adjusted by: Tony Lyons - www.CompositingMentor.com

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/biasedsaturation

Simple tool for changing the saturation but toward a picked colour.

**Changes:
- Added channels dropdown and restore luminance slider.
- Default set to a bluish color and saturation and mix sliders set to 0.5

64

HSL_Tool NKPD
Author: Den Gheiko
Website: www.gheiko.com

Nukepedia: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/dg_hsltool

A kind of DaVinci Resolve 'Hue Vs Hue', 'Hue Vs Sat' and 'Hue Vs Lum' color correction tool

Curve based adjusting hue, sat and value in a specific hue range

Adjust the curves, by default, the difference matte from the original image is stored in alpha,
so can be used as a subtle keyer.

65

6.) Filter
Glows Menu
apGlow AP
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/apglow

apGlow is a lightweight exponential glow effect with advanced control over the steps, falloff,
distribution, color and other useful parameters.

66

ExponGlow TL

There are many Glow tools out there, Here are some of the features that makes this one
unique:

1.) Iterable Blur steps, adds more or less blurs as you change the steps number
2.) Uses percentage blurs, meaning the blur ratio scales along with your format, so when
changing from a 2K plate to a 4K plate, the Glow should look the same
3.) Different types of Merge operations to choose from:
Screen, Plus, Over, Hypot, Average, Max, Min (Can include original image in Merge)
4.) Different type of falloff to choose from, similar to ramp or roto falloff:
Linear, pLinear, Smooth, Smooth0, Smooth1
5.) Tolerance option (luma key on input) and Area mask input, so you can use
mattes/rotos to isolate which part of the image glows
6.) BBox optimization, which has a safe BBox mode that will stop the bbox from growing
10% beyond the format size (or input BBox size, whichever is bigger). You can adjust
this amount, or change to pixels instead of percent. And final BBox adjustment, so
you can further grow/shrink the final bbox (in percent or pixels.

The focus was on an exponential Glow that has a lot of control and lookDev options in the
type of falloff, size, and amount, while still paying attention to Bounding Box size and
calculation time.

67

Glow_Exponential SPIN
Author: SPIN FX

Github link: https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos
Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/381270956/f7399b6e1d @ 23:30

Exponential Glow node, with options to recolor and adjust falloff.

68

Optical Glow BM

Author: Ben McEwan - https://benmcewan.com/blog/

Link to Ben’s Website: https://benmcewan.com/nukeTools.html

Adds exponentially-increasing blurs together to produce a more optically-correct, natural
glow.

69

Blurs Menu
ExponBlurSimple TL

Simple exponential blur iterating steps feature. Most often used with rotos/Mattes
Based on Luma Pictures ExponBlur gizmo.
http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/l_exponblur

Set your blur size and multiplier (exponent), and steps (iterations, # of blurs)

Different types of Merge operations to choose from:
Screen, Plus, Over, Hypot, Average, Max, Min (Can include original image in Merge)
Has a clamp and post blur options.

If you go negative with the size, the matet will blur inwards (invert, blur, invert back). This can
be used for softly eroding/blurring mattes and alpha edges

BBox optimization, which has a safe BBox mode that will stop the bbox from growing 10%
beyond the format size (or input BBox size, whichever is bigger). You can adjust this amount,
or change to pixels instead of percent. And final BBox adjustment, so you can further
grow/shrink the final bbox (in percent or pixels.

70

Directional Blur TL


Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/directionalblur

Select the rotation angle and size of the blur. Choose between blur and defocus. Has a
perpendicular blur that blurs in the perpendicular direction to the angle chosen.

Some helpful options for managing your BBox.
Has channels, mask, mix, etc

View the Demo here on youtube:
https://youtu.be/BrioyN9YMA8

71

IBlur NKPD
Author: moritz eiche
Modified by Tony lyons www.CompositingMentor.com

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/iblur

With this gizmo you get a smoothly ramped blur on your image, based on the matte input. It
works like 'iBlur'/'iDefocus' in Shake.

It's faster and easier than 'ZBlur', also you can choose between 'blur' and 'defocus'.

Update by Tony Lyons:
Allowed for x,y individual size options. Added some better BBox management.

72

WaveletBlur MHD

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/wavelet-blur
Video preview: https://vimeo.com/212641249

This tool allows you to pick a specific range of frequencies to blur in an image. Helpful for
doing beauty and other work where preserving original image detail is important.Using a
BlinkScript powered bilateral filter, this tool also allows you to preserve edges of your footage,
while still having good render times.

73

Edges Menu
apEdgePush AP

apEdgePush is a vector distort edge warp that warps the edge to try and get right of fringe
colors. By default looks for alpha in the img input but you can plug in a custom matte to the
matte input. Switch channels to rgb and warp before the premult in order to warp the image
“within” the premulted alpha region.

74

EdgeDetectAlias TL

Analyzes your alpha for aliased edges and gives you an edge detect for aliased areas. You
can then use an iBlur or blur with mask to introduce blurs to help smooth out edges. Good for
CG or DMP or deep combines where you get some harsh edges.

75

AntiAliasFilter AG
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/antialiasing-filter

Increase Antialiasing filter
Decrease Antialiasing
Instructions:

Select channels. You can just apply to the edge in your alpha channel or also to the RGB
Decide the operation (increase or reduce)
Move slider to select size of the filter
Use gamma for a better tuning
This gizmo uses a 3x3 Matrix

76

ErodeSmooth TL

This erode uses a method of blurring the alpha, then uses colorlookup node to tighten the
edge back down. The range slides along the full area of the blurred region. Best when used
with tight rotos / edges without much blur or falloff.

77

Edge_RimLight AG

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/edge-rim-light

With this tool you can create a quick mask for your Rim Light. Move the slider rotate and
that's it!
Use the Parameters to modify the size and the softness of the edge.

78

EdgeDetectPRO AG
Author: Andea Geremia

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/edgedetect-pro

If you want to go deeper with this topic, visit this tutorial:
http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_edge_rim_light.html

EdgeDetect PRO is an evolution of the classic node from Nuke. Here you have more options
to get a better result with thinner edge reveal.

79

Erode_Fine SPIN
Author: Spin FX

Erode an image with fine controls, as opposed to Nuke's default erode node which can only
erode full pixels.

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/spin_nuke_gizmos-1
Github Link: https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos
Demo video: https://vimeo.com/381270956/f7399b6e1d @ 31:08

80

Edge_Expand SPIN
Author: Spin FX


Expand edges to fix fringing on keys.

81

Edge RB
Author: Rob Bannister - http://www.bannisterpost.com/blog/
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/edge

More information can be found on Rob’s site at http://www.bannisterpost.com and you can
view the video tutorials his my channel here https://youtu.be/E3Mv282dEbs
and the new updated video here https://youtu.be/QXOMe_7fAmw

Edge allows you to extend the proper color out over transparent edges or areas with a lot of
motionblur without eroding away the nice detail. This edge extend has some more advanced
features like splitting the core matte and final key which allows you to work on motion blur
without affecting small details like hair or a swinging rope for example. There is also more
control over how you blend the core detail to the extended edge color. This was shown to me
years ago by an old comp sup I had and is the same as the edge extend by Frank Reuter. This
is my version of it that has evolved a little bit over the years.

INPUTS
There are multiple inputs to Edge but you can just plug in your FG with alpha if you want to
use it simplified. Separating Core and Softer keys or using roto with and without motionblur
has advantages in certain situations. ie: If you have a thin object this will help maintain solid
alpha where you need it.

FG – Foreground plate with Spill suppression applied
Core – This is like a core matte, it helps identify the leading edge and where the edge tool
should start from. It is important to add this core so that small details are not lost like a thin
rope or hair.
Final Key – This is your Key with fine hair details and transparent motion blurred edges. For
Roto you want to have motion blur turned on.
BG – This is where your Background goes if you are using the node as Final Result
Mask – Currently this only works if you are using Edge in Final result.
82

PROPERTIES – EXTEND
The first setting you will see in the properties panel after channels is the **Operation** selector.
Here you can choose if you want to use the Edge Tool to merge together your foreground and
background giving you the Final Result or if you would like the Intermediate Result which is
unpremultiplied and not merged over the background. The Intermediate Result can be helpful
when tweaking parameters like the slice start and size. Next to the operation drop down is a
check box that allows you to preview your edge matte that you can use via the channels
created in the edge node or by creating a shuffle using the button at the bottom.

extend chroma only – This selection will extend only Chroma information by swapping back in
the original luminance information.
exp – The exponential check box will add a variable to the duplicated blurs that increases as
they move outwards from the original edge. This might help if you have a large distance to
extend.
premultiplied – Select this if your footage is already premultiplied to remove dark edges in the
extension.
clamp alpha – Select this if your alpha has values below 0 or above 1.

slice start – Determines where you would like to start bleeding out the color from the inside of
your key. It does this with a series of unpremult, blur, premult operations instead of a standard
erode.
slice iterations and slice width – Sets how large the edge with the color bleeding will be from
the edge grow start or core matte and how many times this will be duplicated. The smaller the
width the more detail is preserved.This should be just big enough to reach the edge of the
largest areas of motionblur.

edge blend – Helps to soften the transition from the original to the new edge. It tends to erode
the bleeding color back inwards if you use high values.
edge blur – This helps soften the transition bringing back original detail. This can sometimes
bring back some lighting information instead of having it completely replaced.
edge smooth – This one will help with extremely large motionblur and completely takes away
detail. This should not be used in most cases but if you do use it sparingly.

create edge matte – This will generate a shuffle node that isolates the areas of extension
which you can use to regrain your edges.

Properties - Extend
For all of the edge blending parameters you should use very low values like 1.6, 1.2 etc

PROPERTIES – BLENDING
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This tab will help you blend your foreground edges with the background color. it is based off
the edge extension in the first tab but you can modify the edge properties to get your desired
look.

In the Edge Blending tab you can enable this feature and preview the edge you are using. This
helps if you want to modify the edge used for blending with your BG.

operation – This is the merge operation you want to use for blending. It is set to average by
default but you can use anything you like ie: plus, max, min.
expand edge – You can expand or contract the edge created in the extend tab.
soften edge – This blur will help soften the transition of the inside blending edge.
mix fg luma – At a value of 0 this will only blend the chroma information but you can mix this
back to include luminance info as well.

adjust bg color – Here you can modify the color and saturation of the bg being used for
blending. This will only affect the blending, not the actual bg.

mask bg luma – This section will allow you to preview and isolate the bright areas of the bg to
wrap around your foreground. Think of this as a way to have lights wrap around your
foreground in car comps.

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ColourSmear NKPD
Author: Richard Frazer

Github link:
https://github.com/RichFrazer/colour-smear-for-Nuke/blob/master/colour-smear.nk
Smear out the edge colour of your A plate to create better soft edges. Works by blurring and
un-premultiplying your image.

I have seen different artists do similar techniques in a number of ways, but this is my take on it
(the EdgeExtend gizmo is a simpler version – this one combines the edge erosion aspect and
produces softer results). This technique is not application specific, but I am demonstrating it
here in Nuke (although I doubt you could do this in After Effects as you need to be able to
manually control pre-multiplication).
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KillOutline NKPD
Author: Andreas Frickinger

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/keyer/killoutline/

Erodes/Expands rgb edges of keyed image image to get rid of unwanted outlines. Includes
fine tuning for edge treatment. Based on Frank Rueter's Edge Extend.

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EdgeFromAlpha FR

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/edgefromalpha/

This tool is an edge detect on the alpha channel that has separate adjustable erode and blur
controls for both inside and outside of the matte.

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VectorExtendEdge NKPD
Author: Michael Garrett

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/vectorextendedge/

Pushes rgb pixels outwards using vectors generated perpedicular to a control matte edge.
It's similar to Frank Reuter's EdgeExtend gizmo but instead of recursively blurring and
unpremulting, it recursively generates vectors based on the input control matte and uses
VectorBlur to push the rgb pixels outwards.

To get the best results, you need to input a matte that conforms to the pixels you want to
extend.

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FractalBlur NKPD
Author: Richard Frazer

Tool link: https://richardfrazer.com/tools-tutorials/fractal-blur-for-nuke/
Github Link: https://github.com/RichFrazer/fractal-blur/blob/master/fractal-blur.nk

It’s essentially just a blur combined with a noise filter so that the softened image does not
have smooth gradients. It really helps to hide soft-edge mattes where the combined images
have a lot of texture. I was working on Where the Wild Things Are at the time and every plate
almost entirely consisted of heavy natural texture (forests, trees, fur etc.) and it became
essential to use the fractalBlur on every single mask. Since then I frequently require this plugin
and have not found an equivalent in Nuke, so thought I’d put one together.

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Distortions Menu

This menu focuses on tools that distort, warp, haze, etc

Glass FR

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/glass

This gizmo uses IDistort to create a simple glass light effect based on a control mask.
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HeatWave DB
Author: Damian Binder

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/realheatdistortion
HeatWave is a gizmo created by Damian Binder that simulates realistic heat distortion you
often see around fire or other sources of heat.

Main Features:
- Realistic heat distortion and haze simulation.
- Smart on-screen wind direction controller.
- Smooth transitions between distorted and non-distorted areas.
- Tracking data for moving shots can be added.
- Custom distortion maps can be used (Real fire elements or cg simulations).

Other features:
- Faster rendering: When using the Mask or Custom input, only the inside of the bounding box
will be calculated.
- Distortion maps can be looped. This helps when using short fire or cg elements. It can also
save rendering times (Limit the number of frames the noise node has to calculate).
- Works with anamorphic resolutions.
- Some effects like Smoke and Chromatic Aberration can be added.

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HeatWave v4.0 is presented with two points, POS and WIND, which are overlayed in the
viewer.

POS represents the initial position of the heat source. Moving this point affects the translation
of the distortion. If a plate's heat source moves over time, POS can be animated to match its
position.

WIND represents the angle at which the distortion travels. Moving this point around POS will
only affect its angle, not its strength. Wind angle can also be animated and controlled either
with a point or with a slider.
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X_Distort XM

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/x_distort
Website Documentation: http://www.xaviermartinvfx.com/x_distort/

This gizmo allows you to distort images with control and flexibility. It is more customizable and
easier to use than Nuke's IDistort. You don’t need to copy any channels and you have many
other controls to play with. You can blur the parts of the image which are being distorted to
get a smoother result.

You can distort an image using its own channels, using another image or using an automatic
noise. You can choose the detail of the deformation.
You can distort each color per separate, creating a realistic chromatic aberration effect. You
can decide the quality of the effect in order to speed up render times.

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X Tools XM

These tools were made by Xavier Martin. I decided to place them all in 1 folder because I felt
they are great and unique tools.

X Aton Volumetrics XM

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/filter/x_aton

Website Documentation: http://www.xaviermartinvfx.com/x_aton/

This tool is an advanced variation on the God Rays node. It creates volumetric lighting effects
with more realism. It supports soft and diffused light rays created by area lights and volumetric
lights. It supports Nuke 3D Cameras, Point Lights and Axis to have a better control of the
direction of the illumination.

It supports Nuke 3D Cameras, Point Lights and Axis to have a better control of the direction of
the illumination. The tool can also be used as a simple screen-space extruder, to create
apparent 3D texts or extruded shapes. Now you can do WordArt from the 90s inside of Nuke!

All of this using the power of the GPU to speed up the calculations.

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X_Denoise XM

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/x_denoise
Website Documentation: http://www.xaviermartinvfx.com/x_denoise/

X_Denoise is a noise reduction gizmo that can be used to repair damaged or compressed
footage. It does the same function of the Nuke Denoise, but using a different algorithm that
can sometimes provide better results.

While most de-noisers try to work out which small pixels are susceptible to be noisy, the
X_Denoise averages different frames in order to smooth the noise, making it invisible to the
eye. The gizmo offers multiple settings to take control over how many frames are being used
and how much detail is preserved.

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X_Sharpen XM
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/filter/x_sharpen-and-x_soften/

Advanced Sharpening and Softening filter.
This GPU accelerated filter preserves colours, avoid negative lobes and creates minimal
ringing and banding on edges.
X_Soften XM
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/filter/x_sharpen-and-x_soften/

The softening filter is similar to a bilateral filter but much much faster

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BeautifulSkin TL

Simple tool that uses erode dilate, blur, defocus, median with a mask to paint out moles,
artifacts, markings, etc while maintaining a soft smooth appearance. Ability to bring back
min/max values with separate sliders. Best when used with mask.

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BlacksExpon TL

This tool Exponentially blurs the lows of the plate with a merge(Min) operation. Basically
trying to find the low colors and spread them out using blur/unpremult technique. This can be
quite handle if used with the blacksMatch tool color input. If you have a plate with dynamic
lighting, it can be a handy way to get an animated black color for free to match your CG
renders too. Can also help with prep tasks if you need to paint out highlights and replacing
with a “base” color.

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Halation TL

Simple tool to introduce a little halation effect. Adjusts amount of r,g,b channels individually
with an overall blur. Blackpoint and whitepoint sliders are the low and high of a luminance key
threshold for where the effect starts. You can output final, effect only, and luma key.

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Highpass TL

Gives you the difference between a blurred input and the original input. making small details
quite noticeable.

The 2 main uses are:
1.) to aid 2d tracking
2.) to apply a different type of sharpen filter to an image.

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Diffusion TL

Simple tool that mixes in the result of the blurred image with controls for bringing back min
and max values. Simulating a lens FX.

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LightWrapPro TL

This lightwrap tool evolved from luma pictures Fuse node, but as a stand alone lightwrap. The
features that set this tool apart: Exponential blurring with adjustable steps, a Highlight Wrap
and Overall Wrap, blend edges and bleed color options (idea from luma’s fuse). Multiple
output views to help you work step by step with the workflow of the tool.
Steps:
1.) View/Adjust Highlight key, this is a key of the brightest areas of the plate to wrap
2.) View/Adjust Highlight Wrap, make adjustments for a tight wrap for highlight areas
3.) View/Adjust Overall Wrap, make adjustments for larger, dimmer overall lightwrap
4.) Good rule of thumb is when you think your lightwrap looks good, reduce the global
amount down to ⅓
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bm_Lightwrap BM
Author: Ben McEwan - https://benmcewan.com/nukeTools.html
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/bm_lightwrap

Github link: https://github.com/BenMcEwan/nuke_public

Like bm_OpticalGlow, this adds exponentially-increasing blurs together to produce a more
optically-correct, natural lightwrap.

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iConvolve AP

Similar to the iBlur, but with a convolve (defocus)! Uses a control mask and a custom filter/
kernel to create a convolve effect with a falloff. Ramps off from 0-1, 0 will have the min size
convolve, 1 will have the max size convolve.

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ConvolutionMatrix AG

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/learn_matrix
Website: http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_matrix.html

Apply a preset Matrix Filter 3x3 to your image

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apChroma Tools AP

The following tools are apChroma tools meant to work with each other in a chromatic
aberration workflow. From applying different types of chromatic aberration, blur, transforms,
per channel (and could apply to all channels in the stream) to merging per channel so the
aberration is applied correctly with the background.

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apChroma AP

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/filter/apchroma

apChroma is an advanced chromatic aberration and drift gizmo, that works through a
sub-frame blend of different values on an STMap and Transform, while creating a user-defined
color spectrum.

apChroma can calculate a multi-channel alpha for correct merging of the result onto a plate,
and the included apChromaMerge node will perform the multi-alpha merge operation.

Demo video on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/344248811
apChroma demo on VFXforFilmmakers channel: https://youtu.be/K28VNUVseTY?t=1764

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apChromaTransform AP
Author: Adrian Pueyo

This tool allows you to transform red, green, and blue channels separately, and for all Layers
(channels) in the stream.

Each transform knob can be broken up to r,g,b,a channels and individually manipulated.

To be used with the apChroma multi-channel alpha workflow so that apChromaMerge can be
used.

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apChromaBlur AP

This tool allows you to blur or defocus red, green, and blue channels separately, and for all
Layers (channels) in the stream.

Each knob can be broken up to r, g, b channels and individually manipulated.

To be used with the apChroma multi-channel alpha workflow so that apChromaMerge can be
used.

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apChromaUnpremult AP

There are some rare cases where you will need to unpremult and premult all layers(channels)
by the apChroma multi-alpha layer. Whether it’s for color corrections, lightwrap, or something
else, this node gives you the option to successfully unpremult and premult during the
apChroma workflow.
apChromaPremult AP

There are some rare cases where you will need to unpremult and premult all layers(channels)
by the apChroma multi-alpha layer. Whether it’s for color corrections, lightwrap, or something
else, this node gives you the option to successfully unpremult and premult during the
apChroma workflow.

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apChromaMerge AP

apChromaMerge is the final step in the apChroma Workflow. When using the apChroma
toolset, a new layer, apChroma will be in the channels stream. This layer(channel) is storing
each ‘alpha’ to be used per channel.

Since there is separation between the channels, whether they are transformed or blurred
differently, they also need individual alphas to properly merge them over the background
image.

You will find the normal options of a merge, with the option to:
1.) Keep the mult-alpha apChroma layer and pass it onto the this merge stream

2.) Since there are 3 alphas being used to merge each channel (red, green, blue) it’s
difficult to know which alpha to use for the final alpha to be passed onto this stream,
representing the A inputs final alpha. By default, process single alpha from Rec 709 is
checked on, meaning all 3 channels will be desaturated with the Rec 709 algorithm to
produce a new greyscale alpha off the (luminance) and this will represent the new
alpha channel to be passed onto the B stream after the merge.
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Chromatik SPIN
Author: SPIN FX


Chromatic aberration node using a spectral wavelength gradient.

112

CatsEyeDefocus NKPD
Author: Alexander Kulikov

CatsEyeDefocus is a convolution filter which simulates swirly bokeh.

This lens abnormity is also called cat’s eye effect and it is noticeable when an aperture goes
wide. The shape of the bokeh progressively narrows from the image center towards the edges
and starts to resemble a cat’s eye.

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DefocusSwirlyBokeh NKPD
Author: Jed Smith

Github link: https://gist.github.com/jedypod/5d35858d488df478aaf2f2e8f3f7875a

Creates Swirly Bokeh or Cat's Eye Bokeh shapes on the edges of frame. Does not perform
depth-varying defocus. Needs a good GPU to run fast.

Based on Alexander Koolikov's CatsEyeDefocus.

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deHaze NKPD
Author: Lucas Pfaff

deHaze is build after the great dehazing-tutorial made by Mads hagbarth Damsbo. Mads
concludes the tutorial with 'So you can just package this up and make a cool tool and put it
Nukepedia', so I gave it a try :)

I added some functionality to shuffle the affected areas into the alpha channel, as well as
colour correct the footage based on this matte. Results vary highly with the given shot, it
always needs a bit of fiddling around. I highly recommend watching the tutorial to understand
the underlying principle.

Needs Nuke 12 for the C_Bilateral node.

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RankFilter JP
Author: Josh Parks - https://www.compositingpro.com/

Download Page: https://www.compositingpro.com/nuke-blinkscript-rank-filter/

Demo: https://youtu.be/GKLGd3dFSU4

Faster Blink Median with additional control

The node takes the pixel values in an area and sorts them from smallest to biggest, then
allows you to select which value or rank you would like to take.

Set to 0.5 you’ll get a median (the middle value), however, this allows you to select the lower
values or higher.

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DeflickerVelocity NKPD
Author: Julien Vanhoenacker

Deflickering

Part of the CG artist's job is to balance rendering time and quality. Low rendering quality often
resulting in aliasing, or flickering, specially on raytrace renderers. To find the right balance
means to test render with different settings in order to find the one that render the fastest
while still being acceptable in terms of aliasing and flickering. But this is time consuming and
the render time necessary to achieve this result might also be quite high. It is therefore
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interesting to find tricks to improve quality with equal or even lower render times. It is possible
to use built-in denoisers, however this becomes useless if the flickering happens on the edges
of the objects, or if it is on wide GI artefacts ( as in lightcache or irradiance GI ), and tends to
make the image blurry. The technique we present here is deflickering based on previous and
next frames.

Basic Deflickering

Consider this, a static or very slow camera movement, and slow or no animations in the
scene. This is a scenario where flickering will be most obvious as very little is changing in the
scene. This is also a scenario where deflickering is the easiest to achieve. Offset time by -1
frame to get the previous frame, merge it at 50% on top of your current frame, Offset time by
+1 frame to get the next frame, merge it at 33% on top of your previous result and voila! Your
compositing is now averaging previous, current and next frame and as a result, flickering,
aliasing and noise are decreased by 3. And because the camera and animation are not or
slowly moving, the averaging is close to invisible, apart in the overall gained stability in the
picture.

The Deflickering is specially useful when dealing with sharp self-illuminating object that create
complex GI solutions...

Masking

Now a situation where nothing is moving in the scene is uncommon. In the case where
something is bouncing around, it should definitely not be averaged, otherwise this will result in
an ugly 3 frame long stepped motion blur that nobody wants. The good news is that if the
object is actually moving quite fast while the rest of the scene is quiet, the flickering will most
likely not be noticeable on this object, since its position, angle, lighting will be changing every
frame. It is therefore ok to not deflicker it, while still deflickering the surroundings. In order to
do that we can just mask it out of the deflicker.
Now nobody likes to animate roto shapes, so a quick tip to automatically mask the fast
moving subject is to use the velocity pass that you have cleverly rendered beforehand. The
velocity pass is actually a colored representation of the speed of each pixels, so all we have to
do is to key in static (grey) pixels, key out fast (colorful) pixels and use the resulting alpha as a
mask for the deflickering, the tolerance of the keying will dictate how much deflickering you
want.

Deflickering with Velocity pass

Now in some cases, things are not that easy. For example a not so slow but smooth camera
pan or track, or an object slowly shifting in the opposite direction will result in quite visible
flickering, and would give ugly results with basic deflickering. Here we want to use the
aforementioned velocity, but not for masking anymore. The velocity channel stores in the red
118

and green channel the velocity of a pixel as a 2D vector. Following the same principle as
before, we want to offset time to get the previous frame, and use the velocity pass with a
displacement node to distort this frame 'forward' and align it with the current frame. Realign
the next frame 'backward' and blend the whole thing together and you get a result that is
deflickered, with movement. Now this technique is quite powerful and can save your life in a
tight deadline. Of course there are still limitations for super fast moving objects and very
separate foreground and backgrounds, but mixing this with the previous mask technique, you
can deal with pretty much anything...

Extra Tip 1:

For those who use Vray, it is important in the DMC settings to uncheck "Time independent", to
enable a noise that changes every frame, otherwise averaging will still display the same
amount if noise.

Extra Tip 2:

Also for VRay users, you will notice if you separate your renders into elements, that flickering
is mostly in the GI pass, and sometime in reflection or speculars... The deflickering can be
applied only on these passes, leaving the other passes intact...

Extra Tip 3:

You can use multiple Deflickering nodes one after another to average 5, 7, 9 or even 11 frames
together, depending on your type of animation/camera move…

119

FillSampler NKPD
Author: Mads Hagbarth Damsbo

Website with more Details: https://hagbarth.net/pixel-filling-methods/
Download Link: http://www.hagbarth.net/nuke/FFfiller_v01.nk

Great tool from Mads Hagbarth that fills or extends edges or holes in the plate.

120

MECfiller NKPD
Author: Matthias Eckhardt

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/mecfiller

Modes:
- complex: 6 directional filtering with center/axis control settings
- fast: approach like 'complex', but with no center/axis control
- rough: multidirection estimation with center/axis control

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center:
- if both values are on 0, the filtering is using the overall center of the image to direct the
expension towards.
- if the center gets placed, its redirecting the filtering distribution to this new middlepoint.

axis multiplier:
- specifies the amount of horizontal/vertical influence for the direction of the filling that should
be used.

Axis Explanation:

In general the tool splits up the picture in quarters and applies a downsizing with a custom
filter based on the direction from the specified center. Red for example filters more from the
top left while yellow filters more information of the picture from the bottom up. If the axis
multiplier is very low it only takes a very small amount of vertical/horizontal direction into
account. If the axis multiplier is higher it filters more directly from the top/bottom or left/right
which creates a more pointed fill estimation. This value generally can be adjusted to try to find
a nicer overall filling.

This hole approach is based on Mads Hagbarth's FFfiller tool. He wrote an article about it that
can be found on his homepage - check it out if you want your mind to be blown:
https://hagbarth.net/pixel-filling-methods/

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7.) Keyer
apDespill AP
Website download: http://www.adrianpueyo.com

Vimeo demo: https://vimeo.com/208432912
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/colour/apdespill

Nuke gizmo made to despill an image, with options to despill any hue (and not only the
primaries), select different algorithms for de/re-spilling, and protect tones from the despill. All
coded in Blinkscript.

- choose a custom color
- Despill math
- output a despillMatte
- swap colorspaces before/after
- despill in log Space
- adjust hue before/after
- adjust tolerance
- Protect tones for extra level of precision
- adjust respill color
- mask/mix

v2.0 supports image based despilling, and can toggle the colorspace options on/off for testing

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SpillCorrect SPIN
Author: SPIN FX

Github link:
https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos/blob/master/gizmos/spin_tools/Keying/Spill_C
orrect2.gizmo

Vimeo demo: https://vimeo.com/381270956/f7399b6e1d @ 33:07

Use this tool to "despill" or mute colors introduced from Red/Green/Blue screens. Can replace
the spill with a chosen color.

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DespillToColor NKPD
Author: Johannes Masanz
Authors website: www.johannesmasanz.com
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/colour/despill-to-color

Demo video: www.vimeo.com/despillToColor

If you are trying to fix an object’s edge, by bringing back its original color, then this tool is
perfect for you! DespillToColor is designed to work best with a specific user defined screen
color and therefore a good local solution for certain areas of your plate.

- pick a blue- / greenscreen color - set or pick a target color.
- 'balance' controls how much red tones are being affected by the despill operation opposed
to blue and green tones.
- Increasing the 'gain' will affect a wider range of colors, like the finetune knob in
DespillMadness.
- 'erode' and 'falloff' sometimes work well for increasing the effect in defocussed areas. I
usually go for ramping up the 'gain' OR the 'erode', rarely both.

Example pics: (For testing I recommend blurring these jpegs a little to get rid of compression
artefacts.)

http://johannesmasanz.com/files/despillToColor/greenscreen.jpg
http://johannesmasanz.com/files/despillToColor/bluescreen.jpg

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AdditiveKeyerPro TL

FG Clean BG Result

Additive Keyer pro does an additive key, which finds the highs and lows from the difference of
a cleanplate and the original greenscreen plate and lightens / darkens the BG image. This
process is handy for capturing subtle details in edges, such as hair and motionblur.
There are many additivekeyers, but this one has some unique features:
1.) The light values have a plus and BG mult sliderm, giving you more control over highlights
2.) The dark values uses a divide/multiply technique on the bg, preventing negative values
3.) Option to keep some saturation from the original colors, with a screen color picker to help
remove green/blue spill from the edges if you choose to keep saturation.
4.) Options to output the difference to RGB, and difference matte to alpha, to use other comp
techniques

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apeScreenClean AP
Website download: http://www.adrianpueyo.com

Clean up an irregular green or blue screen using your plate and a clean plate. apScreenClean
is my own flavor of clean screen tool (ScreenCorrect, PxF_ScreenClean, ...) offering extended
functionality.

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apScreenGrow AP

Erode the color of a screen to fill the insides of your subject, useful to generate cleanplates in
a controlled way.

128

KeyChew RK
Author: Rafal Kaniewski - http://movingimagearts.com
Download from: http://movingimagearts.com/nuke-tools-london/

Or on github: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openNuke/toolset/master/keychew.nk

Dilates and erodes a matte.
Good for subtly eroding in keyed edges.
Can go negative and positive which erodes in and out.
Equipped with mask and mix.

129

LumaKeyer DR
Author: Derek Rein - http://derekvfx.ca/nuke/
adjusted by Tony Lyons www.CompositingMentor.com

Original Tool by Derek Rein can be found on his github page:
https://github.com/DerekRein/.nuke/blob/master/ToolSets/lumaKeyer.nk

Derek’s tool is a simple slider controlled luminance keyer.
Addition features added
1.) output options of the result to alpha or rgba
2.) smoothing settings which mimic the smoothstep options found in a ramp, smooth,
smooth0, and smooth1, using colorLookup curves
3.) mask and mix options

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8.) Merge
ContactSheetAuto TL
Author: Tony Lyons www.CompositingMentor.com (based on Ben McEwan’s blog post)

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/merge/contactsheetauto

Full Credit goes to Ben McEwan and his very detailed blog post about powering up your
contact sheets. https://benmcewan.com/blog/2018/08/26/power-up-your-contact-sheets/

The python script to change your knob defaults on the normal contactSheet node in your
menu.py file is already here, posted by Ben:
http://www.nukepedia.com/python/misc/autocontactsheet

This one is just for people who want to download the expressioned node and add it to their
toolsets and not mess with any menu.py files.

Demo video: https://youtu.be/dqzzT169GAc

131

KeymixBBox TL
Same functionality as normal keymix, but with slightly better BBox management.

Nuke’s keymix node takes into account the bbox’s of the A, B, and mask inputs. In most
cases you want the mask bbox to be ignored and that the maximum BBox result would be
max bbox of A or B, and then an intersection of both A and B when the mask bbox is smaller.

132

MergeAtmos TL

MergeAtmos is a merge for smoke, dust, and/or atmospheric effects. It has mixes of a
merge(plus) and merge(over) exposed so you can find the right balance. The alpha of the
smoke element is also driving a blur node that is simulating a bit of a diffusion effect.

133

MergeBlend TL
Author: Tony Lyons - www.compositingMentor.com

Select 2 different Merge Operations and Blend between the 2 results

134

MergeAll AP

Many times when we are using an extra channel in the stream to pull out later to either use as
a mask, DI matte, grain matte, etc. we have to manage that channel separately.

In this example, we have a statue matte channel that we want to pull out later, and we’ve
over’ed a colorwheel. Normally you might have to add a channelMerge and stencil the
colorWheel from the statue matte channel separately. MergeAll can save you this step. It
basically adds all the channels from A stream to B stream and vice versa, ensuring that before
merging, both streams contain the same exact channels. Because the colorWheel in this case
now contains a “statue channel” which is black, when you mergeAll, it will merge “black”
where the colorWheel is in the statue channel. So when you pull out the statue channel layer,
it will appear as though the colorWheel is stenciled from the statue alpha.

This is sort of what you would expect to happen when you “merge All channels” in a merge
node, but because sometimes the 2 streams don’t have exactly the same channels,
sometimes they get ignored. This helps solve that.
135

9.) Transform
Vector Math Tools MGA-EL
Authors: Mathieu Goulet-Aubin & Erwan Leroy - http://erwanleroy.com/blog/

Math Tools combines Mathieu Goulet-Aubin & Erwan Leroy’s vector tools into 1 main menu
Original nukepedia links:
Vector matrix toolset: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/transform/vector-matrix-toolset
Vector Tools: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/other/vectortools
Collaboration Github link: https://github.com/mapoga/nuke-vector-matrix

Resources to learn about Vectors and Matrices:

Most tools in this toolset are mathematical tools and require some basic knowledge about
Vectors and Matrices for optimal use.

Math is Fun: Scalar, Vector, Matrix
Wikipedia: Transformation Matrices
Nukepedia: Python Vector and Matrix Math
Nukepedia: The Matrix Knob

Erwan Leroy’s tool description:
http://erwanleroy.com/vector-tools-for-nuke-tutorials-and-math/
http://erwanleroy.com/vector-tools-for-nuke-tutorials-and-math-part2/

136

Introduction:

The toolset is separated into 2 categories. One to operate on vectors3 and one to operate on
4x4 transformation matrices. Every pixel can be worked on independently because each can
have its own vector and matrix data.

Math Menu:

Axis Menu:
InvertAxis MT
Inverts an input Axis
ZeroAxis MT
Inverts an input Axis at a specified frame

Matrix4 Menu:

Matrix data is expected to be in the layers; matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3.
Layers are automatically created by the nodes.
The transformation matrix is stored as followed:
LayerName: red[0], green[1] ,blue[2], alpha[3]
matrix0: [0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix1: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix2: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix3: 0, 1, 2, 3]
InvertMatrix4 MT
Invert a pixel based Matrix4 (Defined as layers matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3)
Returns the inverted input 4x4 matrix.
input: matrix
output: matrix
ProductMatrix4 MT
Multiply two pixel based Matrix4 (Defined as layers matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3)
Returns the dot product of matrixB * matrixA.
The matrix order is very important as switching A and B will give different results.
inputs: matrixB, matrixA output: matrix
137

RotateMatrix4 MT
Returns the input 4x4 matrix rotated by the input vector.
The rotation unit knob specify the rotation unit(degrees or radians) of the input vector.
The rotation order knob specify the order in which the axes are rotated
inputs: matrix, vector
output: matrix
ScaleMatrix4 MT
Scale a matrix4 using a control channel (rgb from vector input) for which each channel is
considered as a scalar for x, y and z
Returns the input 4x4 matrix scaled by the input vector.
output: matrix
TransformMatrix4 MT
Returns the input 4x4 matrix transformed by the the node's knobs.
If no matrix is given, the transformations will be made on a identity matrix.
input: matrix
output: matrix
TranslateMatrix4 MT
Translate a matrix4 using a control channel (rgb) for which each channel is considered as a
scalar for x, y and z
Returns the input 4x4 matrix translated by the input vector.
output: matrix
TransposeMatrix4 MT
Transpose a pixel based Matrix4 (Defined as layers matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3)
Returns the input 4x4 matrix transposed.
Values of the matrix are mirrored diagonally.
inputs: matrix
output: matrix

138

Vector2 Menu: (for 2D vectors)

Vector data is expected to be in the layer rgb.
(r, g) = (x, y)
Operations like vector addition, substraction, multiplication and division can be done with a
standard merge or merge expression node.
CrossProductVector2 MT
Calculates the cross product of 2 Vector2 inputs.
Returns the cross product between 2 vectors.
input: vectorA, vectorB
output: vector
DotProductVector2 MT
Calculates the dot product of 2 Vector2 inputs.
Returns the dot product between 2 vectors.
The resulted output is repeated to fill up the output vector.
inputs: vectorA, vectorB
output: vector
MagnitudeVector2 MT
Calculate the magnitude (scalar) of an input Vector2.
Returns the magnitude of a vector. In other words, the vector's length.
The resulting output is repeated to fill up the output vector.
input: vector
output: vector
NormalizeVector2 MT
Normalize the magnitude of a Vector2 (to be of magnitude 1)
Returns the normalized vector.
Scaling the vector so that its length equal 1.
input: vector
output: vector
RotateVector2 MT
Rotate a 2D vector on the same 2D plane.
A utility to rotate 2D vectors such as motion vectors, and flip them if necessary
139

TransformVector2 MT
Transforms an image assuming it is a motion vector in RGBA.
Compared to a regular transform, this will edit the pixel colors to compensate for vector
direction and magnitude.
Warning: This node breaks concatenation.
Like Nuke's default transform, but will rotate vectors and scale them accordingly.

Vector3 Menu: (for 3D vectors)

Vector data is expected to be in the layer rgb.
(r, g, b) = (x, y, z)
Operations like vector addition, substraction, multiplication and division can be done with a
standard merge or merge expression node.
CrossProductVector3 MT
Calculates the cross product of 2 Vector3 inputs.
Returns the cross product between 2 vectors.
input: vectorA, vectorB
output: vector
DotProductVector3 MT
Calculates the dot product of 2 Vector3 inputs.
inputs: vectorA, vectorB
output: vector
MagnitudeVector3 MT
Calculate the magnitude (scalar) of an input Vector3.
Returns the magnitude of a vector. In other words, the vector's length.
input: vector
output: vector

140

MultiplyVector3Matrix3 MT
Multiply (transform) a Vector3 by a Matrix3. This is the equivalent of applying
Rotation/Scale/Skew from a Matrix to the vector.
A Matrix4 can be used, but the last row/column will be ignored.
NormalizeVector3 MT
Normalize the magnitude of a Vector3 (to be of magnitude 1)
Returns the normalized vector.
Scaling the vector so that its length equal 1.
input: vector
output: vector
RotateVector3 MT
Rotate a Vector3 in 3 dimensions.
A utility to rotate vectors such as motion vectors, and flip them if necessary.
TransformVector3 MT
Transform a Vector3 in 3 dimensions.

Generate Menu:
GenerateMatrix4 MT
Generate a Matrix4 based on a Matrix Knob. (Defaults to an identity matrix)
Matrix data is expected to be in the layers; matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3.
matrix0: [0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix1: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix2: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix3: 0, 1, 2, 3]
Returns an 4x4 identity matrix.
The input bg is used to give a format to the matrix.
input: bg
output: matrix

141

GenerateSTMap MT

Generates a default UV map at any resolution. Can be used to run through a lens distortion in
another software or any sort of distorion that can then be re-applied with an STMap node.
Options for generating overscan STMap data

Convert Menu:
LumaToVector3 MT

Performs a Sobel filter on the Luminance channel of an image to extract an approximation of a
Normal map. For a mathematical conversion of a displacement map to normals, do not use
Details separation. Converts any image to normals, using it's Luma Channel. Provides most
accurate results used on displacement maps or Zdepth passes.
142

STMapToVector2 MT
Transforms a distorted UV Map to Motion Vectors corresponding to the distortion.
Converts a distorted UV map to motion vectors.
Vector2ToSTMap MT
Converts 2D Vectors to an UV map.
Vector3ToMatrix4 MT
Converts 3D vectors to a 4x4 Matrix
Matrix data to be in the layers; matrix0, matrix1, matrix2 and matrix3.
matrix0: [0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix1: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix2: 0, 1, 2, 3,
matrix3: 0, 1, 2, 3]
Returns an 4x4 identity matrix.

143

vector3DMathExpression EL
Author: Erwan Leroy - http://erwanleroy.com/blog/

A NoOp node with expressions to calculate a 3D vector between 2 3D points, as well as it’s
magnitude.

http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/other/vectortools
Vectors_Direction EL

An utility to rotate 2D vectors such as motion vectors, and flip them if necessary.
angleRad = radians(parent.rotation)
r = r * cos(angleRad) – g * sin(angleRad)
g = r * sin(angleRad) + g * cos(angleRad)


Vectors_to_Degrees EL

Gives you an angle value (0-360) for a given channel. Can be used to generate Anisotropy
maps from vectors for CG


144

VectorTracker NKPD
Author: Jorrit Schulte
Author’s website: http://www.jorritschulte.com/nuke-tools/

This is a tracker gizmo that uses vector information rather than image data to track points.
This is useful for certain tracking jobs that are otherwise hard to accomplish. Think of shots
that constantly shift focus, or tracks on objects that deform.
This gizmo works with both classic nuke vectors or smartvector data.

If you use smartVectors live, make sure to add a VectorToMotion node after the smartVector
and plug the vector input into this to register.

Simply render out either classic nuke vectors or smartvectors, and use this tool to generate
tracker points. you can try using a VectorGenerator node to generate live vectors instead, but
due to the way nuke and python sample image data this wont always work.
the poinsts are exported to a regular Tracker node.

It is look for motion, forward, backward, backward channels, or a vectorGenerator /
smartVector(plus VectorToMotion) nodes for the vector input.

145

AutoCropTool TL

AutoCropTool runs a curvetool node autocrop process on a scaled down single channel
version of the input image. Use this to generate a quick bounding box on CG renders or other
elements without a defined bounding box. Keeping your bounding box tight and isolated to
only the important part of the frame will save processing time in nuke.

146

BBoxToFormat TL

BBoxToFormat sets your bbox exactly to the input format.
You also have options for either a percentage overscan or pixel based overscan. This is a
good way to manage your bbox while keeping some extra overscan for distortion or
cameraShake, etc when you are using CG with overscan or additional elements.
The intersect option will the the intersection of the input format with the input bbox.

Exposed data for input format, input bbox, output BBox Center, and Output BBox in a group
tab because sometimes it’s useful to reference.

147

ImagePlane3D
Author: Tony Lyons
Based off the great imagePlane tool by Frank Rueter on nukepedia:

http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/imageplane

The original imagePlane node seems to have a problem with stabilizing the image, and then
reverting the stabilized image back to the original position by matchmoving. Unfortunately,
not being about to reliably restore the stabilized image back to the original position meant
your rotos and prep work or whatever positioning you were doing was not guaranteed to
matchmove back into the original footage. This tool aims to solve this problem and offering a
few extra features.

Output: Choose between stabilize and matchmove

Result:

3D Projection Setup - this is using 3d nodes, cards and camera projections to guarantee no
funkiness and that the stabilize/matchmove process will be reversible. Unfortunately the 3d
projection setup will be the slowest option, but it will be a clean preview

148

card3D setup - this is using the same method as the original imagePlane node, for some
reason, this method creates the problem of stabilizing and reversing the movement when
matchmoving. It is however very fast because there is no 3D scanline render and calculates
as a 2d cornerpin. This will either give you identical or very similar results to the 3D projection
setup but is prone to this “unreversible” result. Good mode finding the stabilized distance
quickly.

Live (Reconcile 3D) - This is by far the fastest calculation for this stabilization process and is
recommended for quick previews and finding the stabilization distance. However when using
nuke’s reconcile 3D node with live points, it get’s very buggy. Some frames are black, other
frames ‘explode’ and seem to lose the 3d points for reference. Proxy mode or lower
resolution preview will be buggy or not work. In theory it should be the exact same result as
the 3d Projection setup, so the stabilization/matchmove workflow is in tact, but it’s very
buggy, especially when rendering. Do not leave on this live mode, purely use it as a quick
preview to find the stabilization distance and ensure accuracy.

Baked (Cornerpin) - When you bake the framerange, it will switch to this mode in order to
same calculation time, and to eliminate the bugginess of the stabilization/matchmove
workflow from the “live” previews

Status: will tell you the status of the node, whether it is Live or baked (and what framerange)

Ref Frame: This frame is the stabilization pivot frame of the stabilization/matchmove and will
be unaffected / have zero transformations

Distance from Cam: This number is the distance from camera in nuke units to place the
stabilization card. Sometimes you roughly know the distance from the camera that the object
you are trying to stabilize is, and other times you can just eye ball distance by move away
from your reference frame in the timeline and changing the distance until object remains in
the same position in the screen as it was in the reference frame. Using the color picker to
‘save’ a position can sometimes help you line up the object position over multiple frames.

Bake FrameRange: This will create a baked cornerpin based off the ref frame and distance
from camera. It’s recommended to run this once you are happy with your stabilization result
because it will not only be less prone to nuke’s bugginess from the other live setups but it will
also be a lot faster since it is baked and not calculating anything live with expressions or 3D
setups. Warning: this may take awhile as it is running a reconcile3D for each of the 4 points
over the desired framerange. Large frameranges can take some time, and unfortunately there
is no feedback on how long it is taking, so nuke may appear to freeze. Just be patient and it
will work, normally it is a very fast process.

149

Clear baked: Clears the keyframes and reverts the node back to live. Sets to default

Export Baked Track Export Linked Track: These 2 buttons are acting like the export
cornerpin button in nuke’s 2d Tracker node. They will export a cornerpin node that is
stabilized or matchmoved (depending on the output you have selected). This way you can
use the cornerpin elsewhere in your script and won’t have to duplicate this ‘heavy’ node.
Please node, expression linked cornerpin, while convenient, will be slower in nuke to calculate
than a baked result, so choose wisely
There are some additional settings i have added to the cornerPin node for convenience of use
for you.
There are controls for settings and changing the reference frame that you want. And also 2
buttons to switch the cornerpin between stabilize and matchmove.

Overscan: A simple setting to manage your bbox and set an overscan allowance (in pixels).
This will be important when distorting and undistorting your image. Once you bake the
cornerpin this shouldn’t matter too much, mostly for the 3d projection setup scanline render
overscan

Motion Blur: Ability to add motionblur for your matchmove result based on either samples on
the scanline render or motion blur knob on the card3D or cornerpin node. Depends on the
‘result’ mode you choose

150

Matrix4x4_Inverse TL

Matrix4x4_Inverse is a node that takes a node with a 3d transformation matrix, such as
cameras, cards, axis, transformGeo, etc, and produces the inverse matrix. This inverse matrix
can be used to return the 3D object to the origin (aka to the identity matrix). Sounds really
complicated but an easy way to comprehend it is this node stabilizes and returns the 3d
object to the origin, where you can then transform it to a new position. Like a 3D ‘Stabilize’
and then ‘matchmove’ technique.

Plug the node into the 3d node or chain of axis’ or cameras with transformGeo, etc.
Be sure to choose between the input matrix being either the world matrix or local matrix.
Local matrix is only taking into consideration the transformations of that specific input node.
World matrix takes into consideration the actual position of the object in 3D space, or the
‘totality’ of all concatenated 3d transformations (real position).

You can choose to export an Axis node with the inverse matrix either linked or baked and
either over a framerange or on a single reference frame.

151

Matrix4x4_Math TL

Matrix4x4_Math does some basic matrix math between matrix A and matrix B.

Operations are: Add, Subtract, Mult
Choose between local and world matrices of the inputs.
You can expression link the resulting matrix (matrix C) to other nodes’ local matrix

152

MirrorBorder TL

MirrorBorder mimics Adobe AfterEffect’s Motion Tile effect. It will tile and mirror the frame
around the border of the input format, mostly to be used to produce extra edge pixel details
for camera shake. This can avoid either a black edge or stretchy pixels around the edge of
frame when adding camera shake.

The tile region is either the input format or input bbox. Tile amount is expansion amount in
pixels.

Choke edges refers to cropping the edges in a bit before mirroring them. Left, Right, Top,
Bottom choke sliders available.

153

TransformCutOut TL

TransformCutOut takes the masked area of the image and transforms it and overs it
(disjoint-over) back onto the image. Useful for masking an object and placing it somewhere
else.
This is different to the transformMasked node which essentially moves the image around
‘inside’ of the masked area. This node will cut out the masked area, and over it back after the
transformation, leaving a hole where the original mask was.

Buttons to set center pivot to either the center of the input format or the center of the mask
bounding box, which is meant to compliment rotoshapes that have their own BBox that you
will likely use as the mask input. So this option will snap the center pivot to the center of the
rotoshape/mask input.

154

iMorph AP
Author: Adrian Pueyo www.AdrianPueyo.com

IMorph is a spin-off of MorphDissolve from Erwan Leroy and SPIN FX gizmo set. It’s also
inspired by the TimeMachine gizmo by ivan busquets. Here are the links to those nodes:

http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/morph_dissolve
http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/timemachine

MorphDissolve uses 2 images and has a slider from 0-1 to determine how much morphing
there is. IMorph, similar to IBlur or ITransform, uses a Mask input to determine where image A
is shown and where image B is shown and then morph-dissolves in steps from A to B in
between, which produces really smooth transitions from 1 image into another.

Updated to use blink script for extra speed. By default, when nothing is plugged into mask
input, the node is an A - B morph same as Morph Dissolve, but faster. When mask is plugged
in, 0 = A and 1 = B and the grey pixels determine the morph zone.

155

RP_Reformat MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/rp-reformat
FaceBook Link: https://m.facebook.com/MJTlab/posts/628051737776651

Video about this tool : https://youtu.be/vGZ6kNnOcTs
156

Reformat Roto & RotoPaint node's vector data without resolution issue. Keep the same result
on any paint strokes. Support all kinds of splines, brushes and aspect ratio reformat.

How to use:

Fill in the old resolution of the Roto/RotoPaint was done before.
Fill in the new resolution.
Selected which type of resize to process (This depends on how's the plate resize)
Select all the Roto/RotoPaint node(s) *Support mult-select
Click 'convert roto/rotopaint node(s)' . Then the new generated node will be placed next to the
original node(s)

* Entire process will NOT modify the original node
** The resize data will replaced on individual shape elements :
Spline : translate, scale, center & feather
Stroke : translate, scale, center, source translate, brush size, brush space & effect
*** Resize process will not touch any data on Layer.

157

InverseMatrix33 MJT

Github link:
https://github.com/xmjtx/MJTLab/tree/main/gizmo_library/Misc/iMatrix_v11?fbclid=IwAR03Hy
Qqr7LATBoz1b3Ax7_lPUNs2N-0LUji90cvkU80jX7j5ZVxBdm-aoI

iMatrix33, inverse 3x3 matrix which I use the most in deep setup
Live inverse matrix using tcl

How to use :
Fill in the "knob_path" and that's it. "id" section can be change in case the matrix order is
different than usual 4x4.

158

InverseMatrix44 MJT
Github link:
https://github.com/xmjtx/MJTLab/tree/main/gizmo_library/Misc/iMatrix_v11?fbclid=IwAR03Hy
Qqr7LATBoz1b3Ax7_lPUNs2N-0LUji90cvkU80jX7j5ZVxBdm-aoI

iMatrix44, inverse 4x4 matrix which is including translate. I will use this to update one of my
old tool soon.
Live inverse matrix using tcl

How to use :
Fill in the "knob_path" and that's it. "id" section can be change in case the matrix order is
different than usual 4x4.

159

CardToTrack AK
Author: Alexey Kuchinski & Helge Stang
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/python/3d/cardtotrack

Video Demo: https://youtu.be/N-_M2lJWpe4

Finding position in 3D space based on Geometry,World position pass, Deep or manual
method. Reconcile 3D position to CornerPin, Transform and Roto nodes.

*Calculation from an Axis: Many times we provided with an animated Axis, in previous version
i was copying values from an Axis to the card and calculating, the problem is that if by default
an axis had an unfortunate rotation like 90 degrees to the camera it was impossible to adjust
it. With the Axis option you can connect a few Axises together and Card to track will calculate
the animation from the world matrix of the Axis you connected to with CardToTrack.(Supports
animated Axises)
*Calculation from Deep: Connect your Deep footage to the Extra input. (The position sampled
on the reference frame and can not be animated)
*UI changes: Knob Groups are presented only if they are relevant.

160

CProject AK
Author: Alexey Kuchinski


CornerPin matchmove/stabilize meant to be used with CardToTrack tool.
Allows you to set frame, switch between stabilize and matchmove, add motion blur, and 3
different BBox management settings:
Hard Crop - (reformat node - concatenation is preserved)
Adjustable crop - breaks concatenation but allows for adjustable bbox
No Crop - no crop applied at all, concatenation preserved but bbox can get quite big

Set to input: This will distort the image with the corner pin to fit the format, it is the same as
projecting the image on a card and rendering in UV space

161

TProject AK
Author: Alexey Kuchinski


TProject is similar to CProject but uses a Transform instead of a CornerPin to do a basic single
point track.

Allows you to set frame, switch between stabilize and matchmove, add motion blur, and 3
different BBox management settings:
Hard Crop - (reformat node - concatenation is preserved)
Adjustable crop - breaks concatenation but allows for adjustable bbox
No Crop - no crop applied at all, concatenation preserved but bbox can get quite big

Set to input: This will distort the image with the corner pin to fit the format, it is the same as
projecting the image on a card and rendering in UV space

162

STiCKiT MHD

Detailed blog post: https://hagbarth.net/stickit-digital-makeup-gizmo-for-nuke/
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/transform/stickit-alpha
Video preview: https://vimeo.com/94563838

StickIt V2 is a 2D Warp Match-Moving tool, for matchmoving on (from a 2D perspective)
non-ridgid surfaces.

163

TransformMatrix AG

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/transform-matrix
Andrea’s Transform Matrix tutorial: http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_matrix_transform.html

Classic Transform node with a Matrix 4x4
Modified the Transform node of Nuke, adding a Matrix 4x4.
Now you can visualize the 2D Transformation with a Matrix.

This Matrix is good because you can understand how it works, but at the same time
copy/paste the matrix to the extra_matrix knob in the CornerPin (for example).
164

CornerPin2D_Matrix AG

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/cornerpin-matrix
Andrea’s Transform Matrix tutorial: http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_matrix_transform.html

Get the classic CornerPin node in a Matrix 4x4

There is a checkbox useful to invert the Matrix. In this case we can copy the matrix in another
CornerPin and the copy the inverse matrix in another CornerPin. The final result will be the
original picture

165

IIDistort EL
Author: Erwan Leroy http://www.erwanleroy.com

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/transform/iidistort

Recursive IDistort, produces similar results as Substance Designer's Vector Warp/Morph.

Built with Blinkscript, this is a very easy kernel to breakdown for beginners. The code is
almost identical to Mads Hagbarth Damsbo's example code in his Foundry talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Lv7ThKbUk

I find the distortions created from it sometime smore interesting than from a regular IDistort.
the tool will be included with the Nuke Vector Matrix toolset available here:
https://github.com/mapoga/nuke-vector-matrix

166

CameraShake BM

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/bm_camerashake/
Ben’s Website: http://benmcewan.com/nukeTools.html

A replacement for Nuke's default camera shake node -- offers more control over 3 different
frequencies of camera shake, and also shakes the centre-point, giving more detail to
sub-frame motionblur. Also has options for how to deal with edge-of-frame pixels, so pushing
in isn't always your best option anymore!

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MorphDissolve SPIN
Author: SPIN FX and Erwan Leroy - http://erwanleroy.com/blog/

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/morph_dissolve
Github Link:
https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos/blob/master/gizmos/spin_tools/Comp/Morph_
Dissolve.gizmo
Erwan’s Write up: http://erwanleroy.com/morph_dissolve-gizmo-for-nuke/

Allows to morph between two moving plates automatically, or can be used to improve manual
Morphs. Inspired by Avid Fluid Morph or Adobe's Morph Cut.

Inspired by Avid Fluid Morph or Adobe's Morph Cut.

Will work best on visually similar plates or for invisible jump cuts. The more different the two
plate to morph, the more artefacts will be present.

Can be used to improve manual Morphs (splineWarp or Gridwarp) by feeding the distorted A
in one input and the distorted B in the other input. The Morph_Dissolve will look for the small
details you may have missed or ignored with your manual morph.

168

ITransform FR
Author: Frank Rueter

Updated version of Frank Rueter’s Itranform tool on nukepedia, link here:
http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/itransform/

mask based warper with transform controls

Updates include:

Channels: defaults to all channels but you can select channel to warp
Set Center Button: Click to set to the center of the root.format or the input.format
Black Outside Before/After: Click to apply a black outside before and/or after the warp, this
can eliminate unwanted stretching edge pixels because of bounding box issues.
Crop To Format and Add Pixels: More options for BBox management
Mix: Using a transformMasked node instead of a transform, so the node is able to mix the
warp effect

Otherwise the node reacts the same way as the original ITransform node.

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RotoCentroid NKPD
Author: Alister Chowdhury - http://alisterchowdhury.co.uk/?page=vfx
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/roto-centroid

Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDI_qb3ycE&feature=youtu.be

It tries to find out the centroid of a given rotoshape (based upon the area, NOT bounding box
or average point values).
It does this using an algorithm I put together in python for finding the centroid of 2d shapes
based upon their point locations.

This allows you to effectively find the center of mass of a Beziers etc.

This differs from the center of the bounding box, or average point values in that it changes
depending on how the shape is distributed, so it is unbiased on the amount of points you're
using.

I made this because Houdini can do this, so I felt Nuke should be able to as well.

170

STMapInverse NKPD
Author: Luca Mignardi - www.lookinvfx.com
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/in_inversestmap

A simple and fast solution to Unwarp to UV space your CG render

The Gizmo use a simple PositionToPoint node to redistribute each pixel in his UV space
position.

Works as the nuke default STMap but does exactly the opposite. Can be used in many
different ways.

Very useful especially for reference to know where to draw a roto in uv space to be then
distorted via STMap to mask a particular area of your CG render.

171

Transform_Mix NKPD
Author: Franklin Toussaint
Tool Source Page: http://franklinvfx.com/transform_mix-3/

This tool has two functions:

Mix mode – To decrease the resulting value of an other Transform node.
Dissolve mode – To mix two Transform nodes together whis a slider.

Mode: To choose between “Mix” mode or “Dissolve” mode
Transform 1: To create a link (enter the name of the Transform reference node)
Transform 2: If on “Dissolve” mode enter the name of the second Transform reference node
Mix: 0 = all the knobs go to the default value of a native Transform node
1 = the value of all the knobs becomes the value of the linked node (Transform 1)
Dissolve: 0 = the value of all the knobs becomes the value of the linked node (Transform 1)
1 = the value of all the knobs becomes the value of the linked node (Transform 2)
Create Transform: To create a new Transform node with the current transform value (linked or
baked)

172

PlanarProjection NKPD
Author: Vit Sedlacek www.vitsedlacek.com
optimized and improved by Jed Smith - http://gist.github.com/jedypod

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/vplanarprojection
Updated tool Github link: https://gist.github.com/jedypod/98dc18acd8008e7e5cbe

Smart, better and faster Reconcile3D node. PlanarProjection Planar Projection Generates 2D
coordinates for points in 3D space. Works on 4 points at once, is instantaneous to calculate,
and generates a 4x4 transform matrix for use in rotos. This gizmo was initially developed as a
tool for fixing drift in complex matchmove shots in post, rather than spending time to solve
unsolvable shots, but during the time it served as a perfect tool for rotoscoping or
cornerpining (instead of using 3d cards).

Workflow:
1) connect the camera
2) select the points in 3d viewport (you can use vertex selection mode, or move handles
manually)
3) generate 2D projection points
4) generate matrix
5) use inbuild functions to generate Rotopaint/SplineWarp or GridWarp node, which is tracked
with generated points

173

Reconcile3DFast DR
Author: Derek Rein - https://derekvfx.ca/nuke/
Download from github:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DerekRein/DerekVFX/master/ToolSets/reconcile3DFast.nk

This gizmo is taking some of the python script from PlanarProjection NKPD node by:
Vit Sedlacek www.vitsedlacek.com optimized and improved by Jed Smith -
http://gist.github.com/jedypod

The planar projection tool is amazing and robust, but this one is simplified for just 1 axis, 2d
point result and it is easy, fast, and simple.

174

10.) 3D
aPCard AP
Author: Adrian Pueyo - www.adrianpueyo.com

aPCard helps you quickly place a card using CG render passes. Use either: Position Pass,
Depth pass, Deep data, or geometry. Ctrl+alt click to sample image data in order to place the
3d card. From there you can set a reference frame, face the card to the camera (on ref frame
or permanently) and you can choose the mode of either projection or just place the card (so
the texture will be in card UV space.

When you are previewing the card placement, it provides a handy grid for quick placement
and size/orientation checking.

You can also use additional deep data to do a deep holdout of the card, in case it needs to go
behind/between some 3d objects

175

DummyCam AP
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/dummycam

DummyCam is a Camera that apart from the matrices also grabs all the 'Projection' values
from the upstream camera that it's connected to. Has a 'Defaults' tab with the knob values to
use if not there's no Camera connected. It can also be used inside of groups, as many levels
deep as you want. All using live and super fast TCL.

DummyCam is mainly meant for making gizmos that require a Camera input, as there is
currently no other way to look for the Projection values upstream, and it is usually solved with
ugly callbacks, with a Python button, or looking for the topnode, which only works as long as
you don't plug an axis to the top camera, etc. Simply put it inside the Group, plugged to the
cam Input node, and voilà.

Special thanks to Ernest Dios, we decyphered the undocumented parts of the code together.

176

mScatterGeo MJT
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/mscattergeo


mScatterGeo supports scattering on geo's vertices, faces and density map in nuke. 2 rotation
types availble, 'look At' and 'normals' . Variation of size, rotation, texture and instance geo can
be set.

v1.0 Demo :
https://youtu.be/_v-6UR_Mkj4
v1.1 Extract Axis Demo :
https://youtu.be/CpcWB1oXdtk
v1.2 Density Map Demo :
https://youtu.be/EWjjN05bsS8

177

Origami MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/origami

Demo video (new version) :
https://www.facebook.com/MJTlab/videos/527711171052558/

Initial intention of 'Origami' is a *just for fun* tool. Since the tool involved many setup. Then I
start to build it for practical usage. It helps to build geo patch for scatter objects or form a new
UV, re-build a messy wireframe photoscan geo, clone a high-end geo to low-end geo for
patch or 3D reference, and also able to create interact animation. v1.2 added tangent for geo
smoothness.

Here is one of the example case of using origami :
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create fake new UV for texturing in nuke
https://www.facebook.com/pg/MJTlab/photos/?tab=album&album_id=415866105661883

179

180

181

182

RayDeepAO MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/raydeepao

A setup to render Ambient Occlusion from Geo to deep format, able to set non-renderable
objects.
183

Create all in layers, so the main scene can interact with other geos but not holdout by them.

inputs :
cam: connect with camera node
bg: define the output resolution
msc: stand for 'main scene', which is the pirmary geo(s) to render AO. Input can be a single
geo or a scene node connected to multiple geos.
ssc: stand for 'sub scene', which is setup non-renderable geo(s) but they interact with the
pirmary geo(s). Input can be a single geo or a scene node connected to multiple geos.
msc_tex: stand for 'main scene texture'. This input will be use when 'use texture' checked.
texture required in UV space.

output :
Output is in deep format. If output vector is checked, position and normal data is also in deep
format.

184

SceneDepthCalculator MJT
185

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/scenedepthcalculator


Demo video :


SceneDepthCalculator for calculate the depth value from camera to object. It useful for any
depth tool, mostly common for rack defocus. I am also using this to drive all 2D nodes while
setup template. Use lidar and camera to calculate the shot scale, and use the scale ratio to
drive all 2D nodes in template base on the key shot. So it will get the consistent look from the
key shot.

186

SSMesh MJT

Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/ssmesh

Using Position, depth or deep data to convert screen space mesh. Since pointcloud is pixel
base 3D coordinate data, and it changes on every frame. So SSMesh helps to convert those
data to vector data and process any vector tools.

Demo v1.2 (added focus region demo) :
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=493031774607125
187

Unify3DCoordinate MJT
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/unify3dcoordinate


Unify all the 3D transformation nodes into one single coordinate value. Snap vertex supported
animation, shifted pivot, and able to export translation and rotation.
Solve complicated 3D transformation setup and tricky snap vertex, return in one single
coordinate value.

video about the latest tool can be find here :

video content :
Part01 - introduction & camera demo
Part02 - geo demo
Part03 - light demo
Part04 - snap vertex on readGeo demo
188

189

UVEditor MJT
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/uveditor


UVEditor is simplify the steps of create uv tile or udim setup in nuke, provide the visual of uv
tile in uv space of the geo, export udim texture, extract mattepainting projection in udim, paint
fix the texture and map it back to the geo.

For what is uv tile / udim and how to get it works in nuke. Please check here :
https://www.facebook.com/pg/MJTlab/photos/?tab=album&album_id=348648709050290

Download zip included this tool in gizmo and group format, UVEditor_demo.nk, demo geo
(please re-link the geo file).

texture size
- Define the texture resolution in here.

filter
- uv output has to go through scanlineRender, this filter is same as all the transformation pixel
filter

antialiasing
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- uv output has to go through scanlineRender, this antialiasing is same as antialiasing setting

as scanlineRender

show tile number
- show the number of tile, helps for indicate udim frame.

view wireframe
- Enable this wireframe option will preview uv in wireframe instead of texture. Give user an
idea of how the look of geo in uv space.

wireframe size
- The thickness of wireframe to show. Only enable when view wireframe is checked.

output
- preview in uv space

This will displace uv tile in uv space. For preview purpose.

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-udim
This will separate uv tile in udim format (base on frame number start from 1001). When
selected udim as output, ‘export’ button will able. That will scan through all available udim and
return the frame range of the udim. It will generate a group with all udim combined for nuke to
work with, and also a write node to show where should render if udim need to be export as
texture sequence.
- uvtile
Output the uv in tile format, can map to the geo directly without any process. If user work with
uvtile for texture modification, user need to work with overscan size manually.

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- uv pass
Output uv data as texture, same as 3D software will provide in render. Since the tool is
working n 10x10 uv tile, so the uv pass will also support 10.0x10.0 uv data. Then user can use
this to work with stmap for texture mapping.

193

Distance3D NKPD
Author: Falko Paeper

Nukepedia: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/distance3d_v02_fp

This is a pretty handy gizmo to measure the distance between two 3D objects whether its an
axis, camera or geometry.

Originally built to control focus plane in 2d DOF or the cameras focus point with an axis! enjoy.

194

DistanceBetween_CS NKPD
Author: Christian Kauppert

Github link: https://gist.github.com/kpprt/a86e5c8a3a181c89e24cc45281c6d1d3
Christian’s git gists: https://gist.github.com/kpprt

Calculate the distance between two 3D objects (Camera, Axis) in Nuke. 3D distance needs the
two objects, 2D distance also needs a Camera input and an optional format when different
from the root format.

195

Lightning3D EL

Making 3D Lightning in Nuke using Blinkscript.
Needs to be used with the HigX particle renderer by Mads Hagbarth
3D lighitng, similar to the X_tesla node, settings for look and animation of 3d Lighting.

Blog Website: http://erwanleroy.com/making-3d-lightning-in-nuke-using-blinkscript/
Github Link:
https://github.com/herronelou/nuke_stuff/blob/master/toolsets/blinkscript/lightning_generator.
nk
Demo Video: https://vimeo.com/387061845

196

GeoToPoints MHD

Blog write up: https://hagbarth.net/major-bug-in-nukes-particle-system/
Link to tool: http://www.hagbarth.net/nuke/GeoToPoints.nk

Creates a point cloud based on input Geo vertices

197

Noise3DTexture NKPD
Author: Ben Sumner
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/bs_noise3d

This Gizmo outputs either the input geometry with a 3D world position noise applied as a
texture, or it can output the texture itself in the UV space of the model.

Your model must have UVs!

You can output noise or textured model, either with the originally applied alpha, solid
white alpha, or with the generated noise in the alpha channel.

This node is a good way to get seamless noise textures on your 3D models, or to
export a texture to be used for seamless displacement.

198

GodRaysProjector CF
Author: Chris Fryer - https://www.chrisfryer.co.uk/blog

GodRaysProjector is a 3D alternative to the generally 2D Godrays node. By connecting a
renderCamera, projectionCamera and an image to project. Thanks to the wonders of
BlinkScript it also has a wicked-fast GPU preview!

Original Blog Post: https://www.chrisfryer.co.uk/post/godraysprojector
Demo 01: https://vimeo.com/476747690
Update01 deep support demo: https://vimeo.com/477811021
Update02 3DNoise & 4 Point Approximations: https://vimeo.com/488322729
v1.1 update shadows blog post:
https://www.chrisfryer.co.uk/post/godraysprojector-shadows-and-a-total-rebuild
V1.1 demo: https://vimeo.com/519293235

I decided to completely rebuild GodRaysProjector and clean up a lot of the bugs and quirks.
This also gave me a chance to make the code super-readable for people who are starting out
with Blinkscript and want some easy to read examples.

The biggest feature of this update is the shadow functionality, this uses a couple neat tricks to
produce a 2D shadow solution, with the information we'd generally have for a shot.

199

11.) Particles
WaterSchmutz DR
Author: Derek Rein - http://derekvfx.ca/nuke/
githubLink: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DerekRein/.nuke/master/ToolSets/schmutz.nk

WaterSchmutz is a quick and easy particle box to create floating (or static) particles with some
built-in variation settings such as size and color.

Plug in a camera and an optional customSprite input.
200

Sparky NKPD
Author: Dimitri Breidenbach

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/particles/db_sparky

Easy to use particle setup to create sparks. Comes with a few animation presets.

Sparky is a pretty clean and simple setup to add sparks in your shot. It is a particle setup that
is rendered through a ScanlineRender. The idea is that you can use it like a simple
pre-rendered 2D Element coming from your favorite library, but, the main difference being that
you can rotate the sparks, and give them the exact orientation you need.

This tool is delivered with an example .nk scene to see both 2D and 3D workflows.
-> Axis and Cam input : While the main goal is to be a 2D pre-rendered option, you can also
select to use a 3D camera to track properly with your shot. In this case, you'll have to plug
your Camera and an Axis to move the sparks in the 3D space.

--> Presets : While the look of the particles is very important, the emission rate is definitely a
huge part of selling the sparks look. That is why, I decided to add 6 presets that can be
loaded from the second tab. These presets will ask you to provide an initial frame and will then
apply an animation to the 'Emission Amount' setting.

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Warning: Presets dont work in Nuke Non-Commercial due to some Python Limitation

---- Single Hit Heavy: Heavy hit with a double pop.
---- Single Hit Light : Light pop of sparks.
---- Welding : Expression that will mimic a natural welding feeling.
---- Wavy : Constant sim with some strong variation in birth rate.
---- Constant : Softer variation than the Wavy preset.
---- Loopy : Loops the same pop animation of Sparks.

--> Output As Particles : This will allow you to plug the particles into a Scene node. It will
therefore not render any 2D preview anymore. If Sparky doesn't render anything, verify that
you didn't check this box by error.

--> Advanced Settings : If you wish to have a wider spread of sparks, or if you decide do
animate the Axis to which the sparks are attached, you can access to a few settings that may
interest you here.

Video example of Sparky

The node is deep compatible if you keep it in MultiScanline mode (the default one), but if you
want to be 200% sure you are in the right setting, you can check the 'Output Deep' option.

While this tool will never replace the real thing, it will definitely be more than enough when
chucked in some background scene, or with some DoF or motionblur. Hopefully you will find
some use for it and maybe even learn a little bit more about particles.

For any bug or suggestion, dont hesitate to contact me.
LinkedIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/breidenbachdimitri

202

RainMaker NKPD
Author: Matt Richardson

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/particles/rainmaker

Adds Rain/water Droplets to lens

RainMaker Controls Walkthrough: https://vimeo.com/104600972

203

ParticleLights MHD
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/particles/particle-lights

Mads’ blog post: https://hagbarth.net/project/particle-lights/
Vimeo Demo: https://vimeo.com/96521727

Particle Lights is a custom relight node that, enables particles to cast lights into a scene.
Using the new node "ParticleToImage" introduced in Nuke8 to relight a scene using particles.

204

ParticleKiller NKPD
Author: Wouter Gilsing - www.woutergilsing.com
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/particles/particlekiller

A tool to kill specific particles based on their id.

Options to make identifying individual particles easier:
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12.) Deep

Deep2VP Suite MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deep2vp


Demo 3.8: https://youtu.be/zl6WVG4Mhag
Demo 4.0: https://youtu.be/BXArfKtTvEE
Demo 3.5: https://vimeo.com/379527067
Demo 2.0: https://vimeo.com/338501133

Deep2VP suite is a toolset to convert deep data to world space position, and process with all
the possibilities of this deepPosition data.

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Deep2VP MJT

Deep2VPosition is a main node in this entire toolset. It converts deep data to
3D position data and process all the nodes in this toolset. So this node needs
to go before any nodes. Once gather the camera data, and it will generate
position data under a new channel, called ‘deepPosition’. After this channel
had been created, then you don't have to add this node anymore in
downstream.
‘deepPosition’ also able to use on any position tools in 2D. Use ‘DVPToImage’
converts to this channel to 2D can fix all the semi-transparent pixels and
pixel filter.

Linked to selected camera:
All required camera data will be linked to this node by expression. Some companies have their
own camera node with a different node class or different knob name, so this button is not
limited to specify node class. When default camera knob name cannot find in selected node,
it will prompt up a window to let user selected relevant knobs. You can find the world space
position data under 'deepPosition' channel after this node. It supported volumatric deep data.
If want to bring the position data to 2D in downstream. Please only use DVPToImage which
comes along with this toolset.

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Removed linked expression:

Removed linked expression in this node. All the values remain unchanged, but no animation
will be baked.

Baked expression link:
Will baked all the animated value from expression, no more connection with any nodes.

Copy from selected camera:
Select a camera and this will copy all the animated values to this node without any connection
with any nodes.

User can also copy or linked the camera data manually to the knobs in ‘CAMERA DATA’
group.
This node will also create another channel called ‘deepRawColor’ . Casual user doesn’t need
to understand what
this channel does. This channel will be removed when you use ‘DVPToImage’ to convert 2D
image. It is only for
operation in this toolset. Check out Notes section if you want to understand how the tools use
this channel.
* This node supported animated or non-animated re-rack camera since 3.0
** This node supported pixel aspect in project setting since 3.3 (esp for anamorphic project)

208

DVPToImage MJT

This node helps to output ‘deepPosition’ and ‘deepNormal’ channel to 2D. Due to 3D data
supposed to be non-filtered data, all transparent, semi-transparent and filtered pixel will be
fixed to raw non-filtered 3D data. That is regular ‘DeepToImage’ cannot do beside deep.front
and depth.z. If want to keep deepPosition and deepNormal in 2D, required this node to
process.
DVPortal MJT

This node will centralize the camera data in one place.
Due to the limitation in TCL and speed in python, I
choose expression link to camera in this toolset. But
one of the requests is get camera input for the tool
instead of link with expression. The request concern is
when the camera node changed, all the Deep2VP
nodes need to
re-link again. So the purpose of this node is centralize
all
the camera data in this node, and set link to this node
instead. So when the camera change, just connect the
new camera to this node.
The camera can stack with axis nodes, the toolset will
only gather world matrix for any camera transformation
( beside DVProjection ) . It doesn’t expect any nodes
between camera and this node. It’s because it is using
‘input.xxxxx’ TCL to fill up the camera information.
* I don’t use [topnode] because concern axis stack.
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‘KnobChanged’ on parent node will slow down the nuke

script.

DVPmatte MJT

Position matte is very common in CG compositing. DVPmatte is
same as position matte but with deep in real 3D space. It is taking
advantage of using deep to get real z matte and separate
non-filtered deep samples and pixel filter in alpha. In 3.5, this tool
can combine with multiple matte with different operation, so it
can generate more shape than just sphere, cube
and cylinder shape.
This tool has 4 different ways to sample the position where you want to apply. 2D sample,
transform preview geo in 3D, link selected axis and import chan file.

Matte shape:
Select the 3D shape of the matte. 3D shape can be preview under 3D view when the panel of
this node is active.
Sphere : only support uniform falloff.
Cube : support separate 3-axis falloff.
Cylinder : only support uniform falloff.

Invert matte:
Invert the matte of the shape. Same as deepHoldout but with falloff support (soften matte).

Node type:
finalize matte: Premult all the mattes in the 'DVPmatte' stack to get the final matte.
multi matte: Keep the matte and pass along to downstream for multi mattes purpose. It will
only premult RGB for 2D preview.

Options:
premult RGBA: Premult RGBA in volumetric deep. It good to carry for deep comp in down
stream. May find some edges has stronger alpha in 2D view. That is because of the samples
overlap in front and back, but the data per sample are accurate.
black & white matte: This will fix the samples overlap look, but not good for deep comp.
Recommend convert it back to 2D and shuffle the black & white to alpha for 2D comp
purpose.

Toggle 2D sample:
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By default, this option is off. Turn this on, then you can sample the image in 2D view. When
you are done, remember to turn this off again. Otherwise it will sample the value in every
frame.

Sample position:
This knob is disable by default. Active when ‘Toggle 2D sample’ is on.

Transformation:
Then this node is active ( shown in panel ), user switch to 3D view to preview the matte in 3D
space. Snap the pointcloud or move the preview geo manually.

Linked to selected axis/geo:
Use this function to link the transformation of 3D node to this node.

Remove linked expression:
will be baked.

Baked out the existing expression link back to this node itself. After
that, the linked node is not required for this node anymore. Baked
value is base on the frame range in project setting of the nuke script.

Copy from selected axis/geo:
Select the axis/geo, then this will process 'link to selected axis/geo' and 'bake expression link'
in once.

Pointcloud:
When this node panel is active, pointcloud will be shown under 3D view.
None: will not show the pointcloud in 3D
raw pointcloud: show the pointcloud from input data, without any effects
from this node.
with matte applied: This can show the instant result. Since it feedback in
real time, it might slow down the progress in 3D space.

Cube 3D falloff:
This will only applied when matte shape selected as cube.

Falloff type:
6 different falloff types

Uniform falloff:
This is a globel falloff value. Support for any shape of matte.
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Exponential:
This knob will enable when exponential had been selected in falloff type.

Fall off types:

Output options:

Matte on deep, you might see this kind of edges
on semi-transparent pixel. That’s because of
multi sample layers in the same screen space
coordinate, but it does make sense and correct
in 3D space. So if compositing in deep, it all
works fine. If you want to output the matte in
2D, it might give you edge issue. So ‘DVPmatte’
options can give you a black & white matte that
can be use in 2D comp.

But black & white matte will makes you loss the
possibilities matte in z axis. Be consider what
the needs in your comp.
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Mutli-matte workflow

Multi matte workflow needs to set all the node
type to multi matte, but the last one set to
finalize matte. The first multi matte node’s
operation must be ‘union’.

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DVPattern MJT

Position noise is one of the common nodes in CG compositing. DVPattern is also doing the
same thing in deep, has 7 different patterns.
They are: fBm, turbulence, noise, random, stripes, ripple and rays.

Pointcloud:
none: will not show the pointcloud in 3D
raw pointcloud: show the pointcloud from input data, without any effects from this node
with pattern applied: This can show the instant result. Since it feedback in real time, it might
slow down the progress in 3D space.

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DVPColorCorrect MJT
Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deep2vp

Github link: https://github.com/xmjtx/MJTLab/tree/main/gizmo_library/Deep/Deep2VP_v40

From the Deep2VP suite.

This node acts like a colorCorrect node that can be used in the deep stream. Use masking
tab to set the Z-ranges in deep. Support for the DVPmatte and DVPpattern outputs.

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DVProjection MJT

This node can process projection on deep. It can be used with the current shot camera, or
place the camera manually. Output of this node is 2D image, so it doesn’t need
‘DeepToImage’ or ‘DVPToImage in downstream. On the other hand, the deep data will be lose
after this node.

Settings:

Freeze frame:
Check this box to enable framehold function for animated camera

Framehold:
Input the frame number and freeze the projection camera's animation

Set current frame:
Automatically set frame frame into framehold knob.

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Project z range:
Set the projection distance from the projection camera (in term of distance)
First value : start ramp in value
Second value : end of ramp in value
Third value : start ramp out value
Forth value : end of ramp out value

Link to selected camera:
Selected any Camera nodes and this button will link the position to the projection camera.

will be baked.


with any nodes.

Pointcloud:
none: will not show the pointcloud in 3D
raw pointcloud: show the pointcloud from input data, without any effects from this node
with project image: This can show the instant result. Since it feedback in real time, it might

Output
Support 3 different outputs
Wrapped texture + source: which is a projected texture composite with the input.
Wrapped texture: which is only projected texture
UV: which is a uv map, can use this with STMap in downstream.

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DVP Relight setup

Let's introduce a basic setup for relight before I walkthrough the nodes in toolset. For relight
in deep, I breakdown 2-3 nodes in the setup for multi lights supported, raw light pass output
and light with beauty output. DVPsetLight always be the first node for relight preparation, then
add DVPrelight nodes as many as you need. If you need raw light only, you can convert it to
2D image directly. If you are lighting on beauty and keep the deep comp, connect DVPscene
at the end.

DVPsetLight MJT

This node needs to go before DVPrelight. Setup how the normal data use in deep for relight.
This node will provide 4 options to pipe in normal data into deep stream.

Generate normal by estimate from position:
If no any normal data provide, this could be one of the options. The result might not perfect,
might have some edges problem on individual objects. If deep data from scanlineRender, geo
required high level subdivision.
Required camera data for this option.

Input 2D normal ( world / camera space ):
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If have normal data in 2D data, connect the pass to this node. The resolution of normal2D
input must be the same as the deep resolution. Camera space normal required camera data,
but not for the world space.

Deep normal:
Use deep normal data from deep input. Type in the channel contain normal data in deep.
For example : channel name is ‘Nworld.red’ , ‘Nworld.green’ , ‘Nworld.blue’. Type in ‘Nworld’
for the channel name.
* When using scanlineRender for deep output, set output vector normal, then you can have
normal data in deep format.

Link to selected camera:
Selected any Camera nodes and this button will link the position to the projection camera.

will be baked.


with any nodes.
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220

DVPfresnel MJT

DVPfresnel is part of the lighting node in this toolset. It is because it required normal data. It
created fresnel (aka facing ratio) to every objects in the scene. This node can stack with
multiple ‘DVPrelight’ nodes together. The node itself output raw light data in deep format.
Connect to ‘DVPscene’ to get this raw fresnel composite with beauty.

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DVPrelight MJT

‘DVPrelight’ node has 3 types of light as default nuke light node. It can
stack with multiple nodes together and will out raw light in deep format.
Connect ‘DVPscene’ to composite with beauty. The setting in this node is
almost same as nuke basic light node, but with extra exponential falloff
type, to get a flexible result.

Pointcloud:

None will not show the pointcloud in 3D
raw pointcloud show the pointcloud from input data, without any effects from this node
with light applied This can show the instant result. Since it feedback in real time, it might
222

DVPrelightPT MJT



Deep Relight point light split off from DVPrelight tool into separate node. Does not support
specular in the DVPshader tools at the moment

223

DVPShader MJT



This is a shader that can be plugged into the DVP lights when relighting to offer more specular
and falloff controls for your relighting

224

DVPToonShader MJT



This is a toon shader that can be plugged into the DVP lights when relighting to offer more
specular and falloff controls for your relighting

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DVPscene MJT

This node will composite the relight process in deep format.

Original mix:
Combine the original color in diffuse.

Ambient:
Add ambient color on top of diffuse, before the rawlight

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Notes:

Stack DVP nodes:
All the nodes in the toolset can stack together, only green nodes need to
connect between ‘DVPsetLight’ and ‘DVPscene’. Blue nodes cannot put
inside the lighting setup, otherwise will break the setup.

DeepRawColor:
‘Deep2VPosition’ and ‘DVPsetLight’ will generate a channel called
‘deepRawColor’. The channel helps to pass the data from upstream to
process stack operations. Regular user might not need to understand how
this process. If anyone want to troubleshoot the setup, the following is the
Information.

In ‘DVPmatte’, current matte processed under deepPosition.alpha, and then
deepRawColor.alpha stored the matte from upstream plus current matte.
When selected ‘multi mattes’, all the matte process will store under
deepRawColor.alpha, but will not applied on alpha because of the premult
process in deep. When selected ‘finalize matte’, the deepRawColor.alpha
will process to RGBA and removed the deep samples when alpha <= 0.0 .
And removed samples cannot restore anymore in downstream.

In Deep2VP lighting setup, because requested to have raw light output and
concern multple light apply, so ‘DVPsetLight’ will shuffle RGB to
deepRawColor.RGB and put RGB to black.

In ‘DVPrelight’ and ‘DVPfresnel’, light matte process under
deepNormal.alpha and apply the matte to RGB for the raw light.
‘deepRawColor’ remain untouch until ‘DVPscene’ node connected.

Current light will combine with input RGB to output the new raw light. That’s why
‘DVPsetLight’ set RGB to black.

In ‘DVPscene’, it will bring back deepRawColor.RGB and process with RGB (raw light) to
return
the color with new lighting. Like how diffuse color combine with raw light in AOV. The
algorithm
is :

( input deep color + ambient color ) * raw light color

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DeepFromDepth AG
Author: Andrea Geremia

From Expression AG menu:

Creates deep data from the depth pass

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DeepToPosition TL

Plug in your deep render and your camera and this node will convert the deep into a
WorldPosition pass. There was an option when using Houdini renders that the scale was off
so there is a houdini scale compensation checkbox
There is also a preview in 3d space option for seeing where your deep exists in nuke’s 3d
viewer.

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DeepRecolorMatte TL
There is a popular deep workflow used in production where you deep combine many elements
together, and have to make deepHoldouts for each layer, usually pre-rendering out the alpha
channel for each individual layer, to use later, in order to reduce heaviness.
A really great article is written about this method from Boris MC, which can be found here:
http://boris-mc.com/?p=2700
There is also a nice video explaining the workflow here:

This workflow can often get chaotic quite quickly with lots of objects holding out each other:
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This tool aims to speed up and simply this workflow even further. It creates a new layer with
the alpha channel of the element and a custom name.
Using additional channels and deepMerging all of the elements together into 1 big scene, you
can later pull out the mattes from each individual element, giving you the matte of that
element, held out by all other elements in the scene. This is a custom holdout matte for that
object.
The goal would be to prerender just 1 render with all channels, and simply shuffle out the deep
holdout mattes for any element you need.
Grab Title button is using functions from Adrian Pueyo’s stamps plugin to try and predict the
layername from the deep input. It tries to grab the name from the nearest stamp, or the
nearest read node filepathName, in the same way that stamps does, so if you are using
stamps, this should work for you, and if not, it’s ok, you can just enter the name manually.

After you’ve auto-grabbed the layer name, or entered a manual layer name in the New
Channel Name field, you can choose to add a prefix or postfix to the layername. Check the
box and enter a prefix or postfix. For example, you can add ID to the prefix and the
layername will be “ID_newLayer” or “matte” to the postfix, and the layername will be
“newLayer_matte”. No need to include the underscores, this tool will add the underscores
between the prefix / layername / postfix automatically.

Once you are ready, click Inject New Channel, and the node’s text will turn red and label will
change to let you know that you have injected a new Channel. All channels are just a single
.red channel, to save time during the deep merge process, since each layer and each channel
must be calculated, you’ll want as few remaining as possible. The tool only saves RGBA, and
the new channel and removes all other channels to save caluculation time.

Click Reset to restore default state of the node
Turn on Target Input Alpha if your alpha from your color input is different than the alpha from
your deep input. If you’ve roto’ed something out for example
Remove Deep channel, Prerender the Deep Tree after DeepToImage, Shuffle out the mattes
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DeepMerge_Advanced BM
Download from github: https://github.com/BenMcEwan/nuke_public/tree/master/gizmos

- Merges all channels from A and B in deep. - Fixes issue with DeepMerge's holdout operation
which exists in Nuke 11. Choose between a Deep or 2D output.
- Soften/ Blur slider which helps blend the 2 deep renders using a DeepExpression and
deep.front and deep.back

232

DeepCropSoft NKPD
Author: Wouter Gilsing - www.woutergilsing.com

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepcropsoft

A version of the DeepCrop node that allows the user to set a falloff for a soft transition. Can be
used to gradually fade off anything that reaches a specific distance from the camera (like
anything super close). This can for example be useful to prevent visible 'popping' when a
camera moves through geometry.

**Minor tweaking of the original knob positions to make it slightly easier to use.

233

DeepKeyMix NKPD
Author: Luc Julien

http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepkeymix

Same basic function as the original keymix but for deep input.

It enable you to copies deep channels from A to B only where the mask input is non-zero. The
mask input use standard channels.

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DeepHoldoutSmoother NKPD
Author: Denis Scolan + Jesús Diez-Pérez

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/d_deepholdoutsmoother

Smoothing the harsh holdout intersection that occurs when the holdout itself doesn't have
enough samples.

I've made a gizmo to smooth the harsh holdout intersection the occurs when the holdout itself
doesn't have enough samples (coming from a standard Z pass for intance).

The D_DeepHoldoutSmoother is meant to be insert in your tree on the holdout stream and
before the DeepHoldout/DeepMerge(holdout mode) node.

Keep in mind that the holdout will expand slightly and also the more you increase the samples
the heavier your comp will get.

Thank you to Jesús Diez-Pérez for the Python script.

235

DeepCopyBBox NKPD
Author: Denis Scolan

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/d_deepcopybbox

CopyBBox for deep image stream

this gizmo helps you carry the BBox of your 2D stream onto your deep image stream.

It's useful for reintruducing the BBox after a DeepMerge in 'holdout' mode.

Down side : you can only copy the BBox from a 2D stream, it doesn't work with a deep stream
yet.

236

DeepBoolean MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepboolean
Demo video: https://vimeo.com/354811205

DeepBoolean works like maya's boolean's tool, but for deep in nuke. It works like
deepHoldout but more function than that. Intersect mode to keep the deep data inside the
geo matte. Subtract mode to holdout the deep data outside of the geo matte. Both support
geo matte extrude (erode the terms in nuke) and falloff in 3D space.

Any geo needs to be close face because this tool is camera space Normal deep matte.

It works with any kind of readgeo or basic geo in nuke (cube might has a bit strange behaviour
on extrude because of separate faces).

*Beware: before Nuke11, DeepExpression has some strange behavior, thanks Foundry to fix
most of them in Nuke11. So this tool is only work and tested in Nuke11. If you are using lower
version, this tool will not work probably.
237

238

Works with Deep2VP v3.7+ , can link the camera data through DVPort and stack with
DVPmatte.
239

DeepFromPosition MJT

Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepfromposition

Convert position data to deep.

How to use :
- connect comp tree
- connect camera
- select the channel and what space of your position data
- then downstream will deep

240

DeepSampleCount MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepsamplecount_v11

Convert the amount of samples per pixel into colormap visual. Help for troubleshoot,
investigate the ground of slow deep tree, or tool development. The setup run by some math &
TCL expression, able to run in realtime and fast feedback.

It will created a channel called 'deepSample.count', it stores the total samples per pixel.

*support to detect 48 samples in pixel on v1.2+

241

DeepSer MJT
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deepser

A tool to manage/remove/optimize deep samples.

Remove nan/inf samples
242

Remove samples by alpha value

243

Remove samples by layer in pixel

*deep sample colormap generated by DeepSampleCount

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13.) CG

UV_Mapper TL
UV_Mapper is for mapping textures on a UV pass with multiple UDIM in the render.
Sometimes for creature or other assets, the CG department breaks up the texture passes into
multiple UDIMs. This means there are multiple UV sections in the render. Frequently they
render this UV pass with each UDIM offset by 1. So you would have 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 for UDIM
1001, 1002, 1003 for example. Here is a preview of what that pass might look like using nuke
nodes:
245

Plug the your UV pass render into the UV_mapper in the UVs input. Use the select UV color
picker to isolate which of the UDIM UVs you’d like to use. By default, when where it no image
plugged into the img input, I have a UV grid preview as a placeholder for you to see which
UDIM you have selected. Selecting around the UV pass you will have this texture jumping
from UDIM to UDIM. You should see something like this:

Once you plug an image into the img input, it will replace this placeholder. You can create a
couple UV_Mappers and grab a few textures, and with a simply setup you can retexture parts
of your image:

Sometimes anti-aliased UV passes can give unwanted results when blending with another
UDIM or around the edges when there is filtering. I’ve included some basic kill outline (erodes
in a bit), and edge extend option to help push some UV color value there to reduce artifacting.

246

Take alpha from UVs: means instead of using the CG render alpha, use the alpha from the
input image, that’s remapped in UV space.

Sometimes it’s useful to know where the UV’s are corresponding to in UV space, thanks to
Luca Mignardi and his inverseSTMap gizmo, I included the option for seeing what part of
UVspace the texture occupies when “unwrapped”
This is just a crude visual to help with roto’s or paints or alignments. There is of course some
situations where you want to know where the beauty render lies in UV space in the selected
UDIM. So there is a checkbox called ‘Img is beauty render’. First select the UDIM you want,
and plug the image into the beauty render and select both preview STMap and Img is beauty
and it will isolate the area of the beauty render where the UDIM you have selected is, and
unwrap this in UV space, so you can roughly see where your beauty render lies in UV space
according to the UDIM you have chosen.

247

PNZ Suite MJT


Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/draw/positiontonormal

Convert 3D data passes. Included P2N (PositionToNormal), P2Z (PositionToDepth), Z2N
(DepthToNormal), Z2P (DepthToNormal) and ConvertPNZ (self convertion, such as space
convert, fresnel, invert depth.

I have done PositionToNormal during Deep2VP v3.5. I create this standalone version for 2D
comp and added more different convertion for 2.5D comp.

Convert Position/Depth to Normal. It might has a little bit artifact on edges. Try to adjust
'Depth Threshold' for better result. It might not able to get decent result on thin object, such
as hair/fur. Depends on the needs.

If you use it for relight, try to light it with this pass first, those artifact might not an issue.

Some space swap require camera data.

248

ConvertPNZ MJT
Convert PNZ is for self conversion cases

Select the input data: Position, Normal or Depth

With Position selected:
INPUT: world coordinate space or camera space
OUTPUT: world space or camera space conversion.

With Normal selected:
INPUT: world coordinate space or camera space
OUTPUT: world space or camera space conversion. Or fresnel pass

With Depth selected:
You can choose to invert your depth pass with 1/z to switch between normalized depth and
real units from the renderer

Camera space conversion will require camera data which you can link, bake link, or copy
animation from a selected camera. Python buttons to help with linking.

249

P2N MJT
Position To Normal

INPUT: World or Camera Space Position

OUTPUT: World or Camera Space Normals


250

P2Z MJT
Position To Depth

INPUT: World or Camera Space Position

OUTPUT: Real unit depth or normalized depth 1/z


251

Z2N MJT
Depth To Normals

INPUT: Real unit or normalized 1/z depth

OUTPUT: World space or camera space normals


252

Z2P MJT
Depth To Position

INPUT: Real unit or normalized 1/z depth

OUTPUT: World space or camera space Position


253

Pos Toolkit MJT

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/3d/pos-toolkit

Demo/ Tutorial video: https://vimeo.com/391732849

This position toolkit is based on Deep2VP to create and work in 2D compositing instead of
Deep. The toolset has PosMatte, PosPattern and PosProjection, the function and workflow is
the same as DVPMatte, DVPattern and DVProjection in Deep2VP.

Input of all these nodes must contain world space position data and alpha. If you need to
convert position camera space, can use PNZ Suite to do the job.
http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/draw/positiontonormal

254

PosMatte MJT
Creates 2.5D matte from position data. In this node, it has 3 matte shape and 5 different ways
to place the matte.

Choose your World Position channel you are sampling from
Choose either a 2d position (picks from 2d screen space), or a 3D position.
Choose shape type: Sphere, Cube, Cylinder (choice to invert the matte)

Link to a selected axis or copy / bake animations from a selected 3d Axis. Make tweaks to 3d
position with these settings

Pointcloud preview:
Choose between no point cloud, raw (full) point cloud, or with matte applied, which the
pointcloud will only appear within the 3d shape applied. Additional point size and amount
settings in this section.

Falloff type - choose between:
none
linear
smooth
quadratic
cubic
Exponential - additional exp in / out settings

Fall off global controls in this section

255

PosPattern MJT

Can create 7 different patterns through position data.
fBM, turbulence, noise, random, stripes, ripple, and rays

Each have different parameters exposed when selected for adjustments
Snap menu available to snap to points and vertices

3D translation/scale options available

Pointcloud preview:
Choose between no point cloud, raw (full) point cloud, or with pattern applied. Additional point
size and amount settings in this section.

256

PosProjection MJT
Can do camera projection with position data. This node requires a camera, texture is optional
(it is because it also can output UV maps). Camera can be a custom one, but usually for CG
patch fix will use the shot camera to avoid line up perspective manually. It's because the node
will calculate FOV of the camera for projection.

Select your WorldPosition channel
Optional freeze frame settings
Project Z range, similar to deepSoft Clip, you can set up where the texture begins and ends in
Z space from the camera, along with a Z fade (similar to keyer node)

Link, bake, or copy camera settings from a selected camera

Pointcloud preview:
Choose between no point cloud, raw (full) point cloud, or with project image(slow), Additional
point size and amount settings in this section.

Outputs:
wrapped texture + source: which is a projected texture composite with the input.
wrapped texture: which is only projected texture
uv: which is a uv map, can use this with STMap in downstream. STMap settings available

257

Noise3D SPIN
Author: SPIN FX - Erwan Leroy - http://erwanleroy.com/blog/
Spin gizmos on github: https://github.com/SpinVFX/spin_nuke_gizmos

Spin tools 2.0: http://erwanleroy.com/spin-vfx-nuke-gizmos-2-0-released/
Vimeo Demo @ 00:50 : https://vimeo.com/381270956/f7399b6e1d

Generate Noise in 3D space based on Position passes. It includes pre-made Position passes
for some 3D primitives, or can use a custom Position pass. Uses a 4D noise internally so that
the 4th dimension can be used to add a 'boiling' effect.

Choose between fBm and Turbulence.

Multiple mapping options:
Card (Flat), Spherical, Cylindrical (Tile X), Cylinder 4D (Tile X and Y), Custom P Input

The Custom P Input lets you input the shape of your choice. Using a pWorld pass as cutom P
will generate a 3D noise as seen from the same camera as used to render the Pworld. Ensure
an Alpha channel is present for Custom P.

258

Noise4D MHD

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/draw/4d-noise

This is a port of the 4D simplex noise found at
https://github.com/Draradech/csworldgen/blob/master/simplexnoise.cpp

Blink script - 4D Noise Generator (Based on image values)

It uses the image values of the input image to generate the noise. It is not fast, but it does the
job quite well.
Red, Green, Blue image (Pworld or Pref or vectors) X,Y, Z position
Alpha Channel is the evolution (4th dimension), change alpha to change the seed/evolution.

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Relight_Simple SPIN


Simplified relight node. Only requires a normal map to get started.

This node will not reproduce accurate lighting, as it does not take into account the actual 3D
world space, but instead considers the image in its own local space.

Plug in Normals input to a Normals Pass that is shuffled into rgba

Choose a 2d position to orient the relighting angle
Light Z attempts to set an distance of the picker, forward or backwards in ‘Z space’

Choose light color

Option to use an albedo pass (aka a texture or color pass) as an input

Specularity and shininess options

260

Reproject3D SPIN


This gizmo does camera projection using a render point position pass (in world space) and a
3D camera to remap all the layers in the input image.

NOTE: The projection works best with unmatted input images or at least unpremulted matting
with some coverage, then all masking occurs within the gizmo. It can mask the projected
image in the following ways:

Input alpha from the 3D render.
Projecting on surfaces facing camera, using normal (N) in world space.

261

C44Kernal AP

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/colour/c44kernel

Multiply the rgb or rgba colors by an arbitrary 4x4 Matrix. Useful for transforming vector
passes like Position or Normals. You can also plug in an Axis or Camera node into the axis
input, to apply its transformations.

C44Kernel is a simpler, Blinkscript-based alternative to the C44Matrix node by Ivan Busquets,
which is incredibly useful but has the compatibility limitations of a plugin.

262

apDirLight AP

Simulate a simple directional/infinite light through a normal pass, by picking a Normals pass
color and then tweaking the radius, falloff and hardness of the light.


263

apFresnel AP

Convert your Normals Worldspace pass into a Camera Space Fresnel pass.
Plug in your render camera, pick the normals and position channels from the input.

Can adjust the gamma of the Fresnel (Facing ratio)

264

CameraNormals NKPD
Author: Nikolai Wüstemann
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/channel/cameranormals

The Gizmo lets you convert your CG worldspace normals to camera space normals.

As the blue component of camera space normals is often used as a facing ratio, you also have
the option to directly output the mask.
In addition you have some control about the facing mask falloff (Simple or Biased), that is
driven by an exponential expression.

Modified with Adrian Pueyo’s Dummy Camera gizmo

265

NormalsRotate NKPD
Author: Wes Heo - gizmo named W_SuperNormal, renamed for clarity
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/w_supernormal

There are two ways to select the surface angle:

1. P_Matte has been the inspiration for this tool to do with normals what it does with position
data, and as such there is the colorpick method like P_Matte
2. Horizontal and Vertical Rotations sliders

Instructions:
1. Select the layer containing normals in the dropdown menu.
2. Enable color picker and pick the point where you want the matte to be white.
(I look at the alpha output, hold ctrl+alt and "glide" over the surfaces.)
3. You can also manually rotate the matte. When you colorpick a new point,
it is recommended that you reset the manual rotation values to 0.

Matte output:
invert output, mask by alpha, unpremult

Exponential falloff controls and post grade.
Mask and mix controls added.

266

EnvReflect_BB NKPD
Author: Bastian Brenot - http://www.bastienbrenot.com/nuke-tools/
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/envreflect_bb_v03

Fake Environment reflections on normals pass
Feed it with a normals pass through the ‘image’ input, and select the right channel for it.
(works better with cameraSpace Normals)

Choose between: Mirror Ball, Latlong Map, Cube, Angular map 180, angular map 360, sphere
and 180 degree fish eye lens

- Option to Blur the IBL
– Antialias normals to get rid of flickering
- option to rotate the environment map in x,y,z
– Use Env Preview to preview the Envball with transformations

267

Relight_BB NKPD
Author: Bastian Brenot - http://www.bastienbrenot.com/nuke-tools/
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/relight_bb_v04

A 2D based Relighting tool to help relight 3d renders with help of a normals pass.
All you need is to feed it with a normals pass through the Normals input

Use the ‘mask’ input to isolate a specific object in your scene.

– Antialias normals to get rid of flickering
– use ReNorm if your normals are coded from 0 to 1 instead of -1 to 1

268

N_Reflection KNPD
Author: Chetal Gazdar
Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/nreflection

Through this Gizmo you can create fake reflection in post using only Normal pass.

Plug in your Normals pass, select normals channel, and rotate the environment map. LatLong
HDRI’s work best, but any image will work

269

SimpleSSS MHD
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/simple-subsurface-scattering

The Comp Lair episode where we discussed the effect: https://youtu.be/qW7FrnTl8Jo
Original article: www.hagbarth.net/translucency-shader-in-nuke/

SimpleSSS tool lets you create a simple, stylized faux sss/translucency effect on your nuke
Geo. Simply apply this node, input your model and a camera, and plus the output of the node
over your normal scanline render.
270

271

aPmatte AP
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/keyer/apmatte

Tutorial/Overview video: https://vimeo.com/adrianpueyo/apmattev2

Blinkscript-based Nuke gizmo for generating mattes or 4D noise from a Position pass.

v2.0 includes some new shapes and modes, a 3D-space view of the matte and point cloud,
and accepts an Axis or Camera input. Also, lets you preview the p-matte over an image input
and merge the alpha with the incoming one through different operations.

272

P_Project NKPD
Author: Franklin Toussaint - http://franklinvfx.com/tools-2/
Website download: http://franklinvfx.com/pos_project/

Github Link: https://github.com/franklinvfx/Position_Project-Tool-for-Nuke

Camera projection using the render of “World Position” and camera.
The most important advantage of this one is that it’s a very light tool (you don’t need to import
in nuke a heavy mesh).

So it’s fast and easy to use, but still has to have the position pass and the 3D camera

Tool details:

P Channel: To select the Position Pass channel.
Project Frame: Select the reference frame (hold the camera who do the projection).
Hold Image: To frame hold the input image as the same frame as the camera.
Crop: To project or not outside of the format area.
Antialiasing: To reduce the edges aliasing problems.
(Un)Premult: To keep nice shapes on edges.

273

GlueP LS
Author: Lewis Saunders - http://lewissaunders.com/
Github Link to file: https://github.com/lcrs/blinks/

Video Demo of the GlueP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jakExzK9MMw

GlueP - glues an image to a position pass, by projecting on it, Using BlinkScript.

Inputs:
Image to project
P, the position pass
N, an optional normals pass for front/back facing selection
Projector, the Camera to project from
CGCamera, optionally the original camera from the CG render

The second camera input can be used to convert P and N from camera space to world space
- many renderers output camera space P and N by default, but we need world space to do
this. Even better is a "world position at frame 1" or "P0" or "Rest position" pass, which sticks
properly to the surface of animated meshes.

A good way to check that a position pass is suitable to project on is to plug it into a
PositionToPoints node along with the beauty pass and check in the 3D view that the points lie
within the camera frustrum and are laid out in space like the 3D scene was.
It works best with 32-bit float P and N passes, rather than 16-bit half.

274

P_Ramp NKPD
Author: Franklin Toussaint - http://franklinvfx.com/tools-2/
Website download: http://franklinvfx.com/pos_ramp/

Github Link: https://github.com/franklinvfx/Position_Ramp-Tool-for-Nuke

To quikly create a ramp using the data contained in the render of "World Position" or "Ref
Position".

This node has several advantages. The position of the ramp is not set by a "color picker" but
with a 2D Position knob which executes callbacks. So it is possible to precisely place the
ramp regardless of the channel viewed. With the "Overlay" mode, the tool is visually even
more convenient. Visualization in 3D space is also a real advantage in a certain situation, as
well as the integration of the "Unpremult" and "Premult" which makes it possible to obtain
clean edges.

Tool details:
P Channel: To select the Position Pass channel.
Axe: To choose the ramp direction (x,y or z).
Start & End: To adjust the position of the two extremes of the ramp.
Offset (Start & End): To precisely adjust the position between the two extremes with a slider.
Overlay: To show the ramp on overlay (looking the rgb) and to change the color (none, red,
green, blue or black)

3D Options:
– To visualize in 3D the input image and the ramp. This uses a “position to point” node and it
gives the possibility to adjust the “Point Detail” and the “Point Size”.
– To adjust the size of 3D points representing the position of the two extremes of the ramp.
(Un)Premult: To keep nice shapes on edges.
275

P_NoiseAdvanced NKPD
Author: Riley Gray
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/keyer/p_noise_advanced

P_Noise_Advanced is a tool that allows you to apply various 3d noises and fractals to a
rendered position pass such as world position or rest position. The various noise types are
shown above and each has their own knobs and controls specific to each one.

A 2d position knob can be used to sample a center point in real time and Adrian Pueyo's
'c44kernal' allows you to transform the noise however you wish in 3d space. The Blink written
noise types (Euclidian, Voronoi, Manhattan, Chebyslev and Worley) are based on matthew
Shaw's 'Cell Noise' and just adapted to work on a position pass; click here to see his tool. The
other noise types are simply written in tcl using nukes expression node.

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14.) Curves

WaveMachine FL
Author: Fynn Laue - www.fynnlaue.com

Nukepedia Link: https://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/other/wavemachine

Node Based Animation - Generate and modify animation curves with this toolset collection

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WaveMaker FL

Generate standard waves such as sine, triangle, square, random and more

First Frame: is the time pivot point for length(frequency)
Length: Higher values are slower. Values below 2 may produce undesirable results when using
even waves like sine
Phase: Not counted in frames but in cycles: 1 'phase' is half a cycle (or evolution) of the wave.
Evolution: evolution for the random curve

Wave mix: Blend between 2 types of curves, 0 is wave0, 1 is wave1
Power: power is the final mix for the curve

Output: use with other wave machine nodes or to drive other nodes’ animation

Wave types:
Sine
Triangle
Square
Bounce
Random
Sawtooth/Sawtooth
Sawtooth/Sawtooth (Parabolic)
Sawtooth/Sawtooth (Parabolic Reversed)
Sawtooth/Sawtooth (Exponential)

278

WaveCustom FL
Create a custom animation curve or expression link an external curve into this custom knob.
WaveGrade FL

Grade animations. This way you can easily modify an existing animation or remap it for
different ranges.

Amplify:
Multiply the average input value with this and add the input curve on top:
((inp1 - avgcurve) * amplify) + inp1

Multiply: Multiplies the input curve
Offset: adds an amount to the input curve

Plug this into the wave machine node stack to further manipulate the curve

279

WaveRetime FL

Loop and retime input animation curves from wave machine nodes

280

WaveMerge FL

waveMerge combines 2 different wave machine curves and mixes them with a few different
merge operations:

Operations:
Add (input0 + input1 * power)
Dissolve ((input0 * (1 - power)) + (input1 * power))
Max (max(input0, input1 * power + (1 - power) * input0))
Min (min(input0, input1 * power + input0 * (1 - power)))
Multiply ((input0 * (input1 * power)))
Minus ((input0 - (input1 * power)))
Union ((input0 * (1 - power)) + ((input0 + input1) - (input0 * input1)) * power)

Power:
This is your mix slider for the operation
0 = curve from input 0
1 = curve from input 1

281

Randomizer TL
Randomizer is aimed at being a simple curve manipulation tool. It is meant to be used with
the curve editor and to have terminology relating to graphs

Pick between the following curve types:
random, noise, sine, triangle, square, bounce, sawtooth, sawtooth (parabolic),
sawtooth (parabolic reversed), sawtooth (exponential), blip, sine blip

Amplitude scales the curve in the Y axis. You can set the pivot of the scale point to either
center, min, or max, depending on how you want your curve to scale.

Frequency scales the curve in the X axis, and pivot frame serves at the pivot point for the X
axis scale, so if you set to frame 1050 and scale the frequency, frame 1050 will remain the
same value and scale outward from there.

Position X and position Y are simple controls to move the curve up and down and left and
right on the curve editor.

You can sort of ‘stack’ or drive multiple curves by expression linking another curve/randomizer
into the Position Y, amplitude, or frequency knobs, or by manually animating them.
You can achieve some pretty dynamic results.

Squarify option makes random and noise steppy, and included a random seed button

This tool can also be used with the Wave Machine toolset
282

AnimationCurve AG
Author: Andrea Geremia - http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial.html

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/animation_curve
Very detailed tutorial: www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_animation_nuke.html

Generate or modify animation curves

All the functions in this Gizmo:

Wave Generator
New Range
Smooth Curves
Modify Curves
Fade
Reference Frame
Percentage
Average

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1. Wave Generator

In this first Tab you can generate a Wave with different options. For of all, select the Type.
Please, check all the available types.

Noise
Random
Sine
Sine Blip
Triangle
Square
Bounce
Blip
Saw Tooth
Saw Parabolic
Saw Parabolic Reverse
Saw Exponential

284

2. New Range

Here you can change the range of an Animation Curve. For example, if min and max values
are -5 and 6, you can project all the curve in the new frame range -5 and 20.

Drag and Drop your curve in the knob Input and use the button to find out the min and max
value, then insert your new values and check in the Curve Editor your new curve.
In blue, you can see the original curve and in yellow the new one

285

3. Smooth Curves

Smooth the curve with this tool. Insert your curve in the knob Input, select the Type (High or
Low) and the power of the smooth

286

4. Modify Curves

With this tool you can modify curves with: Translate, Scale and Time Offset. With the
checkbox you can activate or not the modifiers.

287

5. Fade

Create the fade/dissolve from start frame till end frame. Animate mix or another knob from 0-1
or 1-0.

Select between:
- Linear
- Slow-in Slow-out
- Slow-in Linear-out
- Linear-in Slow-out

From David Ozols' tutorial
HTTPS://DJOZOLS.COM/2018/03/01/SIMPLE-FADE-EXPRESSIONS-IN-NUKE/
288

6. Reference Frame

Here set a reference frame. What does it mean? It means that your curve will be set to 0 in
that frame. Basically it will be translated to 0 in the Reference Frame.

289

7. Percentage

Increase or Decrease the curve for a X percentage.

290

8. Average

This is a single value for the entire curve. It will return the average value for the curve.

291

CurveRemapper BM
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/bm_curveremapper

Useful for remapping arbitrary animation curves, such as those from the CurveTool. Input the
animation's min & max values, then set new min & max values.

292

NoiseGen BM

Download tool: https://benmcewan.com/nukeTools.html

Generates a random noise curve based on a minimum, maximum & frequency value.

Modified so the output curve will work with Wave Machine toolset

293

15.) Utilities
GUI_Switch TL
There were some issues with the $gui expression that everyone knows that when you render a
frame locally instead of on a render farm, it did not register and would not switch over.

This tool is using a lesser known python expression called nuke.executing() and seems
to solve this problem. Inside the gizmo is just a switch node with the expression on the
‘which’ knob. 2 inputs, GUI and Render. Plug GUI into the node you want to view live in the
nuke script while you are working, and Render input plug into whatever you want to switch to
when you are rendering / executing something. Usually this is for speedy work environments
and switching to higher settings / samples on render time

For visuals, when the node is on it’s Red and says GUI, and if you disable the node, it will turn
Green and say RENDER. Hopefully this will let you conveniently preview the Render or GUI

Node has no settings, just a description. Just plug in and disable/enable!
294

NAN_INF_Killer TL

Kills NAN and INF pixels using a variety of replacement methods:
Replace with 0
Replace with Custom Color
Clone Over
Blur/Unpremult
Time

Keep alpha will keep the original alpha if the alpha channel does not have NAN or INF in it.
Separates RGB from Alpha in expression

Exposed settings for replace color, transform (for Clone over), blur/unpremult, time offset

295

apViewerBlocker AP
Locks the Viewers input to specific nodes, so you can reference the same views when you are
using the numeric hotkeys without worrying about resetting or accidentally switching the
viewer inputs. Good for referencing certain images, like Final image set to 9, reference image
set to 8, plate set to 0, etc

Select a viewer you wish to Block / Lock and click set to Selected on the viewer box

View an image that you wish to save/ lock to hotkey and ‘set to current’ on one of the
numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. This will enter the nodes name in the text input and lock that
viewer input to that node so when you use the number hotkey it always views this node.

Clear any fields to reset them.

296

Python_and_TCL AG
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/python-and-tcl-tips-and-tricks

Huge collection of Python and TCL snippets to use inside Nuke

In this Gizmo you will find out some tips and tricks that I've wrote and picked up from other
websites about Python and TCL.

Check out the complete guide even here:
http://www.andreageremia.it/tutorial_python_tcl.html

It's a Guide by categories to read directly in Nuke, really useful for all the Nuke Artists.
297

Sections of the Guide:

00. PYTHON AND TCL OVERVIEW
01. CREATE NODE
02. SELECT NODE
03. CONNECT NODES
04. READ FROM A KNOB
05. WRITE INTO A KNOB
06. CREATE A NEW KNOB
07. ANIMATION AND CURVE
08. EXPRESSIONS
09. MATH FUNCTIONS AND WAVE GENERATOR
10. FUNCTIONS DEF()
11. CALLBACKS
12. CUSTOMS PANELS
13. TRICKS

298

RotoQC NKPD
Author: Tor Andreassen - http://www.fxtor.net/nuke.html
Originally named fxT_matteQC
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/matteoverlay

Tool intended to check roto matte's accuracy.

This is a QC tool for checking roto-mattes.It works with all formats(format is grabbed from the
input), meaning it will work with all aspect ratios, including anamorphic plates.

The node has these QC options: overlay of red, green, or blue, Stencil from plate, premult
against BG (grey, checkerboard, or custom color). It's set up in a way so all the user needs to
do is pick the QC mode from a dropdown menu, and the rest is handled by the gizmo,
including alpha handling. For color overlay the user can control the opacity with a slider. The
node is stackable and alpha will carry through so you can have as many of these nodes you
want and the alpha will still be correct.

299

bm_MatteCheck BM
Tool Download page: https://benmcewan.com/nukeTools.html

Simple gizmo to help QC roto and keys, by overlaying a transparent colour, viewing a
premultiplied image over grey or a checkerboard (for light and dark values).

300

ViewerRender MJT
Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/viewer-render


Viewer Render is a tool that can render anything shown in viewer, even with UI, like playblast
in maya but in nuke. Support 2D and 3D, anything visible in the viewer. It's good to show a
witness camera, while making tutorial video, show the problem in visual and bring it up for
discussion.

If you run into any problems during render, please make sure the display card driver is up to
date.

Demo video :

Enter Viewer node name to render and set render path and frameRange and click render

301

NukeZ MJT

NukeZ can access hidden / old version nodes quickly without memorize the class name.
Create personal favorite node set (including those hidden / old version nodes )

Click 'update menu' for your first run. It's because different versions of nuke has different
node set.
e.g. ParticleBlinkscriptRender will give you error if pull it out on Nuke12.0 below.

After update the menu, you can simply select any nodes in the menu, and click 'create node'
to pull it out.
You can also 'add to favorite' . Once you are done with the favorite list, click 'create quick
access node', then it will create a node with all your favorite nodes in a single panel.

After that, you don't need NukeZ anymore, you can just save 'NukeZfav_xx' into your toolset
for your perosnal use.

The tool actually detect all the file in plugin folder, there has a lot of node already exist in
nuke's UI menu, so I created a filter function. The duplicated class will not show up in this
tool. I only keep those with multiple versions and hidden ones.

302

e.g.
you can found those 4 different versions of 'Tracking' (many people like to stick with the old
one), 2 versions of lensdistortion (I also prefer the old one).
hidden node like 'ParticleToImage' (you can check the document from Mads website)

You can edit those filter manually and detect file type.

Whitelist is a list that doesn't find in the folder, so type in the node class manally to make it
appear in the menu.

303

Pyclopedia MJT
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/pyclopedia_v10


Video :
https://youtu.be/icLr4uo6F-c

Check available python API and documents in Nuke with clear interface.

type in the command line you want to check.
click 'get next level' to see what command available.
click 'get details' to see what is the command doing, what argument it takes, how to use, etc.
In command line, can type in any level to get quickly search.
It also can check python from import any module.
In Pyclopedia, you can also point to a node and check what attributes can use.

304

16.) Templates
Advanced Keying Template TL
Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/keyer/advanced_keying_template_pack

Website Write-up:
https://compositingmentor.com/2015/12/18/advanced-keying-breakdown-4-1-template/

Video Tutorial on Template: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKcKpPFVmCk

For in depth detail about how to use this template and different techniques and methods to
look for in each section, please visit the full Keying Tutorial Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt2Nu4KGXJ2iXe7s-ydCQ9u1tTzzApmJX

There are also more details on the website series:
https://compositingmentor.com/category/advanced-keying-breakdown/

Broken down into 5 sections, Core Despill, Edge Despill, Core Key, Edge Key, and the
Background Blend. Organized to help with complex shots with transformations and color
corrections to the Greenscreen element.
305

Advanced Keying Template Stamps TL

This is an updated Advanced Keying Template using Adrian Pueyo’s Stamps. You can
download his stamps plugin here: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/stamps

Mainly just changed the organization of the script while keeping true to the original template
structure. There is a cleanplate section, which can be used later on with the additive keying
section.
All passes are piped in before the Color Corrections and Transformations section, and piped
out and converted to stamps after the transformations section, to be used elsewhere.
There is an updated, although experimental way of creating the cleanplate from ibk_Colour
node. Feel free to use this or any other unpremult/blur or IBK stack, or edge extend method,
or plug in your cleanplate if you have one. Feature was replaced by the exponBlurSimple
node

There is a lightwrap section after the premult as well as an additive keying section near the
merge.

If you don’t like stamps, feel free to adjust/ add dots and pipelines and configure in whichever
way you like to help your workflow
306

STMap Keyer Setup EL

Great Write up about this cool STMap keying technique by Erwan Leroy:
http://erwanleroy.com/make-a-custom-advanced-keyer-using-stmap/

The idea of this method is to represent the image as a 2D point cloud (vs 1D points or 3D
points above) and use some sort of shape to define which area should be transparent or solid,
as well as softness. This is convenient because we have some great tools to define areas in
2d: Roto and Rotopaint, as well as a great tool to do 2d mapping: STMap.

Since we’re in 2D, we can now use 2 channels as our 2 axes. Which 2 you would like to use is
sort of up to you, and based on your specific footage. I will be using a plate from the Open
Source project Tears of Steel, which you’ve probably seem many times, and can download
here: https://media.xiph.org/tearsofsteel/tearsofsteel-footage-exr/02_3c/linear_hd/
For chroma keying, two channels that make sense for this approach are the cb and cr
channels of the Ycbcr colorspace, though Luma and Hue could work, or Hue and Saturation,
etc..

The basic implementation is rather simple: Set 2 channels as the STMap input of an STMap
node, and a roto as the source.

307

Gizmo Demo Scripts

There are Demo Scripts graciously donated by the Authors to help demo their tools.
The following tools have Scripts in this menu, links to the tools in this document below:

WaterLens Demo MJT
SSMesh Demo MJT
UV Editor Demo MJT
Sparky Demo NKPD
Particle Lights Demo MHD

308

Special Thanks
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Nuke Compositing Community, and all of
the various artists who have made and shared a gizmo online, and donated a piece of their
knowledge, experience, and hard work to making this community better.

Nukepedia is an amazing website that many of us take for granted just how powerful it is for
all of us to be able to gather, share, explore, and create new tools and techniques. Thank you
to the founders of Nukepedia for providing over 10 years of gizmos, tutorials, and scripts for
all of us to play with.

This Toolkit is in no way trying to “steal the thunder of”, undermine, or “re-distribute” the
various gizmo’s through another website. I have done my best to document , link to, and
credit every single tool and author to the best of my knowledge, and fully encourage anyone
who wants to know more to explore their websites, and click on the links in the tools to check
for updates and more details and support the authors of the tools. My goal was to simply
bring the tools together in a single organized menu, so that anyone could download, install,
and access a library of tools at their fingertips. Full credits belong to the authors; this toolkit
would not exist without their contribution.

Also, this toolkit is just a small collection of the thousands of tools available on nukepedia and
online. It is not a reflection of “the best” tools. The tools selected on this menu are
subjectively picked by myself because I found them useful and unique. There are many tools
that I either missed, overlooked, or simply tried to condense the categories, but are no doubt
just as valuable or more valuable to another artist out there. I encourage you to explore more
tools and not to take this as an “end all be all”. Some tools will fit your workflow better than
someone else's workflow, and it’s up to you to find your “go-to” tools for a compositing
situation. You may consider this a “rough guide” or good starting point in your search. And
many in here you may not personally find a use for.

309

In particular, I’d like to personally thank a few of my favorite contributors:

Frank Rueter
Erwan Leroy
Xavier Martin
Mads Hagbarth Damsbo
Mark Joey Tang
Wouter Gilsing
Ben McEwan
SPIN VFX
Andrea Geremia
Alexey Kuchinski
Derek Rein
Fynn Laue
And many others for all of their awesome work.

And a very special thank you Adrian Pueyo, for helping come up with the vision for this
Toolkit with me back in 2019, for allowing me to post all of his amazing tools in this toolkit, for
teaching, inspiring, and encouraging me to get better at coding and gizmo creation to the
point where I am confidently able to deliver to everyone the Nuke Survival Toolkit.

You all drive me to be a better artist, and I am very honored to be part of this community with
you. Thank you.

Credit for Swiss Army Knife Icon: https://icons8.com/icon/2532/swiss-army-knife

310

Contact
If you are having any trouble with the Nuke Survival Toolkit, or would like me to remove a
certain tool, or think I need to update or include a particular tool, please feel free to contact
me via email.

You can reach me by filling out a brief contact form on my contacts page, found here:
https://www.creativelyons.com/contact

Please include “Nuke Survival Toolkit” or “NST” in the subject field to help me prioritize the
mail in my inbox. I appreciate your feedback.

If you’d like to view my portfolio website, please visit:
www.CreativeLyons.com

For more tutorials and tools, please visit my compositing blog:
www.CompositingMentor.com

Thank you, and please enjoy the Nuke Survival Toolkit.

Tony Lyons | 09/2020
311

NukeSurvivalToolkit Documentation Release v2.1.0

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FrameMedian MHD 40

6.) Filter 66

Edges Menu 74

7.) Keyer 120

8.) Merge 129

9.) Transform 133

RotoCentroid NKPD 167

11.) Particles 196

12.) Deep 202

P_Project NKPD 268

14.) Curves 271

15.) Utilities 288

16.) Templates 299

Special Thanks 304

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/image/labelfromread

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/draw/waterlens_11

Gradient Editor MHD

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/other/dasgrain

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/looper

Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/time/frameﬁller

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/colour/gammaplus

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/ﬁlter/apglow

Optical Glow BM

Directional Blur TL

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/ﬁlter/antialiasing-ﬁlter

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/ﬁlter/edge

X Aton Volumetrics XM

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/ﬁlter/x_aton

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/ﬁlter/x_sharpen-and-x_soften/

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/ﬁlter/x_sharpen-and-x_soften/

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/ﬁlter/bm_lightwrap

apChroma Tools AP

Website download: http://www.adrianpueyo.com

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/toolsets/colour/despill-to-color

Website download: http://www.adrianpueyo.com

Download from: http://movingimagearts.com/nuke-tools-london/

Vector2 Menu: (for 2D vectors)

Based oﬀ the great imagePlane tool by Frank Rueter on nukepedia:

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/python/3d/cardtotrack

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/python/3d/cardtotrack

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/python/3d/cardtotrack

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/roto-centroid

Nukepedia Link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/transform/in_inversestmap

Tool Source Page: http://franklinvfx.com/transform_mix-3/

Download from github:

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/dummycam

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/mscattergeo

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/scenedepthcalculator

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/unify3dcoordinate

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/uveditor

- uv output has to go through scanlineRender, this antialiasing is same as antialiasing setting

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/3d/bs_noise3d

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/blink/particles/particle-lights

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/particles/particlekiller

Deep2VP Suite MJT

Nukepedia link: http://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deep2vp

Removed linked expression:

‘KnobChanged’ on parent node will slow down the nuke

Nukepedia link: https://www.nukepedia.com/gizmos/deep/deep2vp

slow down the progress in 3D space.