Nuke 12.2 Beta.

In Nuke 12.2 we are introducing the ability for users to “roam” licenses for Nuke, NukeX, NukeStudio and Hiero.

License roaming will enable users utilizing floating license servers the ability to “check-out” licenses for use on machines in a node locked capacity for up to 30 days, allowing the user to work in a remotely  and “roam” independently of a license server.  Licenses can be checked out and returned through the UI, or by the setting of environment variables.

Checking in / Out of licenses must be done from the machine you wish to use the license on, and with a connection to the license server.

In order to take advantage of this functionality you will need to have a new Roamable floating license issued to you, and installed on your floating license server.

To request a roamable  license to test this feature, please send a request to the nuke-prerelease-private@foundry.com in the following format:

Subject : [Roaming] - License Request


Server System ID # : 


Products I wish to test : Nuke/NukeX/NukeStudio/Hiero

Once you have received your license and its installed on the server, you are ready to roam!

How To “Roam” A License ?

1. Launch the application you wish to roam (making sure it has a connection to your Floating License Server)
2. Select Help > License
3. Click on the button that says “Roaming”
4. Set the number of days you wish to roam in the text entry box (1-30)
5. Click Roam
6. Click Close

Thats it, you have now checked out your license!

How To Return a “Roamed” A License ?

1. Make sure your machine has a connection to your floating license server
2. Launch the app you wish to return
3. Select Help > License
4. Click on the button that says “Roaming” 
5. Click the button that says “Return Roam”
6. Click Close

You have returned the license to your server pool.

We are very interested to hear your thoughts on the experience of the roaming workflow, as well as any bugs or technical issues that you encounter.

Sync review allows users to connect two or more users running Nuke Studio, Hiero and/or HieroPlayer and collaborate on a single project. Each user has access to the playback controls, annotations, and version system, letting participants run collaborative review sessions.

Sync Review works by connecting through the machine IP or hostname and through a given open port. Footage needs to be available for all participants either locally or through a central server.

This feature is in a very early stage of development; however, under the current circumstances the current functionality may be helpful for many of you.

New Features

• Start server
• Stop server
• Connect
• Disconnect
• Copy connection info
• Push session (force update of the project to other members on the session)
• Sync Session Window
• Sync Session Workspace
• Edit participant settings

Connection Status and number of clients connected to the session is displayed in the Sync window as well on the status bar when connected to a sync session.

Synced Actions

• Mouse cursor with name and a color identifier for each member connected to the session, visible to everyone when over the viewer panel.
• Playback controls
  • Play Forwards/Backwards
  • Next/Previous cut
  • Viewer tools : Jog/Shuttle/Absolute timeline
• In/Outs
• Annotations at sequence and clip level
• Version changes on track items (only for existing versions on the project)
• Swap between viewer focus
• Enable /disable Tracks, Track items and soft effects

Actions that need “push session” to Sync

• Importing footage
• Insert/override track items
• Trim, retime and move track items
• New track
• New soft effect
• Version Linking state
• Soft effects properties

Known limitations

• Annotations - While Nuke Studio, Hiero and HieroPlayer can be hosts or clients, Hiero Player cannot work as a host for Nuke Studio or Hiero pre-created projects. At present, only single project at a time can be used, which must be opened on the host before they start the session. HieroPlayer can only view annotations, and when creating new annotations from Nuke Studio or Hiero, the host needs to push session for HieroPlayer to get the updated annotations.
   
• Connection Performance - A strong internet connection will certainly assist any issues with remote Sync Review operation. Ideally, the workstation has a hard-line ethernet connection
   
• Linux Terminal setup - If Linux is host, the following instruction should be added in the terminal prior to operating Nuke:

sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 45124 --syn -j ACCEPT

• Firewalls - It has been noted that certain firewall protection (such as Mac OSX for instance) can prevent Syncing, do ensure that you allow Nuke to operate under your Network security and Privacy settings.

This Beta introduces support for XDR and EDR displays on Mac. Mac users on Mojave or Catalina, who have a compatible screen capable of displaying values above 1, will be able to view their projects in Nuke, Nuke Studio and Heiro, with HDR luminance ranges. In addition, the alpha enables the display of images in the P3 gamut, giving more accurate color on wide gamut displays.

Because the Nuke team is working remotely, with reduced access to XDR / EDR displays, this feature has had limited testing. As such, it requires an environment variable to enable EDR functionality, and will be included in Nuke 12.2 as an experimental and unsupported feature.

To enable this feature

• Enable the EDR environment variable - FN_EDR_DISPLAY=1
• Set the profile of your display to ‘Display P3’ in the OS System Preferences. This will ensure the display is correctly set up.
• Set the new framebuffer colorspace knob in the Viewer Settings to Display P3. This will tag the Nuke Window as Display P3, so that the screen is able to display values above 1.
   

• Set the gl buffer depth in the Viewer Settings to ‘float’ or ‘half-float’. This will ensure that Nuke can output values greater than 1 to the display.
   

• Set the Viewer Process to Extended sRGB (if using Nuke’s Color Management) or sRGBf (if using OCIO Color Management). Or provide your own extended color space. This will ensure that the frame buffer is not clamped at 1.
   

We are still designing the workflows for enabling this behaviour. As such, the knob names and placements may change considerably before the feature is fully supported.

We would like to know how the workflow feels to you and whether Nuke is outputting the correct image to your XDR / EDR display.

The feature requires a 2019 Mac Pro with a connected XDR display (using macOS 10.15 or above) or a current generation iMac Pro, iMac or MacBook Pro with an EDR screen (using macOS 10.14 or above).

This Beta introduces the first part of our USD development for Nuke. It incorporates core USD work and focuses on the ability to read USD data into Nuke using a ReadGeo node. 

We have integrated USD into the existing Alembic-based scenegraph, with support for multi parent loading and the ability to view the entire USD scenegraph. 

The ReadGeo node supports accurate mapping and the ability to transform this data inside of Nuke. Normals and Color data are also supported, as well as animated geometry.

Beyond this Beta we are working on improving the scenegraph UI to better support future USD feature integration.

The following features are included in this beta:

New USD Features

• Integrated USD into existing Alembic-based scenegraph
• ApplyMaterial filter knob supports USD names
• Multi parent loading supported for USD
• ReadGeo can now load USD and USDa files
• DisplayColor, normals, UVs are now visible in the Nuke viewport
• Animated geometry can be synchronised with the Nuke frame
• USD imported geometry is useable by the rest of the Nuke geometry nodes

Supported USD Primitive Types

• UsdGeomMesh
• UsdGeomPoints
• UsdGeomCube
• UsdPointInstancer (Partial Support)

Known Limitations

• Intermittently you may have to select the viewer to see updates to loading in the ReadGeo scenegraph
• UVs have to be called primvars:st, and or be TexCoord2f types
• Matrix attributes (like transforms) have to be authored as doubles
• Other numerical attributes have to be authored as floats (VtVec2fArray, VtVec3fArray, etc)
• Supported attributes: uv, normals, color, point weights, velocity, size
• Indexed attributes are supported but are not optimised
• Viewport FPS isn't realtime, performance optimisations still in development.

In line with Apple removing support for 32-bit applications, the mov32 Reader/Writer is being deprecated on all platforms. Along with this change, mov64 has also been replaced with a new MOV Reader and Writer.

As a result, some of the older QuickTime codecs will no longer be supported. We would appreciate your feedback on whether any essential codecs are missing.

MOV Reader updates:

• Improved layout and labelling of items
• Improved support for reading Mov files and associated Metadata
• Performance improvements
• AAC Audio support added

MOV Writer updates:

• Improved layout and labelling of items
• Improved support for Writing Mov files and associated Metadata
• Performance improvements
• New Presets added in Nuke Studio

MOV Writer formats supported (Linux, Win, Mac)

• Animation
• ProRes
• DNxHD
• DNxHR
• H.264
• Motion JPEG A
• Motion JPEG B
• MPEG-4
• Photo - JPEG
• PNG
• Uncompressed

Deprecation of Mov32:

In Nuke 12.2, the mov32 Reader/Writer will be hidden. mov32 will still be available to users by using the prefix “mov32:” in the file path however we now recommend using the standard Nuke controls, as mov32 is scheduled for removal in a future release

(Mov32 is not available on macOS Catalina).

The ability to write DNxHR MXF files has been added to Nuke Studio and Hiero, bringing these to parity with support introduced to Nuke 12.1.
OP-Atom and OP-1a Patterns

R3D SDK Update

• Red R3D SDK updated to 7.3.1
• Komodo camera now supported
• Creative 3D LUT - Re-named to 3D LUT
• CDL Enabled checkbox added
  • After importing a CDL file the colour process can now be toggled on/off
• Chroma Noise Reduction checkbox added for IPP2 workflows
  • When this is enabled the Denoise feature is disabled
• Bug Fixes - more information about these can be found here; https://www.red.com/download/r3d-sdk

R3D IPP2 workflow improvement

• R3D Image Pipeline has been updated with the addition of an IPP2 custom setting, which allows users to select their own Primary Color Space and Gamma Curve.

Sony SMDK Update to 4.19.0

• Improvements to platform compatibility

In this Beta we introduce the ability to import files that contain AAC compressed audio to Nuke Studio, Hiero, and HieroPlayer. Formats supported include:

• .m4a
• .mov
• .mp4