Release Notes for Nuke and Hiero 15.2v1

Release Date

27 February 2025

New Features

Multishot

• We have developed a native variable-enabled workflow that supports Multishot compositing, adding ways to make workflows more efficient, reliable and scalable.

  Graph Scope Variables

  • Graph Scope Variables (GSVs) are the backbone that enables a native Multishot compositing workflow in Nuke. GSVs allow you to define, store and access the data required for multiple contexts or scopes in a single Nuke script.

    The workflow, however, becomes more powerful when combined with Group nodes. A Group node defines the “Scope” part of the Graph Scope Variables feature and introduces the ability to inherit and override variables.

  Variable Nodes

  • We have added a new VariableSwitch node, to allow users to switch between different shots or scopes using variables. The new VariableSwitch node works similarly to the Switch node but enables you to create “split and join” workflows based on the variables set for your Multishot workflow.

    We have also added a new VariableGroup node, to allow users to define variables or scopes. This works similarly to the regular Group node, but for every new VariableGroup created, a corresponding VariableGroup item is created in the Variables tab in the Project Settings. Inside the VariableGroup node, the Variables tab contains a single GsvKnob, which allows the user to create, edit and remove variables and variable sets.

  Variables Panel

  • To easily interact with the available Variables in a script, we have added a Variables Panel.

    To be able to switch between the different values, first set the Variables you wish to expose in the Variables tab in the Project Settings. Once the visibility is On (eye icon in the Variables tab) the Variable will appear in the Variable Panel.

  GSV in LiveGroups

  • LiveGroups now allow the user to define local variables on the LiveGroup itself, much like the VariableGroup. On publish these variables are written into the LiveGroup .nk script and will be loaded as local variables for LiveGroup instances which use that same .nk script.

  GSV Command Line Render

  • We have extended the command line interface to include support for specifying Graph Scope Variables so that scripts can be rendered using the correct shot context as shown below:

    ./Nuke15.2 --var <variable1>:<value1> -F <framerange> -X Write1 <path_to_your_nuke_script>

    If you wish to specify multiple Variables, you can do this using a “,” separated list as shown below:

    ./Nuke15.2 --var <variable1>:<value1>,<variable2>:<value2> -F <framerange> -X Write1 <path_to_your_nuke_script>

    As a sequence example you could use variables like the one below in your Write nodes:

    /project/%{seq}/%{shot}_key.####.exr

    And render using the next command line:

    ./Nuke15.2 --var seq:seq030,shot:Sh100 -F 1101-1105 -X Write1 <path_to_your_nuke_script>

  GroupView

  • The new Group View feature gives artists a convenient way to see inside and edit the contents of multiple Group nodes, without having to jump to different tabs, making it faster and easier to adjust your comp in multiple different groups at the same time.
    Group nodes are also an integral part of the new multishot and Graph Scope Variables feature, providing a way to organise and manage multiple scopes, so being able to see inside those Groups from the main DAG is really useful in those workflows.

  Link Nodes

  • We've introduced a brand new type of node: Link Nodes. Link nodes allow you to make a linked copy of a node, and have changes updated in both nodes, whilst optionally being able to override any of the knobs. UI indications show which knobs are overridden from the original node, and there's a link arrow between the nodes to show the original node and the new linked nodes.

Roto Performance

• We have made significant improvements to Roto's performance, targeting specific key workflow pain points: Caching, Playback, Interactivity, and Motion Blur.

Quick Export

• A new way to perform compressed video file exports of sequences in Nuke Studio and Hiero.

  Based on Nuke Studios real time playback engine, the new render engine enables you to perform accelerated exports to ProRes, DNxHD, DNxHR, as well as H264 movies with an average 12 fold increase in performance relative to the existing export mechanism. This means you are likely to see multi-real time performance in most cases, depending on your source and destination formats.

Feature Enhancements

Licensing

• ID 589542 - Foundry licensing now uses RLM 16 client. See Reprise Release Notes for full details.

  Improved support for customers using cloud licensing who have enabled MAC address randomisation.

  Improved host ID checks for cloud based licensing to prevent frequent license log outs when changing between networks.

  Addresses issues some customers experienced acquiring a license when using Nuke in different locales.

  Customer's with valid non-commercial licenses were unable to open Nuke due to a licensing error.

  Some macOS users were unable to determine the host ID.

  RLM license consumption was incorrect if multiple hosts on the network shared the same host name.

Bug Fixes

3D

• ID 546280 - Scale Transform Handles sensitivity now not dependant on viewer zoom level.

• ID 589165 - Transforming SLR2 output no longer causes Nuke to crash

BlinkScript

• ID 591084 - Backwards compatibility issues with blinkscript kernels from 16.0

Exporting

• ID 479281 - Fixed: Hiero/Nuke Studio now import the clip's version number when defined in the preset/structure when building a track, depending on the 'Use Latest Version' checkbox.

• ID 486035 - Fixed: Exporting Sequences with a soft effect as the bottom active track error with a unhelpful error message saying 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'getJumpName'

• ID 536334 - Fixed: Hiero returns an empty error message when it is unable to overwrite an existing file

• ID 566536 - Hiero resolves relative paths correctly when using the 'Transcode Images' exporter

• ID 592552 - Create Comp with custom preset resolutions no longer crashes Nuke Indie.

Miscellaneous

• ID 155393 - Windows does not recognise Foundry as a "Known Publisher"

Node

• ID 569186 - There is no longer a warning in the console when changing knobs in the Glint Node while upstream of a Merge node with the mask enabled for the Glint node

• ID 588131 - There is no longer a memory leak when closing and reopening a script with a roto node or when Roto changes are cleared from the undo queue.

• ID 588394 - Roto shapes are correctly selected when pressing Ctrl+A shortcut in the viewer.

• ID 588992 - Nuke does not crash when removing the last input of a Cloned Switch node

NodeGraph

• ID 238724 - Fixed: Postage stamp is not updated to match the current frame on Groups and Gizmos

• ID 587631 - Files dropped into the Node Graph are placed where the user last clicked, not where the file was dropped

Performance

• ID 589604 - Nuke locks up sometimes when comp cache limit is reached

PlanarTracker

• ID 591727 - Executing planar track via Python doesn't crash.

Timeline

• ID 574874 - Fixed: An "Exception handling element" error occurs in Nuke Studio/Hiero when importing EDL files that contain an unknown transition and a Dissolve transition on the same clip

USD

• ID 593355 - Nuke wouldn't start up if there was a permissions issue accessing .fnUsdShim.

Viewer

• ID 583282 - Dragging with Transform handles in the Viewer can set Scale values to NaN

• ID 586309 - Fixed: The Viewer Info Bar shows an incorrect timecode for the current EXR sequence on the timeline

Known Issues

3D

• ID 593942 - USD files dropped in to node graph default to ReadGeo node being used w/ the ReadGeo node placed in wrong location in node graph

• ID 594827 - GeoPoints mat input is not labelled and is in the wrong place

Exporting

• ID 593352 - H.264 export intermittent crash

File Import

• ID 588371 - Loading files into new builds fails when having env variable set for FileIO

Link Nodes

• ID 591095 - Primatte's colour picker shares data between linked nodes with enabled override

Monitor Out

• ID 593376 - Monitor Out window introduces unremovable unnecessary grey space if resized horizontally

Multishot

• ID 572587 - non-group nodes root item shows as unnamed

• ID 574870 - A script without root variables will conceal group variables from the panel in saved scripts

• ID 577486 - Middle click changes the hit group

• ID 584182 - Selecting a list option on an inherited variable will change the variable type to string

• ID 584377 - The height of the Label input box is larger than elsewhere (see the same widget for editing user knobs to the right)

• ID 587036 - Disabled GSV knob is not scrollable

• ID 587222 - Double-clicking a root variable's visibility on VariableGroup inherited variable will break the connection [UI]

• ID 587589 - Cutting (CMD+X) a linked node, then cloning the parent and then pasting creates a cloned link

• ID 587593 - Copy/Cut with nothing selected results in : 'Cannot copy/cut across multiple groups' error

• ID 589109 - Nodes in an input tree of a var group should see the variables defined by it

• ID 589692 - When creating a new variable or folder, the new entry is difficult to see

• ID 589706 - Updating variables using python does not update value until user clicks on the Variable panel

• ID 590072 - Grouping a group with a child link node breaks link

• ID 590243 - Variable Switch - Thumbnails will error temporarily before resolving with networked files

• ID 590648 - Edit icon not opening for String Vars on Nuke 15.2

• ID 591907 - Typo in Create Variant popup

• ID 591987 - Variant switches when trying to adjust value of overridden knob for a first time

• ID 592891 - Nuke will not recognize blank GSV on file paths

• ID 593786 - LiveGroup Group View will extend to Infinity & Beyond without Output node

• ID 593887 - Unnamed (default) GSV set not found for nested group path (python only)

Node

• ID 591134 - HTML/ UTF-8 character sets in the text node no longer work

OpenAssetIO

• ID 580110 - Knob values inherited from an asset are no longer highlighted after undoing a user change

• ID 586349 - Knob values don't update on restart or clear caches

• ID 586454 - Terminal warnings if OPENASSETIO_DEFAULT_CONFIG is set

Quick Export

• ID 589137 - Exporting shot directly from timeline will show both Quick and Custom export tabs.

• ID 590316 - Incorrect pixel aspect ratio when exporting to PAL / NTSC

• ID 591048 - Ranges is unavailable and will default to whole Sequence

• ID 591049 - Include Annotations is unavailable

• ID 591377 - Cancelling Quick Export is not deleting a file (Windows only)

• ID 592312 - Quick export crashes if there is a offline media at the end

• ID 593290 - Overwriting source file with Quick Export will crash nuke

• ID 594590 - Encoders are flushed prematurely in the export process.

Qualified Operating Systems

• Nuke 15.0 and later support Apple's silicon hardware.

• macOS Sonoma (14.x), or macOS Sequoia (15.x)

  For more information on Foundry products and supported macOS versions, see Foundry Knowledge Base article
  Q100592.

• Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64-bit)

• Linux Rocky 9.0 (64-bit)

  Nuke requires libnuma to run under Linux distributions, the library is required by the Nablet H264 Codec SDK.

  The currently supported version of VFX Reference Platform includes library versions that are only compatible with Rocky 9.0.

Other operating systems may work, but have not been fully tested.

Requirements for Nuke's GPU Acceleration

If you want to enable Nuke to calculate certain nodes using the GPU, there are some additional requirements.

NVIDIA

An NVIDIA GPU with graphics drivers capable of running CUDA 11.8, or above. A list of the compute capabilities of NVIDIA GPUs is available at https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus

With graphics drivers capable of running CUDA 11.8, or above. On Windows and Linux, CUDA graphics drivers are bundled with the regular drivers for your NVIDIA GPU. Driver versions 522.06 (Windows) and 520.61.05 (Linux), or above are required. See https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx for more information on compatible drivers.

AMD

• On Windows and Linux, an AMD GPU from the following list:

  Other AMD GPUs may work, but have not been fully tested.

  • AMD Radeon PRO W7900

  • AMD Radeon PRO W6600

  • AMD Radeon PRO W6800

  • AMD Radeon Pro W5700

  • AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

  For information on the recommended driver for each GPU, see https://www.amd.com/en/support

• On Mac, integrated AMD GPUs are supported on the following Intel CPU Macs:

  • Any late 2013 Mac Pro onward (including 2019 Mac Pro),
  • Mid-2015 MacBook Pros onward, and
  • Late 2017 iMac Pros onward.

  All supported Mac Pros include a multi-GPU support option, where applicable. Bitwise equality between GPU and CPU holds in most cases, but for some operations, there are limitations to the accuracy possible with this configuration.

  Although AMD GPUs are enabled on other Mac models, they are not officially supported and used at your own risk.

Multi-GPU Processing

Nuke's GPU support includes an Enable multi-GPU support option. When enabled in the preferences, GPU processing is shared between the available GPUs for extra processing speed.

GPU Requirements for the Machine Learning Toolset

Training using the CopyCat node requires an NVIDIA GPU, with compute capability 3.5 or above; or MacOS Apple silicon integrated GPUs.

If an appropriate GPU is not available, Inference and other machine learning plug-ins can run on the CPU with significantly degraded performance.

Developer Notes

As Nuke develops, we sometimes have to make changes to the API and ABI under the hood. We try to keep these changes to a minimum and only for certain releases, but from time to time API and ABI compatibility is not guaranteed. See the following table for the situations when you may have to recompile your plug-ins and/or make changes to the source code.

Release Type	Example	Compatibility	Recompile	Rewrite
Version	14.0v1 to 14.0v2	API and ABI
Point	14.0v1 to 14.1v1	API	⬤
Major	14.0v1 to 15.0v1	-	⬤	⬤

Additionally, node Class() names occasionally change between major releases. While these changes do not affect legacy scripts, you may not get the results you were expecting if a node class has been modified. The toolbars.py file, used to create Nuke's node toolbar, contains all the current node class names and is located in <install_directory>/plugins/nukescripts/ for reference.

As an example, between Nuke 13 and Nuke 14, the Axis node Class() changed from Axis3 to Axis4. In the toolbars.py file for the two releases, the entries for the Axis node appear as follows:

m3Dclassic.addCommand(
    "Axis",
    "nuke.createNode(\"Axis3\")",
    icon="Axis.png",
    tag=MenuItemTag.Classic,
    node="Axis3",
    tagTarget=MenuItemTagTargetFlag.TabMenu)

m3D.addCommand(
    "Axis",
    "nuke.createNode(\"Axis4\")",
    icon="Axis_3D.png",
    tag=MenuItemTag.Beta, node="Axis4")