Nuke Stage overview for Disguise users

Nuke Stage is a virtual production tool which combines virtual production and visual effects to enable creation, capture, and finalizing of photographic quality content shot on LED stages.

Nuke Stage enables you to edit virtual production scenes live on set. There are similarities to how Disguise and Nuke Stage work, although there are key differences that will also be outlined in this guide.

Terminology Glossary

Nuke Stage and Disguise have instances of equivalent or similar features that have different terminologies. Below is a table outlining the feature names in Disguise and their corresponding names in Nuke Stage.

Disguise	Nuke Stage	Description of Feature
d3Manager	Nuke Stage Launcher	d3Manager launches Disguise machines across the network via d3Net. Nuke Stage Launcher launches Nuke Stage RenderNodes across the network via the Relay. You can also launch Nuke Stage Editor from the Nuke Stage Launcher GUI.
Disguise Designer	Nuke Stage Editor	The main application to create and edit your scene.
d3Service	Nuke Stage Listener	The process that needs to run every time the RenderNode starts in order for the Render process to launch. In Disguise, this refers to the render process between Disguise machines.
Dashboard	Project Graph	A panel to view all of your project settings from.
Timeline	Sequencer	Disguise’s Timeline has similar functionality to Nuke Stage’s Sequencer for animating content, and the Node Graph for creating effects on content. In Nuke Stage these are separated into the Sequencer and the Node graph - you can animate an effect by dragging it into the sequencer. Nuke Stage does not perform device triggers like Disguise’s Timeline.
Layers	Nodes	The building blocks to build a scene by applying pre-rendered content, generating real-time scenes and configuring visual effects.
d3Net	Relay	The process that handles the networking between the control machine and the render processes. In Disguise this is between Disguise machines via d3Net, and in Nuke Stage it is between RenderNodes via the Relay.
RX	RenderNode	The machines rendering the 3D scene in real-time. Nuke Stage RenderNodes render the 3D scene and output content onto physical displays in real-time. Disguise RX machines render the 3D scene and stream content to the Director, Actor and Understudy in real-time, which in turn output content to the physical display.
Director	Control Machine	The machine you run Nuke Stage Editor from to connect to the Relay and RenderNodes. In Disguise Director machine controls playback for the Actor and Understudy - Nuke Stage does not have Understudy machines.

USD Rendering in Nuke Stage

Nuke Stage uses USD as its 3D format. The 3D scene rendering is completed by the RenderNodes, and the RenderNodes also output content onto displays through their relay connection to the Nuke Stage Editor.

This differs from Disguise, as Nuke Stage does not use different machines to render the 3D scene and output content to displays. You can load and edit your USD scene directly into Nuke Stage, and it will be applied to the displays. There is no external rendering through a hook (such as RenderStream) to an external 3D render engine.

Therefore in this guide, when RenderNodes are discussed, they are encapsulating the functionalities of the Actor machines and the RX cluster / RenderStream in Disguise.

A 3D scene loaded within Nuke Stage Editor with the LED wall displays.

Installing Nuke Stage for Disguise users

Install Nuke Stage at the downloads link sent to your email.

When you Install Nuke Stage, three applications are created.

• NukeStage Launcher: This application is where you run all of the Nuke Stage Processes you need. This includes Nuke Stage Editor, the Relay processes and your RenderNodes. This application has a similar function to the machine network functions found in d3Manager.

• Nuke Stage Listener: Listens out for relay processes. This is the equivalent to d3Service.

• NukeStage: This is the Nuke Stage Editor, equivalent to Disguise Designer, which is the main application of Nuke Stage where you can create and edit your scenes.

You need to install Nuke Stage on every machine (RenderNodes, Relay and control machine) in your setup. This cannot be done remotely.

UI tour

Nuke Stage Launcher

The Nuke Stage Launcher is a separate application when you install Nuke Stage. When you open up the Launcher, add the processes you want to run.

• Nuke Stage Editor: This where you can create and edit your scenes. Most commonly run on your control machine (which functions similarly to the Director machine in Disguise). Nuke Stage Editor functions similarly to the loading and creating functionality of d3Manager, and the editing capabilities of Disguise Designer.

Note:  The term Editor in Nuke Stage is often used as a shortened term of Nuke Stage Editor. It does not refer to any external hardware as it might refer to in Disguise.

• Relay: The relay functions as a network switch and handles the networking process. It also manages camera tracking data. The relay is similar to d3Net in Disguise.

• RenderNodes: The Render process - The Nuke Stage version of Disguise’s Actors/ Mixed directors for feeding displays, combined with the RX cluster / RenderStream for rendering 3D scenes. You will need to put the IP addresses and ports of any RenderNodes if they are on different machines than your control machine.

Nuke Stage Launcher has similarities to d3Manager in that you can view the machines running on the network, however Nuke Stage Launcher does not have the same project navigation and licensing information functions that d3Manager has. Running a project is done within the Nuke Stage Editor.

Nuke Stage Listener

Nuke Stage Listener automatically runs when you launch the Nuke Stage processes. This functions in a similar way to d3Service with Disguise.

Note:  Check that the NukeStageListener.exe process is running in Window Services to ensure there are no network issues. See more at Launching Nuke Stage.

Nuke Stage Editor

The Nuke Stage Editor is Nuke Stage’s equivalent to Disguise Designer. It’s the main application where you can edit your scene. It is also where you can configure your hardware and networking.

Workspaces

The UI of Nuke Stage is broken down into different workspaces and panels that control different aspects of using Nuke Stage.

These are similar to the Levels in Disguise, although the structure of the Nuke Stage workspaces differs to those in Disguise to better match the Nuke Stage setup. This is because Nuke Stage uses nodes and node graphs to build up effects in a scene, rather than through a Timeline workflow in Disguise.

For more information on how to navigate and customize your Nuke Stage Editor layout, go to Workspace Tabs.

Scene

The Scene workspace is where you can view and edit a USD Scene in the Scene Graph by creating meshes, overrides, and editing visibility of USD prims. This is similar to the USD scene being loaded on your RX cluster in Disguise.

Comp

The Comp workspace is used to create and edit node graphs in the Node Graph panel. The Node Graph uses nodes as building blocks to add effects to cameras, displays, images and USD primitives. You can build up a scene and do realtime compositing.

Nodes are equivalent to Layers in Disguise, and Node Graphs are similar to the Layer Editor and can be built up similarly to the Disguise Compositing Layers workflow.

A full list of Nodes in Nuke Stage can be found Nodes.

Sequence

The Sequencer panel to add new sequences to your project and animate your scene using keyframes, cues and clips. The Sequencer is the equivalent to Disguise’s Timeline and track sequencer.

Setup

Use this workspace to set up your hardware, and debug RenderNodes. By default this tab contains the Network, Log and Python panels.

Other Features

Project Graph

The Project Graph panel enables you to directly access the settings of your project. From here you can import and export stage configuration from the file, load an active project from relay, save or open a project. You can navigate down the different sections of the project graph to set up your project from Networking and hardware to loading in your USD scene.

The Project graph is similar to the functionality of the Dashboard and Project Settings in Disguise Designer.

Properties Panel

When you click on an object in Nuke Stage, details about that object will appear in the Properties panel. This panel gives you information regarding your selected object, including properties you can edit (for example file paths or transforms).

The Vault

The Vault is Nuke Stage’s data recording system that captures and preserves all metadata throughout the shoot.

The Vault uses two workflows:

• Snapshots- creates a save file from a specific point in time.

• Take Record - creates a camera USD file from a defined beginning and end point.

The recorded data can be exported and opened directly in Nuke.

These are similar to the Snapshots and Shot Recorder features in Disguise Designer.

Note:  See more at The Vault.

3D Viewport

The 3D viewport displays the currently-loaded 3D scene, as well as any cameras and displays in the set up. The 3D viewport functions similarly to the Stage in Disguise Designer in regards to the technical setup of cameras and displays.

However, because the 3D viewport displays the rendered 3D USD Scene, this differs from the Disguise method of using the Timeline to apply the 3D scene via a RenderStream layer to the Stage objects (such as LED screens, projection surfaces and lighting fixtures).

Image Viewer

View images and effects made to the Output nodes in your Node Graph.

Notifications Panel

The Notifications panel displays critical problems and important information that might affect the project. This is the equivalent to Disguise Designer’s notifications window, displays errors and messages.

This comparison document is provided by Foundry for information purposes only. Disguise is a trademark of Disguise Systems Ltd.