Nuke Stage workflows for Disguise users

Launching Nuke Stage

To launch Nuke Stage, open the NukeStage Launcher GUI. The Launcher is where you define which processes run and where they run from.

• Nuke Stage Editor: this is the equivalent to Disguise Designer, where you can create and edit your scenes. You also set up your hardware configurations from here, and connect to the network processes from within the Editor.

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 with 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 Designer.

• RenderNodes: The Render process - The Nuke Stage version of Disguise’s Actors/ Mixed Directors for feeding displays, combined with the RX nodes for rendering 3D scenes. Add as many different RenderNodes in the launcher as you have in your setup. You will need to put the IP addresses and ports of any RenderNodes if they are on different machines than your control machine.

Click Launch All to launch the render processes on each of the RenderNodes, the Relay, and to open up the Nuke Stage Editor

Setting up a new project in Nuke Stage

In Nuke Stage, all project configuration is done within Nuke Stage Editor.

Below is an image of the set up workflow in Nuke Stage:

If creating a new project, you can begin working on Nuke Stage Editor when it opens as it will automatically create a new project for you to work in. You can open any existing projects from within Nuke Stage Editor from the File tab or from Project Graph > Open a Project.

Network Setup

The first thing to set up in Nuke Stage is networking. The network setup of Nuke Stage is similar in concept to the Actor/Director networking setup in Disguise Designer, although the steps to complete this are different due to the differences in 3D rendering between Nuke Stage and Disguise Designer. Network setup in Nuke Stage incorporates the rendering of a 3D scene - there is not an equivalent of Disguise’s RenderStream layer for 3D rendering.

In the Properties panel you connect to Relay. Once you have done this, you can add your RenderNodes to the Editor (in the Setup workspace). Information on this can be found at Network Setup. You can check the performance of your RenderNodes in the Network tab.

Because in Nuke Stage you launch the RenderNode and Relay processes in the Launcher alongside the Nuke Stage Editor, you don’t need to set them up or define their host addresses from within the Editor.

The rest of the project configuration in Nuke Stage can be completed by following the tabs of the Project Graph.

Hardware Setup

In Project Graph > Hardware, you can define your Outputs and Displays. This is similar to Disguise Designer’s Stage, where you can set up your virtual representations of your real life LED screens.

You can also configure your timecode in this section, similarly to configuring your timecode in the Transport Manager in Disguise Designer. Nuke Stage supports internal clock source and a Blackmagic timecode source.

Outputs

First you define your Outputs. An Output in Nuke Stage is similar to the feed outputs in the Screen section of the Feed Level in Disguise Designer.

Displays

The next set up step in Nuke Stage is to define your displays, as you would in the Stage level in Disguise Designer. A Display in Nuke Stage is the equivalent to a Screen in Disguise Designer. Displays represent the physical LED walls in your setup. In Nuke Stage Editor you can create flat displays (Planar), or Cylindrical displays if you have a curved LED stage.

The dimensions and physical location of these displays can be edited (full controls at Displays Controls). If you have a custom stage set up, you can import a custom mesh by selecting the Type property as Custom and inputting the file path.

Output Mapping

In the properties of each Display, go to Output mapping and define the Output and RenderNode that is connected to the Display. You also define the resolution of the RenderNode output.

If you have multiple RenderNodes, you can define their specific output region in the Output mapping Parameters found in Displays properties.

This completes a similar function to the Output Feeds in Disguise Designer, although with a different interface. In Nuke Stage you input the pixel values for your outputs, whereas Disguise Designer uses feed rectangles.

Camera Setup

To set up your camera in Nuke Stage, go to Project Graph > Cameras and add a new camera. Define whether it will be an inner (modeled on a real world camera) or outer (360 render for usage in the absence of any real world camera) camera. You can also use this tab to set up camera tracking for your project. This is similar to Disguise Designer’s Stage, where you can set up your virtual representations of your real life cameras.

Transferring projects from Disguise to Nuke Stage

Nuke Stage utilizes B44 encoded EXRs and NotchLC MOVs for playback, and USD as its 3D format. Therefore any Disguise content you have using NotchLC can be easily transferred to Nuke Stage, as well as any EXR images.

You can export your Disguise Stage setup from Disguise Designer as an .fbx file and load this into Nuke Stage as a custom display mesh.

Loading a scene

360 mesh

To map 360 latlong content, first create a mesh of the correct shape and then apply your content onto it. Nuke Stage maps the latlong content onto a spherical mesh, and in turn a camera reprojects the latlong content onto a virtual display that represents the physical screen. This workflow is key because the content remains undistorted; resulting in square pixels and higher quality playback.

An example workflow for this:

Go to your Scene Graph and right click Add Mesh > Spherical.

In the mesh’s Properties, use Scale to scale up the mesh to the correct size (eg 30 x 30 x 30).

Right-click on the mesh object in the Scene graph and select Create Texture Override. This will create a Read node and Texture Override node in your node graph.

In the Properties panel of the Read node, update the Path of the texture override to the image sequence.

The Override node is responsible for outputting the content onto the display by connecting it to a render output.

Project switching

In Nuke Stage you have the project tabs and you can switch between them. It is the active project that will appear on your wall. The project saves all of the settings with it.

Note: See more at Project Switching.

Editing a scene in Nuke Stage for Disguise users

Nuke Stage uses nodes and sequencer tracks to edit and animate your scene. These two workflows are split into different workspaces in Nuke Stage Editor.

• In the Comp workspace, you can add effects such as color grading, and more, using the node graph.

• In the Sequence workspace, you can animate specific properties of your scene.

Adding effects to your scene

Nuke Stage uses nodes to build and add effects onto scenes.

Nodes can be built up in a node graph, using a connector to add two effects together. It is typical to create and read Node graphs top-down, as it is easy to view the hierarchy of the nodes and which effect is being added in which order onto content.

Most Node Graphs will start with a Read node. This is where the content path will go - this can be an .exr path or a texture override for a specific object in your Scene graph.

You then use the Tab hotkey to add another node underneath the read node and add an effect underneath it. For example, you can add a grade node underneath your Read node if you want to alter the color grading of your content. You use the node's Properties to make the specific grading changes you want.

Then you add an override node at the end of your node tree. Override nodes help you control which effects are visible in your scene.

Animating your scene

Nuke Stage has a Sequence workspace that has a Sequencer panel. Here you can drag any animatable property into the sequencer to begin animating your scene. This workflow is equivalent to Disguise Designer’s Timeline and track sequencer, although Nuke Stage does not enable device control for external hardware like Disguise Designer’s Timeline does.

Nuke Stage Sequencer features:

• Key frames

• Cues

• Clips

• Curve editor

• Interpolation

To see all controls of Nuke Stage’s sequencer, go to Sequencer Panel

Creating a track

To create a track in Nuke Stage, you can drag a property from an object within Nuke Stage Editor (for this example, a Node) directly into the Sequencer panel.

You can easily view your tracks from the Tree View of the Sequencer panel, which displays all the tracks you have created - similar to the Track manager in Disguise Designer. Note that you can have multiple sequences and the tree view only displays the tracks for that particular sequencer.

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