Light

You can use the Light node to add a direct, point, or spot light into your script rather than using specific predefined light nodes. The light type dropdown defines which light is created and enables or disables the relevant controls in the properties panel. The node can also import lights from .fbx files using the File tab.

See also Spot, Point, Direct, Environment, and Relight.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type	Connection Name	Function
Input	axis	An optional Axis node input. This links the position, rotation, scale, and skew of the transformed 3D object(s) to the Axis node, so that the transformation controls on the Axis node override the corresponding controls on the TransformGeo node. If you’ve worked with other 3D applications, you may know the Axis node as a “null” or “locator” object.
look	An optional input where you can connect a Camera, Light, or Axis that the Light is automatically rotated to point toward. The Light is automatically rotated to point towards the connected input whenever the look input is moved.

Connection Type

Connection Name

Function

Input

axis

An optional Axis node input. This links the position, rotation, scale, and skew of the transformed 3D object(s) to the Axis node, so that the transformation controls on the Axis node override the corresponding controls on the TransformGeo node.

If you’ve worked with other 3D applications, you may know the Axis node as a “null” or “locator” object.

look

An optional input where you can connect a Camera, Light, or Axis that the Light is automatically rotated to point toward. The Light is automatically rotated to point towards the connected input whenever the look input is moved.

Control (UI)	Knob (Scripting)	Default Value	Function
Light Tab
read from file	read_from_file	disabled	When disabled, the light is configured using the controls on the Light tab. Enable read from file if you want to read in light information from an .fbx file using the File tab.
light type	light_type	point	Sets the light type to point, directional, or spot and disables irrelevant controls.
color	color	1	Sets the color of the light.
intensity	intensity	1	Sets the brightness of the light.
cone angle	cone_angle	40	Sets the spot light cone angle adjusting the spread of the light. Valid angles are from 0 to 180 degrees. Note: This control is only enabled for spot lights.
cone penumbra angle	cone_penumbra_angle	0	Controls spot light softness along the edge of the area of illumination. A negative value fades inward from the circle's edge and vice versa. The cone falloff should be set to zero or a low amount in order to see the softness. Note: This control is only enabled for spot lights and does not affect the Viewer. Results are only visible on rendered objects.
cone falloff	cone_falloff	0	Sets how much the spot light diminishes from the center of the circular region out to the edge. The higher the value, the more focused the light. The falloff is independent of the falloff type Note: This control is only enabled for spot lights and is not affected by falloff type.
falloff type	falloff_type	No falloff	Sets the amount of light the object gets from the light source, based on the distance between the light source and the object. • No falloff - light does not diminish with distance. • Linear - diminish the light at a fixed rate as it travels from the object. • Quadratic and Cubic - diminish the light at an exponential rate. Note: This control is only enabled for point and spot lights.
display	display	wireframe	Adjusts the display characteristics of the 3D object. These settings don’t affect the render output of the scene; these are for display purposes only in the 3D Viewer. • off - hides the 3D geometry object. • wireframe - displays only the outlines of the object’s geometry. • solid - displays all geometry with a solid color. • solid+lines - displays the geometry as solid color with the object’s geometry outlines. • textured - displays only the surface texture. • textured+lines - displays the wireframe plus the surface texture.
selectable	selectable	enabled	When enabled, you can make selections as normal in the Viewer. When disabled, points cannot be selected or changed.
	file_menu	N/A	Select to import or export a channel file: • Import chan file - import a channel file and transform the object according to the transformation data in the channel file. Channel files contain a set of Cartesian coordinates for every frame of animation in a given shot. You can create and export them using Nuke or 3D tracking software, such as 3D-Equalizer, Maya, or Boujou. • Export chan file - export the translation parameters that you’ve applied to the object as a channel file. This is a useful method of sharing setups between artists.
	snap_menu	N/A	• Match selection position - the object is snapped to a new position depending on the points selected. • Match selection position, orientation - the object is snapped to a new position and orientation depending on the points selected. • Match selection position, orientation, size - the object is snapped to a new position, orientation, and size depending on the points selected.
transform order	xform_order	SRT	Sets the operation order for scale (S), rotation (R), and translation (T). The possible operation combinations are SRT, STR, RST, RTS, TSR, TRS.
rotation order	rot_order	ZXY	Sets the order of rotation. The possible axial combinations are ZXY, XYZ, XZY, YXZ, YZX, ZXY, ZYX.
translate	translate	0, 0, 0	Lets you translate the object along the x, y, and z axes. You can also adjust translate values by clicking and dragging the object in the 3D Viewer.
rotate	rotate	0, 0, 0	Lets you rotate the object around the x, y, and z axes. You can adjust rotate values by holding down Ctrl/Cmd and dragging in the 3D Viewer.
scale	scaling	1, 1, 1	Lets you scale the object on the x, y, and z axes.
uniform scale	uniform_scale	1	Lets you scale the object simultaneously on the x, y, and z axes.
skew	skew	0, 0, 0	Lets you skew the object on the x, y, and z axes.
pivot	pivot	0, 0, 0	When you make changes to a 3D object’s position, scaling, skewing, and rotation, these occur from the location of the object’s origin point or pivot. The pivot x, y, and z controls allow you to offset the pivot point and move it anywhere you like - you can even move it outside of the object. Subsequent transformations applied will then occur relative to the new pivot point location. You can also hold down Ctrl/Cmd+Alt and drag the pivot point to a new location in the 3D Viewer.
Local Matrix
specify matrix	useMatrix	N/A	Enable this control to specify matrix values for the object you’re transforming as an alternative to setting transform, scale, skew and pivot values above.
matrix	matrix	N/A	The matrix displays values from the object’s transform, rotate, scale, skew, and pivot controls. Check specify matrix and copy or drag-and-drop matrix values from another object to apply those values, for example, if you wanted to align objects in a scene.
World Matrix
matrix	matrix	N/A	Displays the world or absolute xyz transform of the node in world coordinates. Note: Unlike the Local matrix, you can’t adjust the World matrix manually.
Shadows Tab
cast shadows	cast_shadows	disabled	When enabled, the light casts shadow as defined by the Shadow controls. If using a ScanlineRender node, this only applies if the light type control was set to directional or spot. Casting shadows from a point light type is not supported in the ScanlineRender node.
shadow mode	shadow_mode	solid	Presents three shadow casting modes that affect shadows cast by objects, based on the objects’ opacity: • solid - objects that cast shadows are considered to be completely solid. This option can be used with both ScanlineRender and PrmanRender. • clipped alpha - objects that cast shadows are considered to be transparent if the object’s alpha is below the light’s clipping threshold control in the Shadows tab. This option is only relevant if you are using ScanlineRender to render your shadows. • full alpha - shadows are calculated based on how light is reduced when it passes through non-opaque occluders. This option is only relevant if you are using ScanlineRender to render your shadows.
filter	filter	cubic	Determines the type of filter that the shadow mode uses when it’s set to clipped alpha or full alpha.
scene epsilon	scene_epsilon	0.001	An offset that moves the sampling point away from the geometry surface, towards the light that is casting the shadow. Increasing this value can reduce self-shadowing artifacts. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using depth mapping and shadow mode is set to full alpha.
samples	samples	1	Sets the number of samples for the light when generating soft shadows. If soft shadows in your scene appear dotty or noisy, try increasing this value. The higher the value, the smoother the soft the shadows become. This control is only relevant when shadow mode is set to solid or clipped alpha.
sample width	sample_width	1	Sets the size of the light for soft shadows. This value determines the width of the soft area around the egde of a shadow. The higher the value, the larger the soft area. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using raytracing.
bias	depthmap_bias	0.01	Sets the bias for the raytracing or shadow map. Increase this value if self shadowing artifacts appear in the image. This moves the surface sample point away from surface. Note, however, that if you increase the value too much, some shadows may start moving away from the base of the objects that cast them. This control is only relevant when shadow mode is set to solid or clipped alpha.
slope bias	depthmap_slope_bias	0.01	Bias for the shadow map. This is like bias, but the offset is proportional to the slope of the depth map. This allows you to give a different offset to each value in the depth map, depending on the surface’s slope relative to the light. If increasing bias reduced the existing self-shadowing artifacts but introduced more artifacts in other areas of the image, you may want to bring bias down a little and increase slope bias instead. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using depth mapping and shadow mode is set to solid or clipped alpha.
clipping threshold	clipping_threshold	0.5	Objects that are set to cast shadows are considered transparent if their alpha is below the value set here. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using depth mapping and shadow mode is set to clipped alpha.
jitter scale	shadow_jitter_scale	3	Sets the amount of jitter used when doing percentage-closer filtering (PCF) for soft shadows. A larger jitter scale value results in softer, more perceptually accurate shadows. PCF works by sampling the depth map at many different positions around the same spot. The final shadow value for that spot is an average of how many of the samples were occluded or visible from point of view of the light. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using depth mapping and shadow mode is set to solid or clipped alpha.
depthmap resolution	depthmap_width	1024	Sets the resolution of the depth map. Larger values will result in a less crunchy edge, but will require more time to process. Note that you can also fix crunchy edges by increasing the number of samples instead of increasing the depth map resolution. This control is only relevant if your shadows are generated using depth mapping and shadow mode is set to solid or clipped alpha.
output mask	shadow_mask	disabled	Enables the associated channel to the right. Disabling this checkbox is the same as setting the channel to none.
output mask	shadow_mask	none	Sets the channel you want to output the shadow map into. This can be enabled even if the cast shadows box is disabled.
File Tab (Controls on this tab are only active when read from file is enabled.)
read from file	read_from_file	disabled	When disabled, the light is configured using the controls on the Light tab. Enable read from file if you want to read in light information from an .fbx file using the File tab.
file	file	N/A	Sets the file path for the .fbx file from which you intend to import axis information.
reload	reload	N/A	Click to reload the axis information from the specified file.
USD Options	scene_graph	N/A	When the file path is pointing to a valid .usd file, the USD Options are displayed. The USD Options show a scenegraph containing a list of the item names and their paths inside the .usd file. Click an item to select it and load it into the scene. The selected item can be identified in the Load column. Items in the .usd file that weren't originally loaded can still be viewed in scenegraph and loaded into the scene. Note: For more information about importing Lights from a .usd file, see Importing USD Items.
animation stack name	fbx_take_name	N/A	When the file control is pointing to a valid .fbx file, select the required take name from the dropdown menu.
node name	fbx_node_name	N/A	When the file control is pointing to a valid .fbx file, select the required node name from the dropdown menu.
frame rate	frame_rate	24	When use frame rate is enabled, enter the required frame rate to use instead of the rate specified in the input file.
use frame rate	use_frame_rate	disabled	When enabled, the frame rate from the input file is ignored and the specified frame rate is used instead.
intensity scale	intensity_scale	1	Scales the intensity of the light.
Look Tab
look axis	look_axis	-Z	The axis around which the Light is rotated to face the look input.
rotate X	look_rotate_x	enabled	Determines whether the rotation occurs around the X axis. Note that for the rotation to truly "look at" the look input, all three of these options must be activated.
rotate Y	look_rotate_y	enabled	Determines whether the rotation occurs around the Y axis. Note that for the rotation to truly "look at" the look input, you have to set all three of these options.
rotate Z	look_rotate_z	enabled	Determines whether the rotation occurs around the Z axis. Note that for the rotation to truly "look at" the look input, you have to set all three of these options.
look strength	look_strength	1	Determines to what extent the Light rotates to the new orientation. The smaller the value, the less the object is rotated. Setting the value to 0 produces no rotation.
use quaternions	look_use_quaternions	disabled	Uses an alternate scheme to calculate the look rotation. This option may be useful to smooth out erratic rotations along the look axis.

Step-by-Step Guides

Inserting Direct Lights, Point Lights, or Spot Lights

Video Tutorials

3D Workspace Overview - Step Up to Nuke Tutorial 11

3D Workspace Overview from Foundry on Vimeo.

Transcription

Nuke is not limited to a 2D space, in fact, it has a complete 3D environment built right in. For example, here is a 3D ship and a 3D sphere. In order to see the 3D environment, go to the View menu where it says 2D and switch that to 3D, and there’s the environment. In order to change the view, which is the default camera, you can use the Alt or your Option key, along with your mouse buttons. For example, Alt and left mouse button scrolls, Alt and middle mouse button zooms, and Alt and right mouse button orbits.

Let’s see what we have in the scene. There is a 3D Camera, a Spotlight, a Point light, a primitive Sphere, an imported spaceship, and a large primitive Card in the background. Let’s take a look at the node network, and you can see what we need to make a 3D scene happen. The node with the most connections is the Scene node. The Scene node groups together lights and geometry in order to pass them on to a render node. In order to render the scene so it becomes 2D, you need to have some sort of render node. In this case, there is a ScanlineRender node. Connected to the ScanlineRender is a 3D Camera. Connected to the Scene node are two lights - there is the Spotlight and the Point light. If I open up the properties on the Spotlight, you can see common options like color and intensity and, in the case of the Spotlight, cone angle. There are also two pieces of primitive geometry here - there is the Sphere and the Card. This will be a good time to note that 3D nodes have a rounded, pill-like shape, as opposed to the rectangular 2D nodes.

You can create a light or a primitive piece of geometry through the 3D menu. You can make your Point or your Spot, plus a Direct and a few specialized lights, like the one that’s called Light, which you can use to import lights from other programs, like Maya. There is also the Geometry menu, which has the primitives such as Card, or other shapes, like Cube and Cylinder. You can transform lights and geometry. For example, if I open up the Sphere, you will see there is a translate, rotate, and scale property. Once this is open, you will also see there is a transform handle. If you click+drag the handle along the axis, you can move it in that direction, for example, Y. Of course, you can also enter values into the properties panel. Lights also have their own set of transforms. Now, one new feature is the fact that lights can cast shadows right here in the 3D environment. For example, if I go to the Spotlight and go to the Shadows tab, you will see there is a place to click on cast shadows. Let’s go back to the 2D view. You can see the shadow of the Sphere right here on the spaceship. Now, aside from shadows of course, you can animate all of these properties. You can animate the light, changing over time, as well as the geometry. There are also animation buttons beside all of these properties. You can key these as you would any other node inside Nuke.

You will notice that the two pieces of geometry have shaders connected to their img pipes. These are necessary for the surfaces to be lit correctly. The Sphere has a Phong, which is similar to the one you might have in a program like Maya. The Card has an Emission shader, which has the emissive component or the ambient color component. Now, in terms of the spaceship, it has to be imported through a ReadGeo node. ReadGeo node has a place to bring in the file, and this supports .fbx files, or .obj files, or alembic files, .abc. If there is animation in the file, Nuke will recognize it. For example, with the .fbx file, it might have multiple takes. Nuke will recognize that and you can choose the animation take. So, if I go back to the 3D view, scrub the timeline, and we will see the ship is pre-animated, and this animation was created in Maya. There is also a material connected to the img pipe of the ReadGeo. Now, because the UV texture space came through the .fbx file, in order to map the geometry, you just need to bring in the texture bitmaps through Read nodes, and connect to a shader. For example, here is the diffuse map connected through the mapD, or map diffuse. There is a specular map connected through the mapS, or map specular. Lets go back to the 2D view.

Now, if anything is animated, you can also activate motion blur. To do that, you go to the render node and, for example, with the ScanlineRender, go to the MultiSample tab and change samples to a higher number like 8. At that point, the motion blur will appear, as you can see right here. The higher the samples number, the higher the quality.

So, there is a brief introduction to Nuke’s 3D environment. Keep in mind that any node you need to create for this you can find through the 3D node menu. This includes all your shaders, geometry, lights, Scene nodes, and cameras. Aside from animating lights and geometry, you are also free to animate cameras. They have their own set of transforms. In any case, I would suggest exploring this component of Nuke.