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Sphere

The Sphere node creates an adjustable sphere in a 3D scene. You can map a texture on to the sphere by attaching an image to the img input.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type	Connection Name	Function
Input	img	The texture you want to project on to the object’s face.

Control (UI)	Knob (Scripting)	Default Value	Function
Sphere Tab
display	display	textured	Adjust 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+wireframe - displays the geometry as solid color with the object’s geometry outlines. • textured - displays only the surface texture. • textured+wireframe - 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.
render	render_mode	textured	Sets how the object will render. This control is independent from the display selection, but has the same settings.
cast shadows	cast_shadow	enabled	When enabled, the sphere object can cast shadows.
receive shadows	receive_shadow	enabled	When enabled, and a material shader has been added, the sphere object can have shadows cast onto it by other objects.
frame range	frame_first	1	Sets the start frame for the frame range displayed in the Viewer when the Timeline range is set to Input. This can be used to display the offset used in the TimeOffset node.
frame range	frame_last	1	Sets the end frame for the frame range displayed in the Viewer when the Timeline range is set to Input. This can be used to display the offset used in the TimeOffset node.
rows/columns	rows	30	Sets the number of rows on the outer face of the object. The maximum value is 512, but high values may cause instability.
rows/columns	columns	30	Sets the number of columns on the outer face of the object. The maximum value is 512, but high values may cause instability.
radius	radius	1	Sets the radius of the sphere.
u extent	u_extent	360	Sets the extent to which the input image wraps around the sphere horizontally without extrapolating from the image edges. For example, a value of 180 wraps the input image 90° around the sphere on both sides of the y axis and closes any remainder by extrapolating from the edges of the input image.
v extent	v_extent	180	Sets the extent to which the input image wraps around the sphere vertically without extrapolating from the image edges. For example, a value of 90 wraps the input image 45° around the sphere on both sides of the x axis and closes any remainder by extrapolating from the edges of the input image.
close top	close_top	enabled	When enabled, the top of the sphere is closed off.
close bottom	close_bottom	enabled	When enabled, the bottom of the cylinder is closed off.
	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 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.

Video Tutorials

3D Workspace Overview - Step Up to Nuke Tutorial 11

3D Workspace Overview - Step Up to Nuke Tutorial 11 from The 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.