Release Notes for Nuke and Hiero 13.2v1

Release Date

14 April 2022

Qualified Operating Systems

• macOS Big Sur (11.x) or macOS 12.x (Monterey). Nuke is currently supported under Rosetta emulation on Apple's new Apple Silicon hardware and M1 chips. Native support is not currently available and Foundry is planning to support the Nuke family natively on Apple's M1 and M2 hardware at a later date.

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

• Windows 10 (64-bit)

• CentOS 7.4 (64-bit), or later

Note: The currently supported version of VFX Reference Platform includes library versions that are only compatible with CentOS 7.4, or later. Nuke is qualified on the Centos 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 distributions.

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 compute capability 3.0 (Kepler) or above. A list of the compute capabilities of NVIDIA GPUs is available at https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus

Note: The compute capability is a property of the GPU hardware and can't be altered by a software update.

With graphics drivers capable of running CUDA 10.1 or above. On Windows and Linux, CUDA graphics drivers are bundled with the regular drivers for your NVIDIA GPU. Driver versions 418.96 (Windows) and 418.39 (Linux), or above are required. See https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx for more information.

Note: We recommend using the latest graphics drivers, where possible, regardless of operating system.

AMD

Note: Bit-wise equality between GPU and CPU holds in most cases, but for some operations there are limitations to the accuracy possible with this configuration.

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

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

• AMD Radeon PRO W6600

• AMD Radeon PRO W6800

• AMD Radeon Pro W5700

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100

• AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

Note: 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.

Warning: 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.

Note: Multi-GPU processing is only available for identical GPUs in the same machine. For example, two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080s or two AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100s.

New Features

UnrealReader

In this release we build on UnrealReader with a number of improvements in stability and usability, as well as enhancements for existing features. Unreal Engine 4.27.2 and 5.0 (Windows only) are the supported versions for the Nuke Server plug-in. Changes for this release include:

• Improved stability

• Various UI improvements

• Faster and more intuitive Stencil Layer picking workflow:

• The old table list of selectable items is replaced with a new visual picking workflow similar to Cryptomatte.

• The same wildcard selection syntax is available in the Layer List as in Cryptomatte.

• New Cryptomatte render pass ID grouping types.

• Environment variable support in Write section File knob / Nuke Server

• This helps with cross-operating system support when writing to shared network drives.

• The familiar [getenv <your_environment_variable>] syntax is now supported.

• Extended EXR Compression options

• The UnrealReader Write properties section Compression options have been extended to include all of the standard .exr options found in Nuke.

• UnrealReader is now available for Nuke Indie license holders.

Nuke Server Download

Download the Nuke Server for your operating system from here: https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke/download/unreal-nuke-server

A development build of the Nuke Server for Linux is available for testing upon request through Support.

A.I. Research

In this release, we have continued to improve our Machine Learning tools, enhancing the CopyCat node with faster training, support for multiple GPUs and multi-channel training. We have also removed any limitation on the number of training images and enabled the ability to train on headless Nuke with the -X flag.

With this update not only is single GPU training up to 30% faster, but you can also take advantage of setups with multiple GPUs. You can either speed up training by running CopyCat on all your GPUs simultaneously or run different training sessions on each GPU, allowing you to do more experiments at the same time.

CopyCat can now support more than four channels, as many as your GPU and Nuke can handle, allowing you to train networks for a variety of more advanced use cases.

Finally, we have streamlined the ability to kick off training on remote machines. You can now run CopyCat from the command line using the -X flag without any need to write additional Python scripts.

Top-down Rendering

In this beta, we have introduced a new way for Nuke to render its node graph. Top-down rendering provides significant performance improvements to Nuke’s 2D graph processing. Performance in Nuke is variable, depending on the script you are rendering, but in our internal testing scripts render 20% faster on average and some scripts render as much as 1.5x faster.

Top-down rendering inverts Nuke’s classic rendering method, rendering the graph node-by-node from the top of the graph down, rather than scanline-by-scanline on demand. This allows Nuke to cache its data more efficiently, and to reduce thread-synchronization issues, resulting in overall faster rendering. Because top-down renders the script node-by-node, from the top of the graph down, Nuke’s scanline-by-scanline progressive update to the viewer is replaced by the whole image updating at once.

There are three ways to enable top-down rendering within your scripts in this beta:

• Set the environment variable NUKE_TOPDOWN=1.

• Use the --topdown flag when launching Nuke from the command line.

• Change the new render mode setting to top-down in the Project Settings.

If none of the above is set to use top-down, Nuke uses the default behavior and renders in classic mode.

Note: The render mode is only saved as part of the script if you set render mode to top-down in the Project Settings. This ensures that the chosen render method is used the next time the script is opened. Using the NUKE_TOPDOWN environment variable or --topdown command line argument does not save the render mode in the script.

3D UX Improvements

We have added the ability to rotate the pivot point in the Properties panel and directly in the Viewer, including an internal orientation indication for the pivot point.

We’ve also implemented a long-standing feature request and added a new free rotate algorithm, making free-rotation of 3D objects in the viewer much easier and more intuitive.

Timeline Project Loading

Continuing with the improvements made in 13.1, where we reduced the time it takes to load .hrox projects by 25%-30%, we are drastically reducing the time projects take to load, including the larger and complex projects and making connecting or joining to Sync Sessions a lot faster.

To see these improvements, you must load a project that has been saved in 13.2. Any new projects created in Nuke 13.2 will automatically get these benefits, but older projects need to be saved in Nuke 13.2 and reopened in order to see the loading time improvements. These changes maintain backwards compatibility, however, these improvements are only maintained in 13.2 builds.

OpenTimelineIO (Beta)

In 13.2 we are introducing OpenTimelineIO (OTIO). In combination with the previous work done in metadata management, we expect OTIO to be the future of editorial workflows when manipulating editorial data.

OTIO is an API and interchange format for editorial cut information. Similar to an Edit Decision List (EDL) it also includes an API for reading, writing and manipulating data. In this release OTIO supports the import and export of clips, tracks, transitions and linear retimes in OTIO edits. OTIO is labeled as a beta because OTIO v1.0 has not been released yet.

Non-Linear Dissolves on the Timeline

We are bringing users better workflows in the timeline when working with transitions by supporting non-linear dissolves. You can now see transitions in the Properties panels, create keys to the transitions, and edit dissolves, fade ins and fade outs in the Curve Editor and Dope Sheet.

To use non-linear dissolves, double-click a transition in the timeline, and then edit the transition from the Properties panel or create and adjust frames in the Curve Editor or Dope Sheet. Transitions are also applied properly to clips with soft effects.

Monitor Out for Nuke

Continuing the work that we have done in the Nuke 13.x series, we have added an exciting new feature to the Monitor Out. With these ongoing updates to Monitor Out we are continuing to provide ever more powerful options with greater workflow efficiencies.

• We have now added the Monitor Out as a Tab in the Viewer control panel.

• You can access the Viewer Properties by pressing S whilst the mouse is in the Viewer.

• Double-clicking the Viewer node also opens the Properties. When a Viewer node is selected, pressing Return also opens the Properties.

• You can access the Monitor Out controls in the Viewer Properties directly by pressing the cog icon in the Monitor Out strip.

• Using the workspace Viewer Monitor Out adds the Monitor Out strip below the player controls.

• Each Viewer node now has its own independent Monitor Out functionality.

• Multiple floating windows can be used simultaneously.

• Multiple NDI streams can be sent simultaneously.

• SDI functionality sent from a single hardware device is limited to only being used by a single Monitor Out.

Monitor Out - NDI

Continuing the work to improve our monitor out functionality and make review sessions more productive and ensure that everyone in the team is always on the same page, this beta introduces a new workflow with the support for NDI in the Nuke Family. Network Device Interface, or NDI, is a network protocol that enables you to send video and metadata signals over standard IP networks in real-time. NDI allows you to easily share a Nuke Viewer's output with anyone else on the same network.

To view an NDI stream, you need the NDI Studio Monitor application installed on your local machine. NDI Studio Monitor is available for download on macOS and Windows here:

• NDI Tools for macOS

• NDI Tools for Windows

For more information on the NDI Tools and network configuration best practice, see:
https://ndi.tv/tools/education/networking/best-practices/networking-best-practice/

Monitor Out - AJA and Blackmagic Design

In addition to the new features in the Viewer Monitor Out we have also updated the functionality when using an AJA and BMD video out device. This work was done to make it easier to understand what output options are available when using AJA and BMD cards in Nuke and Nuke Studio. These changes greatly benefit artists working with SDI outputs at different resolutions.

Testing SDI out across a broad range of hardware remains challenging and we appreciate any feedback on these features.

AJA T-Tap Pro Support

Support for the AJA T-Tap Pro has been added to the Viewer Monitor Out node. If the device is installed on your system it appears in the Device drop down list.

ARRI Image SDK 7.0.0 (Beta)

To support their new S35 4K camera ARRI have created a new SDK (7.0) to decode and debayer the images from this camera.

This has been added to Nuke and Nuke Studio as a beta feature because the camera and the SDK are not yet finalized. We encourage users of the new camera to use Nuke to test and provide feedback to both us and ARRI so that we can fully release this feature in the coming months.

In this release, we are using Arri SDK 7.0.0-RC6. Legacy ARRI files including .ari, .arx and .mxf files continue to load but will use the older ARRI RAW 6.2 SDK.

Blackmagic RAW 2.2

We have updated Blackmagic RAW to support the 2.2 SDK which includes the following updates:

• Added support for Fujifilm GFX100 and GFX100S Blackmagic RAW clips captured by Blackmagic Video Assist.

• Added support for Panasonic Lumix GH5S, BS1H and BGH1 Blackmagic RAW clips captured by Blackmagic Video Assist.

Feature Enhancements

• ID 132776/490781 - Viewer: You can now double-click Viewer nodes to open the Properties panel.

• ID 144149 - 3D Transform Handles: You can now rotate the pivot point in the 3D Viewer.

• ID 428475 - Monitor Out: Nuke, Nuke Studio and Hiero now support the Blackmagic Design Decklink 8K Pro.

• ID 424014 - Third-Party Libraries: OpenSSL has been updated to version 1.0.2u.

Bug Fixes

• ID 152798 - Read/Write: If the pixel aspect ratio (anamorphic squeeze) could not be found in a file, its default format was set to the first format in the list that matched the format's width and height.

• ID 241348 - Monitor Out: Nuke Studio did not use the recommended AJA output options.

• ID 434387 - Windows only: Setting the UI scale to 150% or higher and moving Nuke to a second monitor stopped the floating color pickers working as expected.

• ID 471681 - CopyCat: Training a network from the command prompt with the -X argument occasionally failed.

• ID 472519 - CopyCat: Training a model with multi-channel files did not work as expected.

• ID 474950 - AIR Tools: Rendering from the command line always used the GPU, whether the --gpu argument was added or not.

• ID 482780 - 3D Transform Handles: Setting the transform order to RTS at small scale values did not work as expected.

• ID 485263 - Developer Documentation: The formatting of the nuke.memory() documentation made it difficult to read.

• ID 488973 - CopyCat: Starting training with the Viewer proxy mode enabled did not display a warning message.

• ID 489286 - 3D transform handles: The transform toolbar was active for .fbx files even when transforms were disabled.

• ID 491076 - 3D Transform Handles: The effect of dragging a scale transform handle was influenced incorrectly by geometry transforms downstream.

• ID 493869 - 3D Transform Handles: Object parenting lines did not appear as expected in relation to the world axes.

• ID 494124 - 3D Transform Handles: Translating geometry on the Z-axis and then dragging the pivot point did not work as expected.

• ID 497654 - Transitions: Adding a Burn-In soft effect to a shot with a dissolve transition didn't work as expected.

• ID 498939 - BM RAW: Selecting Decode Using > Clip Custom displayed an Internal memory error when reading some locally stored files.

• ID 499540 - Monitor Out: Blackmagic Design card HD outputs at 10-bit 4:4:4 were actually output at 4:2:2.

• ID 500198 - Windows only: The SymLink Generator exporter in Nuke Studio did not work as expected.

• ID 500964 - Upscale: Setting the Tile Size control to anything other than a multiple of 16 did not work as expected.

• ID 501628 - Timeline Viewer: Changing the Viewer color channel output during playback did not work as expected.

• ID 501920 - Linux only: Playing back certain .mov files displayed an unknown color curve error and caused Nuke Studio to crash.

• ID 503346 - Create Comp: Rendering comp updates occasionally caused Nuke Studio to crash.

• ID 503501 - Linux only: Rendering certain comps in Nuke Studio's timeline displayed a ReaderMessage Unknown error on the .nk thumbnails in the Project bin.

• ID 410055 - Linux only: Rendering Nuke scripts that contain a Spherical Transform node, can take significantly longer to render compared to Windows machines that use the same specifications.

New Known Issues Specific to Nuke 13.2

This section covers new known issues and gives workarounds for them, where appropriate.

• ID 506569 - UnrealReader: The enabled/disabled state of the Use 32 Bit Post Process Materials checkbox is not always respected by the render output.
If UnrealReader fails to respect the enabled/disabled state, restart the Unreal Editor project to reset the controls.

• ID 506360 - CopyCat: Resuming training after changing the Model Size displays a generic error message.

• ID 506004 - ARRIRAW: Reading legacy .mxf files with SDK 7.0 does not match all knob values when compared to SDK 6.2.

• ID 505214 - Monitor Out: The SDI legal range button's state is not always saved or loaded correctly.

• ID 504819 - 3D Transform Handles: Geometry pivot points are affected incorrectly by downstream scale changes.

• ID 504645 - Monitor Out: NDI signals from Nuke Studio are listed twice in the NDI monitor.

• ID 504542 - CopyCat: Setting the Epochs control to a negative number and then starting training causes Nuke to crash.

• ID 504533 - ARRIRAW: Lens squeeze is slightly different in Nuke compared to the same file in the ARRI reference tool.

• ID 504406 - CopyCat: Errors displayed in the Viewer do not disappear as expected during subsequent training runs.

• ID 504191 - Monitor Out: Closing Nuke Studio during playback while broadcasting the timeline Viewer over NDI causes the application to crash on exit.

• ID 504013 - 3D Transform Handles: Negative scaling values in TransformGeo nodes cause inconsistent scaling in upstream ParticleEmitter nodes.

• ID 503687 - Monitor Out: Some controls in the Monitor Out panel in Nuke Studio do not display the knob name in their tooltips.

• ID 503684 - Monitor Out: The Monitor Out panel in Nuke Studio always displays stereo controls, even if the project does not contain multiple views.

• ID 503013 - ARRIRAW: Enabling Use GPU if available only displays half the image with S35 files.

• ID 502942 - Monitor Out: The Viewer Monitor Out pane does not display all controls as expected.
As a workaround, resize the pane to cause the controls to appear.

• ID 502843 - Monitor Out: The Use Viewer Gamma / Gain controls are not enabled and disabled consistently between the Properties and Monitor Out pane.

• ID 502793 - Monitor Out: Loading certain .nk scripts does not open all floating windows as expected.

• ID 502495 - CopyCat: Caching during training is slower when compared to earlier Nuke builds.

• ID 502404 - Monitor Out: The Viewer list does not update as expected when a Viewer node is copied and pasted in the Node Graph.

• ID 502395 - Monitor Out: The list of available Viewers is not ordered correctly.

• ID 502394 - Monitor Out: Output is not sent to monitor out devices unless the related Viewer is the active Viewer.

• ID 502226 - Monitor Out: The floating window size is used incorrectly for all panes undocked from the interface.

• ID 501785 - BM RAW: Certain files display with incorrect colorspace and gamma values.

• ID 501700 - 3D Pivot Point: Rotating the pivot point by dragging in a non-default transform order causes the object to jump unexpectedly.

• ID 501683 - 3D Pivot Point: Rotation doesn't work as expected in Screen space and World space.

• ID 501525 - CopyCat: Canceling training displays a misleading error message.

• ID 501442 - 3D Pivot Point: Object scale is not always maintained by the pivot rotate algorithm.

• ID 501261 - macOS Monterey only: Resizing UI elements is slow to update.

• ID 500156 - OTIO: Timelines containing shots with different frame rates displays a warning message incorrectly.

• ID 500138 - 3D Transform Handles: Scaling in Screen space and then rotating in Screen and World space doesn't work as expected.

• ID 499468 - 3D Transform Handles: Handle size is unexpectedly affected by scale changes downstream.

• ID 497372 - Monitor Out: frameIndex metadata does not work as expected.

• ID 494978 - ARRIRAW: Reading certain .ari, .arx, and .mxf files displays metadata errors on the command line.

• ID 492637 - 3D Transform Handles: Using the free rotate tool on certain objects causes them to scale during rotation in the 2D Viewer.

• ID 491143 -Monitor Out: Enabling Horizontal Flop in the ViewerMonitorOut Properties does not work as expected.

• ID 488611 - Monitor Out: Certain formats, such as 2K DCI PsF and 4K DCI p, are not output as expected from Blackmagic Desig Decklink 8K Pro cards.

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
Version	13.1v1 to 13.1v2	API and ABI
Point	13.0v1 to 13.1v1	API
Major	12.0v1 to 13.0v1	-

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 9 and Nuke 10, the CameraShake node Class() changed from CameraShake2 to CameraShake3. In the toolbars.py file for the two releases, the entries for the CameraShake node appear as follows:

m.addCommand("CameraShake", "nuke.createNode(\"CameraShake2\")", icon="CameraShake.png")
m.addCommand("CameraShake", "nuke.createNode(\"CameraShake3\")", icon="CameraShake.png")