Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 Posted by Jim Thacker

The Foundry releases Nuke and NukeX 6.3v7

The Foundry has released a free upgrade to Nuke and NukeX, improving the apps’ pipeline interoperability.

Nuke 6.3v7 improves support for PSD files within the compositing package, enabling users to import layered PSDs directly from Photoshop. RenderMan integration has also been improved.

The update also adds support for the Sony Pictures Imageworks-developed OpenColorIO. Given The Foundry’s development partnership with Imageworks – and that OpenColorIO is already supported in Mari – the news isn’t a shock, but it is another step towards wider adoption of the open colour-management standard.

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry, has today released the latest update of its industry standard compositing systems NUKE and NUKEX.

The Foundry’s NUKE products are renowned for being both open and scriptable, giving different types and sizes of studio the flexibility to adapt them to fit into their own specific pipelines.

NUKE & NUKEX 6.3v7
This release concentrates on making the movement of assets between NUKE and NUKEX, and other software packages as painless as possible.

Even more compatible
NUKE & NUKEX 6.3v7 offer a number of notable improvements for users working with The Foundry’s other software applications. Additionally, the release introduces smoother workflows in and out of widely used third party products including Adobe® Photoshop®, Silhouette and Pixar’s RenderMan®.

Layered PSD Support has been significantly enhanced in NUKE 6.3v7, allowing users to bring Adobe® Photoshop® layered PSDs directly into NUKE and NUKEX. The update means facilities can now access layers in up to 16bit PSD files with automatic layer/node-graph conversion using metadata.

The NUKEMARI bridge has been improved by mirroring MARI’s UDIM functionality in NUKE to support multiple texture patches per model. Specifically in NUKEX, the RenderMan® integration has been extended to provide users with greater control and the ability to inject and manipulate RIB files and statements.

Integrated colour standard
In this latest release, The Foundry has implemented industry standard colour management through the integration of new OpenColorIO (OCIO) developed at Sony® Pictures Imageworks. The introduction of OCIO to NUKE and NUKEX means that colour management is now unified across all of The Foundry’s software offerings, so users will see the same colour in NUKE as they do in MARI, HIERO and KATANA. The OCIO standard is also being adopted by other software applications including Silhouette.

NUKE and NUKEX are available on Mac, Linux and Windows and priced at $4,900/ £2,950 / €,3525 and $8,000 / £4,800 / €5,750 respectively. (Prices quoted include one year of maintenance). Clients with up to date maintenance can access all NUKE and NUKEX upgrades free of charge.

Visit the Nuke product website