Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 19, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.The compositing software Nuke is no longer being developed by D2-Software, but by The Foundry: an official statement from The Foundry explains that the company has bought Nuke. After some research, however, it emerged that The Foundry had been taken over a few weeks ago by the Wincrest Group, which is also behind Digital Domain and thus also owns D2-Software. Development of Nuke went entirely to The Foundry in England, and Wincrest effectively dissolved D2-Software.
After Nuke 4.6 had already been offered on the Foundry website since January, it is now finally really available. Version 4.6 offers numerous new features, including an optical-flow mode that can optimally retime footage of any size.
The tracker interface and tracker algorithm have been improved. Nuke 4.6 can now read and write HDRI and RAW files and includes the latest version of Iridas’ Framecycler so that these high-resolution formats can also be displayed correctly and in real time. With the aid of the new Truelight operator, the look of the final film can be simulated on the computer monitor.
In addition, The Foundry announced Nuke 4.7 at NAB, which is due to come out at the end of summer 2007. This version is intended, for example, to support all Foundry plug-ins with an OpenFX interface. Licensing will run through the Foundry FlexLM server. The price remains around 5,000 US dollars per licence.
In plug-ins, The Foundry showed Furnace 4, which for the time being is available only for Shake 4.1. Among the eight new Furnace filters, the following are particularly interesting:
- Contrast: This filter strengthens the shadows and contrast of an HD image without losing or clipping details in the highlights.
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DeFlicker2: The filter removes flickering areas caused, for example, by unsynchronised spotlights.
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The Rototracker makes it possible to attach rotoshapes to an object in the image using a tracker, even if that object changes shape.
The software is available immediately, although a price has not yet been given.
There is also good news for users of Combustion: from the middle of the year, all four Tinderbox packages are to be available for the Autodesk software. Each package will cost 500 US dollars.
Further Links:
- The Foundry
