Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 10, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Nuke 7.0
The 7.0 update to Nuke is set to be extensive: Support for Alembic and Open EXR 2.0 Deep Data is being added. The new "RAM Cache" feature is intended to give users real-time playback in the software. According to The Foundry, NukeX includes a large number of GPU-accelerated nodes, including Motion Blur, Kronos, Denoise, vectroGenerator, Convolve, and ZDefocus.
By adding ReLight and ModelBuilder, Nuke users are intended to be able to do lighting and modeling directly in Nuke and no longer have to switch to other software packages. The Roto tools are also said to have been redefined to improve overall performance as well as stereo support. According to The Foundry, Nuke 7.0 now also supports current RAW camera formats, including Arri Alexa RAW and R3D SDK.
A Sneak Peek at NUKE 7.0 from Hieronymus Foundry on Vimeo.
Hiero 1.5
The most important update brought by the new Hiero version 1.5 is support for Windows. The so-called "Broadcast Monitor Out" function is intended to enable the use of a broadcast monitor to view footage on compatible Blackmagic or AJA SDI Out hardware. Through the "Multi-Channel Image Support" feature, users should now be able to display all image layers of multi-channel EXRs for CG passes. Operators can thus view not only the RGBA pass, but all other image passes that an EXR file can contain.
According to The Foundry, the pipeline tool for Nuke now also includes support for playback of native ARRIRAW camera footage. And the new Hiero player is intended to make it possible to display VFX shots in their context.
Screenshot Hiero/The Foundry
More information can be found here: www.thefoundry.co.uk
