Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 16, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Let us take a look at the details of everything the new Nuke version is intended to be able to do.
The first point is the aforementioned Dope Sheet. In Nuke 8, artists can now move keys in the context of the timeline-style view. The results as well as the properties of a node are immediately visible in context. According to The Foundry, this view will make working with any script that requires time manipulation significantly easier and clearer.
The new Text Node allows artists to compose, edit or animate directly in the viewer.
For version 8, a focus of the improvements was also placed on the color-correction tools. The refreshed UI will include a new, intuitive In-Panel Colour Wheel that can be used to control hue or saturation. The wheel also offers the user an automatic Precision Mode or an optionally usable Absolute Mode for fine-tuning.
The Foundry also announces several scope tools such as Waveform, Vectorscope and Histogram Viewers, as well as a new Pixel Analyser. Also new is a Match Grade Node intended to take Nuke’s grading capabilities to a new level.
The Camera Tracker also received an update. Artists can now track and solve cameras from reference images to simplify object or set modeling in an integrated environment. The Model Builder is intended to support UV creation for more control in 3D.
There are also new 3D tools such as Viewer Capture (users can quickly bring images from the 2D view into the 3D view), a new Edit Geo Node for more control, a Particle Cache Node that reduces render times, and the Wireframe Shader Node, which is responsible for various FX and enables greater control over projection mapping.
With the new Blink Script Node, developers are now intended to be able to write their own image-processing operations in Nuke to ensure the best possible hardware performance. With the Blink Framework, users can utilize available GPU power.
With the new Import Nuke function, developers can use Nuke as a module in any Python interpreter. Thanks to the new Planar Rendering Framework, developers of C++ plug-ins have more options for controlling the output of their planar data.
Last but not least, Hiero will also be updated, likewise this year. Features of version 1.8 will include: improved playback performance, new QuickTime Colour Handling Controls, new Editing Audio Controls that give users access to Per Track and Per Item Volume Controls, allowing the volume of differing tracks and items in the timeline to be controlled individually.
So far, so good. However, The Foundry has remained silent about pricing and availability. But there is already a sneak peek at the new version:
