Foundry has opened public testing for the Nuke 17 Open Beta, the latest step in the long-running effort to modernise its compositing platform. The company highlights a reworked 3D system, an overhauled annotation interface, and a new Variable framework intended to strengthen data exchange across pipelines.

This release continues Foundry’s shift toward USD-based workflows, a direction the company has been exploring since Nuke 14. On paper, the new 3D system allows compositors to access the same assets and scene data used by other departments, aligning Nuke with 3D and animation tools in a shared pipeline.

The 3D rebuild: a long road

The official documentation (As far as it is currently available) lists updated projection and masking workflows, lighting controls, and new node structures within the 3D environment. There is also mention of a revised ScanlineRender v2, plus geo stacking and path masking. Foundry positions these as steps toward tighter scene organisation and smoother data exchange.

However, as Topic Rooms VFX notes in its opinion of the beta, many artists are questioning who this new system is really for. Most compositors still use Nuke’s 3D tools for projection, relighting, and camera mapping rather than full scene rendering. The publication points out that a USD-driven workflow may benefit pipeline engineers more than everyday artists.

What artists say they actually want from Nuke 17

According to the same commentary, artists would rather see practical improvements such as faster projection nodes, volumetric light tools, or even a lightweight preview renderer similar to Eevee. The argument is that Foundry continues to refine its 3D infrastructure while ignoring smaller quality-of-life updates that could immediately improve daily compositing work.

Annotations and variables

Beyond the 3D rebuild, Nuke 17 introduces a completely redesigned annotation workflow. The new Annotations Panel and Toolbar are meant to simplify feedback cycles, reducing the confusion that often arises in collaborative review sessions. The documentation describes this as a “whole new experience” for timeline annotation, suggesting a clearer, faster way to handle shot notes and client feedback.

The Variable system is another quiet but potentially important addition. It provides a framework for sharing and managing template data across nodes and scripts, effectively improving communication between compositors, pipeline engineers, and automation tools. If it works as intended, this could make complex setups more maintainable.

Still early days for Nuke 17

It’s worth emphasising that this is an early beta. Foundry has made it clear that the listed features are subject to change before the final release, and more updates are promised. The company provides a free sample script and assets to help testers explore the new 3D environment, along with detailed documentation on the updated node behaviour.

For now, users are invited to test, experiment, and submit feedback — but not to expect production-ready stability. As with any beta, it’s advisable to evaluate Nuke 17 in a controlled environment before integrating it into a live pipeline.

The Nuke 17 Open Beta is available for download from Foundry’s official site.

The post Foundry Opens Nuke 17 Beta: New 3D System, New Variables first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Storm HydroFX is a standalone, GPU-accelerated FLIP fluid simulator built by Sebastian Schäfer and the Storm VFX team. It has been released as a free open beta and is intended to give artists a lean, focused tool for liquid simulation without the overhead of full multiphysics suites. Unlike the full Storm package, HydroFX includes only the FLIP solver — no granular, cloth or smoke modules — and is designed to be node-free for simplicity. The user interface is modelled after the existing Storm interface to ease adoption. HydroFX is currently an offline simulator rather than a real-time playback system. Future versions are expected to include performance improvements.

Supported I/O, geometry, and formats

HydroFX allows import of geometry in Alembic (.abc) and OBJ (.obj) formats, which can act as emitters, colliders or force drivers. For output, HydroFX supports particle caches in Alembic (.abc), USD (.usd) and PRT (.prt) formats, along with OpenVDB (.vdb) surfacing for mesh or volume previews. This means simulations can be moved easily into DCC or rendering tools such as Maya, Blender, 3ds Max or Unreal Engine. In the current beta, there are no restrictions on import, export or scene saving — all features are unlocked.

Technical and performance details

HydroFX runs on Windows only and requires an NVIDIA GPU, with the oldest tested card being a GeForce 1080. One of its key optimisations is the use of an adaptive domain, restricting simulation to active regions and saving memory and compute time on empty areas. In community tests, HydroFX has reached around 100 million particles per frame across a 500-frame wave simulation, exporting velocity, vorticity and signed distance fields. The solver includes a position-based dynamics whitewater model with foam clumping and drag forces, producing more realistic splash motion. Because it computes only active regions, HydroFX avoids wasted calculation on empty voxels, which benefits large or sparse simulations.

Installation and licensing

HydroFX is distributed as a ZIP archive. The user extracts the files manually and launches the executable — no installer wizard is provided. The Microsoft Visual C++ runtime (VC Redist x64) must be installed beforehand. During the beta, a live internet connection is required at launch to obtain a temporary licence. The beta is free of charge and fully functional with no feature restrictions. No registration is required to download the software. Support is currently provided via the official Discord and user community.

Strengths, limitations, and roadmap

Strengths
HydroFX focuses on one simulation type — FLIP fluids — reducing complexity for artists. It includes full import and export options (Alembic, USD, PRT, VDB) and offers GPU acceleration with adaptive domain handling for performance gains in sparse scenes. The beta version unlocks all features for unrestricted testing.

Limitations and caveats
HydroFX runs only on Windows and NVIDIA GPUs. It performs offline simulation, not real-time playback, and has limited documentation. It lacks the broader physics modules of the full Storm suite and its stability under production loads remains to be proven.

Planned features
Future updates are expected to include spray and emission simulation, performance improvements and possibly interactive simulation capability.

Test before production

As with any beta software, users should test HydroFX thoroughly before relying on it for production work. The open beta is an opportunity to evaluate its GPU performance, workflow simplicity and integration potential without cost or licensing constraints.

The post GPU-FLIP solver Storm HydroFX launches in free open beta first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.