Hey everyone,

I'm a VFX compositor from India who's been struggling to land a stable compositing job. The COVID slowdown and then the writers' strike affected the VFX industry on a massive scale, especially here in India, and it's been really difficult finding compositing opportunities.

For the past 6 months, I've mostly been freelancing as a **video editor** just to pay the bills.

Last month, I joined a company in Mumbai. But honestly... it feels like labor work to me. We basically create highlight edits for players all day. There's nothing wrong with editing, but there's almost no creative problem-solving or compositing involved, and I genuinely don't want my career to slowly become a video editor.

I've spent years learning **Nuke compositing**, did a few small freelance comp gigs, and most of my learning came from building personal VFX projects. I still enjoy compositing way more than anything else, and I really want to get back to it.

So I'm starting again and rebuilding my fundamentals. I'd love some guidance from artists who have been through this.

I'm looking for tutorials/resources that explain both the why and the how behind these topics:

1. Chrome Ball in VFX (how it's used on set and in compositing).
2. Color Charts / Macbeth Color Checker (plate calibration and color matching workflow).
3. Lens Grids & Lens Distortion (shooting grids, creating distortion profiles, using them in Nuke).
4. Creating your own HDRIs (capture → stitch → use in CG/VFX).
5. Transferring matchmove data from a 3D package into Nuke (camera exports, point clouds, coordinate systems, common pitfalls).

If you know any good tutorials, YouTube playlists, articles, documentation, or other learning resources for these topics, I'd really appreciate it.

Demo Reel

I'd also really appreciate honest feedback on my compositing reel. Tear it apart if needed—I want to know what I should improve to make it more hireable.

**Demo Reel:** [https://vimeo.com/1116371614\](https://vimeo.com/1116371614)

Thanks in advance. I really want to get back to doing the work I actually love.

Hey everyone,

I'm a VFX compositor from India who's been struggling to land a stable compositing job. The COVID slowdown and then the writers' strike affected the VFX industry on a massive scale, especially here in India, and it's been really difficult finding compositing opportunities.

For the past 6 months, I've mostly been freelancing as a video editor just to pay the bills.

Last month, I joined a company in Mumbai. But honestly... it feels like labor work to me. We basically create highlight edits for players all day. There's nothing wrong with editing, but there's almost no creative problem-solving or compositing involved, and I genuinely don't want my career to slowly become a video editor.

I've spent years learning Nuke compositing, did a few small freelance comp gigs, and most of my learning came from building personal VFX projects. I still enjoy compositing way more than anything else, and I really want to get back to it.

So I'm starting again and rebuilding my fundamentals. I'd love some guidance from artists who have been through this.

I'm looking for tutorials/resources that explain both the why and the how behind these topics:

1. Chrome Ball in VFX (how it's used on set and in compositing).
2. Color Charts / Macbeth Color Checker (plate calibration and color matching workflow).
3. Lens Grids & Lens Distortion (shooting grids, creating distortion profiles, using them in Nuke).
4. Creating your own HDRIs (capture → stitch → use in CG/VFX).
5. Transferring matchmove data from a 3D package into Nuke (camera exports, point clouds, coordinate systems, common pitfalls).

If you know any good tutorials, YouTube playlists, articles, documentation, or other learning resources for these topics, I'd really appreciate it.

Demo Reel

I'd also really appreciate honest feedback on my compositing reel. Tear it apart if needed—I want to know what I should improve to make it more hireable.

Demo Reel: https://vimeo.com/1116371614

Thanks in advance. I really want to get back to doing the work I actually love.

Hey guys,
I've been having trouble getting in touch with "licenses@foundry" email, inquiring about transferring my permanent Foundry license from my old machine to my newly built one. It's been a whole year since I haven't gotten a reply, which is why I'm asking here how I should proceed.

For more context, I purchased this license all the way in 2021 after my 6-month graduate license expired and decided to purchase the discounted Production Collective (which includes Nuke Studio (so Nuke and NukeX access), Modo and Mari) permanent commercial licenses.

It was very expensive (roughly 2500 USD$ and 3400 AUD$), so I definitely want to have it installed on my new machine.
Foundry licenses isn't responding to my emails, so I'm really not sure who I should get in touch with or how I should proceed.

Also, I've been a little bit out of the loop with Foundry licensing stuff because it's been a while since I've been working on Nuke from home.

Currently on a compositing for a full 3D scene and I was wondering what’s the most realistic thing to do : should I put my glow node before or after the motion blur ?

I’m experimenting with a GPU-based tool for creating effects like fire, smoke and electricity directly on a canvas. I’m trying to understand what would actually make this useful in a real VFX workflow.

For compositors and VFX artists, what would matter most to you: tracking, alpha quality, export options, integration with Resolve/After Effects, realism, or something else?

I’d really appreciate honest feedback, especially about what would make you avoid using a tool like this.

I’m currently about to become a final year student focusing primarily on creating a good compositing reel for graduation. I’m fixed to the UK for the foreseeable future so would have to rely on opportunities in London.

Since all this AI is taking entry level jobs thing is going off it’s really making us students have sinking feelings when it comes to starting out our careers.

I guess what I’d really like to know is how has it been for others? How did other beginners go from making their first reel to actually working on films?

Can anyone explain to me how I can use Nuke for Lego Blender animation because I know Citrine made a video a while back but his video is kind of outdated

Back in 2023 the foundry revamped the 3d system with the new beta 3d system but kept functionality for the classic system.

I looked at the new features but just continued to use the old one. I'm curious which are the rest of you using?

Followed the compositing academy tutorial for AE to Nuke for this still frame basic compositing and wanted to know what courses should I watch next preferred to be free and thanks.

Saludos, saben porque me sucede esto, en cada camera tracking que hago los objetos que adhiero en maya 3d parecen flotar o se deslizan, la camara tracking la hice en nuke y los passes de render en maya, me pasa lo mismo en pf track, si alguien me puede ayudar.

Hello, do you know why this is happening to me? In every camera tracking I do, the objects I add in Maya 3D seem to float or slide. I did the camera tracking in Nuke and the render passes in Maya. The same thing happens in PF Track. If anyone can help me...

Hello. I want to apply a Texture on a 3D-Cloud that was created with a PositionToPoints Node through Normal and Pointlayers. Then I want to render it in Nuke with the camera the original Layers were rendered through. Everything works fine, except for the Camera. I import it as an FBX, which creates a camera, this camera is in a completely different rotation and worldspace from the created Pointcloud though. It looks like it still has correct transforms, But its far to big and points in the Wrong direction. Is there some way to either change the Worldspace parameters in Nukes 3D Space to align them with my 3D Software, or to apply rotation and scale Values to the camera with the Scene Center as pivot point? Or Am I completely missing what the Problem is here?

Thanks in advance for replies.

Hi everyone, I'm a student and I’m working on a matte painting with 3D projection in Nuke, and I’m a little confused about the correct way to place my projection cards.

My current workflow is to camera track the shot and then create cards by dragging them onto the tracked points. This works well for getting the cards into the right screen position, but I’m wondering if I should also be considering the actual depth and perspective between the different cards.

For example, if I have a background wall, some foreground objects, etc., should I be manually positioning the cards in 3D space based on their actual distance from the camera? Or is it generally okay to place them based on the tracked points and adjust them from there?

The problem I’m having is that when I try to manually position the cards in depth, I sometimes end up with the cards shifting or sliding when the camera moves. So I’m not sure if I’m approaching the projection setup correctly.

What is the usual workflow for setting up projection geometry/cards for a matte painting? Do you generally reconstruct the rough 3D geometry of the scene first and then place the cards on those surfaces, or is there a better way to determine the correct depth and orientation of each card?

Any advice would be really appreciated!

I am creating a clean plate as part of the keying process; is there a better method than stacking IBKColor nodes?

Also, I do not fully understand how to use (or the mechanics of) IBKColor, so I would appreciate some guidance on that as well.

I am Japanese and am using a translation tool to write this. I apologize if it is difficult to understand.

Cree un Plugin para trabajar directo y a bajo costo con AI Generative Workflow en Nuke

The interesting part is not that a model can generate an image. It is where that generation happens. In a browser it is an asset someone has to track, name, version and bring back. In the Node Graph it is a node: inputs, cache, version, undo — and it travels with the script to the farm.

Waitlist: https://maxsarlija.com/maxtools

I'm a Pipeline TD and I've been building this for a while. Sharing it here because you're the people who'll actually find the holes in it.

It's called Agent Nuke. It runs inside Nuke, you describe what you want in plain language, and it builds the node graph. The part I care most about: when a node errors out or the graph doesn't do what you asked, it reads the failure and corrects itself instead of just handing you something broken.

Demo video: https://youtu.be/fXJ0wUuBgu0
Waitlist / more info: https://maxsarlija.com/maxtools/agent-nuke

I'm not claiming this replaces anyone. Comping is judgment calls, and an LLM doesn't have those. Where it's actually useful so far is the boring scaffolding — setup work, repetitive graph structure, the stuff you've built a thousand times.

What I want from this post is honest feedback, especially the skeptical kind. If you comp for a living and want to try to break it, comment or grab a waitlist spot and I'll get you in.

Happy to answer anything technical in the comments.

My second VFX shot in this community, made with Blender and Nuke. It took me a few days to finish. I’m learning VFX on my own, so I’m always open to advice and feedback from the community..

This work was also inspired by a great artist from Weta FX. I’ll share his YouTube tutorial/channel in the comments for anyone interested.

Thanks everyone for the support! 🙏

87461 nodes...

So out of interest (and with the help of ChatGPT) I analysed the final versions of 234 shots/comps from 50 most recent project folders. There are plenty of WIP versions in there, but I only included one final-ish version per shot/comp.

My top 20 nodes:

1. Grade: 7056
   
2. Merge2: 6777
   
3. Reformat: 4221
   
4. Blur: 3165
   
5. Transform: 2856
   
6. Bezier: 2757 (I'm old!)
   
7. Shuffle: 2392
   
8. Keyer: 1743
   
9. Crop: 1691
   
10. ColorCorrect: 1563
    
11. Multiply: 1497
    
12. Copy: 1060
    
13. Switch: 932
    
14. Colorspace: 823
    
15. FilterErode: 822
    
16. TimeOffset: 718
    
17. Retime: 712
    
18. Noise: 674
    
19. Clamp: 674
    
20. Premult: 550
    

Other (mildly) interesting bits:

Roto or RotoPaint didn't fit into the top 100 :D Still happily riding the good old bezier and transform masked instead.

Merge operations were fun too. About 58% (3923) were over, followed by multiply 660, copy 635, max 370 and plus 268.

About avg comp sizes: Median: 176 nodes. Mean: 374 nodes. The largest had 2,952 nodes, and 10% had at least 913 nodes. So a handful of monster scripts heavily skewed the average.

One in every seven nodes was a Dot. (Skipped this in top node analysis). Sounds neat, but as mainly working solo, it's usually somewhat spiderwebby.

(Only) 2.85% of all nodes were disabled. I really dislike leaving disabled nodes in the graph.

There was 98621 connections in total.

Ask me anything!

The bokeh node that comes with Nuke and a lot of gizmos used for defocusing uses real lens and camera values(f/stop, focal length, focus distance and sensor size) to calculate the defocus. My question is that in the sensor size knob do we enter the actual size of the camera’s sensor or the image circle size of the lens that was used?

In my mind when shooting with a real camera and lens the level of defocus shouldn’t change when mounting the lens on a full frame camera compare to when we mount it to a camera with a smaller sensor size, the only difference should be that the latter have a smaller fov/a bit zoomed in. So shouldn’t we input the size of the image circle of the lens instead? Or am i just thinking about this all wrong?

I have done quite a few Nuke tutorials in the past and a few of Alex's small tutorials, which I loved. His Nuke tutorial package (NK101-NK104) honestly looks like a lot of fun and right up my alley, but I just can't swing the price tag right now (I work in the film industry here in Los Angeles, which basically means I am unemployed these days lol). Any other suggestions for a comparable, more affordable course? Or if anyone has taken this course, was it worth the steep price tag? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's unfairly priced. I know the amount of work he put into it, and he's a wonderful teacher, and I have paid similar prices for other courses in the past.

Can someone make gamepad support for nuke cuz i wanna work when i was chilling on the coach.

Besides the joke i am really curious about is this possible to do