The Foundry’s highly anticipated release of Nuke 7.0 is packed with a wide range of new features and substantial improvements. The updated version will be available to purchase this autumn. Based on feedback from Nuke’s wide user base, this version of Nuke  is faster and more user-optimized than ever before.

As well as some very exciting new additions, the focus of this release has been to really increase performance as well as adding support for Alembic and OpenEXR 2.0 Deep Data.

NUKE 7.0 introduces RAM cache, a sought after feature that will give users real time playback. Also debuting in this major release are a variety of GPU accelerated nodes for NUKEX including MotionBlur, Kronos, Denoise, VectorGenerator, Convolve and ZDefocus. This is a fundamental change that will allow users to utilise the power of their GPUs to speed up interactive image processing times. When the GPU is available NUKEX will now take full advantage of that power. If however it’s unavailable, the software simply reverts back to the CPU without any need to adjust settings.

Jon Wadelton, Nuke product manager at The Foundry comments: “This is the one people have been waiting for. It’s our biggest ever update to Nuke and one that’s going to keep a lot of VFX people happy. Core tools have been improved, brand new functionality has been added and Nuke is now faster than ever. We are really proud of it and can’t wait to get the release out later this year.”

Nuke 7.0 also brings with it a number of options that allow artists to do more within Nuke. Users are now able to perform lighting tasks in a comp using the ReLight node and even model using NUKEX’s new ModelBuilder. Both of these additions reduce the need for artists to jump in and out of other programs or hand work off to other departments.

The roto tools in Nuke have also been entirely redefined to enhance performance and improve stereo support, giving artists more control than ever before. Support for new camera raw formats has been added including Alexa ARRIRAW and the latest R3D SDK. Nuke 7.0 includes Primatte 5 and a brand new 2D tracker with big updates to the workflow and speed. The SplineWarp node and Dope Sheet have also benefited from major improvements.

NUKEX features the core Nuke toolset complimented with a range of exclusive cutting edge tools. Additional NUKEX features include GPU accelerated nodes, 3D camera tracker, modelling and point cloud generation as well as the FURNACECORE plug-in set.

The Foundry also announcedits latest version of HIERO, a popular shot management, conform, and review tool and HIEROPLAYER, a brand new addition that will give artists the ability to view their VFX shots in the context of a timeline — ideal for collaborating and critiquing shots at a workstation. Both releases will be available to purchase this autumn.

Windows OS support in version 1.5 brings HIERO onto all three platforms. This advance will allow even more studios and facilities to adopt HIERO into their pipelines.

HIERO users will now be able to utilize a broadcast monitor to review footage on compatible Blackmagic and AJA SDI-Out Hardware. The Broadcast Monitor Out functionality will give HIERO operators the ability to accurately check that the color space and aspect ratio is exactly the same as it would be when the footage is broadcast.

With the addition of Multi-Channel Image Support, users will now also be able to view all the image layers of multi-channel EXRs for CG passes. Operators will have access to more than just the RGBA pass and view all of the image passes that EXR files can contain, just as they can in Nuke.

HIERO 1.5 also adds support for playback of native ARRIRAW camera footage. Users can either edit directly with the raw footage or transcode out to other image formats using HIERO’s export system.

HIEROPLAYER is a VFX timeline tool built for artists. It works seamlessly with Nuke and HIERO out of the box and via Python scripting, can also be integrated into other apps in your pipeline.