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Foundry Nuke - AWS Deadline Cloud
Support overviewNuke version compatibilityDeadline Cloud Conda ChannelGetting startedInstallationUsing the Nuke submitterAdvanced configurationsNuke compositing featuresOpen source resources

Foundry Nuke

Foundry Nuke is a node-based digital compositing and visual effects application used for television and film post-production. Nuke is supported by AWS Deadline Cloud (Deadline Cloud) with submitters, conda packages, and an adaptor for increased rendering performance. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for using Deadline Cloud with Nuke to render your projects faster by distributing rendering tasks across multiple machines.

Support overview

Nuke is supported by the following components:

  • Submitter: Integrated submitter plugin for direct job submission from Nuke with automatic scene and asset detection.

  • Conda packages: Packages to install nuke versions 15, 16, and 17 are available on the Deadline Cloud conda channel for service-managed fleets.

  • Adaptor: Middleware for efficient rendering with sticky sessions and additional monitoring.

  • Cross-platform compatibility: Submitter support for Windows, macOS, and Linux with worker support for Linux only with automatic path mapping.

Nuke version compatibility

The following table shows current support levels for Nuke versions:

Major Version Submitter Support Conda Support
15 Windows, macOS, Linux Linux
16 Windows, macOS, Linux Linux
17 Windows, macOS, Linux Linux

Deadline Cloud Conda Channel

The following table lists conda packages applicable to Nuke available to Service-managed fleets in the deadline-cloud conda channel:

OS Package Version Notes
Linux nuke 15 Includes built-in compositing engine
Linux nuke 16 Includes built-in compositing engine
Linux nuke 17 Includes built-in compositing engine
Linux nuke-openjd Includes the Nuke Adaptor

Getting started

To use Nuke with Deadline Cloud:

  1. Create a service-managed fleet and associate it with a queue. Your queue must be set up with a queue environment that supports the deadline-cloud conda channel. For more information, see Creating a queue environment.

  2. Install the Deadline Cloud monitor and Nuke submitter on your artist workstation using the Deadline Cloud Submitter and monitor Installers. For more information, see Set up your workstation.

  3. Submit your job directly from Nuke using the integrated submitter to the queue.

  4. Monitor the job and download the output using the Deadline Cloud monitor.

Launch the submitter

To launch the Deadline Cloud submitter in Nuke
Note

Support for Nuke is provided using the Conda environment for service-managed fleets. For more information, see Default conda queue environment.

  1. Install the Deadline Cloud monitor and Nuke submitter on your artist workstation using the Deadline Cloud Submitter and monitor Installers. For more information, see Set up your workstation.

  2. Open Nuke.

  3. Open a Nuke script with dependencies that exist within the asset root directory.

  4. Choose AWS Deadline, and then choose Submit to Deadline Cloud to launch the submitter.

  5. If you are not already authenticated, choose Login and log in with your user credentials in the browser window.

  6. Choose Submit.

Installation

To install the Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter, you need:

  • A Windows, macOS, or Linux workstation.

  • Nuke 14, 15, 16, or 17. We recommend Nuke 15 or later over Nuke 14, because these versions are supported by the default conda queue environment on service-managed fleets. To use Nuke 14 with a service-managed fleet, you need to make Nuke 14 available to the worker. The recommended way is to create your own conda package by following Create a conda package for an application or plugin.

There are two ways to install the Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter:

Using the Deadline Cloud submitter installer

You can install the Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter using the Deadline Cloud submitter installer.

To install the submitter:

  1. Download the Deadline Cloud submitter installer.

  2. Run the installer.

  3. When prompted to select components, find and mark the checkbox for Nuke.

    Deadline Cloud submitter installer with Nuke component selected.

  4. Finish running the installer.

  5. Launch Nuke.

  6. Verify the installation by checking if Deadline Cloud has been added to the top navigation bar.

Using the Nuke submitter

The Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter supports two types of jobs:

  • Render jobs - Render the output files created by one or more of the Write nodes in your Nuke script.

  • CopyCat training jobs - Perform training for a CopyCat node in your Nuke script.

Render jobs

To use the Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter, you need:

  • A profile to submit to Deadline Cloud with.

  • An Deadline Cloud farm and queue to submit to.

To submit a render job from Nuke to Deadline Cloud:

  1. Save your Nuke file.

  2. From the top navigation bar, choose Deadline Cloud. From the drop-down menu, choose Submit to Deadline Cloud.

  3. Use the tabs in the dialog to customize your job.

  4. (Optional) To export a job's associated files to your job history directory without submitting it, choose Export bundle.

  5. Choose Submit and follow the prompts to send your job to Deadline Cloud.

Nuke render-specific settings

The Job-specific settings tab has options specific to jobs created in Nuke.

Submitter interface showing Nuke render-specific job settings.

  • Write nodes - Which write nodes to render outputs for. You can either select to render all write nodes, or select a specific node.

  • Views - Which views should be rendered.

  • Override frame range - Select this option to render a different frame or frame range than is set in Nuke. Frame ranges follow the Open Job Description pattern.

  • Use proxy mode - Manages whether to use proxy mode in the submitted job.

  • Continue on error - If selected, Nuke tries to continue rendering when it encounters an error. If cleared, Nuke fails the task when it encounters an error.

  • Chunk size - Number of frames to group into each chunk (1-150). Use 1 for one frame per task (default). Higher values group frames into contiguous chunks to reduce per-task overhead. For more information, see Task chunking for job templates.

  • Target chunk duration (seconds) - When you specify a value, the scheduler dynamically adjusts chunk sizes based on observed runtimes of completed chunks, aiming for this duration for each chunk. Leave at 0 to use a fixed chunk size for all chunks.

  • Use timeouts - Whether to use user-configured timeouts.

  • Render task timeout - Maximum duration of each action which performs a render. Default is 6 days.

  • Setup timeout - Maximum duration of each action which sets up the job for rendering, such as scene load. Default is 1 day.

  • Teardown timeout - Maximum duration of action which tears down the setup required for rendering. Default is 1 hour.

  • Include gizmos in job bundle - Whether to include gizmos in the job bundle.

For information about the other submitter tabs, see the Deadline Cloud guide for using a submitter.

CopyCat training jobs

To use the Deadline Cloud for Nuke submitter to train CopyCat nodes, you need:

  • A profile to submit to Deadline Cloud with.

  • An Deadline Cloud farm and queue to submit to.

  • An Deadline Cloud fleet with GPU-enabled workers associated with the queue you will be submitting to. For instructions on creating a service-managed fleet with GPU access, see Managing service-managed fleets.

To submit a CopyCat training job from Nuke to Deadline Cloud:

  1. Create or open a Nuke script containing a CopyCat node.

  2. Attach ground-truth and input nodes to the CopyCat node, and configure knobs on the node to desired values. See Foundry's CopyCat documentation for details on using CopyCat.

  3. Save your Nuke file.

  4. From the top navigation bar, choose Deadline Cloud. From the drop-down menu, choose Submit CopyCat Training to Deadline Cloud.

  5. Use the tabs in the dialog to customize your job.

  6. (Optional) To export a job's associated files to your job history directory without submitting it, choose Export bundle.

  7. Choose Submit and follow the prompts to send your job to Deadline Cloud.

Nuke CopyCat training-specific settings

The Job-specific settings tab has options specific to CopyCat training jobs created in Nuke.

Submitter interface showing Nuke CopyCat training-specific job settings.

  • CopyCat Node - Select which CopyCat node to train by node name.

  • Use timeouts - Whether to use user-configured timeouts.

  • Render task timeout - Maximum duration of each action. In the case of CopyCat, the training is a single action. Default is 6 days.

  • Setup timeout - Maximum duration of each action which sets up the job, such as scene load. Default is 1 day.

  • Teardown timeout - Maximum duration of action which tears down the setup. Default is 1 hour.

  • Include gizmos in job bundle - Whether to include gizmos in the job bundle.

For information about the other submitter tabs, see the Deadline Cloud guide for using a submitter.

Advanced configurations

Using unsupported versions

Deadline Cloud only supports and tests the workstation and worker software versions in the table above. When using the submitter, the worker attempts to install the same version as used on the workstation. This fails if the workstation version of Nuke does not appear in the version table above.

If you require an unsupported version of Nuke, you have the following options:

  • When submitting the job from Nuke, you can override the CondaPackages queue parameter to specify a supported version to use on the worker (for example, nuke=17, nuke-openjd=*). This might or might not work, depending on the features used by your composition and how Nuke works with compositions from your workstation version.

  • You can build a custom conda recipe and channel for your desired version to be installed on the worker. Use the conda recipe for a supported version linked below as a starting point, and package your desired version in a custom conda channel. For more information about creating custom conda channels, see Creating custom conda channels.

Custom Nuke executable

You can set the NUKE_EXECUTABLE environment variable to point to a specific Nuke executable if it's not available on the PATH.

OpenColorIO support

The Nuke integration includes full support for OpenColorIO (OCIO) color management workflows. Color configurations are automatically detected and included with job submissions to ensure consistent color handling across the render farm.

Nuke compositing features

Nuke's compositing engine provides comprehensive support for:

Feature Description Notes
Write Nodes Multiple output formats and codecs Automatically detected by submitter
Frame Ranges Custom frame range specification Supports override and default ranges
Multiple Views Stereo and multi-view rendering Proper handling of view-specific outputs
Color Management OpenColorIO integration Automatic OCIO configuration detection
Path Mapping Cross-platform path translation Seamless Windows/Linux compatibility
CopyCat ML-based paint and rotoscoping Requires Nuke 14.0 or later

Compositing features are automatically detected and configured by the Nuke integrated submitter. The submitter maintains proper dependency handling and asset management for complex compositions.

Open source resources

The submitter and adaptor are open source and available on GitHub: