Datasheet
32 chapter 1 ■ Setting Up a Composite
Nuke Tutorial 1: Working with the Reformat Node
Working with source footage that possesses different resolutions can lead to formatting and
composition problems unless special steps are taken.
1. Open Nuke. Choose Edit
→ Project Settings from the menu bar. In the Project Settings
property panel, set the Full Size Format menu to 1K_Super_35(full-ap). This creates a
project with a resolution of 1024
×778. Note that the resolution bears no indication of
a PAR. In contrast, the NTSC format displays a size of 720
×486 .9, where the .9 is the
non-square PAR. If a PAR is not listed, it’s assumed to be 1.0.
2. In the Node Graph, RMB+click and choose Image
→ Read. In the Read1 node’s
properties panel, browse for
symbols.tga in the Footage folder on the DVD. Select the
Premultiplied check box to interpret the alpha channel correctly. Connect a viewer to the
Read1 node. A graphic with five symbols is shown. The viewer indicates the size of the
graphic by adding a 1024,778 notation to the top-right corner of the view frame. In
this case, the graphic is the same size as the project resolution (see Figure 1.32). The
project resolution is indicated at the lower-right corner of the frame.
Figure 1.32 (Left) 1024×778 symbols graphic (Right) 2048×1556 city photo
3. In the Node Graph, RMB+click and choose Image → Read. In the Read2 node’s
properties panel, browse for
square.tif in the Footage folder on the DVD. Connect
the viewer to Read2. A city square is displayed. However, the view adapts to the new,
larger resolution of the
square.tif image. This is indicated by the 2048,1556 notation
at the top-right of the view frame (see Figure 1.32).
4. With no nodes selected, RMB+click and choose Merge
→ Merge. Connect the viewer
to the Merge1 node. Connect input B of the Merge1 node to the output of the Read2
node. Connect input A of Merge1 to the output of Read1. The Merge1 node applies a
blending operation to combine the two images. Because
symbols.tga carries an alpha
channel, it appears on top of the city square. However, since
square.tif is larger than
symbols.tga and the project resolution, the view frame remains fixed at 2048×1556.
In addition, the symbols graphic is forced to the bottom left of the frame (see
Figure 1.33). If you were to render the Merge1 node’s output, the resolution would
remain 2048
×1556.
5. To force the Merge1 node to create a project-sized resolution, feed the Read2 node
through a Reformat node. To do so, select the Read2 node, RMB+click, and choose
Transform
→ Reformat. A Reformat1 node is inserted after Read2. The composition
instantly returns to the proper size of 1024
×778, and the symbols take up the entire
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