Launch Nuke. Choose Edit>Settings or press "s" in the tree window
(the DAG, or Dynamic Acyclic Graph). The settings window will pop up.
Set the Frame Range from 1 to 240 and check mark the "Lock range"
button. Set fps to 24. Set the format to 2K and the proxy format to
NTSC.

Please note that Nuke automatically adjusts for differences in aspect
ratio between proxy and full resolution formats. So you can work in the
faster NTSC mode, and any work you do will automatically translate to
the high-resolution images at the touch of a button, regardless of
aspect ratio.

Check the "proxy mode" box. This will put us in the faster, Low Res Proxy Mode.

Choose Image>Constant. This will create "Constant 1" in the DAG. A
constant is a blank square, which serves as a background. Make sure
that the constant's format is 2k and the proxy format is NTSC. Choose
Draw>Text and make sure that it is attached to "Constant 1". In the
Text Dialog, erase the default "frame[frame]" and type "D2 Nuke" into
the message area. Choose a good font. I'm using impact.ttf in this
tutorial, but any font will do.

Change the rest of the parameters as follows:
Size: 590
Justify: center bottom
Translate: x: 1024 y: 578

Click on the Text node and press "1" or choose Other>viewer>input
1. A Viewer window should appear with a big white "D2 NUKE" centered in
the NTSC bounding box. The viewer's node appears in the DAG and can be
attached to any part of the tree just like any other operator. Each
viewer has 10 inputs, and there is no limit to the number of viewers
that can exist in a script. Although having a bunch of viewers in your
script will probably slow down your comp pretty effectively. To Use
additional viewer inputs, select another node and press 2. If you click
on the viewer, you can jump between inputs simply by pressing its
number, 1,2,3,4 etc. Hitting the space bar will switch to the next
highest viewer input.

Next we're going to use a ramp and some color correction to make the
text look like reflective brass. Choose Draw>Ramp. Enter the
following values into the Ramp Dialog and then close:
Point
0: x: 118 y: 545
Point 1: x 118 y: 1150
Type: Smooth0

Disconnect the Ramp Arrow from the text operator, and attach it
directly to the constant. Select the Ramp operator and choose
Color>Lookup so that the Color-Lookup attaches itself to the Ramp
operator.

The lookup operator dialog has a diagonal line on a grid. The master
curve affects all channels uniformly, including the alpha. You can
choose separate curves for each color channel, by clicking on the
buttons at the left. For this tutorial we are only concerned with the
master curve.

The lower left end is at 0,0 on the grid, and represents the black
point of the image. The upper right, positioned at 1,1 represents the
white point. By sliding these two, you can adjust brightness and
contrast of the image.

When sliding points around the curve, that point's numerical
coordinates float beside the selected point If you bend the line
without touching the ends, you will affect all of the values between
white and black. For this tutorial, we want only "master" curve
selected. Hold down CTRL+ALT and click on the diagonal line
representing the master color correction curve. This should insert a
point in the middle of the master curve. Slide this new point to
coordinates 0.3, 0.6. Hold down CTRL+ALT and click to add a second
point to the right of the last inserted point. Slide this new point to
coordinates 0.32, 0.2. Press "f" to fit all of the curve's points into
the window.

Being careful not to move anything, drag a box to select all points on
the curve. Press "L" to make the curve interpolation to "Linear" and
close the dialog box (shown in lower left).

And the affected ramp should look the frame in th lower right:

Choose Color>Grade and make sure it gets hooked up to the
Color-Lookup operator. Enter the following values into the Grade1
dialog and press close:
Gain r: 1.3 g: 0.93 b: 0.5

Choose Channel>Shuffle and attach it to the Grade1 operator. Click
in the alpha out row of the 1 column to set the alpha channel to a
solid value of 1 (white)

Choose Merge>Merges>Multiply. Attach the A side of the multiply
operator to the Shuffle, and the B side to the Text operator.

Attach the viewer to the Multiply and you should see your text now has a shiny looking brass-like texture to it.

Choose Filter>blur, attach it directly to the Text operator, and
enter the following values:
Size: 50
Filter: Triangle

Choose Color>Grade, attach it to the blur1 operator, and change the
following values: Multiply 2. Choose Channel>Shuffle and attach it
to the Grade2 operator.

Click on the button grid to set the red, green and blue rows to black
by clicking in the 0 (black) column, and the alpha out row is checked
in the "a" column.

Choose Merge>Merges>Screen. Attach the A side of the screen operator to the multiply, and the B side to Shuffle2.

If you attach the viewer to the screen operator, you should see sharp
metallic brass letters on black, and if you press "a" in the viewer,
you should see white, very blurry text on black. Press "a" again to see
the color channels, and press "m" to see the alpha as a red overlay.

Choose 3D>Geometry>Card and attach the resulting card operator to
the Screen operator. When attached to the card, the viewer will pop
into 3d mode. You can navigate by holding various combinations of ctrl,
alt and option and dragging with the mouse. Use the frame counter at
the top of the viewer to go to frame 200.

Choose 3D>Modify>Transform and attach it to the Card operator. In
the TransformGeometry dialog, click on the "node" tab and change the
name of the operator to: TGM (which is short for Transform Geometry
Master, and way easier to type)

Click on the "TransformGeo" tab and enter the following values:
Translate: x: 0 y: 0 z: -0.015
Pivot: x: -0.17 y: 0 z: 0

Click on the curve button to the right of the translate value fields and choose "Set Key" from the pop-up Menu.

Set keys on Translate, rotate, and pivot. Use the viewer's frame
counter to go to frame 1. Still in the TGM operator, set the following
values:
Translate: x: 0 y: 0 z: -0.3 Rotate: x: 0 y: 0 z: 45
The fields for the changed values should change to green indicating
that a key frame was set. Close the operator. Choose
3D>Modify>Transform and attach it to TGM operator.

We are going to link this new TransformGeo operator to the TGM master
operator using an expression. Click on the curve button to the right of
the translate value fields and choose "Edit>Expressions" from the
pop-up Menu.

A little dialog should appear. Enter the following expressions into the respective fields:
Expression for x: TGM.translate.x
Expression for y: TGM.translate.y
Expression for z: TGM.translate.z

Click on the curve button to the right of the rotate value fields and
choose "Edit>Expressions" from the pop-up Menu. A little dialog
should appear. Enter the following expressions into the respective
fields:
Expression for x: TGM.rotate.x
Expression for y: TGM.rotate.y
Expression for z: TGM.rotate.z

Click on the curve button to the right of the pivot value fields and
choose "Edit>Expressions" from the pop-up Menu. A little dialog
should appear. Enter the following expressions into the respective
fields:
Expression for x: TGM.pivot.x
Expression for y: TGM.pivot.y
Expression for z: TGM.pivot.z

A green arrow should appear between the two operators linked by the expression.

Select and copy the TransformGeo1 operator. Paste it ten (10) times, so
that you have 10 "slave" TransformGeo operators which are all plugged
into each other. A green arrow to the TGM master operator, showing the
expression reference source, should link each of these.

Choose 3D>Scene. A round operator called scene will appear. Grab the
output arrow from the right side of the Card 1 operator and attach it
to the scene operator. This should become arrow 1 on the scene
operator. Grab the output arrow from the right side of the TGM
operator, and attach it to the scene operator. This should become arrow
2 on the scene operator.
Grab the output arrow from the right side of the TransformGeo1
operator, and attach it to the scene operator. This should become arrow
3 on the scene operator.

Repeat with all TransformGeo operators so that they attach in order to
the Scene1 operator. Choose 3D>Render and a ScanlineRender operator
will appear. Make sure it is attached to nothing. Grab the output arrow
from the right side of the Scene operator and attach it to the
ScanlineRender node.

Under the ScanlineRender Tab in the dialog box set the following values:
Samples: 5
Shutter: 1

These setting will make the motion blur a bit more visible – tweak to taste.

If you did it right, in the viewer, in 3D mode, you should see a row of
12 cards trailing off into the distance. Here's what frame 1 should
look like. You may have to use control, alt or option, and click to
swing around the viewer so that you can see from this view.

Click into an empty space in the DAG and choose 3D>Camera. The
camera node will be placed wherever you clicked, and will not be
connected to the rest of your tree. Grab the output arrow from the
right side of the Camera operator and attach it to the ScanlineRender
node.

Double-click on the camera operator to open it's dialog. Click on the
"Projection" tab and change only the following value:
Focal length: 20

Use the frame counter on the viewer to go to frame 1. Click on the
"Camera" tab in the camera dialog and change the following
values:
Display: textured+lines
Translate: x: -0.15 y: 0 z: -3.2
Rotate: x: 0 y: 0 z: 180

Click on the curve button to the right of the value fields and choose
"Set Key" from the pop-up menu for both translate and rotate. Use the
frame counter on the viewer to go to frame 200. Click on the "Camera"
tab in the camera dialog and set only the following values:
Translate: x: 0.02 y: 0 z: 1
Rotate: x: 0 y: 0 z: 0

Then use the frame counter on the viewer to go to frame 130. Click on
the "Camera" tab in the camera dialog and set the following values:

Translate: x: -0.15
Do NOT change any other values. The translate x: box should go green,
and the rest should stay blue or white.

Use the frame counter on the viewer to go to frame 240. Click on the
curve button to the right of the value fields and choose "Set Key" from
the pop-up menu for both translate and rotate. If you attach the viewer
to the ScanlineRender node and you are in 3D mode, you should be able
to see the entire scene. As you drag the time marker down the timeline
you should see the scene animate, and the camera fly through the scene.

If you switch over to 2D mode, Frame 147 should look like this:

If you want to letterbox the image (for speed as well as adding a
film-like quality) do the following: Choose Transform>Crop and
attach it to the scanlineRender node. Click on the curve button to the
right of the translate value fields and choose "Edit>Expressions"
from the pop-up Menu. A little dialog should appear. Enter the
following expressions into the respective fields:
Expression for x: 0
Expression for y: (height – (width*pixel_aspect / 1.85 )) /2
Expression for r: width
Expression for r: height – (height – (width*pixel_aspect / 1.85 )) /2

This will calculate an accurate 1.85 Letterbox matte based off of the
format resolution and aspect ratio. These expressions produce an
accurate 1.85 mask for any format you choose to create with any aspect
ratio. Using a value of 2.35 instead of 1.85 will give you a typical
anamorphic widescreen letterbox. 1.77 will give you a 16×9 letterbox.

Choose Image>Write. Attach it to the Crop node. Please note that
there are two output fields in the write operator. The top field will
write out hi-resolution files when in High Res mode. The bottom field
will write out proxy-resolution Files (in this case NTSC) when in proxy
mode. Enter output path into the LOWER "Proxy" field using the
following sample:

The %04d will insert a 4 digit padded number in the file name (0001) ,
%05d will insert a 5 digit padded number in the file name (00001).
Press the "Execute" button. Specify the frame range (1-240) and press OK

Press "s" in the DAG. Uncheck the Proxy box. Enter output path into the UPPER "file" field using the following sample:
z:/LogoTutorial/Render/NTSC/LogoTutorial.%04d.cin

Press the "Execute" button. Specify the frame range (1-240) and press
OK. You should now have a 2k sequence, which you will be able to film
out.

We're done!
Here's what the final composite script looks like:

Click below to see the Flying Logo Effect.

Rachel Dunn
Freelance VFX Artist/Cinematographer
www.racheldunn.com

Rachel Dunn has many years of experience high-end digital
post-production and Visual Effects. While working at Digital Domain as
a compositor, Rachel was one of the earliest power users of Nuke and
has a deep understanding if its mechanics and feature set. Rachel is
currently a freelance Cinematographer and Visual Effects artist based
in Los Angeles. She has just finished shooting a feature, and is
currently working on high-end VFX various A-list clients and projects.
She’s currently working on X-Men 3 and her effects credits include
Dante's Peak, The Fifth Element, Kundun, Red Corner, Armageddon,
Titanic, What Dreams May Come, Supernova, Fight Club, O Brother Where
art Thou, and The Grinch, The Time Machine, XXX, Star Trek Nemesis,
Looney Toons Back in Action as well as Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow. Dunn also teaches at Gnomon Workshops.

For information regarding the new features in version 4.5
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