The Math of Comp


Presenting an information-dense short course, aimed at heightening your technical understanding of what the common tools in Nuke are doing to the pixels in your images.

It's available to watch for free, right here!




I pour a lot of time & energy into everything I create, to ensure I deliver the highest quality possible. If you enjoy this free course and have the means to do so, please consider contributing a few dollars towards my coffee fund to say thanks, and help me create more content!

When donating $5 or more, I'll throw in digital downloads for the video lessons (below), and the Nuke script I used to demonstrate all the concepts in this course, for you to learn from (which includes a custom gizmo, and an extra fun bonus!)






Course Overview

The Math of Comp aims to share knowledge that will deepen your technical understanding of Nuke, as we talk about some of the fundamentals behind what Nuke's tools are actually doing to the pixels in your images.

  • In the first lesson, we'll cover the math of how the Grade Node works, followed by a demonstration of how different methods of matching black levels affect your images differently.
  • Next, we'll take a look at how transforming an image filters its pixels, while touching on why node concatenation is important.
  • Finally, we'll uncover how data on a pixel level can provide greater flexibility when manipulating images, via using ST Maps to do some interesting things!

Who is this course aimed at?

Even seasoned Compositors sometimes adjust sliders until their image looks right, without fully understanding what they are doing. Whether you're an industry professional, or a keen student wanting to learn more, this course is your first step towards gaining a deeper technical understanding of Nuke, and the fundamentals of image manipulation.








Lesson 01

The Grade Node & Matching Black Levels.

In this lesson, we'll take a look at how the 7 knobs in the Grade node work together, and what they do to the pixels in your image. We'll then talk about the mathematical differences between the Grade node's Gamma knob, and the Gamma node. After looking at the mathematical functionality behind the Grade node, we'll finish by touching upon the most technically-accurate method of matching black levels.




Lesson 02

Pixel Filtering & Concatenation.

In the second lesson, we'll discuss image filtering, showing detailed examples of what each filter does to your image. We'll touch on why node concatenation is important, and how it works to retain detail in your images. We'll also talk about how image filtering can produce different results depending on the relationship of your image's pixels, and how we can use different colourspaces to our advantage.




Lesson 03

Manipulating Images with Pixel Data, via ST Maps.

In the last lesson, we'll explore how to use an ST map to warp an image with maximum control, and minimal image filtering. To start, we'll talk about what an ST map is, and how we can create one. Next, we'll talk about the advantages of warping with ST maps vs. traditional methods, and how to speed up heavy camera projection setups. Finally, we'll end with a technique to add natural motion to an otherwise static stock footage element by stacking & time-offsetting a series of warped ST Maps.




Transcript

Some of us learn better by reading, so I have converted the transcript for the above lessons into a PDF, which you may download here.





Did you enjoy this course?

I ❤ coffee, and would happily accept one if you learned something new, and would like to say thank you.

Click here to contribute to Ben's coffee fund.

Don't forget, when donating $5 or more, I'll throw in digital downloads for the video lessons above, and the Nuke script I used to demonstrate all the concepts in this course, for you to learn from (which includes a custom gizmo, and an extra fun bonus!)