Foundry has officially released Nuke 17.1, bringing a major collection of updates to Nuke, Nuke Studio, and Hiero. Released on August 20, 2026, the new version continues Foundry’s push toward a more integrated 2D and 3D compositing environment, with a particular focus on USD, Hydra 2.0, Gaussian Splats, modern camera formats, and production review workflows.
While Nuke has traditionally been known primarily as a high-end compositing tool, recent versions have increasingly expanded its 3D capabilities. Nuke 17.1 takes another significant step in that direction, introducing deeper integration with modern 3D rendering technologies while also improving many everyday compositing and review tasks.
Here are the most important changes in Nuke 17.1.
Hydra 2.0 Brings a More Powerful 3D Rendering Workflow
One of the biggest additions in Nuke 17.1 is the introduction of Hydra 2.0 support.
Hydra is Pixar's framework for communicating between USD scenes and rendering delegates. With Hydra 2.0, Nuke can work with a wider range of rendering technologies directly inside its 3D Viewer.
Artists can now select a Hydra render delegate directly in the Viewer, control display AOVs, and manipulate renderer settings without leaving the 3D environment.
Nuke 17.1 also introduces the new GeoRender node, which can output render-delegate passes directly into Nuke and apply the renderer's settings to the resulting output.
This is an important development for artists working in modern USD-based pipelines because it brings Nuke closer to the same scene and rendering ecosystem used by dedicated 3D applications.
Gaussian Splats Become More Practical for VFX
Gaussian Splats continue to be one of the most interesting technologies entering modern VFX workflows, and Nuke 17.1 expands their capabilities considerably.
The new release allows Gaussian Splats to be relit using Direct, Point, and Spot Lights through SplatRender.
Nuke also adds dedicated shadow controls, giving artists more control over how splat-based environments interact with lighting.
This is significant because Gaussian Splats are no longer limited to being treated as a relatively static captured representation. With lighting and shadow controls, they can become a more interactive component of a compositing and VFX scene.
Animated Gaussian Splats
Nuke 17.1 also introduces the new GeoSequencer node.
GeoSequencer is designed to make working with animated SPLAT, PLY, and USD sequences easier inside Nuke's USD-based 3D system.
The node can generate USDC sequences and automatically populate GeoImport nodes, simplifying the process of bringing animated 3D and Gaussian Splat data into a Nuke scene.
For VFX artists experimenting with neural rendering and volumetric capture, this could become one of the more interesting additions in the new release.
A Deeper USD Workflow
The USD workflow has been expanded with several new nodes, including:
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GeoRenderSettings
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GeoRenderProduct
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GeoRenderVariable
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GeoBreakLayer
Together, these provide more control over renderer settings, Render Products, AOVs, and USD layer modifications.
GeoExport has also been improved for large animated scenes, including workflows designed to reduce memory usage during export.
Nuke 17.1 additionally expands geometry export capabilities with support for formats such as OBJ and FBX.
The overall direction is clear: Foundry is continuing to make USD a central component of Nuke's 3D architecture.
Nuke's 3D Viewer Gets a Major Workflow Upgrade
The 3D Viewer has received a number of usability improvements.
A new Display menu provides easier access to USD Display Purposes, lighting controls, and other display options.
Artists can also quickly control:
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Scene lights
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Viewer Headlamp
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3D Grid
The updated interface makes Nuke's growing 3D toolset easier to operate without constantly opening additional panels.
Better Holdouts with ScanlineRender2
Nuke 17.1 adds new Cutout controls to ScanlineRender2 and several shader nodes.
These controls allow objects to function as holdouts while maintaining their alpha and opacity information, with additional control over how depth and AOV information are affected.
For compositors working with complex CG integration, this provides a more flexible way of controlling geometry that should block or exclude portions of a render.
ProRes RAW Comes to Nuke
Another important addition is native Apple ProRes RAW support.
Nuke 17.1 can now read and process ProRes RAW footage directly.
This is particularly relevant to modern production workflows where ProRes RAW is used for both cinema-camera footage and high-quality footage captured on devices such as iPhones.
The addition also strengthens Nuke's position as a tool capable of handling increasingly diverse camera acquisition formats.
Updated Blackmagic RAW Support
Nuke 17.1 includes BMD RAW 5.1 support.
The update introduces new metadata controls and adds support for cameras that export BRAW files covered by the latest SDK update, including Blackmagic Cinema Camera and URSA-series cameras.
For artists receiving BRAW footage directly from production, this means less dependence on intermediate conversion workflows.
ARRIRAW and ARRICORE Updates
Professional ARRI workflows also receive an update.
Nuke 17.1 includes ARRI Image SDK 9.0.1 and ARRI MXF 4.4.10 support.
The ARRICORE codec also receives a new Decode Quality control, providing additional control over how the footage is decoded.
Better EXR Channel Management
For high-end VFX shots, EXR files can contain an enormous number of channels and AOVs.
Nuke 17.1 introduces expression-based channel filtering, allowing artists to control which EXR channels are loaded into Nuke's channel system.
This can help prevent extremely complex EXR files from unnecessarily consuming Nuke's available channel capacity.
It may sound like a relatively small feature, but for large production EXRs containing dozens or even hundreds of channels, this can make a real difference.
Version Compare Makes Shot Review Easier
Nuke Studio, Hiero, and HieroPlayer also receive important review improvements.
The new Version Compare workflow allows artists to compare different versions of a shot directly from the timeline.
This makes it easier to review changes between versions without having to manually rebuild comparison setups.
For production environments where shots may go through dozens of iterations, this kind of workflow improvement can save a surprising amount of time.
Contact Sheet Gets a Major Upgrade
The Contact Sheet has also been significantly improved.
Nuke Studio and Hiero can now maintain individual Contact Sheet layouts for sequences.
A new Tracks Mode can automatically turn visible timeline tracks into Contact Sheet cells, making it easier to compare different layers, versions, or stages of a shot.
The Contact Sheet can also display useful production information such as:
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Version number
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Clip name
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Track name
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Shot name
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Layer name
A new Stack View provides another way to quickly move through different versions while maintaining a full-frame view.
New Annotation Shapes
Nuke 17.1 introduces a dedicated Shapes annotation tool.
Instead of drawing every annotation manually, artists can create clean vector-based rectangles and arrows.
These shapes can be transformed, rotated, and scaled without losing quality, making them useful for shot reviews, supervisor notes, and production feedback.
More Flexible Burn-Ins
The Burn-In system has also become more customizable.
Artists can now use custom text, TCL expressions, and metadata keys from source media rather than being restricted to predefined metadata options.
This is particularly useful in studio environments where production teams often need to display custom shot IDs, version information, or pipeline-specific metadata.
Why Nuke 17.1 Is Important
The most interesting aspect of Nuke 17.1 isn't any single feature.
It is the direction of the software.
Nuke is traditionally associated with 2D compositing, but Foundry has been steadily expanding its 3D capabilities. With Nuke 17.1, technologies such as USD, Hydra 2.0, Gaussian Splats, render delegates, and modern RAW formats are becoming increasingly integrated into the compositing environment.
This suggests that Nuke is evolving toward a workflow in which compositors can work with considerably more of the original 3D scene directly inside the compositing application.
Instead of simply receiving a rendered image from a 3D application and manipulating pixels, the compositor can increasingly work with scene data, geometry, lighting, materials, AOVs, cameras, and USD assets.
That distinction is important.
The future of VFX is moving toward workflows where the boundaries between 3D, rendering, compositing, and virtual production become less rigid. Nuke 17.1 fits directly into that direction.
The Bottom Line
Nuke 17.1 is not simply a collection of small feature updates. It represents another significant step in Foundry's evolution of Nuke into a more complete 2D/3D VFX environment.
For traditional compositors, improvements such as EXR channel filtering, annotation tools, Version Compare, Contact Sheet enhancements, and new camera-format support offer practical production benefits.
For artists working with USD, Hydra, Gaussian Splats, and modern 3D pipelines, however, the release is considerably more significant.
The combination of Hydra 2.0 + USD + GeoRender + Gaussian Splats could ultimately prove to be the most important part of Nuke 17.1, especially as more VFX pipelines move toward increasingly interconnected 2D and 3D workflows.
Source
Foundry — Nuke 17.1v1 Release Notes
Official release notes for Nuke 17.1v1, including new features, enhancements, and supported formats
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