Terrible Newbie Problem

[user_deleted]

Hi All,

I'm playing around with a Nuke Demo on OS X and I can't work out how to get Gizmos and TCL scripts showing up or how to run Nuke from the command line.

I have managed to make an init.tcl that points to a directory, that works because it creates a preference file, but I can't see anything else. The manual assumes you can already launch nuke from the terminal which makes it doubly frustrating.

Any advice?

Cheers,

Toby

[user_deleted]

Hi Toby,

I'm not working on OSX so I'm not sure about the command line problems.
Usually you need the install path in your environment (i.e. PATH variable under windows) so the shell can find the executable.
Under Linux I would just set an alias to launch Nuke (i.e. alias nuke '/vol/appls/Nuke4.7/bin/nuke' - or wherever the files live on your system).
Apart from that, once installed shouldn't Nuke show up in your Applications folder so you can launch it via the finder?

As for gizmos and such:

If you're lazy you could just dump all your custom files into Nuke' plugins/user folder but that's ugly.
Nuke should automatically create a '.nuke' folder in your home directory and source anything that lives in there and also anything that lives in the folder(s) set by the NUKE_PATH environment variable should it be available. In those locations you can use an init.tcl file (which will be sourced for both UI interactive and render sessions) to add arbitrary plugin paths like this:

CODE
plugin_addpath

Use a menu.tcl file in your plugin path to create the UI for a tool. This file is only sourced for interactive sessions so make sure you don't put anything in there that may be needed in batch render mode.

Use the menu command to create a menu entry and call whatever gizmo/tcl-command you want:
CODE
menu "User/Gizmo to save the world" SaveWorld

This will create a new menu called "User" with an item called "Gizmo to save the world". If you click on it in the UI Nuke will try to find a plugin, gizmo or tcl proc in the plugin paths and launch it.

You may want to have a peak at the tcl tutorials here to et an idea what you can do via tcl in Nuke.

cheers,
frank

[user_deleted]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the advice, the menu.tcl works like a charm, though it took me a few moments to realise that Nuke wasn't diving down into subfolders and I had to explicitly add each path.

It's all fine now. Hopefully they might add this as a preference setting in the GUI.

I can't remember how to set the environment to add nuke to the command line but I'll live. I just would prefer to run it like shake so I can easily see what just happened when it crashes.

Cheers,

Toby

[user_deleted]

Nuke wasn't diving down into subfolders and I had to explicitly add each path.

that's when you can use relative paths such as just "./gizmos" or "./tcl-commands"

It's all fine now. Hopefully they might add this as a preference setting in the GUI.
you mean a UI for the plugin_addpath commands? that would be quite easy to do via tcl. I can have a go when I get a minute. This might actually make for a good tutorial .

I just would prefer to run it like shake so I can easily see what just happened when it crashes.
that should be really easy though. Maybe someone working with OSX can help out here? I'm sure it's a matter os seconds to either set up an environment variable or an alias.

[nico_the_last]

hi frank

Sorry but im very new to Nuke also, Im also having a similar problem, dont know what im doing wrong.

im running in a tcsh environment on my mac.

so ive got a .tcshrc file in my root that reads

setenv NUKE_PATH /Applicaions/Nuke5.1v2/Nuke5.1v2.app
setenv NUKE_PATH /Users/patrickwong/macros/Nuke_setup/plugins
alias nuke /Applications/Nuke5.1v2/Nuke5.1v2.app/Nuke5.1v2

ive made a init.py and a menu.tcl file, they are in the folder above the gizmos. But am not sure what to write in them> ie what variables to setup....

Am i correct im suppose to place the .gizmos into that folder 'gizmos' and then nuke will find it. I remember hearing that im supposed to

put a

menu "Draw/Pat slate" {slate}

into the menu.tcl file.

Please Help ,

thanks

pat