Nuke 17.1 introduces animated Gaussian Splats, volume-based relighting and rendering through Hydra 2.0 inside Foundry’s 3D environment. The update is aimed at visual effects studios, compositors and audiovisual production teams working with 3D reconstructions, USD scenes and advanced effects pipelines. Foundry released the version on 20 August 2026.
The headline is the treatment of Gaussian Splats. Nuke 17.0 had already added native support, allowing captured 3D reconstructions to be imported, manipulated and rendered inside the application. Nuke 17.1 extends that to animated sequences, which is the step that moves splats out of the reference bin and into shot work.
What Nuke 17.1 changes for VFX and post-production
Gaussian Splats represent three-dimensional scenes and objects from data captured in the real world, which makes them a fast route into compositing, 3D reconstruction and visual effects work. The limitation until now was that they were essentially static: useful as an environment, awkward as an element inside a moving shot.
Nuke 17.1 removes that constraint by letting splat sequences be loaded, sequenced and rendered within the same 3D system that already handles the rest of the scene. For a compositor, that means a captured environment can behave like any other element in the script rather than a locked backdrop that everything else has to be matched to.
GeoSequencer brings animated Gaussian Splats into the USD scene
The new GeoSequencer node loads sequences of SPLAT, PLY and USD files and integrates them into Nuke’s USD-based 3D system.
It generates USDC files carrying temporal information, so splats can be brought in as animated elements within a sequence and then worked on with the tools already available in Nuke. For studios dealing with photogrammetry, environment capture or 3D reconstruction through Gaussian Splatting, this is what allows splats to stop being exclusively static and start functioning as part of a dynamic composite.
Nuke 17.1 also widens export through GeoExport, which handles SPLAT, SPZ and PLY alongside USD, USDC and USDA. Elements processed in Nuke can therefore continue on to other tools in the production pipeline, cutting down on intermediate conversions — the kind of friction that quietly consumes hours in a facility running several packages side by side.
Volume-based relighting of Gaussian Splats
The other significant addition in Nuke 17.1 is the development of the SplatRender node, which gains new lighting options for Gaussian Splats.
The system allows DirectLight, PointLight and SpotLight sources inside Nuke’s 3D environment to apply volume-based relighting. One characteristic is particularly relevant: this lighting can be used even when the splat carries no position or normal data, although that data is also exploited where it exists.
Artists can additionally control shadow parameters such as intensity, softness, resolution and depth, which helps elements reconstructed through Gaussian Splatting sit more coherently within the overall lighting of a composite. That matters most in the pipelines where captured real-world environments have to be combined afterwards with CG elements, virtual cameras or other scene content — precisely the cases where a mismatch in lighting is the first thing an audience notices.
Hydra 2.0 and GeoRender arrive in the Nuke 3D environment
Nuke 17.1 adds support for Hydra 2.0 in its 3D viewer, extending how the software connects to the renderers used by other departments in a professional pipeline.
Hydra 2.0 makes it possible to select and preview different render delegates directly from the Nuke viewer, including RenderMan and MoonRay. The aim is to bring what the compositor sees inside Nuke closer to what the other render systems in the production actually generate — a persistent source of wasted iterations when the viewer and the final render disagree.
The update also brings the new GeoRender node, designed to render 3D scenes through Hydra 2.0 and produce passes or AOVs, such as depth or normals, directly inside Nuke. That makes it easier to fold changes made to USD scenes back into the compositing process.
Nuke 17.1 will be the last release line supporting Intel Macs
The update carries one important change for studios still running Apple workstations on Intel processors.
Nuke 17.1 will be the last release line with official support for Intel Macs, following Apple’s announcement that support for those machines ends in future versions of macOS. Foundry recommends that professionals and studios still working on Intel hardware begin planning a transition to Apple silicon to stay compatible with future Nuke releases. For facilities on a multi-year refresh cycle, that is a procurement decision to start now rather than at the next release.
USD pipelines and the wider move towards late-stage 3D
The improvements in this version reinforce how Nuke fits into visual effects pipelines built on USD. The new workflows around Gaussian Splats, GeoSequencer, GeoExport, Hydra 2.0 and GeoRender let compositing, 3D reconstruction and rendering combine within a more interoperable infrastructure.
Nuke 17.1 also improves the export of USD scene modifications non-destructively, preserving the existing structure and making it easier to exchange changes between departments.
The direction is not unique to compositing. The same logic — treating three-dimensional information as something to manipulate late in the process rather than only at capture — is what makes the DaVinci Resolve Studio Depth Map a default part of a colourist’s node tree. Between a compositing package that can relight captured volumes and a grading system that can separate a frame by distance, a growing share of what used to require a full 3D round-trip now happens downstream.
Distribution and further reading
Trigital is the exclusive distributor of Nuke in Spain and specialises in integrating solutions and pipelines for VFX, animation and post-production, working with studios on the implementation of technologies and workflows suited to different production environments. The company has published its own analysis of what is new in Nuke 17.1, and Foundry documents the release in full in its release notes.
What are animated Gaussian Splats in Nuke 17.1?
They are Gaussian Splat sequences loaded through the new GeoSequencer node from SPLAT, PLY or USD files and integrated into Nuke’s USD-based 3D system as animated elements. Nuke 17.0 supported splats only as static reconstructions; 17.1 allows them to be used inside dynamic composites.
Can Gaussian Splats be relit inside Nuke?
Yes. The SplatRender node in Nuke 17.1 supports DirectLight, PointLight and SpotLight sources for volume-based relighting, with control over shadow intensity, softness, resolution and depth. It works even when the splat carries no position or normal data.
Nuke 17.1 makes captured 3D a compositing element
The value of Nuke 17.1 is less in any single node than in what the combination allows: animated Gaussian Splats that can be sequenced, relit inside the composite and exported onwards without conversion, previewed against the same render delegates the rest of the production uses. Set against the end of Intel Mac support, it is a release that asks studios to plan their hardware as deliberately as their pipeline.
