What if you could control Nuke with prompts instead of clicks?
Update 9/06 – The course material now includes a PDF with a descriptions, code, and screenshots of the build.
In AIF101: Nuke MCP – AI Copilot for Compositors, creative technologist and veteran Nuke artist Doug Hogan pulls back the curtain on how he built a working AI assistant for compositing. Using open-source tools and practical Python workflows, this hands-on course walks you through the process of connecting The Foundry’s Nuke to Anthropic’s Claude via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a new framework designed to let you build tools that think like a compositor.
Whether you’re a Nuke artist looking to automate repetitive tasks, a pipeline TD exploring AI integration, or just curious about the future of prompt-driven workflows, this course gives you a real-world foundation to build on. Across three concise chapters, Doug shows how to:
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Set up an MCP socket server in Nuke
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Connect to Claude Desktop using Python
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Write your own command handlers and workflow rules
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Test with real prompts that create nodes, clean up graphs and debug comps
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Expand the system to fit your pipeline
You’ll walk away with a working AI copilot that’s tailored to how you work and a deeper understanding of what’s possible when you combine AI and compositing. No fluff, no hand-waving, just practical, production-tested tools and techniques.
Doug Hogan brings over 18 years of experience as a compositor, VFX supervisor, and creative technologist. His career spans feature films, commercials, and immersive media, with leadership roles at Reel FX and now Groove Jones, where he explores the frontier between AI, XR, and traditional post. He’s also the creator of the open-source Nuke MCP project and an active voice in the VFX community through Nukepedia, GitHub, and his VFXTalk forum.
“This course is designed to keep you in the creative flow and free of all those repetitive tasks. It’s hands-on, it’s open source and by the end, it’s yours to evolve.”
– Doug HoganAIF101 – Nuke MCP: AI Copilot for Compositors is available now at fxphd.com