Hue Qualifier
Pro-grade color keying for Nuke — inspired by DaVinci Resolve.
The Node
Why H · S · L?
wall
car
bottle
All three are "red." The hue is the same; the saturation and luminance are not.
A real qualifier lets you say this red, this vivid, this bright — and isolate exactly the surface you're after. That's how colorists work in DaVinci. Now you can work the same way in Nuke.
Adaptive UI
Working with log, ACES, or HDR plates? Toggle HDR Mode and hit Analyze. The luminance qualifier scans your image, finds the actual maximum pixel value, and rescales the entire UI from 0 → 1.0 out to 0 → max — so you can finally select highlights that blow past 1.0 without fighting the slider.
Features
Resolve-Style 3-Band Qualifier
Three independent qualifier bands in the spirit of DaVinci Resolve's HSL Qualifier — the industry standard for secondary color isolation. Pick a center, set a width, and shape the falloff on each axis.
- Independent Hue, Saturation & Luminance ranges
- Per-band center, width, and soft-edge falloff
- Sample colors directly from the viewer
- Output a clean alpha matte ready for grade or comp
Lock Falloffs Together
The signature feature. Link the soft-edge falloffs of all three bands so a single drag tightens or loosens the whole key in one move — perfect for dialing in a matte without juggling three sets of controls.
- Symmetric or proportional linking
- Unlock individual bands when you need surgical control
- Reduces a typical 6-handle adjustment to 1
Visual, Not Numerical
Nuke's HSV Tool gives you blind sliders. HueQualifier gives you visual qualifier bars — your selection range is drawn directly on top of the spectrum, so you always know exactly what's in and what's out.
- Live qualifier bars over hue, sat, and luma spectrums
- Soft-edge zones rendered as gradient falloffs
- Matte-only viewer mode for fast refinement
BlinkScript GPU Backend
Built on BlinkScript so the entire qualifier — three bands, soft falloffs, and matte output — runs on your GPU. Stays interactive on full-resolution plates instead of bogging down a Read > Grade tree.
- GPU-accelerated on supported hardware
- No external dependencies — single .nk install
- Works in any colour space (linear, log, ACES)
Typical Workflow
Sample Your Target
Drop CA_HueQualifier on your plate and ctrl+click the colour you want to isolate. The three qualifier bands snap to the sampled hue, saturation, and luminance values automatically.
Refine the Key
Tighten or loosen each band visually. Lock the falloffs and drag a single slider to clean up edges across all three axes at once — no more bouncing between sliders to chase a fringe.
Grade, Comp, or Composite
Pipe the matte into a Grade, HueShift, or any downstream node. Perfect for sky replacements, costume re-colours, screen tints, neon isolation, blood-pass keys — anywhere a matte beats a roto.
The Best Way to Key Colour in Nuke
Free forever. No signup. Just download and drop into your .nuke folder.
Download FreeBlinkScript GPU · Nuke 16+ recommended · No external dependencies
Requires NukeX Indie or NukeX Commercial (BlinkScript is not available in Nuke Non-Commercial)