Natron vs...

[art3mis]

A Houdini novice I'm just getting started exploring the world of compositing.

Have any Houdini users reading this tried Natron?

 

Other than being free, was wondering what advantages it has, besides cost, over Maya and Houdini for compositing?

[Atom]

I don't think Natro supports audio so as a final compositor, it is of little use to me. I tried Fusion 8 and it had problems reading my camera footage (.mp4 and .mts). I kind of gave up on both and still fall back to After Effects. Although I do have the Nuke demo installed. Nuke is probably the one you want to learn.

[Federico]

Never had a problem with nuke and the non-commercial version is free so you could try it. From what i can see from the natron's website the interface is the same as nuke, in the end the nodes of a compositing software are always the same.

[matEvil]

I came back on Fusion when pass under Blackmagic Design because is free also for Commercial works (if I read well) and the unlimitated/ultra HD version is very low price around 1000 $.
 Alternative could be Autodesk Composite, but... mh...mh.... Fusion is better if you want a free version.

Mat

[konstantin magnus]

Natron is a open-source copy of Nuke. It still lacks 3D functions but is quite robust in handling 2d compositing.

I use Houdini, Natron and Blender depending on the task. The strong part about Houdini´s comp is VOP filters and generators for me. Blender works for editing and exporting video and audio. 

Edited September 26, 2016 by konstantin magnus

[tony]

As well as missing the 3d functions, Natron doesn't support deep compositing either I believe. It's pretty useful for a basic comp though.

[davpe]

tried it, unfortunately, compared to Nuke, its missing some critical features I'd like to use (many blending modes in merge node are not there, for instance). houdini COP for compositing is... meh. really can't compete with dedicated comp package. but it shouldn't come as a surprise It is a great tool to have but for different things than actual compositing (textures, mostly).

[art3mis]

Revisiting an old thread. Kind of surprised there isn't more mentions of Natron. Deep compositing is coming in next release but the greatest feature for me is price.

Yes Nuke NC is free, but SO crippled as to make it useful only for learning. And learning Natron is essentially learning Nuke.

Edited August 3, 2018 by art3mis

[davpe]

i dunno, maybe it's because nuke is so easy to learn so you can manage in a few days while actually using it at work? no need for something that tries to mimic it for learning purposes (i mean, if you've never seen a compositor before then it's probably useful). if you are freelancing you will do better with Fusion, which is for free too and has definitely more mature toolset. besides, if you're actually making money with it, having a free software may not be the most important thing to you. people will have different opinions, however this is what makes sense to mee. still it is good that Natron exists and trying to create a competitive environment of some sort. maybe in a few years... who knows...