Coming off of its live Nuke 9 launch event, The Foundry announced a non-commercial, non-watermarked version of NUKE, NUKEX, and NUKE STUDIO for individuals interested in learning its node-based compositing software. The NUKE STUDIO is a power, all-in-one modeling, compositing, editing, and collaboration tool for VFX professional pipelines. The software is used throughout the VFX industry on projects ranging from animated features (Mr. Peabody and Sherman) to live action films (Gravity). The non-commercial version, set for release sometime in early 2015, is a node-locked license granted on a rolling 30-day free subscription. The versions do contain limited functionality for Python scripting, monitor support, and third party plug ins. Additional restrictions are placed on where, when, and who can use the software, while limiting its use to "personal learning, personal projects, experimentation and research." Users also do not have access to The Foundry's normal technical support, but the company says it's setting up a new "community area" to be a source of help and advice for users. However, now is a great time to get familiar with Digital-Tutor's NUKE Learning Path tutorials, which can answer many of your questions about working with NUKE. You can also download free assets to experiment with. For more information on the non-commercial versions of NUKE , visit The Foundry's FAQ page or register now for its release in a few months.