Foundry’s AI-driven SmartRoto add-on for Nuke enables artists to work up to 4x faster compared with manual rotoscoping alone

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Foundry has unveiled SmartRoto, an AI-powered plugin upgrade for Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio, and Nuke Indie.

SmartRoto is available as an add-on purchase and helps automate repetitive and time-consuming rotoscoping across frames and sequences.

Foundry says SmartRoto reduces bottlenecks for studios and frees artists to focus on more complex creative work.

SmartRoto acts as a specialised roto assistant that intelligently moves and deforms splines across shots to follow the subject, based on initial input frames.

Artists working on roto in Nuke can now work up to 4x faster compared with manual rotoscoping alone, says Foundry.

The company adds that, unlike with automated matting solutions, artists using SmartRoto can fine-tune detail by adjusting splines, retaining creative control over the process.  

“SmartRoto provides what artists have been asking for—speeding up the tedious parts of the job while maintaining control,” said Adam Cherbetji, director of product at Foundry.

Foundry recently recruited a team of roto artists and experts for final beta testing of the product.

Benjamin Bratt, compositor and author of Rotoscoping: Techniques and Tools for the Aspiring Artist, said: “I’m shocked at how good SmartRoto is. It uses principles of rotoscoping and incorporates an intuitive, easily adaptable key frame approach that meshes with manual roto practices. It’s easy to fix autogenerated keys, without needing to start from scratch.”

SIGGRAPH 2026 attendees can view a demo of SmartRoto and Nuke 17 in the Foundry’s booth 519 on Tuesday, 21 July at 12pm., in the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Studios and artists with an active Nuke license can purchase SmartRoto at a promotional price of US$499 (£370) per licence.