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Deep Expander

ToolSets / Deep
Deep

2026-09-07

ToolSets/deep/deepExpander.nk

deep
expand
utility
holdout
deep expression
z
View on GitHub

Expands deep samples along Z by pulling deep.front forward and pushing deep.back back by a single expand amount.

Deep Expander thickens deep data by adjusting sample bounds on the deep channel. It subtracts the expand value from deep.front and adds the same value to deep.back, so each sample spans a wider depth range.

Use it when deep holdouts or deep merges leave thin coverage, gaps, or fragile edges and you need more depth extent without rebuilding the deep pass. A single expand control drives both sides of the sample.

Drop it on a deep stream in the comp; front moves closer to camera and back moves farther by the same amount, leaving color and other deep channels unchanged.

Script code

version 10.5 v6
push $cut_paste_input
Group {
 name deepExpander
 tile_color 0x421010ff
 selected true
 xpos 1315
 ypos -4115
 addUserKnob {20 User l deepExpander}
 addUserKnob {41 expand T DeepExpression1.expand}
 addUserKnob {26 ""}
 addUserKnob {26 lbl l "" t "May 14, 2019 - Created" +STARTLINE T "Deep Expander v1.0"}
 addUserKnob {22 btn l DerekVFX.ca T "nuke.tcl('start', 'https://derekvfx.ca')" +STARTLINE}
}
 Input {
  inputs 0
  name Input
  xpos 447
  ypos 61
 }
 DeepExpression {
  chans1 deep
  deep.front "deep.front - \[value expand]"
  deep.back "deep.back + \[value expand]"
  name DeepExpression1
  xpos 447
  ypos 342
  addUserKnob {20 User}
  addUserKnob {7 expand R 0 100}
  expand 70.8
 }
 Output {
  name Output1
  xpos 447
  ypos 1055
 }
end_group