ZEISS CinCraft LensCore is a New Nuke Plugin Here to Add Cinematography to Your VFX

Built on the same Virtual Lens Technology released by Zeiss last year, this new CinCraft LensCore is a new Nuke plugin that aims to utilize decades of the company’s optical expertise in post-production and bridge the gap between on-set lens choices and your VFX pipelines.

An ambitious new offering that promises to bring a new level of real-world optics to 2D compositing environments, it’s a big swing by the company and an interesting move further into the world of VFX and virtual productions.

Here’s what you need to know.

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore

So, with this new ZEISS CinCraft LensCore Nuke plug-in, the company is offering VFX artists a dedicated toolset to achieve cinema-grade lens looks within their VFX pipelines. These lenses appear to be grounded in the same characteristics and physics as your actual lenses.

“With CinCraft LensCore, ZEISS brings the effects of real-world optics to a 2D compositing environment. LensCore speaks the same language as the lenses on set, from the way light falls off at the edges of the frame to the nuance of out-of-focus highlights. That fidelity is made possible by ZEISS’s history and deep understanding of optical science.” - Egor Nikitin, Head of Digital Cinematography at ZEISS.

Powered by a unique GPU-accelerated, ray-traced rendering engine for The Foundry Nuke that simulates authentic lens behavior, users should be able to get complete control of every pixel and every frame with sophistication that far exceeds the capabilities of many of its digital lens effects competitors.

One-Click, Completely-Digital Lens Looks

The goal of this new plug-in is to give VFX artists the ability to access one-click, completely digital lens looks that can be applied to a shot with realistic bokeh, defocus, distortion, vignetting, and all of the other optical effects characteristics that you’d find with specific lenses.

“As a former VFX supervisor, I know firsthand how much time gets spent trying to match a specific lens look in post, even when it was properly documented during the shoot. LensCore addresses that need at the source. This advance offers artists a virtual shelf of lenses with accurate, predictable behavior, accessible the same way a DoP pulls a lens from a rental house–to be implemented with just a click. That kind of workflow clarity is a gamechanger.” - Joern Grosshans, Product Manager Digital Cinematography at ZEISS.

VFX artists can take things a step further by loading lens profiles of real cine lenses, or even their own custom presets, and comparing looks in seconds. This new CinCraft LensCore also allows the generation of entirely new, never-before-seen lenses that still behave according to the physics of authentic glass.

Price and Availability

This new ZEISS CinCraft LensCore is set to be available worldwide through the CinCraft webshop beginning June 1, 2026, with multiple licenses available. Pricing is still set to be announced. But, for now, you can find more info on the company’s website here.