Viewing Metadata

Metadata is data within the data. It is information such as original bit depth, width, height, and so on of an image which is embedded in it. NukeX reads the embedded metadata information and passes it down to the process tree. You can change the metadata information in NukeX and also embed the new metadata to an image. You can access metadata nodes from the Metadata menu which is displayed on choosing the MetaData button from the Nodes toolbar. In this section, you will learn how to view, edit, and render the metadata.

To view the metadata embedded to an image, select the node whose metadata you want to view and then choose the MetaData button from the Nodes toolbar; the MetaData menu will be displayed. Next, choose ViewMetaData from the menu; the ViewMetaData# node will be inserted in the Node Graph panel. You can view the metadata information in the ViewMetaData tab of the ViewMetaData# properties panel, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 The metadata information displayed in the
ViewMetaData1 node properties panel

To filter the metadata list, you can use the search metadata for field in the ViewMetaData# node properties panel. To do so, enter a filter criteria in this field; the filtered information will be displayed in the ViewMetaData tab of the properties panel of the node. Fox example, if you enter input in the search metadata for field and then press ENTER; the keys and values having the word input will be displayed in the properties panel, refer to Figure 2. By default, filtering is done for both keys and values. However, you can limit it to keys or values by selecting the keys only or values only option from the within drop-down of the ViewMetaData# properties panel.

Figure 2 The filtered metadata list displayed for key input

Tip: The keys can be referenced while writing expressions.

Note: 1. While viewing the metadata information of a QuickTime file, the ViewMetaData node does not display the gamma or bit depth, refer to Figure 3.

2. If you add the ViewMetaData node after the Merge node having two inputs A and B, you can specify the input whose metadata will flow downstream. To do so, select A or B option in the metadata from drop-down from the Merge tab of the Merge node properties panel.

Figure 3 The metadata of a QuickTime file displayed in
the ViewMetaData# node properties panel