What is Reddit's opinion of
Blackmagic Design Fusion?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
52 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Use Fusion: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion IMO better than AE AND its free (if you don't want some fancy plugins). Don't downvote just a personal thing + I like nodes a lot better than layers (in comping. I still use PS).
It's a bit painful because I think only CentOS is supported, but there's Blackmagic Fusion: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
Other than that the closest thing would probably be using Blender, its in built NLE, and its compositing systems.
If you want a good free/low-cost alternative to After Effects, check out Black Magic Design's Fusion. It is node-based (like industry heavyweight Nuke) instead of timeline-based, so there is a learning curve if coming from AE. I much prefer the node-based workflow.
Any pc users who want to try this I found.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/motiongraphics
and it's free.
I exported as a transparaent png image series and dropped them back into sony movie studio.
In the free compositor I use it's just a matter of adding a single node: https://streamable.com/u6qi4
Foreground -> trails effect -> background -> output
After Effects doesn't appear to have a built-in solution for this.
Here yah go. I keep meaning to try this out but never have the time to really sink my head in it.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/motiongraphics
It's free as well, the buy version has some added stuff but probably nothing I'd ever dip into.
Its more on the professional side of things but you could use Blackmagic Fusion which has a free version now https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion You should be able to make the same effect there.
heres a tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GueJj4rc3r4
Check the extensibility section here. Linux version should be the same as the Windows/OS X one, so it has full LUA and Python scripting support with an IDE.
OpenFX/Third Party plug-ins are reserved for the Studio version of the application, which costs 995$(one time fee). Could be related to being able to bind the licence of a plug-in to the license of the software, to prevent piracy and all
Not sure what you mean with Templates. If you are thinking of pre-buildt node tools or something, you can just save the project file and copy it to another machine.
Blackmagic said the free-to-download Fusion 7 includes “almost all” of the features found in the Studio version of the software, apart from plugins, multi user, multi-processing and stereoscopic functionality. The paid-for Studio version seems to be geared towards facilities, with more enterprise-type features for collaboration.
You can see a fully detailed comparison here: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/compare
BlackMagic Fusion can do it. It's very different than AE though so there's a bit of a learning curve. It's similar to Nuke if you have any experience using that.
Here's a tutorial I found that gives a little bit of a glimpse at its graph controls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCcraESLZ80&list=PLK7mnWQu_739DojuEhI7HRrrh_SpDP9-E&index=23
It is "Fusion Lite" in that it doesn't support network rendering and a few other advanced features such as:
- Avid Connect Plug-in
- Render a comp while working on another
- Interactive remote rendering
- Primatte 5 Keyer
- FFMpeg Bridge for further Codec Support
All the core functionality is the same, but the benefit of Resolve Fusion being fully integrated into Resolve projects. Here is the feature comparison to compare.
and you went through all these?
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/training
given how new the addition of Fusion is and how small the market, i can imagine there's not a whole ton of training out there...
Older versions seem to work but it's a hard no on current versions. Have you tried Fusion 9? It's professional enough that it's been used for several major motion pictures. It's cross-platform and works natively on Linux.
I dont use it much myself, however Blackmagic Fusion is apparrently really good for getting started in the industry. There is FREE version which involves pretty much 90% of the paid version ($300 for life). Here is a link if you're interested :D -> https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
I honestly thought Criss meant "propitiatory" software, when he said in the open source community people quickly suggest stuff like blender. But that also could just been my imagination. ;)
Because of that I thought instantly about BlackMagic's Fusion 8 which has now Linux support. But like you I'm not a expert on this field :)
edit: Sorry I didn't see that you already mentioned fusion.
I believe starting with 17, the digital keys work with Fusion Studio as well. Dongles for sure will license both programs.
BMD has an official comparison between Fusion in Resolve and Fusion Stand-alone. Couple notes that may not be on there:
- Resolve can't dedicate all the RAM to Fusion; you can see this in Resolve's System Preferences.
- Resolve's more timeline-based; Fusion standalone's shot-based. You can work on a shot-by-shot basis in Resolve, but it's clunkier than Fusion, IMO. In Fusion Standalone, each project is a separate project file, vs. Resolve where it's all in a project in the project database.
I haven't done any CGI editing with it but VFX, audio mix and mastering are excellent. I produced music for years prior to getting into film work and I'm impressed by the capabilities of DaVinci.
It's popular in Hollywood. John Wick 3, Deadpool, MIB:I, Spiderman, and many more DaVinci was used. (I should get compensated talking them up haha) But in reality enjoy sharing good products with fellow filmmakers. Check out this article.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/visualeffects
Why don’t you regard Blackmagic Fusion as an industry standard? These websites refer to movies made using Fusion.
You can also do some pretty interesting things in After Effects if you have it. One time I replaced a car's windows with video footage created from animated GIFs (It can create a video from a GIF). So when you're "in the car (in VR), you see different scenery going by you as the car moves forward. You can also place 2D PNG images into a video without distorting them.
The free version of Da Vinci Fusion is pretty powerful too. It lets you bring 3D models into your 360 video.
glitterlok is right about the potential motion sickness. One time I tested a VERY slow zoom-in effect where a distant object gets closer. No matter how slow I made the zoom, I still felt motion sickness. Google, when they were in the VR Video-producing business, gave some guidelines for performing tasks such as manipulating a user's perspective while he's watching a 360 video.
I also clicked through to the comments to recommend resolve, as a free program with very few restrictions it's excellent.
They are also offering Fusion free now too, which is the BlackMagic Design equivalent to After Effects for anyone wondering.
You can do basic keyframe animation of titles in Resolve; but I don't think you could do the 3d rotation required to replicate that particular logo.
What you need is Fusion, which Blackmagic are slowly transforming from a compositing package into an After Effects competitor.
If you're okay using a different application for your compositing, Fusion 9 now has built in point, planar, and camera tracking - https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
You can always send that shot to Fusion, export it, and bring it back into FCPX when you're done compositing.
Try out Fusion.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion
There is a free version and it is basically a poor mans Nuke. Some people even prefer it over After Effects but I'm not one of them.
Oh and one last thing, editing software, compositing and the word "easy" don't go together. Sorry.
BTW you say you're in highscool, Adobes student license thing is quite affordable. http://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/buy/students.html
>Subscribed!
Nice!
>A few months ago I made a Windows boot just because I couldn't find an alternative to After Effects and was in a hurry.
I considered making a Windows boot as well but I haven't yet. Trying to hold out. :) I haven't had one in 10 years but I'm getting close to at least attempting it.
> couldn't find an alternative to After Effects
Now there's Natron and Black Magic Fusion
Hmm... I used this plugin at work on a project where we were sent some really badly shot greenscreen footage. I was a few years ago, but I seem to remember that it helped a bit... http://aescripts.com/screen-equalizer/
Also, to piggyback on the Primatte suggestion... I just saw the other day that the Primatte keyer is bundled in with the free version of Blackmagic Fusion 8: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/vfx
Fusion is a separate program than After Effects... it's a node based compositing program that Blackmagic acquired about a year ago. I haven't messed around with it too much yet... but Primatte for AE costs around $500, so Fusion might be worth taking a look at.
I thought so, but there are rumours that A.Q. Khan smuggled CDs with pirate versions of all Adobe applications and possibly even an older version of Fusion.
Better option: grab Fusion: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion
Much faster and more capable than Blender's compositor, but you still have the nice, node-based goodness, proper floating-point support, and so-on. The free version should take care of pretty much anything a hobbyist would need, and can even be used commercially (for that matter, most freelancers and smaller studios might be ok with the free version too, depending on what they do).
Nuke also got a free version recently: https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/non-commercial/. It's not the industry standard for nothing. But the free version cannot be used commercially and is limited to 1080p, even for stills. If that works for you though, it's probably the way to go.
Immersive audio formats you can select in Project Settings in Resolve 17 Studio (obligatory 17's a beta, blah blah blah):
- Auro-3D
- Dolby Atmos*
- MPEG-H Audio
- SMPTE ST 2098
- 22.2 Surround
*Pretty sure you need to go through licensing for Atmos with Dolby, similar to Dolby Vision.
There's some more details on VR that might apply to 360 on the Fusion comparison page but I'm not an expert on either of those since I mostly work in film/tv.
There is a Fusion page in Resolve, but Blackmagic also develops a standalone version of Fusion, which is more powerful and, as far as I heard, more stable.
Have not used it myself though, so I can't vouch for that.
After Effects would be the easiest and best to use for this but you also might want to consider Davinchi Resolve and Fusion that comes with it, as it is free. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
Fusion in Resolve is quite complete. You mainly give up network rendering, super large format rendering, Primatte 5 Keyer, and such. Blackmagic Design is really good about providing Resolve as feature complete and charging for the items that are a real value to studio level work. This is a really good strategy in my opinion.
Check out the feature comparison.
Just get Resolve, it's free up to 4K, is based on da Vinci Resolve color grading suite, includes an integrated Eyeon Fusion version and Fairlight audio mixer.
And if you're ready to pay for it, get Fusion Studio, as that dongle/license also unlocks Resolve Studio, so 2 for the price of one (which isn't advertised.)
Then I'd suggest saving the cash, staying on CS6, and looking into learning Fusion and maybe Blender for 3D stuff. Fusion can do *almost* everything that After Effects can, so for the majority of things you want to accomplish in AE you will be able to do them inside Fusion. It also has a built in particle emitter so you'll be able to build on that and create some interesting renders.
Good luck.
I don't do enough AE work to really directly say so, but IMHO in what I have done, yes. Fusion specifically was (and actually still is) a separate application and from what I know some people preferred it over AE anyway. But if you buy Resolve 16 you essentially get the full version of AE baked in (I think there are some small differences, would have to Google around to find out).
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But AFAIK it's a very different layout than AE, I know some people that have had trouble swapping over and still use AE for most effects work (but use Resolve for editing since it's plain and simple just a better editor). But if you spend the time with it you can do some amazing stuff.
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But hey, here's the good news, Resolve is totally free including Fusion. The Studio version just has more effects, transitions, higher resolution support, etc... which IMO is worth the $300 it costs so I bought it. It's great too they have a USB dongle you can get, and literally just having that plugged in activates your software, so if you move to another computer just bring it with you. And it's a true one time payment, at least so far they haven't charged for upgrades from say 14 to 15 or 16.
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Fusion linked below:
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What do you mean by frame by frame editing? Are you compiling a series of still images? Or perhaps you are trying to do frame by frame animation? There are some software out there that can do some of the things after effects can do. But, they don't do them as well, what I mean by that is some of the software is more attuned to doing one specific task. For example after effects is a compositor software, so is nuke. In many ways nuke is superior to after effects, however, nuke does not do motion graphics, at least not well. The closest thing would be either black magic's Fusion https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/ or Natron https://sourceforge.net/projects/natron/ which both are free,however, both also have their issues.
I'd say that it competes with Premiere for editing and After Effects / FCPX for motion graphics.
The editing is probably arguably pretty similar in ability - Resolve even has a window that opens when u install asking if you're more familiar with FCPX / Media Composer / Premier Pro and it'll set the same keyboard layout.
For motion graphics / effects the new Fusion page is again similar to AE / FCPX in ability but comes to it from a dramatically different angle. Where AE is layers and nested compositions Fusion is node-based. It can be a bit of a mind-stretcher to initially start thinking like that but it makes it, honestly, astonishingly powerful.
Like I mentioned, Fusion has been incorporated into Resolve now...but the stand-alone Fusion is still available and also has a free version to check out (with no 'bad' limitations). So if you want to check that out separately: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
Don't think this was off-topic, think it's a comparison a lot of people make :)
No, After Effects costs money. If free is important, check out BlackMagic Fusion - it's free to use and extremely powerful, but not as intuitive as After Effects.
As a heads up, Fusion, by the same people who do DaVinci Resolve is a free VFX node-based compositing app. Full featured and not restricted.
You could 100% do Hollywood level comping with Fusion for your fan film or short movie.
Fusion 9 by Black Magic - VFX compositing software
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
Now published by Black Magic, Fusion is VERY powerful node based compositing software (ala Nuke). The free version does EVERYTHING a freelancer, hobbyist or even small studio could want. Paid version has mostly network features and a better keyer.
There is NO reason not to have this if you are making fan films or indie productions.
With this and DaVinci Resolve, you have an astounding amount of pro level power at your fingertips.
Blackmagic Fusion is neat image/video compositing software where you basically stack a bunch of filters until it looks good. Took up a decent chunk of my time just playing around with it.
Comes in a free version which only has a couple features missing, and otherwise is very powerful.
Dragon frame has a basic chroma key tool built into it, so if your flying shot has a static camera you could make your rig green and shoot a background plate and do everything within the program.
If your shot is more complicated, you could try using a free alternative to After Effects like Fusion (Win) or Pixel Conduit (Mac). But you'll be dealing with the learning curve of learning a new software.
It is my understanding that they are NOT killing Fusion as a standalone product. In fact they released a new version with the new VR yadda yadda. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
I'm looking at this tool as a potential Smoke replacement, and I really hope the tool is as good as promised.
Now, it would be interesting to see if Resolve could play ball with Fusion render nodes.
Yes there's a paid version which scared me away but I looked on forums and the people said there's almost no point to pay the studio version which is 299$ https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/compare
Good then, please marked as solved and don't pirate software. I'd recommend seeing if there are low cost and free options that can get your job done. Plus if you are a student you may be entitled to a discount too!
Look into stuff like this: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion
Cinema seems expensive but its a perpetual license, which I find cheaper in the long run than subscriptions. Especially if you choose to skip a couple updates and upgrade when necessary.
Houdini can be a great overall package for you guys and they have a nice Indie version at $199, but they limit 3 copies to companies who gross under $100k a year and it also has an extremely steep learning curve. It allows you to make some extremely complicated stuff, but all that might be overkill for the kind of renders you're aiming for.
Another package worth considering is Blender. Its free and open source and can match most features from the other big packages. Its UI is a bit outdated/clunky, but since its open sourced, someone forked it with a much more streamlined UI called BforArtists
For compositing, I recommend taking a look at Natron which is a free and open source cousin of Nuke and Blackmagic Fusion. Nuke is the undisputed king of compositing but it is obscenely expensive. For your usage, Natron will easily suffice.
- Nuke
- Smoke
Those are pretty expensive.
- Fusion is a little cheaper now: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/
~~Nothing free comes to mind.~~ Neat, there is a free version of Fusion 9
For sure. Think of Hitfilm as a notsogreat AE and Pr Pro just smashed into one app. However, if you're looking for more compositing tools, Blackmagic Design also has another free app (Blackmagic Fusion 8) which is supposedly great for compositing. It's a node based workflow though... so it's probably really confusing at first.
Look into Black Magic Fusion, too. They have a free version that's nearly feature complete with the paid version. It is a node compositor but it includes plenty of motion graphics capabilities as well.
If you're on Windows, Fusion is a very excellent editor, but it has a steep learning curve. I like it better than any other free editor I've tried (Windows Movie Maker, Photo Story, Lightworks, Blender).
I've not used it myself, but Black Magic offers Fusion, a visual effects software, for free https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion
I was also going to recommend Hilfilm, but it seems they don't have their lite versions anymore.