Blackmagic Fusion at SIGGRAPH
July 2016 – Blackmagic Design was showing their Fusion VFX and Motion Graphics software at the show. The product has now released version 8 and is available in two levels. The standard Fusion 8 product is available FREE for OSX, Windows and Linux. Fusion 8 Studio is the paid commercial version and starts at $995 for a single user license and is available in multiple license groups 10, 20 or 50 seats. The Studio version supports stereoscopic 3D capabilities as well as retiming and stabilization capabilities. These are essential tool requirements for working with VR and AR products that are part of the 8.1 release. The new release has an interface to Avid.
For the growing VR marketplace the system now supports input from 360degree cameras and can manage the stitching and spatial disparity of the multi-camera systems. The full VR and 360 compositing is part of the flow and supports the node based composition that is the core of Fusion. This is built on the ability to extend virtual sets and full 3D green-screen studio spaces with the tools to complete larger than physically captured spaces in addition to the stereoscopic support. The tools also use the industry standard Primatte, Ultra, Chroma, Luma and Differential keyers. You get precise control over mattes to create the best possible composite systems for easy cut-out from green screen capture.
The tool is a master control center for both VFX and Motion Graphics applications. The system also adds 3D particle effects and 3D motion graphics to the graphics import environment. The system is frame rate independent and supports full color HDR for the content.
The product, prior to purchase and the open free access being provided by Blackmagic Design, was an expensive professional only tool used by the broadcast networks and major film studios. The same tools and features are now available across operating systems. The primary difference between the paid and free services is network connectivity. The paid version allows spreading rendering, and services and MAM over multiple machines in a network, the free version is for single workstation use.
Blackmagic Design Fusion 8 – Compositing tools
Fusion 8 has integrated 2D and 3D compositing and motion graphics software, with a built in associative toolset featuring paint, rotoscope, titling, animation, multiple keyers including Primatte, an amazing 3D particle system, advanced keyframing, GPU acceleration, and support for importing and rendering 3D models and scenes from other applications. The VFX portion of Fusion includes tools for advanced 3D motion graphics on top of standard VFX functions. The software uses an intuitive flow graph interface that allows the used to easily build sophisticated composites by simply connecting nodes together. Fusion’s true 3D compositing environment lets you combine live action, 3D models, cameras, lights, 3D particles, volumetric effects and powerful image processing tools, all within a single application.
