I've got to post again. Hopefully the reason no one else has commented is because you're all too busy downloading it.

This is a far more powerful compositing tool than After Effects CS6 (I never went to cloud) for FREE. Even without support for third-party plugins in the free version, this has enough native effects for over 90% of the work I do. There is a learning curve, but you MUST have this on your system.

I downloaded and installed it. I then tried to simply put some video into the program and play it, prior to actually doing something useful. After about half an hour, I still hadn't been able to see one frame of my video.

This is clearly very powerful, but also is way beyond my ability to learn or use. I have uninstalled the program and used System Restore to make sure I get everything back to the way it was.

I wish I could use it, because I have many uses for a good motion tracking tool.

I got it to work and I love it, brilliant, just brilliant, using nodes blows Vegas and AE away. I can select any node and press 1 or 2 on the keyboard and see the output of that node. That is much easier to work with than using layers.

Now there is a problem, a real show stopper I suspect for most of us.

It will not import ANY of the camera footage I have. Maybe I've missed something, maybe this is a limitation of the free version. I tried MXF .MP4 and MTS. All of which gave me a "Loader error at frame 0". It's not apparent that something is remiss which might explain JM's lack of success, you have to switch to the console to see the error message.

I really, really hope there's a way to get this to work with the more common camera codecs. The ONLY video file I could get imported and working with Fusion was some ex VHS AVI file.

Aside from that it is worth the effort to come to grips with the nodal thing.

Bob.

Bob, there is now a dedicated section on the Blackmagic forum for Fusion, and there are no posts in there (that I could find) that mention not being able to import common file types. See: http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewforum.php?f=22

I have downloaded it but not yet installed on my post machine. I note "Fusion requires Apple Quicktime to be installed on the workstation in order to read and write to the MOV and PNG file formats". I find no other references to video file format, which isn't surprising given the Apple-centric nature of BlackMagic. However if you have got AVI to work then that's good for Cineform users.

From Fusion's File/Import/Footage window, the drop down box at "All Image Files" (bottom LH corner of the window) lists all the file types that can be imported. The only video file types seem to be .avi and Quicktime movie files (.mov, .qt, .3gp and .mp4).

I got a very short uncompressed .avi file to run at around 30 fps with the occasional stutter. Page 278 of the Fusion User Guide runs through the I/O AVI and Quicktime preference settings.

Ha! I might revive my old good Nanoflash then - recording mxf in my EX1 and movs on the nano simultaneously :)

Piotr

PS. But then why should I use Fusion with my limited type of editing....

Since Fusion is a professional program it won't import many of these consumer or prosumer file formats. It wants something more serious so it's a hit and miss depending on what camera you use. I'm guessing now that it's free they may change that, but if it's free it may not be developed further, so who knows.

Some video files won't show up in windows explorer if you use that to navigate and import, but if you select show all files and import them, some files will import.

I see that I can download the full studio version for free since I am currently on a subscription plan ( been using it since about 2005 ), but I don't think I even need more than the free version.

I don't know what the logic behind giving it away is. Seems like you get everything for free. It's crazy. The best compositing program for free. Following this logic Adobe should pay you $600 to take Aftereffects off their hands.

[I]"I don't know what the logic behind giving it away is. Seems like you get everything for free. It's crazy. The best compositing program for free. Following this logic Adobe should pay you $600 to take Aftereffects off their hands."[/I]

You don't get everything for free, just like the free version of Resolve if you want all the serious capabilities you have to buy it.

The issue for Resolve, Nuke and Fusion is all were expensive and neither came as part of a bundle unlike AE and that must have made it very hard for them to gain traction compared to AE. Keep in mind that the Fusion used to cost as much as the whole CS package from Adobe.

Bob.

>>>if you want all the serious capabilities you have to buy it.<<<<

Doesn't look like it. I checked and you get everything for free. The only parts missing are parts that larger studios would need, network rendering, some 3D stuff and plugin support. You don't need any plugins with Fusion. It can do everything by itself

I'm sure the transcoding to supported formats will be a speedbump to some, but if I'm not mistaken it wasn't until CS5 that After Effects began importing mp4 and AVCHD camera formats - and Fusion has always been targeting a higher-end market.

For Vegas users who have wanted pro motion tracking or a great (IMO the best) chroma-keyer and couldn't afford it, the transcoding will be worth it. And the new tools since I used version 3 are beautiful. The wand mask and paint mask along with Primatte can give great keys from transcoded 8bit camera footage. And when you see what is possible with parallel effects processing instead of series it really opens your brain to possibilities. Getting used to using loaders and savers and blend nodes after having these things appear "automatic" in layer-based compositing is a different paradigm than most of us are used to, but I am thrilled.

I'm playing and getting used to the way this one works but 3D text has me stumped. I can create it but am stuck when I try to add it to a still or video. I can do with regular text but not with 3D. I drag the line from node to node but it refuses to connect so I'm missing something but I have no idea what. Suggestions gratefully welcome.

Mike

Are you sure the 3D stuff is included in the free version? Just a thought.

Yes, 3D text creation is one of the free tools. The Stereoscopic 3D Toolset isn't included in the free version.

Mike

[I]I don't know what the logic behind giving it away is.[/I]

It is part of the business plan of Blackmagic. The founder, Grant Petty, has always espoused the view that many products are way overpriced, and he demonstrated this when Blackmagic took over a number of companies.

Da Vinci were failing, their high priced products were out of the reach of most users, so Blackmagic probably got the company for chicken-feed, then set about re-positioning them price wise. About the only things you don't get in the free version of Da Vince Resolve are the 3D stereoscopic tools and the advanced noice reduction. Most people can live without them.

Same with Rank Cintel, Blackmagic bought them, again probably for near nothing, and now they have brought out a new 16/35 film scanner for $30k.

On that basis, and now with the same thing happening to Fusion, expect more.

Oh, one more thing, BM have announced they will be developing a Mac OS version of Fusion, so it does not mean the end of future development.

@rs170a, my previous version of Fusion didn't have 3d tools, but I was able to eventually get through 3D text (although probably not in the most elegant way).

Just keep in mind you have to define and create every pipeline between every tool - even the ones most compositors do "automatically". And from what I can tell 2D and 3D are quite different spaces in Fusion. I added a 3D camera to orient and view the text in 3D space, and then a 3D renderer to convert the camera view into a 2D image.

Thorough tutorials on the 3D functions seem to be difficult to find, but one of the nice things about Fusion is there are always several ways to get to a desired result.

@ atim12, thanks for the reply. At least I know that I wasn't overlooking something obvious.
The version I used to use had a very limited set of tools. I used it primarily for the pan&scan tool and the fantastic chroma keyer, still one of the best I've ever used.
As I recall, the full version was around $5,000.00 but that was 20 years ago.
I've been slowly working my way through the manual but there's a lot to learn and my day job keeps getting in the way :)

Mike

Just dowloaded and iinstalled Fusion last night. I'm a little surprised how straight forward the whole node programming thing is. On first blush I'm finding it easier than layer based systems. Can't wait to get in a little deeper this weekend. BTW is there any good forums for help and tutorials.

John222, Blackmagic has a Fusion forum on their site.
There are a number of tutorials on the Blackmagic site as well as on YouTube.
The best place to start is with Eyeon, the original owners.
eyeon software
After that, do a search for Digital Fusion and you'll find all kinds of tutorials.

Mike

I downloaded and tried to install but it doesn't like my system. I am anxious to try it after my next system upgrade though.

Since DaVinci was mentioned, I went to look at it as well.. Since I have never needed to do much color correction I was amazed at how much has been devoted to it. I'm glad I haven't needed to do much but I am pleased to know that something like DaVinci is around if it is needed. Wow. That looks like a control freaks wet dream.