Adding Tools

The flow is always empty when a new project is started, since no tools or loaders have been added. Tools are added to the project in the flow using one of the methods described below.

Using The Menus

The tool's menu at the top of the screen can display every single tool available to Fusion. They are organized into general categories. To add a tool to the flow from this menu, navigate down the category list and select the desired tool from the menu's categories.

If another tool is currently active on the flow, the new tool is automatically inserted downstream of the existing tool. If there is no current tool, the new tool stays disconnected from the rest of the flow and it will be placed in the first available space found by Fusion in the flow.

Using The Toolbars

The Toolbars can also be used to add tools to the flow. These small bars display an abbreviated form of each tool's name (i.e. BC for the brightness/contrast tool). Hold the mouse over any toolbar button for a moment to display a pop-up with the unabbreviated name of that tool.

To add a tool to the flow using the toolbar, click on the button once with the mouse, or drag the tool into the flow from the toolbar and drop it on the flow.

A simple click on the toolbar will add the new tool to the flow or it will be inserted depending on the same conditions described in Adding Tools From The Menus (as described above).

Choose where the tool is added to the flow by dragging the toolbar button into the flow. This offers the ability to replace one tool with another or to insert the new tool between two others. These operations are described in greater detail further below.

Tools can also be dragged from the toolbars into the large and small views. This allows tools to be added to the project even if the flow display is not currently visible. Tools that are dragged onto a view from the toolbar are added to the flow immediately after the currently viewed tool, regardless of the currently selected tool.

The toolbars can be customized to display different tools. They can be docked at the top of the screen to either side, or they can float. To customize toolbars, right-click on the them and use the dialog box that appears.

For details on customizing toolbars, refer to Appendix C: Toolbars in this manual.

Using The Context Menu

Right-clicking in the flow will display the flow's context menu, which may contain one or more tool submenus. These are copies of the tool menu described above and can be used as a shortcut for adding tools to the flow.

Add Or Insert Tool

Selecting a tool from the Add Tool or Insert Tool submenus will insert a tool into the flow at the position where the mouse pointer was when the context menu was opened.

If the mouse pointer is positioned over a connection between two tools, the new tool will be inserted into the flow already connected to that pipe (between the existing tools).

Replace Tool

The Replace Tool option only appears when the context menu is opened by right-clicking directly on an existing tool's tile in the flow.

Selecting a tool from this menu will replace the current tool with a new one.

If the new tool has controls with the same name as the existing tool, those settings will be copied into the new tool. For example, replacing a Transform tool with a DVE will preserve the values of the center, angle and size controls.

Using The Bins

The Bins can display thumbnail icons for each of the tools and third party plugins that are known to Fusion. To add a tool from the bins to the project, drag and drop the tool's icon into the flow. The bins usually start empty. To add the standard Fusion tools to the bins, right-click in the bins and select Create Tool Folders.

Bins can contain more than tools. They contain saved tool settings, tool groups, macros and footage, making bins much more flexible than toolbars. For more information on the bins, refer to the Bins chapter in this manual. To toggle the bins on and off, select Ctrl-B from the keyboard, or select File>Bins from the menu.

Using The Add Tool Script

For experienced users this method is probably the fastest for adding new tools to the flow. When pressing Ctrl-Space the Add Tool Script will pop open. If you know the name of the tool you want to add type it's name in the input box of the script. While you type the script will display only those tools that have the string you're typing in their name. You can also use the arrow keys to select the tool you want to add. When done just hit return and the tool will be added to the flow.

Using The File Browser

Dragging and dropping files from the operating system's file browser is an efficient way to quickly add footage or saved tool settings to a flow.

Footage

Dragging a file from the file browser to the flow will automatically add a loader to the flow, directly loading the file or file sequence. If multiple files are dragged into the flow, a separate loader is added for each file.

Saved Tool Settings

Dragging a tool's settings (.settings) file from the file browser to the flow will add the tool (or tools) saved in that file to the flow, configured with the settings that were saved into the file.