Tips and Techniques/Workflow/Importing and Exporting

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Importing and Exporting to/from Fusion (Last Updated: April 4, 2012)

Fusion can import and export data in a lot of ways, allowing it to play nicely with other software in your pipeline. Many import/export functions are already implemented in Fusion, some require 3rd party scripts that can be found in the scripting section. This page will give you a quick overview.

Contents 1 Tracking Data 2 Paths and Animation Splines 3 Polygon Masks 4 3D Geometry and Cameras 5 Images

Tracking Data

Importing

Import tracks from Flame and similar products using the Flame Tracker to DFMO script. It will convert .ascii files to Fusion's .dfmo format which can then be imported as described in the next section.

Import 2D tracking data from Boujou or PFTrack using the tool scripts that come with Fusion.

Import 3D tracking data from Syntheyes using its native Fusion export feature which supports point clouds and test objects.

Import 2D tracks from Mocha using its "Export Tracking Data" button and choose Fusion Comp (YouTube video about Mocha integration)

If you don't go directly from tracking to Fusion but do your scene checking and aligning in a 3D app, you can import your cameras and point clouds via FBX or Maya Ascii files as described in the 3D section below.

Import Nuke's ascii or .chan files using the Import Animation From Text File tool script.

Import tracking data from various packages using this software.

Exporting

See the next section on how to export tracking data from Fusion via .spl, .dfmo, .mot or to After Effects and Nuke.

Exporting Cameras from Fusion is described in the 3D section below.

Paths and Animation Splines

Importing

Fusion's native Ascii spline files (.spl) can be imported via the spline editor's context menu. You have to animate the control first, all keys will get overwritten during import.

Fusion's Motion Path files (.dfmo) can be imported by animating a position control (e.g. Center of a Transform tool), right-clicking in the viewer and selecting Path: Polyline -> Import... from the menu.

This way, you can also import shapes that have originally been exported from a Polyline Mask (.dfsh), as .ssf files or from Nuke's Bezier node and use them as animation paths in Fusion.

Import Nuke's ascii or .chan files using the Import Animation From Text File tool script.

Exporting

You can export keyframes to Fusion's Ascii .spl format using the spline editor's context menu. You can either bake the animation at half-frame intervals or export key frames only. For more information see the Importing and Exporting Splines section of the manual.

By right-clicking on a path in the viewers and selecting Path: Polyline -> Export... you can choose to export an animation path to Lightwave's MOT format or Fusion's Ascii Motion Path files (.dfmo).

The latter also serves as a way to export key frames to Nuke:

You have two options: Point Samples will export keys at half-frame intervals while Key Points will only export existing keys which Nuke will only be able to import properly if you have a key for each frame. In Nuke, use Import Ascii with Lines to skip = 1. If you have exported Point Samples you also need to set X increment to 0.5.

Since Nuke expects pixel coordinates, you need to select all imported keys in the spline editor, right-click and go to Edit -> Move. In the y field, type "y * width". This will scale the values accordingly (plate needs to be the same size as in Fusion of course). The x and y coordinates both need to be multiplied by width! Don't scale y by height.

Export a complete node including all its animation splines in Fusion's native LUA table syntax by saving a .setting file. Right-click on a tool in the flow or on the tool's header in the control panel and select Settings -> Save As...

Export animated inputs to After Effects via the system clipboard using the Export Animation to After Effects tool script.

Polygon Masks

Importing

Create an empty polygon mask, then right-click in the viewer and choose the bottom-most command (Polygon1: Polyline -> Import -> ...) to import data from Fusion's .dfsh shapes, Shake/Mocha shapes (.ssf), Silhuette (.fxs) or Nuke's Bezier nodes (.nuke or .nk). The latter currently supports the old Bezier shapes only, not the more recent Roto/Rotopaint nodes.

Import masks from other 2D or 3D applications using this software.

Exporting

Polygon masks can be exported by using a viewer's context menu. Choose the bottom-most command (something like Polygon1: Polyline -> Export...) to write out an Ascii file format called .dfsh. For more information see the Polylines section of the manual.

Export Polylines to Shake's SSF format using the FusionPolylineToSSF tool script that comes with Fusion.

Export single polygon vertices like any other animated path by publishing them to a Polyline Path or XY Path first. Then you can export their keyframes as described in the section above.

3D Geometry and Cameras

Importing

Fusion can import FBX, OBJ, 3D Studio (.3ds), Collada (.dae) and DXF files using the FBX Mesh 3D tool. All objects will be combined to a single mesh. If you want to import objects from a file separately, you can also use the File -> Import -> FBX feature which will also create nodes for cameras, lights and materials. More information and tips concerning the FBX format can be found in the manual's appendix.

Import camera data from FBX files using the File -> Import -> FBX command and uncheck everything but cameras.

Import camera data and keyframes from LightWave .lws, Max Ascii scenes (.ase), Maya Ascii (.ma) or Softimage XSI (.xsi) files by using the Import Camera... button of the Camera 3D tool.

The Import Transform... button on all 3D transform tools allows you to also import keyframes from the file types mentioned above (e.g. to use them as null objects, locators or transforms).

Import animation from .chan files using these scripts by Michael Vorberg.

Import point clouds from LightWave .lws, Max Ascii scenes (.ase), Maya Ascii (.ma) or Softimage XSI (.xsi) using the Import Point Cloud... button of the Point Cloud 3D tool.

Photoshop .VPE (vanishing point) files can be imported as projection setups using the VPE import script.

Exporting

Add an FBX Exporter 3D tool anywhere in your 3D scene to export geometry or geometry sequences.

Export cameras to FBX, OBJ, 3D Studio (.3ds), Collada (.dae) and DXF files using the same tool.

Export cameras to Maya Ascii files using the FusionCam2Maya script.

Export transforms and camera data from 3D tools to a space-delimited ASCII file using the Export 3D Transform script.

Export animation from 3D tools and cameras to .chan files using these scripts by Michael Vorberg.

Images

Exporting

Other than using a Saver tool, you can also save the image that is currently displayed in the viewer using the right-click menu. Enter your desired file extension in the dialog that pops up and Fusion will automatically write a file of that type using its internal defaults for that file type. These defaults can be seen when you create a new Saver. The exported image will have the current proxy and quality settings, so you need to disable proxy mode and enable the HiQ switch if you want to export at final render quality.

For images, Fusion's disk cache can be used to import/export. It's a handy way to split the processing of a comp between x86 and x64 versions, too.