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Blackmagic Design Fusion is powerful 2D and 3D visual effects compositing software with over thirty years of evolution serving the motion picture and broadcast industry, creating effects seen in
countless films and television series. It is available as a stand-alone application as well as a page within DaVinci Resolve.
In its purest form, Fusion is a collection of image-processing engines called nodes. These nodes represent effects like blurs and color correctors, as well as images, 3D models, and spline masks. Similar to effects you may be familiar with, each node includes a set of parameters that can be adjusted and animated over time. Stringing different nodes together in a graphical user interface called a node tree allows you to create sophisticated visual effects. The nodes, node trees, and all settings you create are saved in a document called a Composition, or “comp” for short.
The Fusion Page within DaVinci Resolve
Merged right into DaVinci Resolve, the Fusion page makes it possible to jump immediately from editing right into compositing, with no need to export media, relink files, or launch another application to get your work done. Now everything you need lives right inside DaVinci Resolve.
The Fusion page in DaVinci Resolve, showing viewers, the Node Editor, and the Inspector
How Do I Use the Fusion Page?
The relationship between the Edit page and the Fusion page is similar to the relationship between the Edit page and the Color page. Each clip can have a grade applied to it in the Color page, and similarly every clip can have a composition applied to it in the Fusion page.
If you use the Fusion page to create any kind of effect or composite, a badge appears on that clip in the Timeline to show that clip has a composition applied to it.
Clips with Fusion page compositions have a Fusion badge to the right of the name.
To create an effect in the Fusion page of DaVinci Resolve, you need only park the playhead over a clip in the Edit or Cut page and then click the Fusion page button. Your clip is immediately available as a MediaIn node in the Fusion page, ready for you to add a variety of stylistic effects. You can paint out an unwanted blemish or feature, build a quick composite to add graphics or text, or accomplish any other visual effect you can imagine, built from the Fusion page’s toolkit of effects.
Alternatively, in DaVinci Resolve, you have the option of editing together all the clips you want to use, superimposing and lining up every piece of media you’ll need with the correct timing, before selecting them and creating a Fusion clip. A Fusion clip functions as a single item in the Edit or Cut page timeline, but once in the Fusion page, each piece of media you’ve assembled is revealed in a fully built Fusion composition, ready for you to start adding nodes to customize for whatever effect you need
to create.
Whichever way you want to work, all this happens on the very same timeline as editing, grading, and audio post, for a seamless back and forth as you edit, refine, and finish your projects.
How Do Fusion Effects Differ from Edit Page Effects?
When using DaVinci Resolve, you can create numerous effects in the Edit page. Transitions, fades, superimpositions, over-the-shoulder picture-in-picture effects, time remapping, and lower third titles are some of the effects that can be quickly and more efficiently created in the Edit or Cut page timeline. However, the Fusion page’s node-based interface lets you go deep into the details of a
composition to create sophisticated 2D and 3D effects with precise control and endless customization. Effects that include more than two or three layers can be much more manageable in Fusion. Green or blue screen composites, sky replacements, and object removal are all effects better suited for Fusion’s more advanced toolset.
How Do Fusion Effects Differ from Color Page Effects?
The Color page in DaVinci Resolve can also handle some visual effects work. Effects that blur the line between color grading and finishing can be very fast and intuitive in the Color Page, especially for people already familiar with the Color page toolset. Beauty work and small image repairs can make efficient use of the Color page’s straightforward Tracking tool, Face Refinement, and Patch Replacer effects. However, when it comes to more challenging blue/green screen compositing, the tools built around Fusion’s powerful Delta keyer are more capable of handling these shots. Integrating 3D objects into live-action scenes, split-screen effects, motion graphics, and precise keyframing are all better suited to the Fusion page.