[Community Project] - Creating the ultimate Fusion default setup

[SecondMan]

Hello everyone,


I want to propose a WSL community for 2019. Creating the ultimate default Fusion setup.

Yes, of course, everyone uses Fusion differently. But there are a lot of out-of-the-box things that don't make sense. Like 8 bit processing, or that crazy blue UI.

Shortcuts is another one. We have people coming from Nuke, or After Effects, and some of these have very sensible or common default shortcuts. Like TAB for adding nodes or single letter shortcuts for building a flow (m for merge, b for blur...).

So I would like to see if we could - as a community - come to a consensus of what the best common denominator setup would be for Fusion. Add must-have functionality like (IMO) the restart Fusion shortcut, or the ability to clipboard copy straight to a WSL CodeBox...

We should eventually get to something that is so sensible that everyone will want to have it, but in such a way that it doesn't tend to conflict with existing workflows. Keep in mind that I think this should be specifically aimed at people who don't have a custom workflow yet. Vanilla Fusion.

Tools, Scripts, Fuses, Shortcuts, Preferences, Defaults, Layouts, you name it... And let's make a comprehensive list, vote for features if we need to, and then when we actually have something that we can call our version 1, release it on Reactor.

[SecondMan]

*post reserved*

[intelligent machine]

I set the default node colors based on function (color, blur, filter, transform, creator, etc.).
For instance, all tools under the color submenu are a light blue-green with black text and all tools under the blur menu are a dark orange with white text. All masks are the default blue and all loaders are green and all Savers are Bright red so they are easy to locate.

I do think it would be cool to type out a series of letters (with or without holding down a modifier key) to connect some nodes in a common order. Such as type out CBM while a loader is initially selected to string out brightness/contrast -- blur -- merge nodes.

[andromeda_girl]

for the love of all that is holy, hitting the spacebar to get playback must not change. nuke's 'L' shortcut is the single most illogical and ill-conceived implementation of shortcuts ever devised.
staying out of this conversation at this point. last thing I want to debate is why retina-burning colours for tools is a bad thing.

[theotheo]

Suggestion: Keep the ToolTrippin' active for every Fusion comp. Always.

[AndrewHazelden]

[Suggestion] 8ball is essential.

[Midgardsormr]

There should certainly be a Lin-to-sRGB LUT configured for both Viewers. That's the very first thing I set up with a new installation.

I usually turn off "Auto Control Advance." I really can't think of too many situations where I'd want to adjust every parameter of a tool in top-down order, but I often make multiple adjustments to a single parameter. Drives me nuts that I have to keep reselecting the field every time I hit Enter.

Default frame rate should maybe be 24 rather than 30. US television dramas and films are now both using that frame rate most of the time.

Auto-Save period could be greatly reduced. I set mine to 30 seconds because saving in Fusion is usually instantaneous. It's lovely to know that if I crash I've lost very little work.

Set the default Script Editor to Notepad++ with the Fusion extensions.

As concerns scripts and tools: HoS_SplitEXR_Ultra, a Checkerboard, Eyeon Legacy scripts, Time3D, and TrackerPlus are the essentials that I think should be in every Fusion install.

Added in 6 minutes 44 seconds:

nuke's 'L' shortcut is the single most illogical and ill-conceived implementation of shortcuts ever devised.

A lot of digital broadcast equipment uses J/K/L for shuttle controls. See the customized keyboards made for Grass Valley's Edius. The system I used to use when I worked in a TV station also used H and ; for Fast Reverse and Fast Forward. I don't recall off the top of my head who made that piece of kit, but it wasn't GV, so I suspect that it's a soft standard in that segment of the industry. Premiere uses it, too.

[SirEdric]

A lot of digital broadcast equipment uses J/K/L for shuttle controls. See the customized keyboards made for Grass Valley's Edius. The system I used to use when I worked in a TV station also used H and ; for Fast Reverse and Fast Forward. I don't recall off the top of my head who made that piece of kit, but it wasn't GV, so I suspect that it's a soft standard in that segment of the industry. Premiere uses it, too.

Yeah....but then it would be 'K' for play/stop, rather than 'L'.....

[Chad]

Change the default formats. Only a handful of the defaults are useful, but a bunch of others could be added. Especially for people working outside of film and broadcast.

Added in 3 minutes 14 seconds:

I usually turn off "Auto Control Advance." I really can't think of too many situations where I'd want to adjust every parameter of a tool in top-down order, but I often make multiple adjustments to a single parameter. Drives me nuts that I have to keep reselecting the field every time I hit Enter.

Yeah, for whatever reason, control panel never works the way it did in Fusion 5/6. I'm always changing the prefs on this and never remember what the right settings are.

Added in 2 minutes 8 seconds:

There should certainly be a Lin-to-sRGB LUT configured for both Viewers. That's the very first thing I set up with a new installation.

But should that be in the global LUT? If you're correcting for an sRGB display, I think it should be. That way material, 3D scene, and gradient viewers also get corrected.

[Midgardsormr]

I'd say in both the global and the quick LUTs, but the global LUT should be off by default since it affects the "white" space, and it's not as easy to switch it.

Honestly, I find the extra steps to activate the global LUT to be enough of a pain that I often just light my 3d scenes to sRGB.

[Chad]

Honestly, I find the extra steps to activate the global LUT to be enough of a pain that I often just light my 3d scenes to sRGB.

But seriously, you can change the background color to whatever you want to compensate. That's actually a default that is hard to change.

Also, do skins count? The mismatch between Button and MultiButton sizing is one of those things I like to fix on new installs.

Oh, and if we fix that, should we also fix the 3Bol and 3CT Cg shaders so they are complete and don't produce NAN pixels, respectively? I guess this default hacking can get out of hand quickly.

[SecondMan]

last thing I want to debate is why retina-burning colours for tools is a bad thing.

Myeah, I'm in two minds about it. Agreed on the retina-burning ones, that's horrendous, but at some point @GringoFX did a setup that I recall being very reasonable. I've not used it myself much, though. I find it can help tracking down certain nodes or node groups when you are zoomed out really far, and when you are visually looking for a colour pattern in your flow. But YMMV...

Actually, here's something: https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedi ... escription

There should certainly be a Lin-to-sRGB LUT configured for both Viewers.

Absolutely yes. For our purposes, would you rely on OCIO for that or go with a separate one like @Tilt's that's available in Reactor?

Care to share the setup for it?

[Suggestion] 8ball is essential.

Joking aside, I actually count Fusion's sense of humour as a feature, and the doing away with it a regression. So I support this suggestion.
Also, if it weren't for stuff like 8ball and the likes, it may have taken me a lot longer to even start exploring what else you could do in the console...

Change the default formats.

Also good thinking, there are very few default ones I have used in the last decade+... Which ones would you suggest for starters?

Also, do skins count?

Sure why not

Oh, and if we fix that, should we also fix the 3Bol and 3CT Cg shaders so they are complete and don't produce NAN pixels, respectively?

Sure aye, go for it!

We're getting ideas together at this point. Please everyone feel free to send in actual setups and concrete examples. I'll collect them all in the second post of this topic and then we can see it build up and keep track.

[AndrewHazelden]

A collaborative wsl.scriptlib dev effort would be handy.

[SecondMan]

hitting the spacebar to get playback must not change.

I've been using Nuke since 2011 and I still press spacebar whenever I want to playback something

A collaborative wsl.scriptlib dev effort would be handy.

I think that could be a project of its own, depending on what you had in mind. Any particular functions you were thinking of?
This also reminded me of this old topic, which was supposed to be the start of something very much like that: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1198 - I still haven't had time to investigate further...

[Midgardsormr]

There should certainly be a Lin-to-sRGB LUT configured for both Viewers.

Absolutely yes. For our purposes, would you rely on OCIO for that or go with a separate one like Tilt's that's available in Reactor?

Care to share the setup for it?

I typically just use the Gamut View LUT. If I have additional color management going on, there are some nodes with the CDL or LUT or whatever at the end of the tree, and I view those with the Viewer LUT off. But that's more than is necessary in a default config—introducing OCIO moves into territory where things would have to be undone for many pipelines. Simple as possible I think is best.