Compositions vs. Flows

Fusion 5 now refers to its saved projects as compositions, which now use the .comp file extension. Projects saved to disk were previously known as Flows. This change in terminology has several purposes.

First, calling the saved project a composition reduces possible confusion with the node schematic portion of the Fusion interface, which is also called the Flow. For example, the sentence “Open the flow and examine the flow” is much clearer as “Open the composition, and examine the flow.”

Second, this change helps to distinguish projects saved by Fusion 5 from projects saved in Fusion 4. This is important because Fusion now uses an ASCII file format rather than a binary format, so flows created in previous versions of Fusion are not compatible with Fusion 5.

Flow Improvements

The Fusion 5 flow has been subjected to many enhancements. Nodes in the flow can now use direct-connect pipes as an alternative to the orthographic connections in previous versions. A thumbnail 'flow navigator' which provides an easy way to navigate large compositions with minimal panning. A 'Find Tool' dialogue has also been added to assist in managing and finding specific tools in a large flow. Finally, masks are now visible as separate tools on the flow, making their connections to other nodes instantly obvious, and allowing a single mask to easily be used on multiple tools.

ASCII Flows

This screenshot shows a portion of the composition as it appears when viewed in a text editor. The composition is now saved as an ASCII file, making it possible to edit without having to open it in Fusion.

Those familiar with DFScript will notice that the syntax is basically just a series of nested tables. This makes it trivial to load and parse flows using our built in scripting language. You could alternately use any scripting language you want to manipulate Fusion.

Also, the saved project is no longer called a flow (*.flw), as it was in previous versions. The saved project is now referred to as a composition (*.comp). The flow editor in the interface is still referred to as the Flow. This makes it easier to distinguish between saved projects and the interface than it was previously.

The Third Dimension

A suite of native 3D tools are now available in Fusion 5, and the individual 3D worlds previously found in the Text and Particle tools are now part of the same overall environment. Fusion’s 3D environment supports lights, cameras, particles, text, primitive geometry, FBX meshes and scenes, and point clouds. The entire 3D environment takes advantage of OpenGL hardware acceleration.

Import FBX Scenes

The FBX scene interchange format is rapidly becoming the standard for moving 3D scenes from one program to another. Fusion can now import FBX files directly, creating a matching compo­sition with animated lights and cameras drawn straight from the FBX file. Fusion will even load geometry and textures from the scene!

Display Views

OpenGL Display Views: Display Views in Fusion 5 are now based on the OpenGL rendering language. As a result Fusion now requires a graphics card with support for OpenGL, and will benefit enormously from the use of a fast OpenGL accelerated display device.

Sub Views and View Types: You can now enable a SubView in the Display Views that can show additional information about your scene. By default this miniature view will show histogram information about the current, but you can click on the arrow next to the SubV button to display a menu listing the various types of views available. The following types of views are supported: Navigator, Magnifier, 2D Viewer, 3D Histogram, 3D Viewer, Color Inspector, Histogram, Image Info, Vectorscope, Waveform.

OpenGL Implementation

The display views have been completely rewritten to become fully OpenGL accelerated. This was done to support the 3D environment introduced by Fusion 5. In addition to allowing you to move 2D image planes around in 3D, our 3D environment supports geometry, meaning that particles, text and basic shapes can exist in the same 3D environment as your images.

Our native camera will allow you to import camera paths from almost all 3D applications and trackers.

Waveform and Vectorscope Monitors

Producing graphics and effects for broadcast means ensuring your colors are legal, everytime. With new realtime vectorscope and waveform displays in Fusion 5, taking control of your color is easier than ever before.

White Balance

White Balance, one of Fusion 5's new Color tools, provides you with the ability to correct or tune the color composition of your shot. Choose different white balances for shadows, midtones, highlights for a finely tuned result.

You may have seen the footage here used in demonstrations of Fusion 4's Histogram Matching feature. White Balance gives us the ability to achieve the same stellar results we get from Histogram Matching, even when a reference plate is unavailable.

Remove Noise

Fusion 5 includes a powerful new noise removal tool, that can eliminate pesky grain and noise from your images. In the example provided, the left side has had the noise removal filter applied, while the right side contains the original grain and noise from the DV clip.

Masks on the Flow

Masks are now simply tools like any other in Fusion, and are visible as nodes in the flow. All tools that support masking now provide mask inputs on the tool tiles in the flow. Mask inputs on a tile are generally drawn as blue arrows, though other colors may be used for pre-masks and garbage mattes. Mask tools can be found in their own category in the tools menu.

The resolution of the mask is not fixed – it is determined by the resolution of the image it is masking. If you are masking a HD sized frame, you will get a HD sized mask. You can branch the output of a mask tool to multiple tools, in which case the mask will be rendered at the correct resolution for each tool.

Double Polylines

Fusion 5 now supports polylines with non uniform softness. This is done using double polylines – a new type of polyline that describes variable softness along the edge of a curve using inner and outer polyline curves. You can also convert any polyline into a double polyline.

B-Splines

B-Splines are now available as a type of polyline. A b-spline uses only a single point to define the smoothness and curvature of a polyline segment. Compare this to a bezier spline, which will use three points to describe smoothness along a polyline segment (the shape point, and two handles for smoothing)

Macro Editor

Fusion's already powerful Macro editor now allows you to open, edit, and re-save previously created macros, making Macros an even more essential part of any composition or workflow.

In addition Macros are now stored in an ASCII file format meaning they can be opened, edited and modified in any text editor

Instance Tools

You can now create an instance of a tool. An instanced tool is basically the SAME tool as the original, any change made to controls on either the parent control or any of its instances are automatically replicated to all other tools that share an instance relationship.

Direct vs. Orthogonal Pipes

The default mode for displaying pipes between tools is now Direct, a straight line connecting tool outputs to tool inputs. You may switch back to the old style of orthogonal pipes using the Flow’s Options context menu.

Bins Server

Fusions bins have escaped onto the network! Fusion has always provided a space to organize your composites, footage, tools and macros. Now the bins can be seen over the network, allow­ing other Fusion artists to see and even update your bins, and letting you see bins from other artists workstations. For even more power try running the Bins as a standalone service on a cen­tral server, making central management of resources for a project a snap.

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