Fusion
Fusion was a product of a company called Eyeon Software, which has been purchased by Blackmagic Design who, along with the original developer of Fusion continue to update and upgrade the Fusion standalone application.
In 2018 Blackmagic Design did the incredible thing of incorporating an easy-to use version of Fusion as an added workspace (page) within DaVinci Resolve. Resolve was born as a Hollywood-class color grading tool, originally used with much less of a GUI with mouse, mostly controlled via highly expensive panels, which is still the most efficient means of color grading - especially for on-the-fly broadcast grading.
Resolve was eventually turned into a full movie editing software complete with the Editor, Audio and Color Grading workspaces, and now having the incredible VFX Compositing tools of Fusion - all wrapped up with an excellent Delivery page for creating the final output(s) of your work, including rendering dailies and other helpful intermediate outputs, along with a super-powerful media management workspace complete with features like metadata and facial recognition, etc.,
It's mind-boggling that DaVinci Resolve is Free.
Fairlight began as a high-end, console-controlled audio studio for professional use. Resolve was a top-of-industry color corrector, Fusion was used in Many Hollywood movies... Blackmagic Design has poured an awful lot of development into all of them and made them easily accessible in one application that is incredibly user friendly. And it just keeps getting better!
Eyeon Software
Here are some examples of Fusion when Eyeon Software still developed it. I used a lot of this as inspiration toward learning to use Fusion, but I was also very inspired by the words of FifthElement, from the Carrara forum, who used it to great success.
Right: 2013 video - 25 Years of Fusion
Take a look at a Fusion breakdown for the movie: Anonymous, presented by Rony Soussan.
It's awe-inspiring but also helps to illustrate what sort of tools to learn to use within this unlimited scope of Fusion VFX.
VFX school opened my eyes to a whole new world for creating my CG-only movies - using VFX as if I am working on a live-action movie like this!
This is a really fun promotional playlist for Fusion by Eyeon Software.
Ten Reasons Why You Need Fusion
Playlist that examines various tools within Fusion: ToolTorials Playlist
Fusion Quickstart Playlist - Eric continues to educate as he walks us through some of the basics
I love these funny skits: Compositing with Eric and Sander!
Check out more videos on Eyeon Software's YouTube Channel
Blackmagic Design
Fusion lived on after Eyeon's final Fusion 7 with Blackmagic Design's Fusion 8. Some of the shortcuts and other things have changed in the process and, since I was learning on Fusion 7 it took me a bit to meld into the new Fusion.
There are a few nice tutorials on Fusion 8 on the Blackmagic Design YouTube channel and from others on the web. Fusion 8 Training Videos
Having a lifestyle that keeps me away from my computer for most of my life, I only got so far with Fusion in those days.
Once Blackmagic Design added Fusion to Resolve 15, I was absolutely stunned with excitement!
Many Fusion artists had a fear that this would spell the end for the stand-alone Fusion.
Blackmagic Design answered their call with more updates to the stand-alone Fusion Studio, reassuring them of continued support. I love that!
But for someone like me, who has little experience with Fusion - or VFX compositing in general, Fusio living within the pages of Resolve is much more than a convenience or an added bonus to Resolve. It's a simpler version of Fusion that is So Easy to use that even I can get to grips with it with so little time to practice! I look forward to getting better and better with it.
Check out the Free Training Videos and Materials from my DaVinci Resolve Page
Behind the Scenes - Steve Vai's Dark Matter with DaVinci Resolve
When we hear them talk about having several artists working on the same project at the same time, that's the added magic that comes with the paid version - DaVinci Resolve Studio
I don't need the paid version at this time. The free version is packed with everything I need!
Between Then and Now
I became aware of Fusion shortly after it was acquired by Blackmagic Design. Following Eric's tutorials I had a little bit of a struggle switching from Fusion 7 (Eyeon Software's latest version) to the (then) new Fusion 8, which used a few different keyboard shortcut commands.
I was also still very new to the whole idea of Nodes. With my VFX schooling including lessons in HitFilm, which works more like a Photoshop-style layer system, nodes felt alien to me. A friend of mine in the Carrara forum, 5th Element, encouraged me that Nodes truly are the way to go - so I kept my eye on learning Fusion.
I must say that, with Fusion being included directly within DaVinci Resolve, any difficulty that I had with nodes seemed to magically disappear, which I still don't fully understand. Nodes are nodes. Why would the fact that Fusion is now a work page within Resolve make it easier? Perhaps it's that the wonderful tutorials I've posted above make the system so easy to use and understand.
Anyway, I feel that this is a great time to show another video. Fusion has been pretty great long before I found it. Fusion 7 was a powerful, feature film worthy VFX compositor. Fusion 8 was Blackmagic Design's first release after making some changes, fixes and updates. Fusion 9 came out at a time when I was no longer studying VFX as much, in order to get back into 3D and get animating, so I completely forego Fusion 9.
With what I've said so far about Fusion and Nodes, let's watch a really nice video: "Introducing Fusion 9", a (then) live presentation by VFX Artist: Damian Allen, who does a great job of showing us how nice it can be to work with nodes, as well as to help us understand how great Fusion software truly is!
I love hearing (and watching) stuff like this that comes from people who really do this stuff for a living - like Eric's tutorials I've mentioned above.
Damian demonstrates some really cool techniques in here. Seeing techniques like this are a great way to become inspired to do more when we're in Fusion applying VFX to our material.