Black magic Design, a leader in the film and visual effects software industry, in late August announced that Fusion 8 will be the first-ever Mac-compatible release for the popular visual effects and motion graphics software package.
Blackmagic Fusion 8 — Public Beta
Black magic Design recently announced that the software is being made available as a free public beta and is now available to download here. The beta is free and available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
Fusion 8 Studio, is the fuller package that adds stereoscopic 3D tools and is designed for larger studio or workgroup environments is coming a bit later as a public beta as well, though today current Fusion Studio customers are welcome to test out the version 8 beta.
Coming to the Mac
“Since we announced our plans to bring Fusion 8 to Mac OS X, we’ve had a massive response from the creative community,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “This is something that animators, designers and visual effects artists have wanted on the Mac for a very long time. Because it was written specifically for Windows, bringing Fusion to Mac OS X wasn’t just a simple port. Our engineering team has been working tirelessly to rewrite parts of the Fusion code base so it runs incredibly well on Mac OS X, while also improving the Windows version. This new free version of Fusion 8 for Mac and Windows will make it accessible to many more users than ever!”
01 – Blackmagic Design’s Fusion 8 is coming to the Mac for the very first time. The visual effects and motion software has long been a request by the Mac community in Hollywood.
Fusion has been one of Hollywood’s go-to visual effects tools and used for motion graphics for over 25 years, notes the company. Recent blockbuster TV and film projects include Thor, Live Die and Repeat, the Hunger Games trilogy and more.
Featuring a powerful node based interface, Fusion makes it extremely easy to build sophisticated visual effects compositions very quickly. Nodes are small icons that represent effects, filters and other image processing operations that can be connected together in any order to create unlimited visual effects. Nodes are laid out logically like a flow chart, so customers won’t waste time hunting through nested stacks of confusing layers with filters and effects. Unlike timeline based applications, it’s easy to see and adjust any part of a project in Fusion by simply clicking on a node.
With a massive toolset consisting of hundreds of built in tools, customers can pull keys, track objects, rotoscope, retouch images, animate titles, create amazing particle effects and much more, all in a true 3D workspace. Fusion can also import 3D models, point cloud data, cameras or even entire 3D scenes from Maya, 3ds Max or Lightwave and render them seamlessly with other elements. Deep pixel tools can be used to add volumetric fog, lightingand reflection mapping of rendered objects using world position passes so customers can create amazing atmospheric effects that render in seconds, instead of hours.
Future Versions
Fusion 8 will be available in two versions:
Fusion 8 for Mac and Windows is free for customers and the public beta of Fusion 8 is now available to download. Fusion 8 is a full professional 3D visual effects and compositing system that is suitable for independent effects, motion graphics, and broadcast design artists. Fusion 8 features integrated 2D and 3D compositing and motion graphics software with a massive toolset featuring paint, rotoscope, titling, animation, multiple keyers, an amazing 3D particle system, advanced keyframing, GPU acceleration, and support for importing and rendering 3D models and scenes from other applications.
Fusion 8 Studio, will be available for Mac, Windows and Linux for $995 and the public beta will be available soon. Fusion Studio has all of the same features as the free version, but also adds advanced optical flow image analysis tools for stereoscopic 3D work, retiming and stabilization. Fusion Studio also includes support for third-party OpenFX plugins, unlimited distributed network rendering, and Generation for studio wide multi user collaboration to track, manage, review and approve shots when working with large creative teams on complex projects.
Availability and Price
Fusion 8 Public Beta is available today for download from the Blackmagic Design website free of charge.
Fusion 8 Studio Public Beta will be available soon and will be available to download from the Blackmagic Design website free of charge for all current Fusion 7 Studio customers.
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com