Late last year, Blackmagic released Fusion 7, an extremely powerful node-based compositing and 3D animation software with a history of high-end use in Hollywood. Like they had done with DaVinci Resolve, the Blackmagic folks opted to offer a paid full version of the software, which comes in at $995, as well as a free version that is slightly limited in functionality, yet still incredibly powerful. The only problem? It was originally only released for the Windows operating system.
However, Blackmagic has been hard at work porting the software over to OSX, and a nifty video (which unfortunately I can't embed here) shows that a fully-fledged Mac version of Fusion is closer than we might think.
Click here to see Fusion 7 in action on a Mac.
And here's a brief look back to IBC 2014, just after Blackmagic acquired Eyeon, the original creator of Fusion. This interview sums up very nicely where Fusion 7 is headed under the direction of Blackmagic.
This is significant for a few reasons. First and foremost, Blackmagic has already managed to democratize high-end color grading software by offering Resolve for free. It's safe to say that color correction capabilities that only ten years ago would have required tens of thousands of dollars in software and hardware can now be accomplished with a free piece of software on a laptop. That's an impressive precedent, so it's entirely possible that Fusion 7 will do the same for same for node-based compositing if the filmmaking community adopts it as they have Resolve.
Traditionally, these professional node-based softwares such as Nuke and Flame have been prohibitively expensive for all but those working in the upper echelons of the VFX industry, with a single seat often costing upwards of $5,000 (although there's now a free non-commercial version of Nuke). For independent and low-budget filmmakers, and for folks just wanting to learn these techniques, those prices are just too far out of reach. With Fusion 7, however, many of those same capabilities will be available to everyone, either for free or for a fraction of the cost of other high-end softwares. And now that a Mac version is imminent, the user base of Fusion 7 will only continue to grow larger and more diverse.
There's no exact word yet on when Fusion for Mac will officially hit the market, but Blackmagic will be showing off a working version at NAB, so it's safe to assume that we may very well see it within the next six months.
