Latin America. Blackmagic Design announced the release of Fusion 8.1, a free update that provides compatibility with Avid products and the latest Artist DNxIO video interfaces using the Fusion Connect feature. Both the paid and free versions of the program can now be downloaded from the company's website.
Previously, this tool was only available for Fusion Studio on Windows operating systems at a price of $995. Fusion 8.1 introduces the Fusion Connect feature for Avid in the free version of the program for Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. This allows you to use the Media Composer application and the Avid Artist DNxIO interface.
The update is materialized through an AVX plugin that provides the ability to import and export individual clips, video sequences and even sets of layers from Media Composer or Fusion, in order to add special effects and graphic animations. This is very useful for publishers working with Avid. By using this new feature with the clips in the Media Composer timeline, a composition will be created in Fusion with a nodal structure linked to the original files in Media Composer.
In addition, Fusion Connect for Avid allows you to create different versions, making it easy to design and experiment with different appearances that can be played in the Media Composer timeline as a test. The editor simply needs to select the clip in the timeline using the Fusion Connect tool and determine the version you want to play. This means that you no longer need to combine multiple files in the timeline, as Fusion Connect handles the different versions automatically.
On the other hand, it is possible to process clips created with Fusion Connect in Media Composer in 16-bit or 32-bit floating point, in order to obtain the best image quality. Fusion supports the use of different resolutions, an unlimited number of layers, and various tools, plus files in uncompressed format when working with Avid products. This allows you to create different special effects and graphic animations, and improve the sequences.
This new feature offers the possibility to apply different special effects and graphic elements and, in turn, share files and work as a team or in collaboration with other artists. Thanks to the Fusion Connect feature for Avid, shots can be made available to other users on the timeline, so that artists who are part of the network can access them. This offers the possibility to continue editing the material while adding special effects to certain shots. Clips created using Fusion Connect will appear in the Media Composer timeline, which can be updated as needed so that editors can see the latest version during rendering.
