Fusion & Nuke

[mixepix]

Is there anyone here that have used them both? Is there big difference or are they basically the same? I want to ditch AE but I have a hard time deciding.

cheers
Mikael

[julius]

I used both, but as intermediate user, not master.
I can just say that if you want to use it for 3d compositing, you can do a fast and good job in both of them. I felt fusion a bit easier to learn, more intuitive.
Difficult choice, maybe look at the most expended one in your actual field, or in the field you want to acces to ?

[mixepix]

Thanks, for your input. It's obvious that Nuke is the biggest but the interface seems much nicer in Fusion. Also it's a lot cheaper, even compared to pricing in The Foundry's current summer sale. I just need it for my own pipeline but maybe it's smarter to take the big road this time.

[Rork]

Fusion and Nuke do basically the same thing, professional compositing.
Unlike AE, that isn't really a compositing app imho. But that's a different discussion.

The biggest difference between Fusion and Nuke is the layer/channel system in Nuke:
http://www.nukepedia.com/written-tutori ... fle-nodes/

It's very a powerful setup, but coming from any compositing app this will take some time to sink in.
But once you get the idea, it makes for very powerful compositing 'tricks'.

If you rely on a lot of (motion graphics) plugin functionality in AE, Fusion and/or Nuke might not be your best choice.
There is a thriving community for Nuke (see link above) where a lot of handy tools are offered for free, but it doesn't have the wealth of tools available for AE.
Most of the professional used plugins like the Furnace Tools, Keylight, Kronsos etc. are there though.
There's probably something for Fusion as well, but I haven't touched it after v5 came out so I don't really know.

My best guess is to watch some basic videos on Fusion and Nuke on the websites to see what app suits you best for the coming time. Looking at prices some time spend on this never hurts ;-)
Both companies have some excellent starter videos on YouTube, explaining the basic UI and workflow.


Hope this helps,

rob

[Maximus]

I always liked Fusion interface and tools, its really fast especially on cache and the use of GPU for effects.
It comes with a nice variety of tools especially for keying which is amazing fast. Particle system is incredible too.I think one of the few flaws of Fusion is how it handles multichannel exr compared to nuke, Fusion uses the channel boolean node which is so complex that takes a while to get used to.

They revamped their website and updated the help online, also there is this website which is amazing for fusion:

http://www.vfxpedia.com/index.php?title=Main_Page it has all you need, from free tools (most of them are damn powerful) to tutorials, this website is huge be sure to check it deeply.
http://manual.vfxpedia.com/eyeonmanual/ ... /interface
http://manual.vfxpedia.com/eyeonmanual/ ... -reference this is the updated manual with all tool reference.
http://www.vfxpedia.com/index.php?title ... l/Fusion_6 old fusion 6 manual but still good for some tools.

[mixepix]

Thanks, for your insights, guys! I will still use AE for motion graphics but I want something node-based for my vfx-works (I really don't like my current precomp-hell). I have eval versions of both software and so far I like the workflow in Fusion better but The Foundry seem like a more stable company than Eyeon. Uuh, I wish the choice was more obvious.

[nuverian]

This might sound a bit narrow sighted, but having used both, I'll tell you that.
If you want to do 3d pass compositing + maybe some shots Fusion is fine and possibly faster.
If though you want to do vfx shots exclusively I would recommend Nuke.

Now hold on. This is my personal view on those softwares and both can do either!

[mixepix]

Interesting. Do you mean that Fusion is faster like in less render-time or that it's easier to setup for smaller comps? Also when you say that Nuke is better for vfx-shots exclusively does this goes for the ordinary striped down version or do you need NukeX?

[nuverian]

Yes, I ment its easier to set-up, get along and have results. Truth is that NukeX has a wealth of usefull stuff for vfx in comparison to the crippled Nuke version as I call it. Regarding the crippled Nuke and Fusion, I would say that it mostly comes down to preference then, which is mostly a thing of accesibility versus flexibility I think. Fusion being more accesibly/friendly while nuke more flexible but not friendly. Of course it will become so once you learn it.
Again, those are my presonal views about them, for the time that I spend with them. The certain thing though is that AE, no it's not for such things

[mixepix]

Thanks, for the clarification.

[milanvasek]

Yes, I ment its easier to set-up, get along and have results. Truth is that NukeX has a wealth of usefull stuff for vfx in comparison to the crippled Nuke version as I call it. Regarding the crippled Nuke and Fusion, I would say that it mostly comes down to preference then, which is mostly a thing of accesibility versus flexibility I think. Fusion being more accesibly/friendly while nuke more flexible but not friendly. Of course it will become so once you learn it.
Again, those are my presonal views about them, for the time that I spend with them. The certain thing though is that AE, no it's not for such things

I disagree here. For me, Nuke is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly software ever and its UI design is just amazing. You can make really huge comps that are still very organized and readable for others, there are great little UI features everywhere etc.
The other point for Nuke would be the fact that it's used almost everywhere in VFX, but getting more into commercials as well.
The only problem is the prize

[origin]

Skip fusion, it might be easier to pick up, but its buggy and it's v. slow dev compared to nuke. And dont ditch ae cause its sometimes faster to do (part of) job with it

[mixepix]

Well, I'm not going to ditch AE entirely as I said earlier. I'm a pretty adept AE-user and I've used it for a long time but I'm really tired of using it for vfx-shots. You always have to precomp like crazy and it get's slow fast. I guess that most people favors Nuke I just wished that it was cheaper. Also the licensing seems very annoying. Just one computer and node-locked, at least if you are going for the summer sale. What to do, what to do?

[Pooby]

This is reviving an old thread, but I'm asking the same question.

First of all, when I say NUKE, I don't mean mean NukeX, I mean Nuke (lite, as it should be called.)
I wonder if anyone can aid my decision about going for either Nuke or Fusion7.

It seems to me that a non NukeX has many annoyingly missing features that Fusion (and even AE) has by default, especially now with 'dimension' included as standard, plus the buyout by Blackmagic seems very positive for its future.

I am not one to care about aligning with industry standards, so that is not a real concern, but if anyone has any experience with both, any insight would be really helpful.

[mixepix]

My Nuke experience is pretty limited but so far I've been quite happy with Fusion. Very nice 3d integration. The only thing that I didn't like was how Eyeon Software communicates with their customers but I'm hoping that Blackmagic will change all that.

[Pooby]

Ah brilliant thanks for replying. I was wondering which one you went for.. It's the 3d I'm primarily interested in. After Effects isn't going to cut it anymore.

I'm in a bit of a quandary, as I have the opportunity to get Nuke for a low cost ( an old license that was never registered. long story) but it will still cost me about £850 or so to get it up and running in maintenance.

Seemed like a no brainer, and I was going to move ahead as its a relative bargain, but then Fusion 7 seems to have a lot more to offer than Nuke basic. Its frustrating owning a version that seems to have much of the cool stuff disabled. I could also really do with the dimension toolset and I don't want to fork out huge costs for a Nuke X upgrade and the ongoing maintenance.

Fusion is a higher starting cost for me, but seems a lot more reasonable going forward. ( Plus my years with Softimage have given me a 'support the underdog' mentality, but I shouldnt really let that influence me)

I've heard stuff too about Eyeon not being the best communicators. I couldn't even find a UK price for Fusion 7 and have had no reply from them yet regarding that.
My other worry is that I'll buy it, and then Blackmagic will totally restructure the pricing in a couple of months and I'll have overpaid.

Anyway.. Any more info would be gratefully recieved from anyone.