Please make Fusion more user-friendly

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julian_b

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Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 1:50 am

If Blackmagic wants to get more people switching from After Effects to Fusion, they seriously need to overhaul Fusion's UI and UX.
For AE users the node-based workflow alone is intimitating.
On top of that you get a UI that is very reliant on context menus in places you wouldn't expect them.
I've been using Fusion for a few years now, I read a big part of the manual, and I'm still finding out new stuff I should have known from the beginning.
And it is part of the job of a developer (or UI designer) to make the UI explorable and user-friendly.
There should be multiple ways to do an action not just the one way of right-clicking in a tiny little area on the screen to get that one feature. That's basic UI/UX knowledge.
Make features accessable via the main menu and not just via context menus.
Context menus and shortcuts are mainly used by power-users. New users will use the main menu. And Fusion doesn't have a lot of things in there.

Example 1:
And what about the fact, that you can actually create perfect circles and rectangles with the polyline tool?
As opposed to the "Ellipse" and "Rectangle" tools, you can actually edit the spline points of them!
I never knew that! And the only way to get there is to have a polyline in the viewer, right-click -> Polygon: Polyline -> Create -> Ellipse. At least add 2 buttons in the tool's controls to expose this feature.

Example 2:
I never knew I could mark in and out points when previewing loaders, using the transport control under the tool controls.
The in and out points can only be set via context menu, which is super inconvenient and bad design. There is even enough room for 2 more buttons.

Example 3:
What about the "sort" menu in the timeline editor?
All the menu items sort the timeline, apart from "Animated", which doesn't change the sorting, but filters the timeline! It even says so in the manual: "The Animated sort order is not really a sorting method at all. It is more of a filter[...]"
It's not a big thing, but it shows bad UI design. Instead you could just throw "Animated" and "Sel" into a new combo box for filtering the timeline. They are mutually exclusive. Or since it's only two elements: Make it 2 toggle buttons. And: Yes, there is more than enough space for that small additional UI element. It wouldn't hurt, but only help.

Example 4:
Guide List: Why do I have to go to the Timeline Editor or Spline Editor and right-click on that frame ribbon thing to get the Guide List?
I want the Guide List to jump between guides while watching the viewers and different node's settings.
So I have to switch to the timeline editor and back to the flow tab just to get the Guide List up.
Why isn't there a menu item "Guide List" under the "View" menu? Surely not because it's too cluttered, since there's barely anything in there.

More examples:
- Right-clicking on the "play" button to set the step size.
- Right-clicking on the RAM label to Purge Cache (This feature cannot be found anywhere else!?)
- Right-clicking on the RAM label to Re-render Current Frame
- Right-clicking on the RAM label to reload FBX Meshes
- Right-clicking on the "Audio" icon to add an audio file (COME ON! This is getting ridiculous!)
- Right-clicking on the "Audio" icon to set the audio offset
- Clicking on "Idle" in the lower right corner to get to the networks render settings.
- Setting the proxy resolution by right clicking on the "proxy" button
- The only way to scale and rotate a mask is to click "S" and "T" in the viewer.
- Give us a button to jump to the next and previous frames (that's really basic stuff).
I know there's a shortcut, but either I forget it all the time or it's not working on my german keyboard.
- Fusion in Resolve: Right-clicking on the transport controls as the only way to set High Quality, Motion Blur, Proxy, and Auto Proxy?! I only found that context menu because I knew these features were missing. No way a new user would find that. At least add a menu icon, so the user sees there's more.


There's even stuff I have learned about, and then just forgot that it's there!
And I'm sure there is so much more I haven't seen yet. You guys tell me what I missed.
How are new users supposed to pick up Fusion, if even experienced users find new stuff all the time?!
And that is not because Fusion is so deep, but because of bad UI design.

Even for me, as an experienced user, Fusion's user interface and the interaction with the software is just weird. And I have use a lot of programs! Fusion is definitely the weirdest, together with Blender. Imagine how new users must feel. They will quickly jump back into easy-to-use After Effects.
I'm not saying this to rant about Fusion, I'm saying this because I want Fusion to be successful and to increase its userbase.

I understand, that Fusion has been created as an in-house solution by artists for artists. But that was 25 years ago! Back then this User Experience was surely okay, but nowadays when you want new users to pick up your software, it's a big turn-off for new users.
The same goes for Avid's Media Composer. People rather learn Premiere, because Media Composer looks and feels out of date. I'm not saying Fusion feels out of date, but it's UI design and UX is definitely weird.

There are barely any tutorials for Fusion. The only way to learn the software is to use it and explore.
But Fusion makes it unnecessary hard to explore its features.
Remember: We are talking about people new to compositing or new to node-based compositing, coming from After Effects, an application with a simple, explorable UI and tons of tutorials.
If Blackmagic isn't helping new users with tutorials, at least improve the UI and UX to invite new users.

It's the little tings, that can turn new users off of the application.
For example: I heard about new Blender users, who couldn't figure out how to select an object, because selection is on the right mouse button.
They closed the software and stuck with their other 3D software they already knew.
And that even though Blender has TONS of tutorials, Fusion doesn't.

Blackmagic's topmost goal right now should be to make Fusion as appealing to new users as possible.
Including Fusion in Resolve was an extremely important step in that direction.
But making Fusion easier to use and learn, and more explorable and user-friendly is also important.
Especially with the lack of tutorials.

BTW: I just found the "Show Timecode" menu item. Never knew that existed! You wanna know how I found it? Because it was right there in the "View" menu, waiting to be discovered, not just in some hidden context menu. And why didn't I find it earlier? Because I got used to Fusion menu's not being very helpful to find features. Because most of the stuff is only in context menus.
Last edited by julian_b on Thu May 24, 2018 12:28 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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michael vorberg

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 6:24 am

If I go to YouTube and search for "Blackmagic fusion" I get a lot of videos with tutorials and it's becoming more everyday. Don't say they are all good and do it the right way, but it's coming along

Lack of tutorials is an "hen and egg" problem. Without users nobody creates tutorials and without tutorials you won't get more users
Because there are a lot of AE users you see many videos for it

Fusions UI can be improved, for sure.
But I feel lost in any Adobe product as well. Never find simple things I know how to do in fusion. Don't let me think of nested precomps
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alan bovine

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 6:42 am

Are you on a mac since you have an aversion for right clicking anywhere ? :)

Jokes aside, I disagree with your sentiments almost point by point. Fusion is not perfect, but.....

AE is hardly a good UX/UI experience, talk about inconsistent workflows and multiple UI paradigms. but lets not go down _that_ road.

Fusion is at least consistent in its presentation of simple vs advanced controls, by right clicking. Not only does this allow for the most essential tools to be presented first without clutter, but you know there's more detailed functions available if you just right click.

For AE users the node-based workflow alone is intimitating.

Learning anything that challanges your perspective is intimidating. Its not becuase of nodes..

On top of that you get a UI that is very reliant on context menus in places you wouldn't expect them.

Where do you find context menus where the context isn't right ? Any right click context menu is directly related to the item you're right clicking. Or are there a hidden layer I'm missing? Right clicking the LUT icon gives me LUT options, not roto options. I don't understand what you're trying to say here.

The only way to scale and rotate a mask is to click "S" and "T" in the viewer.

Wrong, you can also do box selection that lets you do transforms AND perspective changes to your masks. (ctrl+b)
You can also transform on the node itself...

Give us a button to jump to the next and previous frames (that's really basic stuff).I know there's a shortcut, but either I forget it all the time or it's not working on my german keyboard.

Also wrong, Your inability to configure your keyboard is not Fusion's fault. You have shortcuts like { and } for changing frames, which you can also change to something else via the hotkey files. You can even jump between keyframes....

There's even stuff I have learned about, and then just forgot that it's there!
And I'm sure there is so much more I haven't seen yet. You guys tell me what I missed.

Again, this is not a Fusion fault is it....

Fusion is definitely the weirdest, together with Blender. Imagine how new users must feel. They will quickly jump back into easy-to-use After Effects.

Again, Fusion isn't AE, and it never will. It can't. It follows the path of other node based compositors. Not to mention it follows (and leads) in what is the industry standard for film work. Both Nuke and Shake have been dominating and setting a standard for expected behaviour and workflows. And by that standard its not "weird" or obscure in its UI/UX choices. It is literally _the_ standard.

For example: I heard about new Blender users, who couldn't figure out how to select an object, because selection is on the right mouse button.

Ok now I'm a bit facetious but I say that someone who can't use the right button on a mouse have no business using a computer. I mean come on.....


If you want the AE experience then just use AE, seriously. That is not the same as saying use AE instead of Fusion, but Fusions ethos and workflow cannot mimic AE. Use the right tools for the right jobs!

That said, there's plenty of room for improving Fusions UI, but looking at the Resolve integration with its complete waste of UI and screenspace its not going the right direction for VFX compers....
Last edited by alan bovine on Thu May 24, 2018 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fusion video tutorials : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTCeDas53OEcWcRujkQiwLg/videos?view_as=subscriber
Fusion Tools : https://github.com/statixVFX/stx_tools
Nuke 2 Fusion nodes : https://github.com/statixVFX/nuke2fusion
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julian_b

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 12:04 pm

alan bovine wrote:Are you on a mac since you have an aversion for right clicking anywhere ?

Joke understood, but: I have an aversion for hiding features in one single place, where nobody is looking.

alan bovine wrote:Fusion is at least consitent in its presentation of simple vs advanced controls, by right clicking.

Setting the proxy resolution is NOT an advanced features. It's basic stuff everyone needs to do and there should be a visible control for it. Do you really want these forums to be flooded by newbie-questions like:"How do I set the proxy resolution?" ?! People will be asking a lot of questions regarding node-based compositing anyway. And that's okay. But we shouldn't encourage them asking the total basics of how to use the program, only because the program is not as well designed as it could be.
And, no: Most new users don't want to read the manual, you know that.

alan bovine wrote:Not only does this allow for the most essential tools to be presented without clutter, but you know there's more detailed function available if you just right click.

Setting proxy resolution is most essential and that feature is NOT even presented to new users.
More detailed function if I right click WHERE? There are places where you expect a context menu, and there are places you don't. Right-clicking on a "play" button is not one of those places.

alan bovine wrote:But you seem to be wanting all of this presented in a single place ?

No! Good UI design gives the user multiple ways to do one thing. That means presenting a normal menu item, a context menu, and, if space allows it, a button.

alan bovine wrote:
julian boehme wrote: The only way to scale and rotate a mask is to click "S" and "T" in the viewer.

Wrong, you can also do box selection that lets you do transforms AND perspective changes to your masks. (ctrl+b)

BTW: It's Shift+B. But that doesn't let my scale it in proportion. And using "S" for scaling makes it hard and sometimes impossible to scale from the center of the mask, depending on where in the frame the mask is.

alan bovine wrote:
Give us a button to jump to the next and previous frames (that's really basic stuff).I know there's a shortcut, but either I forget it all the time or it's not working on my german keyboard.

Wrong, Your inability to configure your keyboard is not Fusion's fault. Plus you have shortcuts like { and } for changing frames, which you can also change to something else via the hotkey files. You can even jump between keyframes....

AGAIN: That's not what it's about! It's not about me! It's about new users who'll be like:"How do I get to the next keyframe? There's no button and no menu item. This program is so annoying to use!" And that happens a few times, and people will go back to their old compositor.

alan bovine wrote:
There's even stuff I have learned about, and then just forgot that it's there!
And I'm sure there is so much more I haven't seen yet. You guys tell me what I missed.

Again, this is not a Fusion fault is it....

Partly it is! A good UI should make it easy for the user to explore the program. I think I told you that often enough.

alan bovine wrote:
Fusion is definitely the weirdest, together with Blender. Imagine how new users must feel. They will quickly jump back into easy-to-use After Effects.

Again, Fusion isn't AE, and it never will. It can't.

That's not what it's about! I'm just comparing the UI of programs and how new-user-friendly they are.


alan bovine wrote:Both Nuke, shake have been dominating and setting a standard that people in this field expects the tool to work. And by that standard its not "weird" or obscure in its UI/UX choices.

If BMD wants to increase sales and get a slice of the AE crowd, then it is weird in that standard! And giving Fusion and Resolve away for free practically screams:"We want more users! Come to us!
And even compared to Nuke, Fusion is weird:
- Nuke does have a "Next Keyframe" button.
- Nuke does have a "Previous Keyframe" button.
- Nuke does have a textfield for setting the step size.
- Nuke does have a "Set In" button.
- Nuke does have a "Set Out" button.
- Nuke does have a dropdown menu for proxy res right where you expect it.
- Nuke let's you easily scale a mask from it's relative center and keep the aspect ratio. Haven't found that in Fusion.
- Clearing the cache in Nuke? Well, guess what: It's right there under a menu named appropriately enough "cache". Oh dear! Intuitive UI design!
- Nuke has a "Search" menu item. That's easy to find. I know Fusion has Ctrl + F, but new users don't know that.
- Re-rendering a frame in Nuke: Yeah, there's a button in the viewer for that. WHERE YOU WOULD EXPECT IT! Fusion doesn't even have that in it's viewer context menu. Only in that tinly little "RAM" label in the lower right! [irony]Now that's easy to find![/irony]

I never really touched Nuke, and I found these things EASILY!
That's what it's about
. A new user finding the most basic stuff and the program presenting what it can do, to invite the user to explore, and to be easy to use.

alan bovine wrote:
For example: I heard about new Blender users, who couldn't figure out how to select an object, because selection is on the right mouse button.

Ok now I'm a bit facetious but I say that someone who can't use the right button on a mouse have no business using a computer. I mean come on.....

You don't get my point. They know how to use a right mouse button. But they expect a context menu on it, not selection! The model of the program does not match the mental model the user has! They might right-click into empty space, nothing comes up. They left-click trying to select an object, but only the 3D cursor moves. And they might think:"This program is bad designed" (which I, as a Blender user, agree on), and quit.

alan bovine wrote:If you want the AE experience then just use AE, seriously. That is not the same as saying use AE instead of Fusion, but Fusions ethos and workflow cannot mimic AE.

AGAIN: It's not about workflow. It's about explorability for new users and multiple ways to use a feature. Nuke has the same node-based workflow as Fusion. And Nuke presents a lot of the stuff better, as I told you above. The fact that Fusion is node-based doesn't exclude a good UI and UX.

I'm not hating on Fusion. I love it. And that's why I want it to improve.
Last edited by julian_b on Thu May 24, 2018 2:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Chad Capeland

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 1:28 pm

Julian Böhme wrote:Joke understood, but: I have an aversion for hiding features in one single place, where nobody is looking.


It's not hiding. There's a button on your mouse to access it. When you press the button, the control appears wherever your mouse is, so you don't have to go looking for it. Ever. It's where everybody is looking.

Julian Böhme wrote:Setting the proxy resolution is NOT an advanced features. It's basic stuff everyone needs to do and there should be a visible control for it.


Capture.JPG
RTFM
Capture.JPG (12.72 KiB) Viewed 6722 times


Julian Böhme wrote:Setting proxy resolution is most essential.


Changing the proxy resolution does a FULL cache flush. You don't want users accidentally doing that. The GUI should protect users from such mistakes.
Chad Capeland
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julian_b

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 2:16 pm

Chad Capeland wrote:
Julian Böhme wrote:Joke understood, but: I have an aversion for hiding features in one single place, where nobody is looking.

It's not hiding. There's a button on your mouse to access it. When you press the button, the control appears wherever your mouse is, so you don't have to go looking for it. Ever. It's where everybody is looking.

:shock: Excuse me. Are we both talking about context menus? Are you kidding me? You know why they are called context menus, right? They are dependent on the context!
You're trying to tell me that possibly hundreds of menus that might appears at any point on the screen depending on where I am right-clicking is NOT HIDING? Having to click on every button, label, and control on an interface to see if a context menu is behind it is not hiding? Hell, it is!
You are saying a new user opens up Fusion, looks at the "play" button, and says:"Oh! There's a context menu behind it! I see that!" or "There's a tiny label saying 'Idle' in the lower right corner. There's a context menu behind it! I know that!"
It's not where "everybody is looking"! Only people who already know that it's there! Duh! :roll:
Chad Capeland wrote:When you press the button, the control appears wherever your mouse is, so you don't have to go looking for it.

Wrong! It's not wherever my mouse it. It is only at that specific point on the screen. I have to right-click there to get it. Without any indication that it's there. You could do it like After Effects and Photoshop and add a little triangle in the lower right of the button/label to show that there's more if you right-click. That's a proper way to communicate to the user, that there's more to be discovered.
What you are saying would be true if right clicking anywhere would bring up one specific menu. Independent of where you mouse currently is. It would always be the same menu. Then you statement would be correct. Otherwise, I don't see it making any sense.

That' what I mean:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=63670&p=360152&hilit=proxy#p360152
What where you saying? It's not hiding? If this setting was in the viewer like with most other programs, he would have found it right away. For example, I found that setting in Nuke and After Effects right away.

Chad Capeland wrote:
Julian Böhme wrote:Setting the proxy resolution is NOT an advanced features. It's basic stuff everyone needs to do and there should be a visible control for it.


Capture.JPG


And it's still hidden somewhere in the preferences.
I'm talking about a visible quickly accessible dropdown menu to quickly edit the proxy resolution.Just like every other NLE and compositing program has (Media Composer, Vegas, Premiere, After Effects, Nuke etc.)

Chad Capeland wrote:Changing the proxy resolution does a FULL cache flush. You don't want users accidentally doing that. The GUI should protect users from such mistakes.

And you think hiding that feature is a proper way of protection? That's not a protection at all, because it doesn't communicate the danger!
A proper way of protection would be a warning message that informs the user with the option to not show it again. And the proxy resolution setting could live happily in a combo box next to the viewer where it belongs. Or at least in the context menu of the viewer. Just somewhere where it's more likely to find it than where it is now.
Just because it is hard to get to, it's not a protection. As soon as it's found, it's just as dangerous!

Don't worry guys. I'm not talking about completely chaning your beloved Fusion. I'm just saying it would be beneficial to add some more menu items and a few more buttons to bring more new users in, which is what we all need.
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Andrew Hazelden

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 4:01 pm

Julian Böhme wrote:Don't worry guys. I'm not talking about completely chaning your beloved Fusion. I'm just saying it would be beneficial to add some more menu items and a few more buttons to bring more new users in, which is what we all need.


Hi Julian.

I just wanted to leave a positive comment to say if you are looking for a radical departure from the standard Fusion Standalone GUI of today that is aimed at bringing in LOTs of new users, you are getting a chance to see that happen inside of the Resolve 15 Beta Fusion page right now, as we speak. ;)

This thread has been interesting for me to read as it shows how compositors coming from other VFX packages interpret the traditional Fusion workflows and UI design decisions.

Like the other end users on this thread I've used Fusion for many years now so I heave slowly learned the "Fusion" way of doing things, and all the hotkeys that I need are memorized so at this point my muscle memory and intuition knows where to look for a feature and I can be very productive with the toolset.

If you have some experience with Nuke and became comfortable with it, then the Steakunderwater site's Reactor package manager for Fusion and Resolve might be a toolset you want to install today so you can easily add the "Nuke2Fusion" package by StatixVFX. This Reactor package makes Fusion's hotkey bindings and node names work near identically to what you learned to use in Nuke and might cut down a bit of your daily frustrations. It even allows for interesting node connection approaches like "kissing" two nodes together in the flow area to connect them, which is a cool add-on.

IMHO if you have specific comments about individual GUI elements and approaches that you need to see improved so you are happy, I'd encourage you to make several detailed and constructive posts on the Resolve 15 beta thread with specific cropped screenshots and comments about how you work with your compositing process as an artist, and where the UI design is failing you in that creative workflow compared to the other tools you have used and are very comfortable with.

My guess is that taking a visual approach of comparing what could be better in Fusion probably works better then a text only technique of lisiting all the features and controls that are in the Fusion UI and saying approximately "It's not very easy to use the UI if someone doesn't want to read any manuals at all" or "Fusion is decidedly not AE like".

It is hard to take actions on those type of broad comments without more clarity on how things could be different but still inherently *be* a node based compositing package.

Your comments have all been valid statements and observations from your perspective but the community of end users in the BMD Forum > Fusion section will be trying to respond to each of your comments in point form as if they were a technical support request and you wanted to know, one question at a time, how each of the hotkeys, buttons, controls, menus, and UI elements in Fusion were designed to work in the current shipping release "the Fusion way".

I think IMHO you are wanting something different which is to be part of a larger conversation about the GUI design overall, not so much needing/requesting help on how to come to grips with learning the Fusion Standalone tool that is infront of you today.

If this is the case, then the Resolve 15 Beta forum is the fastest place to post your comments and ideas about the Fusion page. The Resolve product manager and developer staff are iterating through all this beta feedback right now, at this very moment as the Fusion page is actively being sculpted and re-designed. You could have a very good chance to see some of your suggestions show up in mere weeks in the Fusion page as each new Resolve beta build comes out.

By contrast, posting GUI redesign messages in this Fusion forum zone might be ineffective for you as this area tends to have ~90% of the messages be end users chatting amongst themselves on technical support questions, or sharing compositing workflow tips and example Fusion comps.

Basically, if you want to know how an obscure hotkey works in Fusion, were that missing AE feature is and what it is called in Fusion's lingo, or how you could map that extra button on your Wacom tablet to carry out an action in Fusion, then this *is* the place to ask it. If you want to see Fusion UI controls renamed/changed, and things moved around in the GUI then the Resolve 15 beta forum is having those conversations happen at a rate of dozens of messages per day.

Cheers,
Andrew
Mac Studio M2 Ultra / Threadripper 3990X | Fusion Studio 18.6.4 | Kartaverse 6
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julian_b

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostThu May 24, 2018 4:40 pm

Andrew Hazelden wrote:I just wanted to leave a positive comment to say if you are looking for a radical departure from the standard Fusion Standalone GUI of today that is aimed at bringing in LOTs of new users, you are getting a chance to see that happen inside of the Resolve 15 Beta Fusion page right now, as we speak. ;)

Thanks I know about Resolve 15. As I said, I am not looking for a radical new GUI. Just making it a little bit more intuitive for new users.
Andrew Hazelden wrote:If you have some experience with Nuke and became comfortable with it, then the Steakunderwater site's Reactor package manager for Fusion and Resolve might be a toolset you want to install today so you can easily add the "Nuke2Fusion" package by StatixVFX. This Reactor package makes Fusion's hotkey bindings and node names work near identically to what you learned to use in Nuke and might cut down a bit of your daily frustrations.

As I said I'm not coming from Nuke. Years ago, I had to decide between Nuke and Fusion and went the Fusion way because of the better motion graphics features in Fusion.
Andrew Hazelden wrote:My guess is that taking a visual approach of comparing what could be better in Fusion probably works better then a text only technique of lisiting all the features and controls that are in the Fusion UI and saying approximately "It's not very easy to use the UI if someone doesn't want to read any manuals at all" or "Fusion is decidedly not AE like".

Visuals are always better, of course. But I think, for the simple stuff I'm talking about it should be pretty clear, what I'm talking about, especially for users who know Fusion.

Andrew Hazelden wrote:I think IMHO you are wanting something different which is to be part of a larger conversation about the GUI design overall, not so much needing/requesting help on how to come to grips with learning the Fusion Standalone tool that is infront of you today.

Absolutely. I've been using Fusion for about 4 years now. I don't have questions, I don't ask for help. I am not saying, this is the way I need Fusion to be. I'm just proposing changes, that would make it easier for new users to pick up Fusion.

Andrew Hazelden wrote:If this is the case, then the Resolve 15 Beta forum is the fastest place to post your comments and ideas about the Fusion page.

Thanks. I'll see, if I can get a moderator to move this topic.
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Kays Alatrakchi

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 6:43 am

alan bovine wrote:
For example: I heard about new Blender users, who couldn't figure out how to select an object, because selection is on the right mouse button.

Ok now I'm a bit facetious but I say that someone who can't use the right button on a mouse have no business using a computer. I mean come on.....


I just wanted to clarify what the poster meant because you might not have understood it if you're not familiar with most CG apps vs Blender.

Basically in 99% of CG apps out there (C4D, Maya, Houdini, Lightwave, etc.)…actually, on second thought, make that 99.9999% of EVERY SOFTWARE EVER TO HAVE BEEN CREATED, the user selects by clicking on the left mouse button. Whether it's text in a text editor, a cube in 3D space, a waveform in an audio editor…you get the idea.

In Blender, for reasons that I can only surmise as being different for the sake of it, selection happens with a right click.

The OP knows quite well how to use a right click (middle-click on Macs…different story…don't get me started), but he is absolutely right in pointing out the massive frustration that most people experience when they first launch Blender and are utterly unable to select a single object on the screen (at least until they figure it out, and promptly change the preference setting).
>>Kays Alatrakchi
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Resolve 18.1.4, Mac OS X 12.6.3 (Monterey), iMac Pro 64Gb RAM, Decklink Mini 4K, LG C9

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alan bovine

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 7:03 am

I just wanted to clarify what the poster meant because you might not have understood it if you're not familiar with most CG apps vs Blender.


As said; I was being facetious about it. But I still stand by that if you're presented with two buttons, and you can't figure out which does what, you're fairly inept at adopting your workflow, regardless of the software/field.

Granted, I too share frustrations with blenders departure from conventional/traditional software design choices, but I am willing to spend at least 5 minutes trying to learn what the developers had in mind. In blenders case, I can change the behaviour to something I'm more familiar with (like houdini)

The problem here is two fold, sometimes you DO have workflows that are sub-optimal; there's no denying that. But on the other hand you have users not willing to spend the needed time to learn the intended workflows from the developers.

Can Fusion be improved ? Sure! Are you making suggestions ? Post pictures and explain how the current method falls short for the majority of the users. If you want change, come up with a solution.
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Kays Alatrakchi

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 8:08 am

Ugh, why do I get sucked into these types of threads? They really don't benefit any of us, although I do hope that Blackmagic is reading and paying attention.

To me personally (IMHO), when it comes to software and artistry, it comes down to intuitiveness. You pick up a paintbrush, dip it into red paint, move it across the canvas and you leave a red mark — intuitive.

You pick up a mouse, click on it with your index finger, whatever you clicked on becomes highlighted — intuitive.

Fusion is slowly getting there, and I do believe that moving it into Resolve is a major step toward making it more intuitive, but it ain't there yet. Say what you will about AE, but that program is miles ahead in intuitiveness (perhaps because it feels remarkably similar to Photoshop which is very intuitive as well).

How so you ask? Ok, let me give you a quick example. Particles.

In AE, drag particle plugin onto a layer. Press spacebar and you see particles.

In Fusion, create a pEmitter node. Press spacebar. Nothing. Connect pEmitter to MediaOut node. Nothing. Oh I got it, it needs a Merge node. Nope. After some head scratching and YouTube surfing one realizes that a pRender node is also required to see what is happening. Intuitive? I don't think so.

So here's a solution. How about Fusion automatically adds a pRender node if one is not already present when a pEmitter node is created? Better yet, how about it also automatically adds a Renderer3D node and connects it to a new Merge node into the signal flowing to the MediaOut node? It might seem unnecessary to a seasoned pro, but to someone dipping their feet into Fusion it would make the experience so much more intuitive.

Anyway, it's just my opinion, it's late and somehow I got sucked into yet another one of those threads. I never learn!
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 8:43 am

Note: moved to the sub-forum at the original posters request.
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alan bovine

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 8:46 am

Kays Alatrakchi wrote:To me personally (IMHO), when it comes to software and artistry, it comes down to intuitiveness. You pick up a paintbrush, dip it into red paint, move it across the canvas and you leave a red mark — intuitive.

You pick up a mouse, click on it with your index finger, whatever you clicked on becomes highlighted — intuitive.


I get your analogy, but it doesn't work. The amount of moving parts and complexity of something like Fusion, AE or Nuke cannot be compared to a simple paint brush.

What if the user always wants to use blue paint by default instead? How come he has to buy paint seperately ? It should be bundled! Everone uses blue paint. Paint brush surely will fail if doesnt have ambidextrous mode etc etc.

Joking aside, the point being painting a red line is easy, painting a Mona Lisa takes skill, time, practice, failures and most of all willingess to LEARN. Same is true for creating any great work with Fusion, intuition or not.


Kays Alatrakchi wrote:Say what you will about AE, but that program is miles ahead in intuitiveness

This is a subjective statement that I don't agree with. Here's an example where the very concept layers and AE falls flat on its face: precomps. Precomps isn't a small trivial issue in AE its a major one that easily can become unmanagable and far from intuitive once a shot becomes a certain size, especially for feature film VFX work. Precomps are a non-issue in node based tools.

Another example is something we do to probably more than 50% of all VFX shots these days, camera re-projection for cleanup and touchups, with a proper lens distortion workflow and a non-destructive process.

Easy stuff is perhaps a bit harder in fusion, but hard stuff is easy. But hard stuff in AE (like cleanup tasks) are near impossible to manage at a scale.

I don't bash AE, I really like it. But its not something to look at for inspiration on intuitiveness for a node based tool. But if you have specific examples of where Fusion could benefint from AE please share them.

Kays Alatrakchi wrote:How so you ask? Ok, let me give you a quick example. Particles.

In AE, drag particle plugin onto a layer. Press spacebar and you see particles.

In Fusion, create a pEmitter node. Press spacebar. Nothing. Connect pEmitter to MediaOut node. Nothing. Oh I got it, it needs a Merge node. Nope. After some head scratching and YouTube surfing one realizes that a pRender node is also required to see what is happening. Intuitive? I don't think so.

So here's a solution. How about Fusion automatically adds a pRender node if one is not already present when a pEmitter node is created? Better yet, how about it also automatically adds a Renderer3D node and connects it to a new Merge node into the signal flowing to the MediaOut node? It might seem unnecessary to a seasoned pro, but to someone dipping their feet into Fusion it would make the experience so much more intuitive.


But you're missing the entire point of having a modular node based approach! Is houdini bad because you have to add even MORE nodes than Fusion if you want particles ? Or is it because it actually offers a more granular and modular approach to problem solving ? Believe it or not, but this is why Fusion and especially the particle system so damn powerful.

Not everyone wants a preconfigured setup for this behaviour. But you're in luck as Fusion actually lets you have your cake and eat it too:

Create you particle system, pEmitter, pTurbulence, pRender, camera3d etc, your renderer3d and right click (i know i know) and "save as macro" and call it something like KaysParticles. And voila, everytime you need all those nodes together you can call this macro from the main menus, context menus, scripted solutions, top bar menu etc.

Here's an example I made for you, just copy and paste the code below into the Fusion flow:

Code: Select all
{
   Tools = ordered() {
      Camera3D1 = Camera3D {
         Inputs = {
            AoV = Input { Value = 19.2642683071402, },
            ["Stereo.Mode"] = Input { Value = FuID { "Mono" }, },
            FilmGate = Input { Value = FuID { "BMD_URSA_4K_16x9" }, },
            ApertureW = Input { Value = 0.831496062992126, },
            ApertureH = Input { Value = 0.467716535433071, },
            ["SurfacePlaneInputs.ObjectID.ObjectID"] = Input { Value = 1, },
            ["MtlStdInputs.MaterialID"] = Input { Value = 1, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 562, 185 } },
      },
      pEmitter1 = pEmitter {
         ID = 2,
         CtrlWZoom = false,
         Inputs = {
            Number = Input { Value = 41, },
            PositionVariance = Input { Value = 0.0235, },
            VelocityControls = Input { Value = 1, },
            VelocityVariance = Input { Value = 0.565, },
            AngleVariance = Input { Value = 479.4, },
            AngleZVariance = Input { Value = 462.1, },
            Style = Input { Value = FuID { "ParticleStyleNGon" }, },
            ["ParticleStyle.SizeControls"] = Input { Value = 1, },
            ["ParticleStyle.Size"] = Input { Value = 0.0187, },
            ["ParticleStyle.SizeOverLife"] = Input {
               SourceOp = "pEmitter1SizeoverLife",
               Source = "Value",
            },
            ["ParticleStyle.BlurOverLife"] = Input {
               SourceOp = "pEmitter1BluroverLife2D",
               Source = "Value",
            },
            ["SphereRgn.Translate.Z"] = Input { Value = -1.35, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 705, 80 } },
      },
      pEmitter1SizeoverLife = LUTBezier {
         KeyColorSplines = {
            [0] = {
               [0] = { 0.5, RH = { 0.3, 0.5 }, Flags = { Linear = true } },
               [1] = { 0.5, LH = { 0.7, 0.5 }, Flags = { Linear = true } }
            }
         },
         SplineColor = { Red = 192, Green = 128, Blue = 64 },
         NameSet = true,
      },
      pEmitter1BluroverLife2D = LUTBezier {
         KeyColorSplines = {
            [0] = {
               [0] = { 0.5, RH = { 0.3, 0.5 }, Flags = { Linear = true } },
               [1] = { 0.5, LH = { 0.7, 0.5 }, Flags = { Linear = true } }
            }
         },
         SplineColor = { Red = 192, Green = 128, Blue = 64 },
         NameSet = true,
      },
      pRender1 = pRender {
         Inputs = {
            _MotionBlurWarning = Input { Disabled = true, },
            Width = Input { Value = 1920, },
            Height = Input { Value = 1080, },
            ["Gamut.SLogVersion"] = Input { Value = FuID { "SLog2" }, },
            OutputMode = Input { Disabled = true, },
            IntegrationMethod = Input { Value = FuID { "RK4" }, },
            ["MaterialID.MaterialID"] = Input { Value = 2, },
            ["ObjectID.ObjectID"] = Input { Value = 2, },
            Input = Input {
               SourceOp = "pEmitter1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Camera = Input {
               SourceOp = "Camera3D1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 705, 185 } },
      },
      Renderer3D1 = Renderer3D {
         CustomData = {
            ToolVersion = 2,
         },
         Inputs = {
            Width = Input { Value = 1920, },
            Height = Input { Value = 1080, },
            ["Gamut.SLogVersion"] = Input { Value = FuID { "SLog2" }, },
            SceneInput = Input {
               SourceOp = "pRender1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            RendererType = Input { Value = FuID { "RendererOpenGL" }, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 705, 261 } },
      },
      Merge1 = Merge {
         Inputs = {
            Background = Input {
               SourceOp = "Renderer3D1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            PerformDepthMerge = Input { Value = 0, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 705, 329 } },
      }
   }
}


This is literally what makes fusion powerful. Its the whole concept in a nutshell.

I engage in these threads because more often than not the users are asking for something thats already implemented, like in OPs questions I try to point out that yes, you can advance frames with hotkeys, yes there are multiple ways of doing things like rotation on masks. No need to be overtly dogmatic about how fusion is failing becuase there's not a button for advancing keyframes in the gui.

I even go as far as creating youtube videos showcasing more advanced features of Fusion for people who really want to dig into the inner workings of node based tools. I engange because I care and believe Fusion deserves a larger audience thats willing to learn.
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Bryan Ray

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 3:43 pm

I do think a few things could be more accessible. A cache menu item, for instance.

I really like that notion of auto-creating a pRender when you make a pEmitter—you always need one, after all, and particle flows are almost completely linear. The occasions when you wouldn't want one—when you're merging two particle systems with pMerge—are rare enough that it would waste far fewer clicks to sometimes need to delete it than it currently does to make the pRender.

In large part, I think the context menus as they exist in RealFusion are appropriate. I'd consider something like creating a circular spline in a Polygon Tool to be sufficiently esoteric that it doesn't need a button. But since almost everything else in the PolyLine context menu does have a button already, I don't think it would hurt anything to add one (or two) more.

I totally agree about the Timeline View's UI. It's confusing in several respects, and it doesn't even work the way it's described in the manual, anyway. Heck, I never even knew about the Guide List to begin with! (Thanks!)

I'm hoping the audio stuff gets much when the integration with Resolve is complete. I honestly haven't tried to do anything with audio yet—does it automatically get the sound from MediaIn? I should definitely give that a look when I get into the office today. Audio's been a place where Fusion has always fallen down; if I need to animate to audio, I still go back to AE, where I know it's reliable.

Incidentally, I accidently double-clicked the cache widget this morning and discovered that it opens the Global Preferences. Nice surprise!

I already made a post about the many buttons that were removed from Resolve's UI, so I won't go into that again, except to note that I hadn't noticed the step backward and forward buttons are also missing. It's not like the transport controls bar is crowded—those should be there. It would also be nice if alt-clicking them stepped to previous/next keyframe, so it would mirror alt+[ and alt+].

And FWIW, I don't find AE intuitive at all. I have more books on After Effects than any other piece of software, and I'm still only middling confident in my skills there. So let's not look at that as a triumph of UX design!
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 4:35 pm

alan bovine wrote:Joking aside, the point being painting a red line is easy, painting a Mona Lisa takes skill, time, practice, failures and most of all willingess to LEARN. Same is true for creating any great work with Fusion, intuition or not.


Of course it takes time to learn, no ones denies that. But you should learn node-based compositing, not fight the UI.
Painting the Mona Lisa takes the same tool as painting a red line: A paint brush. And everyone knows how to use it. It's intuitive. It's not getting in the way. The rest is up to you, what you do with it.
But if Fusion hides the paint bucket, how are you supposed to paint? Basic operations fail already.
"I guess I'll use a more intuitive tool to paint my Mona Lisa, like Nuke. Same node-based workflow, but a bettert UI that shows me where my paint bucket and my brush is. I can start right away."

alan bovine wrote:Not everyone wants a preconfigured setup for this behaviour. But you're in luck as Fusion actually lets you have your cake and eat it too:

Are you a troll? :shock:
AGAIN: That's not what it's about! It's about NEW users!
Your argument is void. How is a new, user who doesn't know what they need to display particles, expected to create a macro from the tools that are missing in his flow? :roll:
You just fail completely to detach yourself from your own knowledge in Fusion and put yourself into the shoes of a new user.

alan bovine wrote:I engage in these threads because more often than not the users are asking for something thats already implemented, like in OPs questions I try to point out that yes, you can advance frames with hotkeys, yes there are multiple ways of doing things like rotation on masks. No need to be overtly dogmatic about how fusion is failing becuase there's not a button for advancing keyframes in the gui.

And that's the problem. You don't get my point of view.
I see this as a programmer and UI/UX designer in regards to new users.
As with the Blender example: Bad UI/UX design can turn off many new customers.
You don't seem to understand how important a good UI and UX is for the success of the program.
The best program in the world is useless, if no one knows how to use it.
Do you want to do compositing using a command line terminal? I don't think so. Why not? Just learn the commands, right? You won't learn it, because it's ******* unintuitiva and stupid. There are other programs out there that are easier to use. So you won't learn the CLI program.
If you want your program to grow, it needs to be intuitive and new-user friendly.
Sometimes it's the little things that will make or break the acceptance of a program for new users.


A new user to Fusion, who wants to set, for example, the proxy resolution would goolge for "blackmagic fusion set preview resolution". And guess what: That search doesn't give a new user the answer!
I'm sorry, but you if BMD wants Fusion's user base to grow, the program needs to be more intuitive.
I'm not saying it's much, that needs to be done. Just some little things here and there. Not a big deal. Nothing to be upset about.

Why do you think after effects is so wide-spread? Because it's easy to pick up. You don't need to watch tutorials to find out how to set the preview resolution in After Effects. When you learn a new program, you don't want to (or can't!) invest time for little ******** like that. And for Fusion, even google wouldn't help you out much. So that ends up with users asking questions "how to set preview resolution" in these forums. They have to register to a new forum, with their real name, make a new topic and wait a few days for someone to answer. And that happens for multiple little things. Won't take a long time, until their patients runs out. And it won't be long until YOUR patients runs out, because you will answer or see the same beginner questions over and over again.
I'm not saying every new user is like that. I wasn't. But some people are like that.
And: Especially, when node-based compositing is new to you, you really don't want the UI get in the way of things. Because you are already trying to wrap your head around nodes. And you will have to google a lot for that already. You don't want to spend more time searching for stuff, that should be obvious. Because then the program just gets annoying, because of bad design. That is really a turn off.

alan bovine wrote:If you want change, come up with a solution.

That's what I did. :roll:

Bryan Ray wrote:I really like that notion of auto-creating a pRender when you make a pEmitter—you always need one, after all, and particle flows are almost completely linear.

You don't always need a pRenderer, when creating a pEmitter. You could have 2 pEmitter and then a pMerge and THEN the pRenderer. So, creating a pRenderer each time wouldn't be good. And would look like a bug.

One solution would be:
When creating pEmitter:
Display menu:
- Create only pEmitter (Enter)
-Create particle pipeline (Backspace)
- "Don't show this again" check box, unchecked.

If you just want to create a pEmitter you just have to choose the pEmitter and hit ENTER.
If you are a new user you can create the particle pipeline and learn how it's used.

But I think the better option would be to just make the bins more prominent.
There are "How to"s in and particle setups in there. But a new user doesn't know that.
BMD could just add a little dialog when starting Fusion saying:
"New User? Have a look at the bins to get started in Fusion. You can find presets and example setups to help you learn there. Go to File> Bins."
- "Don't show again" check box, unchecked.

Bryan Ray wrote:And FWIW, I don't find AE intuitive at all. I have more books on After Effects than any other piece of software, and I'm still only middling confident in my skills there. So let's not look at that as a triumph of UX design!

I never said that. I'm just saying basic features a presented in an expected way in After Effects. And in Nuke. And in Premiere. And probably in Flame.
I'm just using AE as example, because there are a lot of people looking at Fusion as a replacement to get away from the Adobe subscription. And BMD should try to make their switch as smooth as possible.

Bryan Ray wrote:Heck, I never even knew about the Guide List to begin with!

That's what I mean! Fusion hides stuff like that in such a way, that even experienced user don't know it's there. Had there been a menu item in the "View" menu, Bryan would have discovered it earlier. And that's what it's about: Discoverability! Saying:"Oh, what does that button do?", "Oh, that sounds like a cool feature!"

You cannot search for a feature, if I don't know that it's there.
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Bryan Ray

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 6:35 pm

Julian Böhme wrote:
Bryan Ray wrote:And FWIW, I don't find AE intuitive at all. I have more books on After Effects than any other piece of software, and I'm still only middling confident in my skills there. So let's not look at that as a triumph of UX design!

I never said that.


It's not all about you. ;)

Kays Alatrakchi wrote: Say what you will about AE, but that program is miles ahead in intuitiveness.
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 7:20 pm

I agree that Fusion could use a lot of improvement in terms of being more intuitive for new users, and the manual isn't anywhere near as good as Resolve's. But stuffing a button for every feature isn't the answer.

Having step-size under the play button makes a lot of sense. Right-clicking on the RAM display to purge cache also makes sense to me. I don't need next or previous frame buttons either, because using the left and right arrow keys is pretty intuitive to me. Right-clicking is a very natural and important part of my everyday workflow, so I don't understand your discomfort over it.

I do agree with you though, the location of HiQ and Auto Proxy is very obscure, a visual indicator would be helpful.

In the end, it is important to keep in mind that the Resolve team only recently took control over the Fusion app, and have already made great progress in it's usability. I struggle to think of any other application that can perform as broad a scope of operations as Resolve. The dev team has a monumental task of juggling all of these functions, and making them accessible, stable, and keeping the workspace tidy yet functional. There are a lot of conflicting requests and requirements, which are dealt with very admirably. So be patient, and watch Fusion improve over the next few years. I'm sure suggestions for improvement are welcome, but they don't need to be voiced in the form of a 3000 word rant.
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostFri May 25, 2018 7:49 pm

One of the things I like about Resolve is that they haven't made Fusion and Fairlight "user friendly" in the manner that Adobe has with Lumetri and Essential Sound. Resolve keeps the full professional power for those panels, whereas Adobe has dumbed down the feature set for non-professionals.

BMD does it better.
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostSat May 26, 2018 1:43 am

Spencer_Meyer wrote:Right-clicking on the RAM display to purge cache also makes sense to me.

Of course, my friend, it makes completely sense. And it's great.
But as the only way to purge the RAM cache, it's terrible.
I don't want these options to be removed, but additional options for the same features more exposed for new users. That is all.

Spencer_Meyer wrote:Right-clicking is a very natural and important part of my everyday workflow, so I don't understand your discomfort over it.


I hope I'll be saying this for the last time now:
That is not the problem. I love right-clicking, it's important, it's effective.
But Fusion does in no way or barely communicate to new users that specific features even exist.
There are features that are basic for video editing and compositing (e.g. proxy resolution). And these should be more visible, so new users find them more easily.

I'm gonna quote Bryan Ray again:
Bryan Ray wrote:Heck, I never even knew about the Guide List to begin with! (Thanks!)

An experienced user that doesn't know a dialog exists, while there is a "View" menu with just a few menu items in it. None of them says "Guide List". Hmm... :roll:

I'm getting tired of writing the same thing over and over again for normal users, while programmers and UI designers know exactly what I mean and why I say it.

And I bet with you: If you did user studies, barely anyone would find out how to set the proxy resolution, no one will find out how to clear the RAM cache, no one will find out how to move to the next or previous keyframes. Without google or the manual, obviously. And as we have seen, in the case of Fusion even google doesn't help a lot of the time.

Spencer_Meyer wrote:In the end, it is important to keep in mind that the Resolve team only recently took control over the Fusion app, and have already made great progress in it's usability.

There is no question that I am absolutely amazed at what the devs did with Resolve. It totally blew my mind. And I'm not saying we need these changes right away (or that we absolutely need them at all). I'm merely proposing little things that could be improved to help new users.
And the things I proposed are really easily implemented for these devs. It's not big, but can have an impact on how many people use Fusion

Spencer_Meyer wrote:I'm sure suggestions for improvement are welcome, but they don't need to be voiced in the form of a 3000 word rant.

It was never a rant. I was just very precise with what could be improved and how. I think I expressed my love for Fusion often enough. The mere fact that I wrote that much and was that detailed should show my love for the program, because I'm not just saying "The UI suckzzz!"

I think we all have written enogh about such small UI changes. Developers and UI designers know what I mean. And that's the only thing that counts. I made my point. Maybe we should just close the thread here and no longer waste all our time. Let's move on to more important threads about, for example, new features.
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Igor Riđanović

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostSat May 26, 2018 2:43 am

I see that you are passionate about the subject. I believe that in any compositing work that has more than just a handful of elements the nodal approach is vastly superior to the layer approach used by AE.
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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostSat May 26, 2018 7:23 am

AE works linear, Fusion non linear.
Fusion is like a modular synth.
Motion graphic designers find AE easier than Fusion.
Under the hood probably there is too much power. Visual programming is not an easy task.
When BM released Resolve 15 I moved from Adobe suite to DaVinci Studio. Lots of artists will follow.
Premiere and AE development is static, Adobe has to mix the two programs and create a new beast otherwise Resolve will be the reference.

regards
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Peter Chamberlain

Blackmagic Design

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostSun May 27, 2018 5:01 am

I think the discussion above is evidence there is more for us to do. As I previously mentioned we are early into a +12 month integration process.

Fusion in Resolve will be easier to learn without loosing its ability to work in complex VFX workflows and tightly integrate into Resolves review and edit/grade/DAW workflow. We are not there yet.
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PeterMoretti

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Re: Please make Fusion more user-friendly

PostSun May 27, 2018 5:27 am

And the above post is evidence of why Blackmagic Design is doing so well. Peter I HEARTILY APPLAUD you and your team!!!
Resolve 14.3 Studio. GTX 970 with GeForce 390.77 driver. Desktop Video 10.9.10. Intensity Shuttle USB 3.0. Windows 10 Pro.

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