Edit Connect and Avid Media Composer

Hi folks. Can anyone tell me if I should be able to use Edit Connect with MC and the free version of Fusion? It sort of works with some manual intervention but I can't get Fusion to launch and open the project (I have to open it manually).

Thanks

From Rony in a related posting:

"It is supported, you need to tweak the script that launches fusion.

I'm looking into this now.."

I took a look at the script - is there any documentation available that might help one figure this out or is this better left to the foks at BMD/Fusion?

Thanks

It would be great to get some definitive information on this issue. Thanks
Andrew

Yes. Was hoping Rony would get back to us. Maybe it's a bigger issue than first imagined.

Fusion no longer supports external scripting by design. So they would need to add scripting but only under a secure method that can't be hijacked to run generic scripts by end users. Something that previously was not a concern. I wouldn't expect it to be easy.

Is this information official?

The release notes state

Blackmagic Fusion Studio
Added support for external Python scripting

Rony said its supported in the free version of Fusion.

Is this information official?

The release notes state

Blackmagic Fusion Studio
Added support for external Python scripting

BMD Fusion Studio has external scripting support, just like Eyeon Fusion had. BMD Fusion does not. It's one of the ways that they can differentiate, and it prevents someone from building a renderfarm.

Could having this Support downloads page description for the Fusion 7.7.1 update be considered a tad misleading then?
"Fusion 7.7.1
This software update provides added support for external Python scripting to Fusion Studio as well as enhanced script evaluation and general performance enhancements"

Identical wording is used for the Fusion Studio 7.7.1 description above it.

Does anyone KNOW if the Edit Connection 7.7.1 has started to make it work with Fusion Studio 7.7.1?

Is this information official?

The release notes state

Blackmagic Fusion Studio
Added support for external Python scripting

BMD Fusion Studio has external scripting support, just like Eyeon Fusion had. BMD Fusion does not. It's one of the ways that they can differentiate, and it prevents someone from building a renderfarm.

I think that is fair enough. It should be communicated more clearly though. Another thing for the wishlist would be to be able to embed 3rd party gui kits. Maybe this will be better in what will be shown at NAB.

However I suppose for the Connection it means: Studio only, except BMD decides to rework the Connection. Can this be confirmed?

Anyhow for all the changes in the application, features, installer etc. we have to be calm. It is a big change to release a software under such a model and BMD needs time to figure and document this correctly. IMHO the best we can do is give our feedback and hope that Studio stays/becomes what it stands for.

With Connection, the Avid was supposed to drive the copy of Fusion (just like Generation can) which was assumed to be awesome. It's only an issue because Fusion got hobbled, so either Connection becomes Studio-only, or they have to make an exception for Connection and allow that to drive Fusion without allowing 3rd parties to hijack it.

Long term, it might be a question of what to do with Connection as an idea. If it goes beyond Avid and you want to have Connection for Resolve, Premiere, Lightworks, Nuke, After Effects, Vegas, FCX, etc? Might pay to figure it out then. Otherwise it might be easier to just say "Studio-only until further notice" and leave it at that.

Funny enough, we've never received an answer from Fusion Studio owners as to whether Edit Connect works correctly for them. There are assumptions flying around here that the problem is with external scripting and Fusion 'Free' but according to Rony the problem is that the script itself needs 'tweaking'.

Anyone running Studio and Edit Connect?

That is possible, but would be weird. Especially to take this long. I don't have the scripts here to check them, nor do I have MC.

What are the odds on Resolve having Connection-style support at NAB?

What are the odds on Resolve having Connection-style support at NAB?

I guess we now know the companies are working together based on this NAB announcement of new hardware "Artist DNxIO ( Developed in partnership with Blackmagic Design as a Connectivity Partner using Avid’s new DnxHR Codec.)" suggested release date Q3 2015.

Interesting, but Avid's been moving away from hardware for a while now. And I don't think they see Resolve as a threat to their lines anyway.

I'm wondering if the issue of the start-up script will be dealt with in Fusion 8, announced at NAB. if anyone from BM is reading this...feel free to chip in....

Off topic, but Resolve seems to be storming ahead with version 12.

FWIW I just found this "Python support must be installed "for all users" before installing Fusion." in the read more section for Edit Connection 7.7.1 (it may well have been there all the time and I just missed it before)

Interesting that at NAB there's a YouTube video of upcoming Media Composer 8.4 and at the end of this video the fellow demonstrates Edit Connect with Fusion Studio 7:

Recall as well that Fusion is the recommended migration path for DS users.

Exactly - in fact, it was on the old Avid DS forum where I first read about this issue. I can't believe this question has been hanging around for so long without a definitive answer from BMD. Maybe they are still trying to work out what to do with this.

I've sent an email to bmd's support asking about this issue. We will see what they say.

And here's the response from BlackMagicDesign's support team:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact support. Integration with Avid Connect is only available as part of the licensed "full" version of Fusion software. Unfortunately it is not available as part of the free version. This is shown in the "Compare" page of the Fusion information."

I've asked them if I can run a trial copy of the full product (I'm guessing not since it's dongle-protected) but I'd really like to see the full Media Composer -> Fusion Studio round-trip before dropping $995...

Cheers

And here's the response from BlackMagicDesign's support team:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact support. Integration with Avid Connect is only available as part of the licensed "full" version of Fusion software. Unfortunately it is not available as part of the free version. This is shown in the "Compare" page of the Fusion information."
Cheers

Thanks for clarifying.
However that makes me wonder why the Edit Connection 7.7.1 description on BM's support page here https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/fusion Latest downloads dated March 15th reads "This software adds the Edit Connection plug-in to Fusion that is compatible with Avid edit systems, so you can send any clip or stack of clips from an Avid Media Composer timeline directly into Fusion" today. (Fusion was highlighted in bold here by me...) Fusion Studio is not mentioned.

I would still like to hear from any Fusion Studio user that Edit Connection works as advertised with MC before stumping up for Fusion Studio when its added features (apart from Connection) will always be way beyond my capabilities.

However that makes me wonder why the Edit Connection 7.7.1 description on BM's support page here https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/fusion Latest downloads dated March 15th reads "This software adds the Edit Connection plug-in to Fusion that is compatible with Avid edit systems, so you can send any clip or stack of clips from an Avid Media Composer timeline directly into Fusion" today. (Fusion was highlighted in bold here by me...) Fusion Studio is not mentioned.

Yeah, the names are confusing. It would have been easier if they had called it Fusion Lite and Fusion Studio and reserved "Fusion" for talking about a family of products. Consider the text you quoted as a typo.

This sounds to me like the people at BM are a little confused. Currently the plugin does most of the work, shots are rendered and a comp file is created, once the comp is finished in Fusion Lite it can be rendered and the output is automatically dumped back into the Avid timeline. The only part of the process that is broken is that Fusion does not start up automatically with the comp loaded, and currently two iterations of Fusion are started, both empty...that sounds like a fault in the script. I imagine NAB is getting in the way of BM dealing with this issue.

Agreed, Peter. It would be hard to justify $995 to add just the (minor) missing bits and pieces. This is why I (and others) had asked if someone running Fusion Studio had the same issues or whether the functionality was working for them... I don't really know how much of what we're seeing is related to the script...

Anyone?

[daniel.koch]

Hi Steve,

I'm sorry that nobody's given you any definite answers on this for so long. The messaging on Connection has been somewhat ambiguous, as I expect some people in Blackmagic are still learning about the Fusion family themselves.

Chad and Peter are right; Connection is officially a Studio-only feature (at least as far as I'm aware), but you can get partial functionality with the free version. The Connection AVX plugin will still export frames and create a Fusion comp. If you have Fusion Studio installed, it will be started and a script launched to automatically open the comp and view it, but since the free Fusion doesn't support external scripts, you'll have to open the comp manually. After that the process is similar - build out your comp, render it, and the Connection plugin will notice and load the rendered frames as needed. The other differences are related, in that if you use other features (like creating new shot versions), Connection cannot update the comp while open in (free) Fusion, so you will likely need to close the comp (and maybe Fusion too) before using such features, then reopen it.

Connection was designed to do as much as possible without requiring that Fusion is installed (e.g. for cases where the editing & compositing was done on different machines and scripting isn't so easy), so a lot is still possible with free Fusion. That said, I'm not sure how much testing has been done if the free non-scriptable Fusion is installed, so there may be some issues that arise, and for the properly seamless workflow you may prefer to upgrade to Studio anyway. I do intend to make sure Connection works as well as possible with the free Fusion, but we haven't had much time to look at it.

I do intend to make sure Connection works as well as possible with the free Fusion

Thanks Daniel

Double-thanks, Daniel!

Thanks for the update Daniel.

An interesting and IMO very disturbing development here. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Avid-L2/conversations/topics/123966 Claims the Edit Connect, free from this site, has an added value of $200 for an IO unit.

Further, added value for this IO unit is the "included Fusion software" (also currently free from BM.) I am assuming here that it is not Fusion Studio software as, unlike Edit Connections $200 value, "Fusion" has been given no value in the FAQ answer in the link above.

Everyone I know wanting Edit Connection, an Avid only AVX plugin, already has their hardware IO's. Crippling Edit Connection so it only works for MC owners who have this rebranded IO attached to a copy of MC seems like a VERY WEIRD business decision.

Andrew

[daniel.koch]

Connection does not require any I/O unit, BMD or rebranded. It remains free, not $200, and has not been crippled.

I hope you are right .
This Question and Answer quoted below from this thread (link posted earlier) https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Avid-L2/conversations/topics/123966 appears to disagree with your

Connection does not require any I/O unit, BMD or rebranded

Avid Artist | DNxIO Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can you use the Fusion Connect Plugin for Media Composer without DNxIO connected?
A. Use of the Fusion Connect Plugin for Media Composer requires DNxIO to be connected to Media Composer. If a user attempts to access the plugin in Media Composer without DNxIO connected to the system, the plugin will not function.

Andrew

There's no guesswork or speculation here. I've used Edit Connect (free) with the free version of Fusion admittedly with a few manual steps. I do not have any IO hardware.

Same here Steve. The point is that this Q A document is talking about a soon to be released Avid/BM IO box. So I would have thought that a sensible question to ask is if the answer accurately describes the requirements for next version of the Edit Connection software?
Andrew

AQtn and Steve: I been working with MC and Full studio with no issues. But just to clarify, Steve you say you have been working with the free version with no issues just manually opening up the Comp ? Versioning and everything else works?

Mike - I haven't tried versioning but otherwise, yes. I can manually open the comp and when I render it in Fusion the result appears in Media Composer. Thanks for confirming that the full version actually works.

@Andrew - I see what you are getting at. I guess we'll have to wait and see

Stopped by here to see what's happening. I guess we're still waiting on this......

Steve, versioning does work in the free Fusion version of the Avid Connection. Jolly useful it is too!

Very cool, Peter - thanks!

Like everyone else I spent months trying to workout what you get in what combination etc and this is my conclusion.

Currently if you want pukka Fusion connect with Avid MC there are two options:
Buy Fusion Studio or buy a DNXio
BUT THESE ARE NOT THE SAME

The DNXiO bundle appears to just be a subspecies of (free) Fusion which will also support connect. The software requires seeing the DNXiO only to open the licence as far as I can see... if it doesn't see the DNXiO on the system then the software won't licence and run.

Fusion Studio is different ...dongled based .. if the dongle is present it will run and use Connect if required, in addition you can install AVX plugins such as Genarts etc.

Having said that and bought Fusion Studio ... as a DS editor trying to kick the habit ...oh boy nice software in their each respect but that link is so clunky it is a complete heath Robinson lash-up. Yes it does sort of do it and work but so far I have not come close to the efficiency of DS for slipping in and out of Comps.
Strangely I have found so little information about Connect so maybe with some more experimenting I can find a better workflow...
Anyone with links to knowledge or info to share out there?
R

With Fusion 8.1 and Fusion Connect 8.1 - plus the new demo video on the Black Magic support site, it is suggested that you can now get full Fusion Connect for Avid functionality even with Fusion 8.1 (Free) but the wording in the readme still sounds like you need DNxIO - so I gave it a try and it still doesn't work (meaning that you can't launch Fusion from the Avid FX editor and have it automatically load the Fusion project created for your clip.

Why is this so difficult to communicate? If you watch the new video demo there is no mention of restrictions and they make it sound like this is new inter-op functionality.

Anyone from BMD care to clarify or comment?