Any plugins (paid or unpaid) that improve node management?

This is a dupe of a post on WSL, but I was wondering if anyone on here has some suggestions.

Are there any plugins (paid or unpaid) that improve node management in Fusion? I look at Blender's Node Wrangler addon and I start to get a little jealous. The biggest thing missing for me is the ability to cut wires like you can in blender. Makes A/B testing really easy. A tool to quickly move foreground, background, and outputs between 2 different nodes would also be handy!

Thanks!

The biggest thing missing for me is the ability to cut wires like you can in blender. Makes A/B testing really easy. A tool to quickly move foreground, background, and outputs between 2 different nodes would also be handy! Thanks!

I don't use Blender so I don't know what this tool you are missing is, but if you want to compare stuff you actually have a a/b buffer built into both viewers a and you can easily create more than one version of something in your node tree and than just load them into buffer to do a/b testing. If you want to "cut wires" you can do this by simply disabling the nodes really quickly to not include them in the render but to keep them connected. Simply select as many nodes as you want, and click CTRL+P (win) to disable them and you can easily and quickly preview something on and off with no "wire cutting", as it were. Also think abut wireless link node for additional node management.

The biggest thing missing for me is the ability to cut wires like you can in blender. Makes A/B testing really easy. A tool to quickly move foreground, background, and outputs between 2 different nodes would also be handy! Thanks!

I don't use Blender so I don't know what this tool you are missing is, but if you want to compare stuff you actually have a a/b buffer built into both viewers a and you can easily create more than one version of something in your node tree and than just load them into buffer to do a/b testing. If you want to "cut wires" you can do this by simply disabling the nodes really quickly to not include them in the render but to keep them connected. Simply select as many nodes as you want, and click CTRL+P (win) to disable them and you can easily and quickly preview something on and off with no "wire cutting", as it were. Also think abut wireless link node for additional node management.

These are all good tips, but I was moreso referring to swapping nodes in the middle of a branch to compare different effects. A basic example would be comparing two different glow nodes to see which look better in a specific scenario, without having to fiddle with input/output boxes. Basically I want keyboard shortcuts to move wires for me.

Thanks for this though!

The biggest thing missing for me is the ability to cut wires like you can in blender. Makes A/B testing really easy. A tool to quickly move foreground, background, and outputs between 2 different nodes would also be handy! Thanks!

I don't use Blender so I don't know what this tool you are missing is, but if you want to compare stuff you actually have a a/b buffer built into both viewers a and you can easily create more than one version of something in your node tree and than just load them into buffer to do a/b testing. If you want to "cut wires" you can do this by simply disabling the nodes really quickly to not include them in the render but to keep them connected. Simply select as many nodes as you want, and click CTRL+P (win) to disable them and you can easily and quickly preview something on and off with no "wire cutting", as it were. Also think abut wireless link node for additional node management.

These are all good tips, but I was moreso referring to swapping nodes in the middle of a branch to compare different effects. A basic example would be comparing two different glow nodes to see which look better in a specific scenario, without having to fiddle with input/output boxes. Basically I want keyboard shortcuts to move wires for me.

Thanks for this though!

Is there any reason why you can't just use versions in the node if its different settings or use two viewers to preview any two nodes, or use A/B split view? This wire switching thing you talk about seems to be counter productive the way Fusion works. You can get the functionality, but in a way fusion is mean to be used, All the tools are there. Trying to make it work by switching wires, or inputs would mess up the node tree for no advantage over tools and methods you already have.

Is there any reason why you can't just use versions in the node if its different settings or use two viewers to preview any two nodes, or use A/B split view? This wire switching thing you talk about seems to be counter productive the way Fusion works. You can get the functionality, but in a way fusion is mean to be used, All the tools are there. Trying to make it work by switching wires, or inputs would mess up the node tree for no advantage over tools and methods you already have.

Node versions only work within one specific node, and A/B split view would only work to show two different nodes up until the point that they are added into a comp. Say I wanted to compare the effect of XGlow and Soft Glow, but I needed to see them contextually in the completed comp to make a decision. A/B split view would show everything up to the point where I add each glow, but would not show me two versions of the full composition with only the glow nodes swapped. For that, I either have to create a different version of the full composition with one using XGlow and one using Soft Glow, or I would have to swap the wires manually between them.

If I were to create a new version of the composition, any changes made anywhere else in the composition would need to be manually reproduced in the other version, since versions deliberately do not synchronize changes. Manually moving the wires is a miniscule task, but if you have to do it repeatedly it can get cumbersome.

For more clarity on what I'm looking for,

The chapters from "Principled Texture Setup" to "Math Nodes" show some really neat behavior added by the node wrangler addon in Blender. These aren't perfect 1:1 comparisons since Blender's node system does not have an inspector, instead opting for exposed controls, but certain things translate well. "Switch connection" in particular would be really handy for moving bmp outputs to color inputs since they always default to the mask input. "Lazy Connect" would be nice too. Alt+Drag is similar but still forces you to select which input you want, just as a pop-up rather than an aiming exercise. Customizable keyboard shortcuts for common Boolean operations would be great too!

Fusion already has a ton of great node management features, I was just wondering if there was something that expanded this feature set.

Node versions only work within one specific node, and A/B split view would only work to show two different nodes up until the point that they are added into a comp. Say I wanted to compare the effect of XGlow and Soft Glow, but I needed to see them contextually in the completed comp to make a decision. A/B split view would show everything up to the point where I add each glow, but would not show me two versions of the full composition with only the glow nodes swapped. For that, I either have to create a different version of the full composition with one using XGlow and one using Soft Glow, or I would have to swap the wires manually between them.

If I were to create a new version of the composition, any changes made anywhere else in the composition would need to be manually reproduced in the other version, since versions deliberately do not synchronize changes. Manually moving the wires is a miniscule task, but if you have to do it repeatedly it can get cumbersome.

I read what you wrote, but it didn't make much sense to me, like you are talking about some other application. So I fired up Fusion to see. You said you wanted to compare Xglow to Soft Glow. Super easy. I don't understand what you mean by having to create another composition.

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For more clarity on what I'm looking for,

The chapters from "Principled Texture Setup" to "Math Nodes" show some really neat behavior added by the node wrangler addon in Blender. These aren't perfect 1:1 comparisons since Blender's node system does not have an inspector, instead opting for exposed controls, but certain things translate well. "Switch connection" in particular would be really handy for moving bmp outputs to color inputs since they always default to the mask input. "Lazy Connect" would be nice too. Alt+Drag is similar but still forces you to select which input you want, just as a pop-up rather than an aiming exercise. Customizable keyboard shortcuts for common Boolean operations would be great too!

Fusion already has a ton of great node management features, I was just wondering if there was something that expanded this feature set.

I watched the chapters of that video, but to me it seems like a lot of fairly common features mapped to a lot of keyboard shortcuts, specific to user and application. As you noted you can't compare Blender and Fusion in 1:1 since there is different functionality expected from the tools and there are different limitations and approaches to different operations. Also the over reliance on keyboard shortcuts is more of a power user type deal. Its when you are working all day long with the same tools and you want to be more efficient. Its not for most users and keyboard shortcuts only work to the extent tools and functionality does not change. Most of the expected common shortcuts and not just keyboard shortcuts are already part of Fusion workflow for two decades. Your requests seem to come from someone who is not so familiar with them to want to improve them but rather as someone who saw something in another app and wants it in fusion regardless of existing functionality. More options is not something I'm against, but your particular requested seem to already exist.

If you are doing something so repetitive that there is no room left for creativity, the solutions already exists in many type of forums, from shortcuts, default settings you can change, groups, macros, scripts, templates etc. If you are doing something creative. You don't need that kind of speed. And reasonable solutions already exist in Fusion. Quite simply I don't see a strong argument here. Only a preference of yours. If that is the case. more power to you. I don't mind. But I have to disagree with your assessment of limitations of Fusion current set of functions.

I read what you wrote, but it didn't make much sense to me, like you are talking about some other application. So I fired up Fusion to see. You said you wanted to compare Xglow to Soft Glow. Super easy.

Add a bunch of nodes downstream from the glow, and compare them ”in context” from the downstream end of comp.

Solution is a switch below glows.

Add a bunch of nodes downstream from the glow, and compare them ”in context” from the downstream end of comp. Solution is a switch below glows.

Yeah. I've always found a way to see what I wanted to see pretty quick. Fusion is very flexible, not only being node based which is a big step up compared to layers, but also has plethora of features to compare and view versions.

If you have Reactor installed, there's a Switch node you can use. Plug as many in as you want and then cycle through them.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned. I read the thread but could have missed it.

If you have Reactor installed, there's a Switch node you can use. Plug as many in as you want and then cycle through them.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned. I read the thread but could have missed it.

I forgot about that. Yeah. Another great option.