Blackmagic Forum

I'm interested in learning Fusion so I composite some VFX for sci-fi short movies. My idea is to purchase 3D models out of online repositories, and use them in Fusion. However, while I know that Fusion can easily animate something across the screen (e.g. having a spaceship fly across the sky), I'm not sure if it can animate the 3D object itself (e.g. having a robot walking). So, I wonder if it can, or if I should learn to animate in Blender 3D instead, and then export either the animation or a rendered scene to composite in Fusion. I wonder what's the best way to go about it. Thx!

Can it? Technically, yes. But the experience would be sooooo painful!

Fusion has a decent 3d compositing system, but it is not 3d software. Use the right tool for the job, which would be Blender or something similar. I'd do the rendering there, too, most likely, although there are some advantages to exporting Alembic to Fusion and using it to light, shade and render. You can iterate the look very quickly that way, but you don't get all of the bells and whistles available in a raytracing renderer (reflections, refractions, radiosity, and so on).

Basically fusion could be enough for it, but I can't find the possibility to change angle/directions of XYZ anchor point object, only position in pivot controls ?

https://imgbox.com/NXSRlcy8

See comment about "sooooo painful!"

You'll have to move the pivot to the origin, orient it, then move it back to its original position.

Alternately, you could use the newish Vonk toolset (available in Reactor) to construct actual matrices that would make building a rig much easier, although less intuitive unless you've really internalized how transform matrices work

It would be a nightmare to animate in Fusion and you would also need to 'rig' the object inside Fusion. You may be able yo get away with a stylized render but I wouldn't want to try and get something like a robot looking photoreal using 3D rendering in Fusion.

If anybody has an inverse kinematic solution built in Fusion, now would be an excellent time to share.

Bryan Ray wrote:See comment about "sooooo painful!"

You'll have to move the pivot to the origin, orient it, then move it back to its original position.

Bryan Ray wrote:Alternately, you could use the newish Vonk toolset (available in Reactor) to construct actual matrices that would make building a rig much easier, although less intuitive unless you've really internalized how transform matrices work

Thank you, Bryan Ray! I think I'll use Vonk toolset constantly in future. Now I resolved resolve's pain with Blender:
-exported completed and posed 3d model to fbx file with "FBX Exporter" node(menu Fusion - Render all savers)
-then imported it to Blender
-animated 3d model in blender, and simplified with friendly Blender tools
-checked that keyframes in Blender not set out of range Fusion comp duration range
-exported it to alembic file
-import alembic file back to Fusion
-applied lost colours(possible to avoid with checkbox(color attributes
https://youtu.be/ahbdRR-b9UQ?t=86
) in export window alembic???)
Screen video

EidosCineArt wrote:-exported it to alembic file

Most definitely render your project in Blender and save the frames/render elements as EXR and then composite in Fusion.

Travis Schmiesing wrote:

EidosCineArt wrote:-exported it to alembic file

Most definitely render your project in Blender and save the frames/render elements as EXR and then composite in Fusion.

Is it possible to use EXR imported with 3d light/reflections/shadows in the Fusion?

EidosCineArt wrote:Is it possible to use EXR imported with 3d light/reflections/shadows in the Fusion?

I feel that you want to use Fusion in a way that will be incredibly time-consuming and wind up producing mediocre results. 3d should be done in a core 3d application.

A standard way to do production is to create your scenes in a native 3d environment where you can properly use models, and animate in 3d, light, texture, etc. Then you render out an image sequence of EXR's. You'll have your beauty pass, reflection pass, matte passes, etc. What passes you need to save depends on how complex and robust your compositing work will be. You can recombine those passes in a number of ways using Fusion, but they are rendered passes, so altering them in Fusion is limited.

Once in Fusion, you can import the camera from Blender and basic scene elements to further enhance your work. This might be manipulating a few of the scene elements, projecting onto cards, or adding greenscreen people and the such.

Travis Schmiesing wrote:I feel that you want to use Fusion in a way that will be incredibly time-consuming and wind up producing mediocre results. 3d should be done in a core 3d application.

Travis Schmiesing wrote:A standard way to do production is to create your scenes in a native 3d environment where you can properly use models, and animate in 3d, light, texture, etc. Then you render out an image sequence of EXR's. You'll have your beauty pass, reflection pass, matte passes, etc. What passes you need to save depends on how complex and robust your compositing work will be. You can recombine those passes in a number of ways using Fusion, but they are rendered passes, so altering them in Fusion is limited.

In my case animation with rigging is only 15% of the scene(camera tracking, composing, infographic with lightning, reflections) which already exist in Fusion. And level quality is enough. On last step I suddenly faced with the lack elementary impossibility to change angle/directions of XYZ pivot(origin in Blender), by the way it is possible to change position in pivot controls. So, rebuild everything in Blender after that is not my way. In the my case jump to Blender for rigging animation and back is the best.

Hey
Basically I export from Blender with everything baked in, as an Alembic, and import it into Fusion. I had preferred obj or fbx files, but I experienced a great pain in Fusion when I had to re-connect diffuse, normal and bump maps, etc etc... Hence the alembic choice, with likely less option in Fusion in the end.

I'd like to archive FBX models for co-workers but didn't find a super efficient way to bake every pass in inside Blender and export, just to import a finished model and work on it in Fusion.
BTW I would be pleased if someone gave me a solid solution to this

Hey

Took time to watch your video now... See what you're doing at 2:42 ?
This what I want to avoid : I want to have any diffuse, normals, reflection etc baked in therefore already connected after being imported back in Fusion.