Blender 4.2 + Fusion Studio 19 - ACEScg

I've decided to make Fusion 19 the newest addition to my workflow!

Nowadays, nearly 90% of my projects are purely 3D, and I only use compositing for personal projects or for some projects where I handle the entire production process from start to finish. These projects are growing, but not enough to justify using Nuke for personal and full-production work (I currently only use Nuke when working temporarily at studios). After years of frustration with After Effects, I decided to give DaVinci Resolve a chance. However, I find it extremely sluggish, with an interface that, while beautiful, is not interactive or responsive at all. But when you purchase a studio version license, you also get Fusion Studio, which is distributed separately this was my main reason for integrating it into my workflow.

As a study, I created this 3D project in Blender, working with a linear workflow in ACEScg, and it was an amazing experience. Once you start to understand the tools/nodes, Fusion becomes enjoyable to work with because it offers good stability, something the free Natron doesn’t have at all. It has an active 3D space (the navigation is terrible, but you can get used to it), and there’s quite a large community. By installing the Reactor Plugin, you gain direct access to various plugins and nodes created by the community, which is really cool.

Speaking in more detail about the rendered project, the idea was to send a render to compositing in a single layer, without separating objects into the foreground and background, mainly to test DOF and Vector Blur within Fusion. In this project, I used only one paid plugin, which was for Depth Of Field (https://june3546.gumroad.com/l/CGSDOF), and it surprised me a lot. Its standard Blur features can achieve better results than Nuke's default DOF. It doesn't compare to FL_DOF due to Bokeh effects when active, and the Depth pass generates imprecise lines, but it’s still an excellent plugin.

The compositing treatments and effects done were: added exponential glow, fog, volumetric rays, DOF, vector blur, gain adjustment, color correction, chromatic aberration, lens distortion, particles, grain, and light exposure control throughout the scene. In this study project, I used some assets from NVIDIA Omniverse along with some of my personal 3D models. I took my time studying and applying each of these steps in the scene to get to know the tool and learn its workflow.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I don't regret acquiring a license. It will greatly enhance my workflow, being an interesting option for freelance artists who are often overlooked by the major software companies in the industry, which charge absurd prices and are increasingly removing their perpetual license options.

Thanks for reading this far, and if you know Fusion Studio, please share your thoughts and suggestions!