After Effects vs Fusion
Working in post production there are many choices when it comes to the software available for artists to tell their stories. As a company, we have always tried to remain software agnostic, and this approach has seen us transition more than once from one editing or compositing application to another. The choices often come down to the following: what tools are available, application stability, ease of use, workflow pros and cons and price to run.
These days many applications that are designed to do the same thing, are often quite similar, and therefore the learning curve when switching applications isn’t that steep. The edit page in Resolve, is similar to Premiere, which is similar to Avid, and if you’re an FCPX user, then perhaps Resolves cut page will be more to your liking.
But when it comes to compositing and motion graphics, two applications that are designed to perform a lot of similar functions, Adobe’s After Effects and Blackmagic’s Fusion, are fundamentally different, when it comes to the way an artist works. This is because After Effects is timeline based, and Fusion a node based application.
Because of these fundamental differences, making the move from After Effects to Fusion has seen much less uptake, compared to the amount of editors moving away from Premiere and choosing to edit in Resolve.
So why does this matter?
Don’t get me wrong, After Effects is a great application, that I’ve used lots over the years and continue to use today. But, in many respects, Fusion is better for a number of reasons.
Having Fusion built into Blackmagic Resolve, means that jumping between edit, effects and colour grade is super easy.
Resolve’s colour management is far superior to that of Adobe’s.
Fusion is a proper 3D working environment.
Node based compositing makes sharing projects between artists a lot easier, as an artist can see all of the composition’s connections, without having to dig inside multiple pre-comps to understand how things have been put together.
Understanding a node based workflow allows for an easier transition to other high end compositing applications, such as Nuke and Flame.
Price. Blackmagic Fusion is free, and Fusion studio is a one off price, compared to Adobe Creative Cloud, which is an ongoing monthly subscription.
But change can be difficult, which is why Ryan Osborne has created a YouTube channel to help After Effects users wanting to make the switch from After Effects to Fusion.
