Today, Blackmagic Design announced that its Fusion 7, VFX and motion graphics software for Windows, is now available for download, free of charge.

BM believes that every creative person, with a Window’s computer and an internet connection, should be able to access industry standard VFX software without the hefty pricetag.

It doesn’t hurt that the company has also released its new Fusion 7 Studio, to coincide with the free software. A cynical person would see the software as a kind of loss leader, in the hopes that users will buy its AU$1275 advanced features and networked render farms too.

Not that we’re a cynical lot here at V&F. Not at all! Yea…right.

Fusion has been one used in the industry for over 25 years and in thousands of feature film and television projects. Including blockbusters like Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Amazing Spider-man 2 and The Hunger Games, as well as cult TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Orphan Black, etc.

The free version 7 of the software is a full and complete VFX/motion graphics program, featuring a 3D workspace in a node based workflow. With all the composting tools you would expect, such as paint, rotoscope, retiming, stabilization, titling, a 3D particle generator and multiple keyers, (including Primatte). You can also import and render 3D geometry or scenes from other applications.

The bonuses you get with the Studio version are a number of optical flow tools for advanced retiming, stabilization and stereoscopic 3D production. Plus support for third party OpenFX plug ins, and distributed network rendering, allowing you to render jobs on an unlimited number of computers. Studio also includes Generation, a collaboration tool, with multi-user workflows that allows teams to manage, track and review their production at any stage. Users can also move projects from the free version to a workstation running Studio, to take advantage of the unlimited distributed network rendering. Which means not every person on the team needs to have the costly version of the software.

BM has said that Fusion 7 Studio will be a one-off cost, with no hidden costs, annual maintenance fees, subscriptions, or per node render license costs.

“Visual effects software has been expensive for way too long and it’s time that this changed. Consumers are screaming for more exciting movies and television programs and so we need to do everything we can to help our customers create stunning visual effects,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Now, with the free version of Fusion, everyone from individual artists to the biggest studios can create Hollywood caliber visual effects and motion graphics! When combined with DaVinci Resolve Lite, customers can get the world’s most advanced tools for editing, grading, 3D compositing, visual effects and motion graphics, all absolutely free!”



Availability and Price

Obviously the free version of Fusion 7 is, you know…free. And can be download now from the BM website, here.

Fusion 7 Studio will be available for AU$1275 (Inc GST) at all BM resellers. Existing Fusion 7 customers and customers on a current Fusion support plan can upgrade to Fusion Studio at no additional charge by contacting Blackmagic Design.

Excerpts from Press Release