Well - I got it working but there's certainly a glitch. After you drop the effect on the clip and enter effect mode you have to click the plugin's clips button. Make sure your in green / green first. This will generate the raw files (image sequence). Fusion will look for these on the import filter. Next you click the edit button. This will launch fusion but not the correct composition. You need to find the location of where the plugin is writing its files - there you'll find the composition file to load into fusion. This one has the pair of filters you'd expect. When your done with the composit you can render it in fusion or in mc I believe. You're supposed to leave the writer filter settings as-is to work with the round-trip so I'm told  

Still playing with the connect plugin. Can't find the documentation for it. 

Thanks!! I will give it another go in a couple of days.

Have you checked out the Fusion Forum?  It could be worth asking a few questions there.

There's a new 7.7 version of Fusion and the Edit Connect plugin - some are having success with it - it's still not auto-launching for me, though. 

*** edit ***

Let me clarify - clicking the 'edit' button does launch Fusion, but it launches it with a new 'Composite1' document and not the comp automatically generated for the connected effect. I can drag the auto-generated comp into the fusion titlebar and that will load the correct fusion comp and allow me to work the effect. Then I can render in fusion and I'll see the results appear on the MC timeline.

A poster on the main MC / PC forum claims that the full functionality works for him so I wonder why it works for some and not others.

What I was expecting is to click 'Edit' and have Fusion start and automatically load the auto-generated comp. Then, if I render the effect in Avid, I was expecting it to automatically launch fusion and begin render the auto-generate comp. As it stands, I have to work the loading of the comp and rendering of the comp manually. Not a total deal breaker but it will probably limit the time I spend trying to learn Fusion.

BarkinMadd:

There's a new 7.7 version of Fusion and the Edit Connect plugin - some are having success with it - it's still not auto-launching for me, though. 

*** edit ***

Let me clarify - clicking the 'edit' button does launch Fusion, but it launches it with a new 'Composite1' document and not the comp automatically generated for the connected effect. I can drag the auto-generated comp into the fusion titlebar and that will load the correct fusion comp and allow me to work the effect. Then I can render in fusion and I'll see the results appear on the MC timeline.

A poster on the main MC / PC forum claims that the full functionality works for him so I wonder why it works for some and not others.

What I was expecting is to click 'Edit' and have Fusion start and automatically load the auto-generated comp. Then, if I render the effect in Avid, I was expecting it to automatically launch fusion and begin render the auto-generate comp. As it stands, I have to work the loading of the comp and rendering of the comp manually. Not a total deal breaker but it will probably limit the time I spend trying to learn Fusion.

Just having a play with this today.  The BMD web site still shows that the Edit Connection plugin is only for the Fusion Studio (paid) version.  What version are you testing with?

Thanks,

Jef

The free version. Where does it say Edit Connect is only for the paid version? I missed that. 

Edit

I found it. You are correct - in the compare section - too bad but it works well enough- I'm not prepared to pay $1k at this time. 

Cheers

BarkinMadd:

The free version. Where does it say Edit Connect is only for the paid version? I missed that. 

 

Edit

I found it. You are correct - in the compare section - too bad but it works well enough- I'm not prepared to pay $1k at this time. 

 

Cheers

Just thinking about this.  One of the disabled features of the free version is scripting.  And I presume that the Avid Connect is script based.  Sort of a "d'oh" moment.

Jef

Perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fusion can still run prepackaged scripts internal to things like Connect but you may very well have hit the nail on the head as to why it partly works. 

Cheers

Good point about prepackaged scripts.  Need to ask on the Forum.  Or make something from Syntheyes and try an import.

Jef

I've found too that the AVX Connect plugin works with the free version but like BarkinMadd it will not automatically launch the comp. I don't think it has anything to do with paid or free even though Black Magic list it as only being part of Fusion Studio. It is a free seperate download. However if anyone has the paid version it would be interesting to know if the Avid comp is automatically loaded. As has been pointed out though there are no instructions for either, whereas Eyeon had quite comprehensive documentation for it that now is no longer online.

Fusion saves the comp to the same media drive that contains the raw output files and it is a fairly simply matter to find it once Fusion is launched and then all renders are saved to the same media drive avid folder showing up in the MC timeline.

However with such a ram intensive program ultimately unless you have bags of it how much use is there to work in Fusion while Avid is still running?

It is funny to me now to remember how people used to moan about Avid 3D as being severely crippled in it's last incarnation (having principally ditched all modelling tools). Even though Fusion is way more capable they are quite similar in purpose, since Fusion is a compositing progam without modelling tools either, in fact Avid 3D still had more. Personally too I found Softimage's UI and operation simpler to get my head round. Nodes may be far more capable than timeline for 'artists' as BMD call them but for me as an editor it is learning a complex new paradigm all over, particularly when it comes to timing of effects. I realise this is just old me and I have get with it, but since many of us have 'grown up' with AE we a very entrenched in timelines.

I was using Avid 3D until very recently, until my old HP XP Pro workstation blew up and I must say I miss it. It was very powerful in some ways and almost as capable as Fusion for 3D text etc and very simple to import and modify models. It is a shame that Softimage's great UIs have gone the way of the Dodo, but such is life!

I do use Blender in conjunction with Fusion and there is a user script that allows import/ export to fusion plus you can customise the UI to look similar to Softimage too. I don't do a lot of modelling but when I need to alter one Blender is the place to do it.

I tried to get an answer on the BlackMagicDesign Forum and someone from the old Eyeon group suggested that the script for the plugin may need some tweaking but nothing further was stated.

I then contacted BMD tech support today and this is the response I received from Sean McCarthy:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact support. Integration with Avid Connect is only available as part of the licensed "full" version of Fusion software. Unfortunately it is not available as part of the free version. This is shown in the "Compare" page of the Fusion information."

So there you go (I'm still not convinced).

Anyone else with real experience (with Fusion Studio and Media Composer)?