Fusion Studio

[art3mis]

Ok so not Houdini centric question but want to get deeper into compositing

Initially just to render depth passes for DOF effects and also for access to OFX plugins like Neat Video for de noising.

 

Any Houdini users use Fusion Studio?

I know Nuke is the standard bu cost prohibitive for any freelancer.

Just wondering what the learning curve will be coming from a Houdini + After Effects background.

Edited June 4, 2018 by art3mis

[Skybar]

Being node-based both Fusion and Nuke are more similar to Houdini than After Effects is. As with everything there is a learning curve, but if you are already thinking in terms of nodes it shouldn't be too hard to get into it. Both Fusion and Nuke work really well so if you are on a budget pick the cheaper one :). There might be more resources and learning material for Nuke since I think it might be the most popular option (?), but other than that it shouldn't matter too much. I don't do much comp at all these days but I liked how you connect and handle Fusions nodes, a lot more than in Nuke which is a pain in the ass imo.

[amm]

On 6/4/2018 at 6:22 PM, art3mis said:

Just wondering what the learning curve will be coming from a Houdini + After Effects background.

Well, people are usually going in opposite directions in last ten years or so, toward After Effects or Nuke, depending of what they are doing. Should not be hard to get into basics, however in my opinion, it's really old fashion app, full of specific solutions from 90s. Starting from numerical inputs where you are able to use sliders somewhere, somewhere not, somehow unusual choice of blending modes, different behaviors of copy - paste node, so on. Let's say if you want to re-create something like (not built-in) light wrap effect by nodes, that would be a way easier and straightforward in Blender compositor. While generally, Natron is much more Nuke - like, also, Natron provides you controls where you expect to find them, well at least for my taste. Nodal or not, I think After Effects is a way more unified app, making it easy to just override disadvantages of layers, in many cases. I'd say, if there is a particular advantage of Fusion, use it just for that. However, complete switch is hard to imagine, actually it sounds impossible.