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Integration with Fusion is as simple as applying the plugin to clips or portions of the Media Composer timeline. With Fusion 8.1, users of the free version can now use the Fusion Connect plugin in Avid Media Composer with a Avid|DNxIO box, providing a means to roundtrip clips, sequences and layer stacks from Media Composer to Fusion. However, Fusion version 8.1 lifts one such capability and ports it to the free version, which may interest users of Avid Media Composer. Fusion Studio, to justify its $995 price, has a suite of features that are not present in the free version, including network rendering, a stereoscopic 3D toolset, optical flow tools and third party plugin support. Like Resolve, there are free and paid versions of Fusion.
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Since its purchase of the VFX program Fusion in 2014, Blackmagic's versioning strategy for Fusion has paralleled that of its color grading (and editing) application, DaVinci Resolve. A recent firmware update for Blackmagic's Fusion 8 VFX software expands interoperability for Avid Media Composer to users of the free version and is now cross-platform.
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