picking a compositing app: need some insight on 3 points between fusion and nuke

#1

Hey there,

Please note that i am not trying to instigate an app war, just trying to get a bit more info from actual user on the 3 points below as opposed to the sales material from the app’s sites.

I have been an AE compositer for some time now though i want to learn a nodal based system like fusion or Nuke. I have read up on the two but need some blank spaces filled?

  1. |Fusion has a particle system inbuilt… Nuke does not. Is fusion particle system as good as particles that come in 3D apps?

  2. File format for quicktime seems to be an issue for fusion 64bit but Nuke 64 handles quicktime fine. I normally for using quicktime files and i know the hardcore compositors use image sequences. Is there a way around this issue beside transcoding footage? and if not… whats the best and fastest transcoders for PC?

  3. I have heard that if you learn one nodal compositor you can easily move to another? since fusion is way cheaper that Nuke, is the learnin curve hard if i need to switch? (to those that have made this particuler move)

Thanks a lot in advance for the answers!

Nqo

#2

  1. nuke will get a particle system in the next release (6.3 coming this or next month)
    fusions particle system is quiet good and you can do a lot of stuff with it, but for really hardcore stuff you better stick to your 3d app. but if you ever used particles in AE, all this stuff and a little more (because its a real 3d particle system) can be done

  2. also this changes: next release of fusion (6.2 coming also this or next month) will also have the ability to load quicktimes in 64bit version. workaround so far: use the 32bit version
    quicktimes are always bad and evil, there are a lot of problems coming with them. starting by long loading times, going over to color and gamma shifts and ending in missing codecs on diffrent machines
    try to stick with image sequences

3)if you know your way around in one nodal comper then it isnt to hard to switch to another thats true. but nukes multichannel workflow is not the easiest to understand in first place, but very powerfull. not saying that the same stuff can be done in fusion, its just a diffrent way

one thing to consider: nuke is, at the moment, the weapon of choice in all the big vfx studios, where fusion is loosing ground and seems to getting a little bit lost. but both are great apps and you can do all the stuff in both apps
fusions strength is the very mighty 3d system. its more advanced then the one in nuke

so, both have its strength and weakness. best is to try both (both offer an PLE version and time limited test licenses)and take the one your more comfortable with

#3

thanks for the reply.

Glad to hear there’s a particle system on the way. was this on a blog or something?

I get your point about image sequences. it’s just the transcoding that i dislike but i guess it makes sense to…

also thanks for your personal opinion of the two products, helps me kind of map out a mental picture of how the apps are standing and why.

Nqo

#4

I’ve been pondering a related question, so I thought I could do a little threadjacking.

I’m a long-time-ish Fusion-user, but with the growth of Nuke, it seems a good thing to do to learn Nuke as well. The thing I’ve been missing so far from Nuke is the particle-system. I was glad to hear that Nuke is getting a particle system as well. However, that is still some time in the future, so I’m kinda curious: What particle-tools do Nuke-users use? (disregarding 3d-programs like MayaHoudiniXSI etc). Trapcode Particular? Particle Illusion? Something else I’ve missed?

/McWolfe

#5

i know that the AE to Nuke convert are using the trapcode plug in. not sure if its available for windows. but a 3D particle system is necessary because i feel the industry is taking more to post than doing it in 3D and having robust particle systems in compositing is a great move for that.

#6

at the moment there is also particular for nuke, but what i ve heard its not the best integrated plugin and is quiet buggy. its also “only” 2.5d particles, no real integration in the 3d system of nuke

so, everybody uses the particle stuff you have at hands, i think its mostly stuff from 3d apps right now

#7

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