User Manual

Fuses [FUS]
A Fuse node
Fuses Introduction
Fuses are plug-ins. The difference between a Fuse and an OpenFX plug-in is that a Fuse is
created using a Lua script. Fuses can be edited within Fusion or DaVinci Resolve, and the
changes you make compile on-the-fly.
Using a Lua script makes it easy for even non-programmers to prototype and develop custom
nodes. A new Fuse can be added to a composition, edited and reloaded, all without having to
close the current composition. They can also be used as modifiers to manipulate parameters,
curves, and text very quickly. ViewShader Fuses can make use of the GPU for faster
performance. This makes Fuses much more convenient than an OpenFX plug-in that uses
Fusion’s OFX SDK. However, this flexibility comes at a cost. Since a Fuse is compiled on-the-fly,
it can be significantly slower than the identical node created using the OpenFX SDK.
As an example, Fuses could generate a mask from the over-exposed areas of an image, or
create initial particle positions based on the XYZ position stored within a text file.
Please contact Blackmagic Design for access to the SDK (Software Developer Kit)
documentation.
Installing Fuses
Fuses are installed in the Fusion:\Fuses path map. By default this folder is located at Users/
User_Name/Library Application Support/Blackmagic Design/Fusion (or DaVinci Resolve)/Fuses
on macOS or C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design\Fusion (or
DaVinci Resolve)\Fuses, on Windows. Files must use the extension .fuse, or they will be ignored
by Fusion.
Working with Fuses in a Composition
Fuses can be designed to appear in any category in the Effects Library. Once installed, they are
added to a composition exactly as any native or third-party plug-in node. However, since a
Fuse is just a text document, it can be edited by clicking the Edit button that appears at the top
of the Inspector when the Fuse node is selected. This will open the Fuse in the default script
editor specified in the Global Preferences/Scripting panel.
Note: Any changes made to a Fuse’s script do not immediately affect other copies of the same
Fuse node already added to a composition. To use the updated Fuse script on all similar Fuses
in the composition, either close and reopen the composition, or click on the Reload button in
each Fuse’s Inspector.
When a composition containing a Fuse node is opened, the currently saved version of the Fuse
script is used. The easiest way to ensure that a composition is running the current version of a
Fuse is to close and reopen the composition.
2061Chapter – 94 Fuses