Merge Tool Maths

This is a brief breakdown of the maths behind Fusion’s Merge Tool.

The Operator modes are well documented. But, I’ve done some digging around to uncover the maths behind the Apply mode, Alpha Gain and Burn In.

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Using Stacked LUTs in Fusion

Buried in the Fusion manual is a useful feature allowing you combine (stack) image LUTs. If your working with a colourist this feature allows you to use their colour grade in a linear fusion workflow. This article shows how to set up this workflow and explains the work arounds you may need.
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Grading artists LUT files in Fusion.


This in depth article covers ways to use a grading artist 3d LUT file to view your work in Fusion. It’s shows alternatives to using stacked LUT’s, and shows how to test your workflow for clipping. It’s part of a series of articles on Log colour and Linear workflows in fusion.

  1. Outline of a linear workflow
  2. Simple Log to Lin workflow in Fusion
  3. Using Stacked LUTs in Fusion
  4. Log Maths: Converting between gain and f-stops

How It started

We’ve been looking at a tigher workflow between the Quantel suite and the compositors at Lexhag. While setting up the linear workflow for DPX sequences and LUT files. I noticed some clipping issues in the viewport and started this thread at pigsfly.com. That thread grew into this document from some work arounds suggested by Eyeon’s tech support (who have been awesome), some head scratching, and a bit of maths. As a result this problem has been fixed in the latest version of Fusion.

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Simple Log to Lin workflow in fusion

This will show you step by step the basic Log color to Linear color workflow I’m using in Fusion. It replicates what the DoP and Director saw on their monitor when the footage was shot. It’s short and sweet. But I have links to good articles if you want to know more about Log colour.


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