Blackmagic Fusion

Recommended

Fusion is a free compositing program specifically for film and video-related special effects. It has a powerful node system with a fully integrated scripting system and traditional timeline. It is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Blackmagic Fusion Website

Competition

Nuke
Natron
Adobe After Effects
Blender

What It's For

Fusion is an excellent tool for motion graphics and compositing. It’s primarily a node-based compositor, but also includes a timeline view for simple cuts and time-based manipulations. It also has a straightforward and powerful scripting system to allow automated tasks, or integration into custom workflows. The free version includes most crucial features, but lacks a few higher end tools, such as planar tracking and DCI 4K renders.

Power users might still prefer Fusion standalone, but for many users, the version of Fusion that is built into Da Vinci Resolve will be more convenient for film projects.

Tips and Tricks

• If you opt for the free version, you can fake DCI 4k renders by rendering the four quadrants of your output in DCI 2k, and then compositing them together in an NLE such as DaVinci Resolve.
• Fusion cannot import some consumer codecs, such as H.265, out of the box. However, you can use the shared library build of FFmpeg 3.4.2 to add native support for any FFmpeg supported codec.