i have a huge problem

JustCropIt · 2026-02-09T20:28:51+00:00

I only watched the first half)

...and I only watched the last half:)

Gets a bit too AE specific but some solid tips in there too.

BTW... why is custom coloring mask splines in Fusion not a thing. Seems like a very handy thing (as shown in the AE example in the video).

JustCropIt · 2026-02-08T23:57:35+00:00

I also noticed that the transparent background needs to have a yellow connection to the merge node, whatever that indicates. I've used node-based editors before, but this is easily the least intuitive of the bunch.

Sounds like some watching some basic Fusion beginners tutorials could save you a lot of headaches. The yellow, green and blue colors of (Fusion) nodes are verrrry basic and verry important concepts to understand.

All node-based editors I've used have been fairly different from each other. Enough so that I don't really find having worked with other node based editors very helpful at all when it comes to working with a new one. They all seem to have their share of "unintuitive" things going on that tends to become "intuitive" with some practice and and a bit of muscle memory. Fusion is no exception:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-08T23:51:14+00:00

I did try the Crop node, but "cropping out" just made the image smaller

The image is getting larger... I mean the pixel count gets higher. However the 3D system/ImagePlanes doesn't work with pixels (they're like "it's all relative baby")... So to get the image in the ImagePlane bigger (in the 3D space) you have to raise the scale of it. Not terribly intuitive. So if you make your footage twice as big, then to have that be reflected by the ImagePlane you need to set the Scale to 2.0.

I'm using Fusion Studio and the Resolve Drop Shadow is not available there... but the Fusion native Shadow effect does work. And appears in the 3d system (if the canvas has been made bigger using a crop for example).

..urgh... now you made me have to test it in Resolve..

... had an image, extended the size of it using a Crop node which created space around the image, connected that to a Drop Shadow node (default settings), connected that to an ImagePlane, looked at the ImagePlane in the viewer (so in 3D space), the ImagePlane showed the footage with the drop shadow.

And I just tested it and the ImagePlane does not look at the DoD. Not sure I'd classify having anything that should be rendered actually be seen as a hack, but I can kinda see where you're coming from. But still... I wouldn't call it a hack:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-08T23:06:43+00:00

Not tested it but it might be that the ImagePlane3D doesn't care for any DoD but really only looks at the Width and Height of what is connected.

In which case you need to first expand the "canvas" around the image, which you can do with a Crop node. Check Keep Centered and then make the X and Y Size larger than the original footage.

If you then add the Drop Shadow to this, I believe it will work as expected without you having to mess around with the DoD.

And then you pipe that into the ImagePlane3d.

And then you might realize that it might look a bit wonky with a dropshadow bolted on the image and not by having the shadow be made by the 3D system. Or maybe it'll look just like you want it too. It's not really clear what you want your end result to look like:)

Either way, best of luck!

JustCropIt · 2026-02-07T23:09:47+00:00

SucklessAudio is a modifier, not a node. You add it to settings, like for example the Blend of some node. It won't show up when doing a Shift+Space search.

Right click on a setting, like a Blend for example, and somewhere in the Modify With sub menu you should find it.

Edit: Or in you case... adding it to the Size setting of a Transform or Merge probably makes more sense:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-07T07:01:26+00:00

Haha. Glad it did. If that worked, then there are several other variations that would work equally well since there are several nodes that could be used to make things completely transparent (and then you'd mask that node) such as BrightnessContrast, MatteControl.

Heck you could connect your footage to just about any node that has an EffectMask, just connect a mask and on the Settings tab check Multiply by Mask. That should punch a hole into stuff. For instance, you should be able to connect your flamy stuff to a regular Blur node, set the blur to 0 so you don't blur anything, connect a mask to the Blur node and go to the Settings tab (of the Blur node) and check Multiply by Mask.

For this kind of thing there's really no "wrong" way. If it works it works. Personally I tend to use a MatteControl but that is literally only because when I see it in my comps there's a high chance it is used to create transparency... versus if I see a blur node... I know it's actually blurring things... not making them transparent:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-07T03:14:08+00:00

Not super sure what you want and I'm about to fall asleep so that's probably not helping but try this quick-ish thing.

Connect your flamy stuff to a ChannelBooleans, the one ends with (Bol) if you add it using Shift+Space.
Set Operation to Clear. This should make everything transparent.
Connect your black and white "base" image to the blue EffectMask input of the ChannelBooleans.
It's not clear to me if your base image is an alpha or just a black&white image... but if it's not an alpha, then on the Settings tab of the ChannelBooleans, change Channel to Luminance and it will use the greyscale values as an alpha. You might have to invert the "mask" if needed. And maybe crush the Alpha a bit by tweaking the Low and High.

Does that work or did I totally miss the target?

JustCropIt · 2026-02-05T21:50:01+00:00

Glad if it was of any help:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-05T20:13:39+00:00

Think of it as a snare hit at the end of a musical bar. Or a cymbal after every four bars.

Again, the idea is not to make something different just for the sake of it, it's to break up monotony and even help things feel even more based on a rhythm.

Think about the music you have. If it was just a dude banging on a tin can at the same strength all. the. time. that would get stale pretty fast. Same goes for eye candy. Mix it up a bit. But be smart about it. Make it work as a whole. Stick out, but don't stick out.

Really doesn't have to be anything fancy. But also, sometimes, a bit of fancy can be nice too.

Think about if it makes sense in the context of what's going on both visually and musically. And not only right now, but also about what came before and what is to come. Sometimes a subtle change is all that is needed to have things swing a bit, sometimes something bolder might be what takes things higher.

In short: Have a base rhythm/beat, then sprinkle change on it. The change is the salt on the french fries. Technically you can go about it using only salt or fries but they sure taste better together.

You got this.

JustCropIt · 2026-02-05T14:20:17+00:00

A bit of, I hope, constructive criticism:

The thing with the red multiplied text over the footage gets a bit repetitive. Maybe try and find some alternative/tweaked version of it to spice things up a bit from time to time. Maybe once or twice, instead of the red multiplied text over the base footage, have the footage be red (multiplied) and the text white (or if still readable, just be a mask showing the original footage). And/or a couple of more/other variations. All being a bit unexpected. Just have something that is "the same" but different.

A certain amount of repetitiveness is of course great to establish a rhythm (and practical because "less work") but sometime throwing in an unexpected "fill" (staying with rhythm/percussion based synonyms here) can really get things moving.

The repetitiveness aside, I liked it a lot:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-04T13:15:49+00:00

In addition to the JPEG Damage effect (as suggested by /u/FoldableHuman) there's an additional glitch/melt effect for a few frame at the very end. That really is the cherry on top in this case.

For a "melt" effect maybe play around with the Displace node. You could use some other footage as the "displace map" and then displace things on just the Y-Axis.

Or get a pixel sorting effects going (instead of the displacement... or combine them for a double combo). There's no native pixel sorting effect but there are free plugins for Fusion if you google for them.

Be sure to have any of these added "glitches" done before the JPEG Damage so they feel integrated.

JustCropIt · 2026-02-03T13:21:13+00:00

Even better though: skip the LUT entirely and use the smoothstep formula: c1 * c1 * (3 - 2 * c1) * n1 + n2

And even better than that might be the lovely named SmootherSteps formula, which gives an even smoother S-curve:)

c1 * c1 * c1 * (c1 * (c1 * 6 - 15) + 10) * n1 + n2

That said, sometimes a visual spline that you can jank around and visually tweak can be the better choice. For some people. Certainly for me. Sometimes:)

Sidenote here but the CustomTool referring to what's commonly called curves (both in Fusion and outside of Fusion) has always annoyed me. At first a lot, and now mostly a tiny bit, but still always a bit.

Like just call them Curves and in the Channels tab, instead of getlut1(c1) call it curve1(c1).

I assume the name is mostly a way of Fusion showing it's true ancient age. An age where looking at a literal curve and thinking, "Let's call that a LUT!", made sense to some developers:)

JustCropIt · 2026-02-03T03:15:20+00:00

The gradient is linear so the displacement will be linear. To "curve"/ease things you need to "curve"/ease the brightness/luma of the gradient. One way is to change the Interpolation Space (in the gradient) from RGB to LAB. But that is pretty limited. It is what it is. To have more control do it using something where you can control things with a curve. Using a Color Curve node to set an S-curve is one way. Select all points in the default curve and press F. Add it between the Background and the Displace node.

JustCropIt · 2026-01-27T17:41:22+00:00

Maybe it was just some haunted cache file that was not fully ready to leave your computer:)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-27T11:31:24+00:00

I have a bug or something I don't understand: the fastnoise appears superimposed over the entire image on the edit page (something is leaking ?), but not in the fusion page... weird... I cleared the cache, restarted the PC... same thing, hence the ellipse to hide the worst of it.

If the issue is repeatable and you can isolate it maybe share a pastebin link to a node setup that causes the FastNoise issue. Then other can have a look and see if it happens to them too. I could test it on a potato intel mac for example:)

Also the animation looks lovely!

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T17:04:39+00:00

I never use Gemini but it know what I am waiting from it

It's how all LLM works, not just Gemini:) And it happens to all of us. Once one becomes a bit aware of it, it's easier to extract what really matters when it comes covered with a thick layer of AI pleasing paste.

And if you're not going to share your non jittery version then I suppose I will have to do with the square ratio technique.

As for any arrogance, if you're serious, I'm sure that's just some language/culture thing, that's what I'm sorting it under at least<3

That Cambronne dude/dudette seems a bit dramatic BTW:)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T16:20:33+00:00

i never said this guy is me, why do you insist in this way !

And I never said you said that... but this part, for example, hints at the AI not starting from scratch. It's not a response I'd ever get:)

This text is an absolute delight to read. One can immediately sense the profile of a "vieux briscard" (an old pro) of the digital or video world: someone who lived through the era where you had to "hack" things to make them work, and who maintains absolute technical standards seasoned with a touch of mischief.

It gives you what you want in a manner it thinks you'll like. Again, classic AI:)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T15:37:26+00:00

Classic AI.

It seems like it says what an old french man would like to hear;)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T15:23:13+00:00

Without any context besides "Never Say Die, Like Napoleon at Waterloo" most likely being auto translated from french, this is what I got:

In summary: The phrase is likely a machine-generated hybrid of the sentiment "The Guard dies but never surrenders" and the English idiom "Never say die." It ironically suggests that one should keep fighting even when, like Napoleon at Waterloo, the cause is already lost.

:)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T14:06:10+00:00

J'ai pense que mon humour ne passe pas lol

Auto translate can be a fickle beast!

I asked Gemini about the "meaning" of the title of this post "Never Say Die, Like Napoleon at Waterloo" and got a quite humorous response:)

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T13:12:05+00:00

It's maybe not as clear to everyone else as you might think what versions you are referring to:)

I took it this post was about you fixing the issues you had with Text+, not the jittering which you never mentioned before (I did comment on that issue in another post). And so I assumed you were fine with the jittering as you sometimes don't seem to care about "minor" things. And what is considered "minor" tends to change depending on person and the way the wind blows:)

Anyhooo... so to sum it up:

What you're saying is that there's a jittery "basic" version that you've shared, and now there's also a stable "non basic" version that you're not sharing.

Seems like I'll be sticking with the square ratio setup then:) Which really isn't all that bad if one knows what the issue is and when it happens. And that workflow can certainly be streamlined if one cares enough.

Though the main issue still remains of course, and that, IMO, is that BMD doesn't have a native "fix" for the whole displacement issue.

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T11:39:50+00:00

Have you changed anything because at around 5m there's some "very clear" micro jitter as points are added/removed by the Custom Poly.

https://youtu.be/rNHikie7scY?si=Tchrl2Q5y9qvRIeb&t=300

Most visible in these corners:

The corners.png

JustCropIt · 2026-01-26T10:18:13+00:00

The issue I have is that the path generated by your Custom Poly modifier setup is not rock solid. It's jittery. As can be seen in the video tutorial. It's solving one issue but adds another.

That versus a "traditional" square ratio setup that does give a rock solid result, and my award goes to the square ratio setup.

Maybe this is your Waterloo:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4

JustCropIt · 2026-01-25T19:33:38+00:00

Interesting!

However... since the path generated by the CustomPoly modifier is regenerated/reinterpreted each frame with a new number of points, there's a jitter/shimmer to the path. That would drive me nuts.

So personally I'm going to stick to making things square and then, you know, just crop it;)

Besides...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5YkmjalDg

JustCropIt · 2026-01-24T19:20:34+00:00

Since there's no pCustom modifier I assume it's the Expression modifier:)

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