Blackmagic Design pushes Fusion Studio 20.1 out the door with a batch of new features for post, VFX, and CG artists. The new “immersive option” in the viewer’s 360 Views menu lets users see 360° footage directly in the Fusion interface. A new immersive patcher tool is also included, although the release notes do not specify its exact function.
Magic Mask v2 Comes to Fusion Studio
Fusion Studio now supports Magic Mask v2. As before, details on underlying improvements or differences from previous versions are not given. The Magic Mask tool, familiar to DaVinci Resolve users, is now part of Fusion Studio’s lineup.
Deep Compositing Grows Up
Fusion Studio 20.1 introduces caching deep composites to disk, which may offer speed advantages in production, and improved DoD (Domain of Definition) and RoI (Region of Interest) support for deep image compositing tools. These are targeted at artists working with multi-channel image data and large comp sizes.
USD Renderer: Overscan Gets Attention
Updates to the USD Renderer promise better support for overscan, a welcome adjustment for those integrating Universal Scene Description workflows.
MultiText: Indent, Align, and Import CSV
Fusion Studio’s MultiText tool now supports indenting, aligning, and paragraph-level styling, alongside character-level styling. Users can now import CSV files as column-aligned MultiText text boxes, which could be relevant for data-driven graphics. No details on CSV formatting are included.
sDuplicate and Swizzler: Jitter and Layers
The sDuplicate tool receives style, jitter, and aligned rotation improvements. The swizzler now supports alpha-only multi-layer outputs and background channels. Layer isolation in LayerRegex is possible using named captures, and Cryptomatte now supports regular expression-based selection.
Blackmagic RAW SDK 5.0 Support
Fusion Studio 20.1 is compatible with Blackmagic RAW SDK 5.0, ensuring current camera workflows are supported.
Performance and Stability: As Always
General performance and stability improvements are included, as stated in every software release since the dawn of time…. I really don’t know why I always write this. Tradition, I suppose.
Minimum System Requirements: Upgrades Mandatory
macOS
Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later, 16 GB RAM minimum (32 GB recommended), Apple Silicon or Metal-compatible GPU, and Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9+ for monitoring.
Windows
Windows 10 Creators Update or later, 16 GB RAM minimum (32 GB recommended), GPU with at least 4 GB VRAM, support for OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8, official AMD/Intel drivers, NVIDIA Studio driver 570.65+, and Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9+ for monitoring.
Linux
Rocky Linux 8.6, 32 GB RAM minimum, discrete GPU with at least 4 GB VRAM, support for OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8, AMD official drivers, NVIDIA Studio driver 570.26+, and Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9+ for monitoring.
Reminder: Test Before You Trust
Digital Production recommends thoroughly testing all new features in Fusion Studio 20.1 before deploying in live productions. Software marketing promises are never a substitute for pipeline testing.
