Fusion vs RenderMan
Fusion
blackmagicdesign.comRenderMan
renderman.pixar.comSide by side
| Figure | Fusion | RenderMan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $20.83/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 3 |
| Spec score · Vfx Tools | 8.3 (#4) | 7.8 (#11) |
| Spec score · Visual Effects Software | 8.3 (#8) | 7.8 (#17) |
| Integrations | Fusion Connect sends clips from DaVinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer timelines to Fusion and updates the timelines when the composition is rendered. | Bridge tools are available for Maya, Houdini, Solaris, Katana, and Blender. |
| Purpose | Fusion is node-based compositing software for visual effects artists, broadcast and motion graphic designers, and 3D animators. | RenderMan is Pixar software for rendering visual effects and animation. |
| Support | Blackmagic offers product support through its community forum, email support engineers and telephone support offices. | Commercial customers can use Pixar’s customer support forum; non-commercial users receive community support and access to an unofficial Discord. |
Plans
Fusion
- DaVinci ResolvePrice not published
- DaVinci ResolvePriced on request
- Fusion Studio$295 a month
- Fusion Studio$295, paid once
- DaVinci Resolve (includes Fusion page)Free
RenderMan
- Non-Commercial RenderManFree
- Commercial maintenance$250 a year
- Commercial RenderMan$595, paid once
In their own words
Fusion
Fusion is node-based compositing software for visual effects artists, broadcast and motion graphic designers, and 3D animators. Users connect image-processing tools as nodes and adjust individual parts of a composition. Its tools cover compositing, keying, painting, animation, virtual reality, and stereoscopic 3D. Fusion can import and render 3D models and scenes within a composite without pre-rendering assets or transferring between applications. Fusion Connect sends clips from DaVinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer timelines to Fusion and updates those timelines after a composition is rendered. Lua and Python scripting can create custom tools, exchange data with other applications, and automate tasks. Blackmagic says rendering can use an unlimited number of networked computers without additional cost or per-node render license fees. Fusion Studio includes a bin server for shared assets, and the product page describes team review and approval through DaVinci Resolve. A free DaVinci Resolve download includes the Fusion page. Fusion Studio is listed at $295 a month. Studio version 21.1 requires a Fusion Studio or DaVinci Resolve Studio license dongle, or an activation key. Fusion Studio downloads are listed for Mac OS, Linux, Windows x86, and Windows ARM.
RenderMan
RenderMan is Pixar’s production rendering software for visual effects and animation, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its physically based tools include multi-bounce ray-traced global illumination and ray-traced subsurface scattering. RenderMan 27 adds XPU, a hybrid CPU/GPU renderer with multi-GPU support, and a machine-learning denoiser developed with Disney Research and trained on Disney and Pixar data. The Stylized Looks toolset supports approaches such as illustration and anime. Bridge tools connect it with Maya, Houdini, Solaris, Katana, and Blender, while supported standards include Alembic, OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, OpenVDB, OSL, and USD.
RenderMan requires an AVX-capable processor. XPU and the OptiX denoiser also need an Nvidia Pascal-or-newer GPU; XPU requires at least 12 GB of VRAM. Non-commercial use is free but limited to the latest version and excludes Stylized Looks. Commercial licenses are $595 per licence once; maintenance is $250 a year.