Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 Posted by Jim Thacker

Blackmagic Design acquires eyeon Software


Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous: composited in Fusion by Uncharted Territory. Could Blackmagic Design’s buyout of Fusion developer eyeon Software bring this capable 3D compositing package to a wider audience?

Blackmagic Design has acquired eyeon Software, making the Fusion developer a wholly owned subsidiary of the broadcast hardware firm. The news was announced at IBC 2014.

As is the way of these things, the official news announcement is light on detail, but heavy on general statements about how the acquisition will be good for both parties.

In this case, however, history suggests that that could actually be true.

Learning from DaVinci Resolve?
Although it’s best known for its capture cards and other hardware – and more recently, its cameras – Blackmagic does have a track record in post-production software.

Before Blackmagic Design acquired it in 2009, DaVinci Resolve was a turnkey colour grading system with a six-figure price tag. Today, there’s a $995 software edition many boutique studios regard as a giant killer.

In recent releases, Blackmagic has been broadening the feature set, moving Resolve towards a more general-purpose finishing system. A 3D compositor fits pretty well with that strategy.

And at the minute, Fusion is a very capable tool with a long track record – but one with a fraction of the market share or media coverage of Nuke, its main competitor.

Being owned by a firm with a reputation for investing in developing and marketing its software acquisitions probably doesn’t hurt it, or its sister product, asset-management system Generation, either.

Read the official news announcement on Blackmagic Design’s website

Visit eyeon Software online