BMD Fusion: Linking parameters with a time offset

One of the problems I've had with Fusion is creating animations with a lot of nodes which need to animate in sequence. This is the kind of thing which is easily done in After Effects but it's something I've had trouble with in Fusion.

You can use the Keyframe or Spline editor to select and move keyframes but that's not a great solution. The best thing I've found so far is to use an expression like this:

Merge1:GetValue("Blend", time -10 },

I got this tip form the thread here;

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=63291

In this example I started with a normal Merge tool and added a 'TimeOffset' control into it to make it easier to edit. The tool then links to the Blend value in the Merge1 in your comp but at a time offset by a value set by the TimeOffset control (multiplied by 10 in this case, just to make it easier to edit). It's a work in progress!

So, if you want to have lots of items Merge on one after the other, you can use one normal Merge tool and keyframe the Blend value as usual. Then use this tool in place of any subsequent Merge nodes and increment the TimeOffset value. After that, you can tweak the keyframes for the first Merge1 and all the other 'TimeMerges' will adjust accordingly.

Paste this into your Flow (you might need to make it plain text first):

{

Tools = ordered() {

TimeMerge = Merge {

CtrlWZoom = false,

NameSet = true,

Inputs = {

Blend = Input { Expression = "Merge1:GetValue("Blend", time -10*(TimeOffset))", },

PerformDepthMerge = Input { Value = 0, },

TimeOffset = Input { Value = 1, },

},

ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 275, 82.5 } },