Overview
DaVinci Resolve includes Fusion — a professional node-based compositor that's a genuine alternative to After Effects, included free in every version of Resolve. Fusion uses a node graph instead of a layer stack, which takes some mental adjustment but is ultimately more powerful and more visual. This guide takes you from a blank Fusion composition to an animated lower third, covering the node system, text animation, keyframes, and basic compositing.
What You Need
- DaVinci Resolve (free version includes Fusion)
- A basic understanding of DaVinci's Edit page (see DaVinci Resolve for Beginners)
- A project timeline with at least one video clip on the Edit page
Steps
Fusion interface overview
To enter Fusion from the Edit page: position the playhead on a clip, then click the Fusion page icon at the bottom of the screen (the circle icon). You'll see the Fusion compositor open with the clip loaded. The interface has four main areas: the Viewer panels at the top (two viewers — use them to monitor different nodes simultaneously), the Node Editor in the centre (your canvas — where all the work happens), the Inspector on the right (parameters for the selected node), and the Timeline/Keyframe editor at the bottom. To create a standalone Fusion composition in the Edit timeline: go to Effects > Toolbox > Generators > Fusion Composition, drag it to the timeline. This is how you make title cards and graphic elements separate from your footage.
Nodes vs layers
In a layer-based compositor (After Effects, Premiere), elements are stacked vertically — items higher in the stack appear in front. In a node-based compositor (Fusion), elements are connected horizontally — data flows from left to right through a graph of operations. Each node is a single operation: a piece of media, a colour correction, a blur, a merge. Nodes connect to each other via connection lines (wires). The rightmost node — the one connected to the output (the Media Out node marked with a small white triangle) — is what you see in your final output. The mental shift: think of building a pipeline rather than stacking layers. The result is easier to read and modify for complex composites.
Add text and basic transforms
In the Node Editor, press Shift+Space to open the tool search, type "Text+", and press Enter. A Text+ node appears. Connect it to the Merge node's foreground input (the green triangle on the Merge node). In the Inspector, type your text, choose a font, and set the size. A Transform node (Shift+Space, search "Transform") controls position, rotation, and scale. Add one after your Text+ node, connect them, and connect the Transform output to the Merge foreground. In the Inspector, use the Centre X/Y controls to position your text. Hold Alt and drag in the viewer to move the transform interactively. Use Merge nodes to composite multiple elements — one Merge for each layer you want to add.
Keyframe animation
Select the node you want to animate (e.g., your Transform node). In the Inspector, right-click a parameter (e.g., Centre Y position) and choose Animate. A small red diamond appears next to the parameter — indicating it's now keyframed. Move the timeline playhead to frame 0. Set the parameter to its start value (e.g., text below the frame, Y = −0.1). Move to frame 20. Set the parameter to its end value (e.g., text in position, Y = 0.15). Fusion automatically creates keyframes at both positions and interpolates between them. Open the Spline Editor (Cmd/Ctrl+E) to see the animation curve. Drag keyframe handles to create ease-in/ease-out curves — flattening the curve at the end of a move slows it gracefully to a stop.
Masks and shapes
Masks in Fusion are called Shapes or Masks and work as connections to nodes rather than as layer properties. Add a Rectangle node (Shift+Space, "Rectangle") and connect it to the Mask input of another node (the small grey triangle, not the green foreground input). The shape now masks the node it's connected to — only the area inside the rectangle is visible. Animate the Rectangle's Size or Center to reveal elements behind a wipe or use it to create the coloured bar behind a lower third. A Polygon node works similarly for custom shapes. Right-click any shape node to invert the mask (show everything outside the shape instead of inside).
Compositing: connecting nodes
A complete lower third in Fusion typically looks like this node chain: Background (a coloured rectangle) → Text+ (name) → Text+ (title) → several Merge nodes combining each element → Transform for final positioning → Merge combining with your video footage → Media Out. The key principle: every time you want to combine two elements, you need a Merge node. One input is the Background (the image below), one is the Foreground (what you're placing on top). Merge nodes have a blend control — set it to 1 for full opacity. Animate the blend to fade elements in and out. Once you're comfortable with this structure, you can build any motion graphic — titles, name tags, infographics, logo animations — by connecting the right nodes in the right order.
Pro Tips
- Use Macros to save a group of connected nodes as a reusable component. Right-click a selection of nodes and choose "Group." Save the group as a macro and it appears in your Effects Library for reuse across projects.
- The free DaVinci Resolve version has all Fusion features — you don't need Studio for motion graphics work.
- Fusion uses a 0–1 scale for position coordinates: (0.5, 0.5) is dead centre; (0, 0) is bottom-left; (1, 1) is top-right. This trips up almost everyone from After Effects where pixel coordinates are used.
- Use 3D nodes (Camera3D, Text3D, Renderer3D) for extruded or perspective text — these are available in Fusion and produce fully 3D animated text without any third-party plugins.