Connect

**Krokodove Connect purpose.** In Fusion 21, Connect generates one continuous line passing through user-positioned waypoints. It is a graphic generator for visual diagrams, not an operation that wires Fusion nodes together in Flow.

**Three tabs, separate responsibilities.** Controls defines points and interpolation; Shape handles positioning, repetition and visible range; Shading defines color and pen geometry. These are not ordinary background-image correction controls.

**Linear versus Catmull-Rom.** Linear joins successive waypoints with straight edges and visible corners. Catmull-Rom smooths the path between points, potentially bending around turns differently than simple segments. Inspect the actual resulting curve in Viewer.

**Point count and conditional fields.** The archived Controls capture shows Number Of Points = 4 and Point 1–4 X/Y positions. Change the count and use the controls actually exposed in your build; neither an undocumented maximum nor extra Flow sockets are assumed.

**Coordinates define geometry.** Every Point N has X/Y fields. Place two or three visibly distinct positions in a controlled test before introducing additional waypoints. That makes point order clear and prevents accidentally overlapping segments.

**Closing the path.** Close joins the final active waypoint back to the first. Leave callouts and routes open; enable it for triangles or cycles. With thicker pen strokes, inspect the closing join carefully because it becomes another visible corner.

**Shape Center is not another waypoint.** Shape Center X/Y defines the overall reference center for shape operations, while Point 1–4 still describe the original route. Build the route first, then change the center with point coordinates held constant.

**Reposition Around Center.** This checkbox affects how the whole shape is placed around Shape Center. It does not mean that individual point values have been reset; compare the resulting image using an asymmetrical test path.

**Shape Offset and range are different controls.** Offset changes the placement of the shape representation, while Shape Range Start/End delimit the displayed portion of the path. Turn replication off and test these controls individually.

**Shape Replicate.** This control creates multiple instances of the authored shape, with Shape Replicate Offset providing their separation. It is useful for patterned HUD graphics, but copy count is independent of the waypoint count in Controls.

**Animating Shape Range.** Start and End delimit the visible interval. Animating End from a lower to a higher value creates a write-on style reveal; animating Start changes the displayed interval from the other edge. Check more than one frame.

**Pen color and transparency.** Shading exposes Pen Color, numerical Red/Green/Blue/Alpha and Pen Opacity. Channel Alpha and overall Opacity are separate controls; if the stroke disappears, inspect both plus downstream Merge behavior.

**Width and Thickness Bias.** Pen Thickness controls stroke width, while Pen Thickness Bias affects how width is distributed along it. Evaluate very thin UI lines at delivery resolution because subpixel strokes may flicker in the final export.

**Corner handling.** Pen Join Type offers Miter, Bevel and Round. Miter makes a pointed junction, Bevel truncates the corner, and Round softens it. Compare them on a thick Linear path with an obvious bend.

**Stroke endings.** Pen End Type offers Simple and Round, plus Pen End Type Roundness for its round-end styling. These matter most on short open connectors and on the moving tip of a range-driven write-on animation.

**Flow and evidence boundaries.** Blackmagic documents continuous-line generation and the three original captures verify Inspector controls. They do not show physical input/output sockets: lessons provide a typed Connect → Merge teaching plan rather than a native-tested .comp.

**Masks without an invented socket.** The old article claimed a Connect Effect Mask input without a Flow capture. For a localized compositing lesson, use Rectangle → Merge.EffectMask, and leave Connect-specific mask socket discovery to native testing.

**Design and native acceptance.** Build one legible route before styling or replicating it. After changing Linear/Catmull-Rom, Range or Bias, examine extreme frames and alpha edges. Passing TypeScript graph validation does not prove pixel equivalence in Resolve 21.