DaVinci Resolve quick tips #5

Due to the fact that you can complete a full project in DaVinci Resolve, including adding various types of effects in Fusion, the final color correction often includes a clip that contains these additional graphic layers integrated with the image. And this can be a big problem for the colorist, because during grading some elements, such as logos, should be isolated and left unchanged in their original form. How to solve it?

There is an easy way to do this; In Fusion, there is a standard Node called MediaOut1, which “releases” the video signal to the Color tab. However, you can add another MediaOut, i.e. MediaOut2, etc. (in the Inspector tab, MediaOut1 has a “main” index of 0, and MediaOut2 – index 1). We connect MediaOut2 to the Node in which the signal contains the elements that we want to isolate (this Node therefore has at least two signal connections at the output).

Whereas, in the Color tab, after mouse right-clicking, the following appears, among others: Add Source (the second source is the MediaOut signal with index 2), and then, after adding the Corrector Node, we connect this source to the green video signal input and once again to the blue Alpha signal input. This way you can correct separate image layers and combine them at the end via Layer Mixer.

When there are several different layers in the Timeline that you want to uniformly influence through various types of effects or color correction, the option that works perfectly is Compound Clip. However, what should you do if, after creating it, you can’t add a Transition, because the Compound Clip is missing Handles, or you come to the conclusion that for some reason you would like to color correct individual Compound Clip layers in a different way?

Well, you don’t have to use Decompose in Place (the reverse of New Compound Clip), because another option in the right-click menu is Open in Timeline. Then the Compound Clip appears on a sort of “separate” Timeline, but with separated individual layers, which, for example, can be extended, which will then allow the entire Compound Clip to be extended and, consequently, to apply Transition in the Edit tab, or corrected separately in the Color tab. Then, when you click on the Timeline name in the lower left corner, you will return to the “original” Timeline and the Compound Clip will contain the changes you made.

In the past, using Polish characters in DaVinci Resolve (Windows) was problematic, not to mention very annoying, and involved various “methods”, such as copying and pasting from notebook. Fortunately, from version 18 there is no longer such a need! However, you must remember that in order for the letters ó and ź to work like the others, i.e. with the Alt+ shortcut, you must first remove or change the keyboard shortcuts that are predefined in DaVinci Resolve, i.e. Alt+o, Ctrl+Alt+o, Alt+x and Ctrl+Alt+x. The shortcuts are available in the menu at the top of the screen: DaVinci Resolve -> Keyboard Shortcuts.

A relatively obvious solution that ensures easy and quick use of repeatable elements in various DaVinci Resolve projects are Power Bins, in which, among others, you can place Fusion Compositions. However, if these compositions contain MediaIn, and these media are different depending on the project, then of course they need to be manually changed inside the composition, or… And here comes an option that is worth knowing! Well, in the Inspector window of a given MediaIn node there is a Media Source option, and one of the choices is Background. Selecting Background makes the composition potentially much more versatile, because then the clip that is directly under this Fusion Composition in the Timeline will always appear as MediaIn.

But what if such a universal composition would use several media sources at the same time? Then Referenced Composition comes to the rescue, a completely new option that appeared in the latest DaVinci Resolve 19. To create it, select all the clips that you want to use in this composition (which are also located on the Timeline directly above each other), and then right-click mouse button and select the Create Referenced Composition option. This composition will then appear in the Media Pool. Once it is prepared, it can then be copied to Power Bins and used in another project by selecting the clip from the topmost track on the timeline and the Referenced Composition in Power Bins, and then right-clicking and selecting the Link to Referenced Composition option.

In both cases, we are talking about “templates” which, in appropriate situations, can become very universal and definitely save a lot of time during editing.