[Marc Wielage]

I don’t see a solution beyond just manually rendering optimized media. Do that and you can relink very quickly and easily, since the files are in a static place that has a direct path visible in the media pool.

You can complain (with justification) that the feature doesn’t work as advertised, but if you need to get actual billable work done today, then to me, that’s the solution.

[Marc Wielage]

[Mel Matsuoka] “I simply cannot use the latest major version update to Resolve in as soon as it’s made available for private/public beta-testing, because all the “doors and lightswitches” have been completely changed, so soon after the last version’s radically updated “doors and lightswitches” have been committed to my muscle memory.”

Well, I think the answer is: don’t do that. Spend a couple of days without clients and practice. Learn where the new modes are, reprogram X-Keys if necessary, and move on. It’s not rocket science. The main stuff is still where it’s always been, and it’s still very productive software. The manual helps as well, and there are also good tutorials out there — even for old telecine colorists like ourselves who need to keep up to date on new stuff.

There are always pros and cons with this stuff. Two things that I think are huge steps forward are the 3D Keyer and the “convert to Bezier” windows command, both of which I use pretty much on every single session. I’m not as happy with the 3D tracker yet, but when it works it’s pretty amazing. I also like the redesign of the frame mode for the tracker, and I find I use that far more in v12 than I ever did in the previous versions.

[Marc Wielage]

No, I don’t believe this is possible. Resolve 9 is also incredibly old and I think it’s a bad idea to try to use today. You’d be much better off using software made to extract keys and alpha outputs like Mocha Pro, After Effects, Maya, and/or Fusion. There are techniques to go in and manually roto the edges to fix them, and it can be done in such a way that it’s basically perfect. The only real limitation becomes matching the lighting and perspective.

BTW: I liked Resolve 9 back in the day and got a good chunk of work done on it, but I can’t imagine stepping back in time 3 years from Resolve 12.

[Marc Wielage]

This can happen if you have a keyframe in a node that also has a tracking window. The keyframe may be trying to work against the tracker.

At worst, do this: grab a still. Start a new version. Reset the node. Recreate the window again from scratch, and match the correction to the still. Track it again. Once it’s tracked and the track is good, do whatever manual keyframing is necessary.

Note there are cases where keys work better than windows, some where windows work better than keys, some where windows and keys are used together, and still others where a curve might give you the same effect with less trouble. When in doubt, try several different things.

[Marc Wielage]

I’d have to see your Raw settings. There’s a hundred ways to affect image quality in the Raw settings.

[Marc Wielage]

Yes, you can drop a flattened 23.98 file into a 25.00fps timeline and have it work, speeding it up by 4.1%. I’m not so sure about a 50fps timeline. 50fps DCPs are actually very rare, in my opinion.

[Marc Wielage]

Non-timecoded cameras like DSLRs can be problematic in terms of XMLs and transferring to other platforms. My general advice is to transcode this material to ProRes or DNxHD (or DNxHR in the case of 4K), give the files unique non-overlapping timecode (no Hour 0), and edit and color-correct with the ProRes.

You may have to manually bring the files in and nudge the program into recognizing the file names to get them into the timeline. The section in the v12 manual on “Importing Projects and Relinking Media” (pp. 495-545) is fairly critical, and it outlines a half-dozen steps you can do in order to solve issues with conflicting file names, bad timecode, missing timecode, and off-speed footage.

Off-speed footage is a particular problem because there is no accurate timecode with which to match it (since there is currently no SMPTE timecode beyond 30fps). For this reason, I think transcoding to regular 23.98fps media with real timecode is a more predictable workflow, but you can also eyematch it to an offline reference, provided you have time and patience.

[Marc Wielage]

I just click OK and get on with life. I have yet to find a security setting that overrides this message, and I have to be careful since I have an MC Color panel that also has to communicate through the network settings — so that’s both Resolve and a panel that have to communicate to the OS and to each other. Not gonna risk breaking that connection.

[Marc Wielage]

[Michael Gissing] “Yes I heard this argument last night from a Panasonic rep but it doesn’t make sense in the real world. You don’t get RAW of course because the original is mpeg codec so there is no way to change colour temp, ISO etc. “
That’s true, but if it’s a log recording and you have the range, you can generally get there. I would rather have a true raw file to work with if possible, but you can still work with a high-resolution MPEG to the point. There are varieties of H.264 that are not ideal and will bog down the works due to overhead. 8 bits is a bigger problem, particularly in keying and qualifying.

[Marc Wielage]

We should make this a permanent answer, since it comes up every single week without end, for about the last five years.

The only way to work reliably with any color-correction program is with a color-managed output. For that, you need a compatible display card and a calibrated monitor. Blackmagic has a half-dozen or more different monitor cards, including the very affordable MiniMonitor. Using a display outside your operating system will yield more accurate results, assuming the monitor is a real grading display and is properly calibrated.

You cannot color-correct from the View display and get accurate results.