Fusion clip not matching length of clip in edit page

Hi all,

I'm confident this is something basic with Fusion but I am a beginner and all my online searches have returned no answer to this.

The scenario is this: I have a JPG added to the timeline and I want to highlight some lines. I right click on the PNG in EDIT and select "open in Fusion page".

I play with the polygon lines, THEN I decide I want to extend the length of the clip in the EDIT page a bit. I move the starting point a bit earlier, making the whole clip longer.

When I go back to Fusion, I still have frame zero where the clip originally started and for the life of me I cannot understand how I can tell Fusion "I need the extra bit of this clip I just added".

Here is a video which explains what I mean. Thanks for your help!

Any pointers from anybody please?
Thank you!

Hi Antonio, I'll quickly jump in!
Probably best if you don't extend the file to the left when in the edit page, as this will give you negative numbers in your Fusion timeline. Why don't you de-extend the Edit page file (go back to how you originally created it) so that it starts from frame 0 in Fusion... and then simply shift the whole file to the left in the Edit page timeline, so that the action starts when you want it to start... then extend the file to the right as far as you need.

However (and what I would do) you can also just open up the Keyframes window in Fusion, and you'll notice that the coloured bar for your Media jpg, doesn't extend for the entire duration... just grab the left hand end of the bar and pull it back to where you want it to start, and do the same with the right hand end of the bar.
And there, it will play for the entire duration.

THEN I decide I want to extend the length of the clip in the EDIT page a bit.

Decide that before you go to Fusion.

Decide that before you go to Fusion.

It's a joke, right? Quite funny!

Probably best if you don't extend the file to the left when in the edit page, as this will give you negative numbers in your Fusion timeline. Why don't you de-extend the Edit page file (go back to how you originally created it) so that it starts from frame 0 in Fusion... and then simply shift the whole file to the left in the Edit page timeline, so that the action starts when you want it to start... then extend the file to the right as far as you need.

Because I had already made an animation at some point and if I moved the whole clip to the left my animation would not be timed correctly anymore, I just wanted the clip to appear early on screen. Yes, I could move the whole animation but there must be an option for my case scenario too!

However (and what I would do) you can also just open up the Keyframes window in Fusion, and you'll notice that the coloured bar for your Media jpg, doesn't extend for the entire duration... just grab the left hand end of the bar and pull it back to where you want it to start, and do the same with the right hand end of the bar.
And there, it will play for the entire duration.

This helps a lot.
However.
The other day I did a test and Fusion would follow what I did in EDIT - that is, if I extended the clip, I'd find it extended in Fusion. So I was puzzled.

Today I'm running into this which I feel is the same issue in disguise. This is SO MUCH time consuming for a simple animation and I'd really appreciate a pointer in understanding what I am doing wrong.

I hope the video helps explaining what's happening.

Cheers!

It's a joke, right?

No, it's not.

What it IS is workable advice.

Decide that before you go to Fusion.

It's a joke, right? Quite funny!

As a beginner (by your own admission) I would take all advice as genuine.
Refusing to change your working methods is a road to frustration.

Plan ahead and always allow extra time in your Fusion comp to make later adjustments to match the edit.
The issue is that Fusion comps do not have "handles". Fusion is a stand-alone compositing app added to DaVinci Resolve and the integration is still quite basic. Work like you are exporting to a separate compositing app and all will be fine.

Decide that before you go to Fusion.

It's a joke, right? Quite funny!

It's the voice of experience.

If you're an experienced videographer shooting a scene with a camera, you know to always capture extra footage at the start and end of the take - that gives you more flexibility when you get to the editing stage and you're trying to incorporate the clip into the flow of the video. You can move the in and out points of the forward or backward in order to adjust the pacing of the scene or to match up with beats in the soundtrack. You need to capture this extra footage when you're shooting because by the time you get into the editing suite it's too late to go back and add anything to the clip.

Fusion is no different. It's good practice to create a Fusion composition with extra "dead" space at the beginning and end so that you have flexibility in the Edit page to trim the composition as needed. As you've seen, trying to extend the composition can problematic, it's just much easier to just pad the composition when you build it so that you have easy editing flexibility later.

Ok, so what you're saying is that Fusion integration is still not ideal. The software doesn't work as expected. There are no handles. It's a clearly a bug. Extending compositions in Fusion is difficult.

Which is unacceptable as the feature is there, it just doesn't work.

It's not that I don't want to change my workflow. It's just that it's a software and I'm expecting it to work. I think it would have been better phrased as

"Fusion is still not well integrated into Resolve. What you're trying to do is not working well. Unfortunately the only "safe" way is to plan ahead and make a longer composition. If you need a major change, unfortunately you'll have to start from scratch".

In other words: it's a Fusion issue, not my workflow's. And I'm not trying to blame others, I'm just trying to be reasonable. It's a feature that doesn't work (yet).

Work like you are exporting to a separate compositing app and all will be fine.

This is helpful advice, thank you!

That being said, on my latest video I haven't extended the composition and still, it's unworkable as it's completely out of sync with what happens in EDIT. To complete that simple animation I had to find the timing in EDIT, then jump in Fusion and do the changes blindly as the playback was completely out of sync.

Don't tell me the answer is "don't use Fusion"

It's a joke, right?

No, it's not.
What it IS is workable advice.

Just like reshooting until you hit the color right and don’t have to grade anything at all. Dear Jim, get some training in how real world works.

Ok, so what you're saying is that Fusion integration is still not ideal. The software doesn't work as expected. There are no handles. It's a clearly a bug. Extending compositions in Fusion is difficult.

Starting the first post stating you're a beginner, and ending with this......

Before making such statements, try at least to understand the help that is given, and try to see if that helps your workflow.
Sure, no software is free of bugs or strange workflow bits. But coming in running and shouting nothing works is ... well.. a bit annoying to say the least.

Rob,

I've shared an issue I've encountered. The feedback I am getting is vague (though appreciated), and mostly points to a poor integration between Fusion and Edit.

My statement is accepting the given help and elaborating from it, from my point of view.

I don't think someone's experience is a factor when evaluating a statement. Is my analysis correct or incorrect?

And if you have a moment please take a look at the second video which shows an even weirder situation - IMHO.

Thanks!

And if you have a moment please take a look at the second video which shows an even weirder situation - IMHO.

Thanks!

In that video you clearly state that you don't know what some of the interface (yellow line) does.
If you are complaining about unexpected behaviour, it makes sense to learn the software first. Your issue is a lack of knowledge and it's impossible to teach what you need in forum posts. BMD have some excellent training materials available & the user manuals are very good too!

And if you have a moment please take a look at the second video which shows an even weirder situation - IMHO.

The "yellow lines" you're seeing on the Fusion time scale are important - they show you the render limits of the clip. Everything between the yellow lines will be output to the Edit Page. If, on the edit page, you trim the clip (by dragging the left end toward the right or the right end toward the left), then when you go into the Fusion page the yellow lines will be set to the trimmed length of the clip.

Let's say that on the Edit Page you place a clip onto the timeline that's 300 frames long. And then you trim the left and right ends of that clip by 100 frames each, so that the clip starts at frame 100 and ends at frame 200. If you then go into Fusion, you'll see the yellow lines at frames 100 and 200, showing you the extent of the trimmed clip. Fusion will only render the frames between 100 and 200 into the result sent back to the edit page. This means that a keyframed effect at frame 100 on the Fusion timeline will appear in the very first frame of the trimmed clip on the Edit page.

This is pretty fundamental, described on page 1100 of the DaVinci Resolve 18.1 Reference Manual (the table of contents path is "Fusion Fundamentals --> Exploring the Fusion Interface --> Time Ruler and Transport Controls". If you've been expecting "frame 0" in your Fusion composition to appear at the beginning of a trimmed clip on the edit page then it may explain a lot of the frustration you're experiencing.

Stills on the timeline are different from video clips because there's no limit to how far you can drag the start and end trim points. I suspect you've been trying to "fix" things by dragging the start and end points back and forth multiple times, which has resulted in the render range (yellow lines) appearing at more-or-less random appearing locations.

Note that you can move the yellow render lines on the Fusion timeline. This can be useful for effects like a Tracker node where moving the lines limits how far the Tracker will operate. But it doesn't change how the clip has been trimmed on the Edit page and if you've moved those lines then you've lost your reference as to where the trimmed part of the clip starts and ends. So be careful with that. If you go back to the Edit page and then re-enter Fusion again, the render lines will be reset to match the trim points of the clip.

Thank you Sean for taking the time to explain me those things, it's a great starting point.

I understand the yellow lines thanks. I also begin to understand how Fusion is integrated in DR. I'll take a look at the section of the manual that you mentioned.

From playing with Fusion I think I have understood that the frames shown on the timeline in Fusion are relative to the original clip, not the trimmed clip on the EDIT page, am I correct? And the yellow lines are basically showing the trimmed section I have placed on the EDIT page. This makes things much clearer thanks.

I played with a video clip on an empty project and yes, I can understand how it behaves now.

However I have some perplexities with stills. Fusion doesn't seem to be tracking the SOUND when the still is moved around.

If I place a still on the EDIT timeline and then move to FUSION, all plays nicely. If I MOVE the still
(not resize) somewhere else and then move to FUSION, the sound remains what was before I moved the still. If I delete the still and add it again in the new position, the sound is sync'd again.

But while experimenting I found the solution: "PURGE AUDIO CACHE". LOL! So whenever my sound is out of sync, I just need to manually tell DR to re-cache the sound.

However, I see that Fusion doesn't like when STILLS are extended to the LEFT. If I extend it to the RIGHT and then move them around, all works nicely (but I still need to clear the sound cache to sync). If I extend to the LEFT, I cannot seem to be able to sync the sound anymore.

This should be a great start for me. Once again, thank you for taking the time to help me and for your kind and constructive comment.