Resolve 14 tag as VFX

Hi everyone

On the product page of Resolve 14, under the edit tab there is a sectoin that says:

"DaVinci Resolve dramatically simplifies VFX workflows and integration. Shots can be defined as VFX shots on the timeline. Once they are, a folder is created in the location of your choice and a plate is exported. VFX artists then render new media back to the folder. Every time a new file is added, DaVinci Resolve updates the timeline accordingly."

Does anyone know where that function is or how to use it, can't find any way on how to do it and it would help my workflow a lot.

Thanks in advance

This sounds like a Fusion connect clip, if you right click on the timeline on the clip select New Fusion Connect clip. You can then specify the folder location.

Yes, that's it, thanks!

sounds like DS's "outsource" workflow, not the fusion connect workflow... would be nice to have that in Resolve

i'm not able to get near 14, too many deadlines for me to have any meanigful playtime

You can actually use Fusion connect for VFX roundtripping to any software.

Just create a Fusion connect clip, render the media and use the footage you rendered in any software.
After that just export it out from software of choice into the Fusion folder where you created your connect clip with the name of the Fusion comp and version number, hit refresh in DaVinci for the Fusion connect and it's done (the name of the comp is in the Fusion folder where you will export the footage with vfx, it is basically the same as the name specified during the creation of Fusion connect clip, but with a version number added).

Hey,

I'm starting a new job with a lot of vfx and I'm really interested in this feature for obvious reasons.

I made a fusion clip, then rendered out a clip from dissolve in to the compositions folder with a load of blur applied in order to test the feature before asking to change the pipeline of this whole company!

I named it the same as the source file but changed the version to v002.

I'm not a vfx artist so I don't need to use fusion and the guys I work with use different software so I'm trying to find something which will work all round. I can have the VFX versions rendered as QTs in any format.

Long story short, I've been moving the updated (blurred) version around all the folders inside the folder I specified for the fusion connect clip and nothing is updating (I tried refreshing a lot from inside the clip)

Does anyone have any details of exactly where and which format etc I need to add the updated vfx version in, in order for this feature to work?

Thanks in advance

This may help:

New shot versions must match the format that Fusion comp is set to write. So if output format is set to be exr, you can't throw a prores mov into the folder and expect it to work. Easiest way is to render out a test version from one Fusion comp, this gives you both exact reference format and file naming conventions. I think (haven't tried, but got the imression somewhere) that FC only supports image sequences, so no qt here anyway.

If your vfx guys by any chance use a software that begins with N and has a Studio version, I wrote a quick and hacky custom export tag that resolves the notoriously stupid hashed folder names for FC shots. I can share it if you want, it helps with creating whole project structure that matches FC structure in NS from xml timeline.

FC also support .MOV quicktime stuff. No problem there.
You define it during creation in Resolve.

Yes to you hack btw.
p.s. Check my signature for another FC to N tool that is easy to expand to your local Requirement if you had not seen it yet. May be of use or not. ymmv

edit , was no in my sig anymore . Though i was on LGG forum hahaha.
Here you go:
https://cloud.tachyon-consulting.com:55 ... emWcBCHAuf
pass : DaVinci

FC also support .MOV quicktime stuff. No problem there.
You define it during creation in Resolve.

Ok, nice to know, I wonder where I got the idea that only sequences work...

I uploaded the script to my site:
http://www.kalderafx.com/vfx/scripts/NS_export_tag_FC/

Usage: use the {hash} tag in shot export dialog to resolve the hash folders in FC directory structure:


The path to Fusion Connect base folder must be set manually, I haven't done the automatic detection part yet, partially because the track item might not have any data associated with it that connects it to FC folder.

XML exported from Resolve fails to carry some necessary information into NS (problem with import, not export), so it is something that still needs some work. I actually made a script that reads the whole XML and makes connections based on manually selected items in list of cut events and in timeline, but that is even more hacky.

If something breaks you get to keep the pieces

Tnx man.

I love to tinker so will definately come in handy in some way.

I uploaded the XML script to same folder. It is experimental but with some fiddling seems to do the work.
http://www.kalderafx.com/vfx/scripts/NS_export_tag_FC/

The problem it tries to solve is missing track item names for FC clips when XML is imported to NS. To make use of the {hash} export tag, track items must have the correct name, but XML import fails to bring them in and metadata does not help either, because none of the tags corresponds to actual shot name.

This script reads in whole XML file and displays a list of cut items with item name, track number, in and out points etc. Now, when we select the actual FC track items from this table and also select corresponding track items from NS timeline, we can use in/out points to match one to another and rename the track items. After this is done, we can use {hash} export tag to create matching folder structure and create all the comps and whatnot directly from NS.

Usage:
1. Run the script and open the custom panel by right click > Windows > Custom > FusionConnectDialog
2. Open XML file
3. Select track items from table and corresponding items from timeline and press "Rename selected clipitems"
If it worked, timeline items should now have names that match the actual shot names

Very handy bro !!!

p.s. I like this whole Fusion connect idea in general, but there is one vital part that at some point , when the guys at BM are a bit more rested after this crazy hard work period, is to allow for "Reconforming" the Fusion connect clips.
Once created the hardcoded path can never be changed anymore in resolve, which makes re-conforming to new location/other system etc virtualy impossible (yeah you can start messing with file links etc but messy).
What was even worse is that you can not even see the path in resolve where it expects the FC data to be located.
So if for some reason that gets lost, you would have no way (still the same in DR14) to put it back in the right spot.
Feels as a strange omission/oversight as Resolve is the king of conforming everything to everything in a billion ways.
Thats what prompted me some time ago to create the other script in that same dir (slq explorer) that finds out this information directly from the (sql) database. Later that turned into a full blown database/project explorer.
Works also in reverse. You have a clip and want to know where it is used (which database/project) . Also an access check , so you give a project and it tells you for each file in that project (incl FC clips) if it can be accessed from current workstation. Can dump all to CSV as well for QA /audit etc.

I managed to get it working by removing a zero

I'm wondering how much this can be customised. Going to try a few things now. I'm on a windows machine which doesn't make it any easier. Also need to test the use of handles in conjunction with timecode etc

Updates to come