I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

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Elizabeth Lowrey

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I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 7:02 pm

. . . but there are currently some deal breakers for me. At least in terms of what seem to be current limitations of the program as an editor.

Some brief history.

I began a very modest video production business in 2001 using a Windows 2000 system and Adobe Premiere (before the "Creative Suite" days). I found Premiere very clunky and buggy, but I was untrained, had nothing else to really compare it to, and it seemed the best option at the time for my platform in my price range, so that's what I used on my early projects.

In 2003, I had some audio that needed major noise removal tools, and Premiere simply wasn't up to the job. I downloaded a trial version of Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video, with an Audio Noise Reduction plugin, and the rest is history. I couldn't believe how much more elegant that program was than Premiere from a user interface standpoint, starting with the (revolutionary at the time) fact that I didn't have to bother "importing" footage into bins. I could simply drag a clip from an open Explorer window directly into the timeline and, voila, it played. And it did this with virtually ANY media file format I had. And it was rock solid stable.

Moving around and doing things in Vegas was so intuitive, it was mind blowing. I almost NEVER had to consult a manual. Want to magnify or reduce the resolution of your timeline? Scroll the mouse wheel while pointing to it. Want a simple dissolve transition? Drag a clip until it overlaps another in the same track to the desired amount, which will instantly be evident from the visual outlines of the two clips. Want a different interpolation for the rate of that dissolve than the default ease in/out? Simply right click in the transition area and choose from a popup of 16 or so permutations. Want to pan/zoom on a still? Click an icon on the clip and enter a popup window where any change made to any parameter at any point in the clip's length automatically inserts a keyframe. Change your mind about the kind of interpolation you want for a particular keyframe? Simply click it and choose from a range (including "hold," an extremely valuable option.) Want to adjust the overall length of that panned/zoomed still without changing the beginning or end values of your keyframes for the clip? Simply drag the edge of the clip and the value of the first or last keyframe goes with it (as it should).

I thought it might be bad news when Sony bought Vegas from Sonic Foundry. Eventually it was but primarily because they apparently moved further and further away from the camera agnostic, format agnostic basis of the original program and were intent on using it to try to sell more of their cameras (e.g., slow to add P2 support, slow to add basic ability to edit R3D, etc.). While the program remained reasonably stable throughout my time with it, the performance began to lag with newer media formats and higher resolutions, and media management remained a resource hog and somewhat clunky, especially since none of the metadata developed within the program would ever move with the files and clips outside of the program. But the thing that finally drove me to looking for other editing solutions was and remains (even now, several years past MAGIX' acquisition of the software) the antiquated, inadequate support for R3D files and RED RAW workflow.

When I first tested Davinci Resolve several years ago, I was impressed with the interface but completely unimpressed with basic performance. After some reading, I realized my system was just too old to leverage the technologies basic to the way Resolve is coded (starting with how it uses video card resources), so I waited until I built a new system to try it again.

And so I have over these last two weeks with a brand new computer build, specs of which you can see in my signature. The general LOOK of the interface, media management, metadata handling, responsiveness, playback performance, the intelligent way that panels expand and contract are all SPECTACULAR. The support for RED RAW is all I could ask for. And the addition of Fusion as a full-fledged, node based effects package and Fairlight as a specialized audio environment is stunningly impressive.

I was ready to happily plunk down my $300 for the full version (ridiculous value!) until I started really digging into the editing features on a stills montage and discovered some (to me, coming from Vegas) mind boggling limitations:

#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track. This seems so fundamental to me that I'm still wondering if I've somehow just missed it, like there's an undiscovered editing mode in which this way of working is possible. Yes, I know I can grab a transition from a list and drag it across abutting clips to create one of many varieties of transitions, but that is so much more limiting (I'll give examples, if you like) and time consuming than the Vegas way of doing things that I'm struggling to understand why the latter isn't already a feature of Resolve (or can't be added.)

#2 - The inability to efficiently and flexibly keyframe pans and zooms on stills (or even motion files, for that matter.) I do a lot of work quasi "animating" stills but often far beyond the basic "Ken Burns" zoom. The dynamic zoom feature of Resolve could be helpful in a number of situations but is far too limiting to replace the kind of custom keyframing I'm talking about where there is, for instance, a fade in and long delay on a highly zoom in portion of an image (e.g., a face) and then a smooth ramping to another face, followed by a hold there, followed by a gradual zoom out that holds on a wider frame, all synchronized in time with a voiceover or music or both. As you fine tune an animation like that, it's essential to have the first and last keyframes stay attached to the first and last frames of the clip so that you don't, for example, enter an animation midstream where you can't even SEE the beginning keyframe from which the animation is being calculated.

In Resolve, I noticed that edge keyframes do not travel with the clip edges. If I shorten a clip after having applied a beginning position or zoom keyframe, that keyframe recedes behind the new clip beginning yet continues to influence the animation. The only way to edit or remove it is to open the keyframing subwindow below the clip, drag the clip start back beyond the old keyframe, move that keyframe to where you think you want to actually start the clip, then drag the clip edge to the position of that keyframe and hope you got the time right. If not, rinse, repeat.

That is incredibly labor intensive for something so simple. And that doesn't even hit on the biggest limitation, which is the lack of ability to select a smooth interpolation for a position keyframe on the extreme edge of a clip. I greatly appreciate that you can actually keyframe using points and Bezier curves with handles for most parameters. This is an improvement over the Vegas way of doing things, which limits you to a choice of preset interpolations (smooth, fast, slow, linear, hold, etc.) But without the ability to actually control the rate of change of a position animation in a linear, timeline interface, all the other control in the world is icing without a cake.

There are some other basic things I wish Resolve would adopt from Vegas, like a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant (useful for timing with music and such) while still retaining the ability to playback from a given position and return to it after toggling the spacebar. With Resolve, there is a single play and stop command, apparently, which can be assigned to either behavior but can't simultaneously be accessible via separate keyboard shortcuts. But this kind of thing is small potatoes next to the issues with overlapping clips and keyframe animations.

I am posting this because one of the most impressive things to me about Blackmagic is the aggressive pace at which they are developing Resolve and the degree to which they are apparently listening to user feedback. In that vein, then, I am so, SO close to moving to your platform and buying into the paid version but can't do it so long as the above limitations exist.

If I've just failed so far to find functional equivalents to the above features, please forgive me and point me in the right direction.

Until then, congratulations to Blackmagic programmers and designers on a fantastic package that continues to grow. I hope one day it can serve all my needs.
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roger.magnusson

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:32 pm

I have nothing to add really but to say that you perfectly summarized what made Vegas in the Sonic Foundry days so special. Like Apple they had the advantage of not having to worry about cross platform portability, but it wasn't just that. The user interface was simply great, snappy even in the days before GPU acceleration. As a user you weren't bogged down by the flatbed editor paradigm of other NLE:s at the time. Plus it had their version of the Fairlight page built in from the start.

BMD is doing a great job extending Resolve and anyone wanting features from Vegas has my vote. Anyway, new stuff is probably coming to Resolve at NAB and I can't wait. :D
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:44 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:#2 - The inability to efficiently and flexibly keyframe pans and zooms on stills


I think you just need to learn how. There's a full Spline Editor.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:46 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:In Resolve, I noticed that edge keyframes do not travel with the clip edges. .


That's expected. Keyframes are stuck to a specific frame. They'd be useless if they moved on their own.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:46 pm

Jim Simon wrote:
Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track.


Premiere Pro can't do this. I don't think Avid either. Nor FCP, that I'm aware.

It's not common. Might have to let it go.

I know FCPX does it for audio tracks at least. Great time saver if you need to do a lot of it.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:47 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:I wish Resolve would adopt from Vegas, like a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant


Spacebar. This is common to all NLE's.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:47 pm

Thanks, Roger.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 10:52 pm

Honestly OP, Your post reads like you just haven't spent to time to learn how resolve works.
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Ole Kristiansen

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:02 pm

#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track. This seems so fundamental to me that I'm still wondering if I've somehow just missed it, like there's an undiscovered editing mode in which this way of working is possible. Yes, I know I can grab a transition from a list and drag it across abutting clips to create one of many varieties of transitions, but that is so much more limiting (I'll give examples, if you like) and time consuming than the Vegas way of doing things that I'm struggling to understand why the latter isn't already a feature of Resolve (or can't be added.)

Shift + Alt and pull the clip over the next one !
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:14 pm

The very reason we Edit in Lightworks and Finish in Resolve. No 'round tripping', just a simple AAF Export then Conform, Grade and Deliver from Resolve.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:17 pm

#1 -- you probably won't be satisfied, timeline keyframing presently leaves something to be desired, but you can ctrl-c in the keyframe area before the edit, then edit, then alt-v (paste attributes), selecting "maintain timing", then paste. The keyframe on the side of the edit will get the initial value and other keyframes will move, proportionally. No need to point out this is cumbersome, and probably not what you want anyway.

#2 -- you can at least create transitions with shortcuts, no need to drag -- "v" to get to the nearest cut, followed by ctrl-t for the default transition. Once the transition is in place, the length is editable with the mouse. That and all other aspects can be altered in the Inspector.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:31 pm

roger.magnusson wrote:
Jim Simon wrote:
Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track.


Premiere Pro can't do this. I don't think Avid either. Nor FCP, that I'm aware.

It's not common. Might have to let it go.

I know FCPX does it for audio tracks at least. Great time saver if you need to do a lot of it.


It's a very common feature for creating audio crossfades in DAWs (even Fairlight, but only if you have layered audio editing turned on and you create an initial fade-in or fade-out on one clip before you push it into the other one, which will then complete the crossfade). But I haven't seen it in other NLEs.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:34 pm

Ole Kristiansen wrote:#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track.

Shift + Alt and pull the clip over the next one !


Wow, I didn't know this!
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:46 pm

Elizabeth, I see there's no Decklink I/O card in your PC specs. You might need to consider this if you do port over to Resolve if only to view a full screen display on your second monitor. (plus of course, an accurately calibrated monitor)

Note too that 12G PCIe devices capable of 4K @ 60P, will require 8 dedicated CPU lanes. 6G output only cards are usually rated at 4K/30P.
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roger.magnusson

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostTue Feb 19, 2019 11:47 pm

Brad Hurley wrote:
Ole Kristiansen wrote:#1 - The inability to create a transition/dissolve by simply overlapping clips in the same track.

Shift + Alt and pull the clip over the next one !


Wow, I didn't know this!

I thought I had seen that before in Resolve but shrugged it off as my own wishful thinking. :lol:
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:05 am

Hey,

I've read your "brief" history ( :) ), and I can understand your statements. However, that's what usually happen when one wants to switch from one - well known - tool to another... which is not so far.
I experienced that too, coming from FCP7 that I loved at least as much as you love Vegas, and confess there's probably a bit more habits to change/modify when you go with Resolve than others.

But a couple of thoughts : I think the more you want to stick with specific actions (you performed thousands of times in your old NLE) to reach your goal, the longer you'll have to learn the new ways to reach those goals in your new toy. Usually, FCPX users are the less motivated to adapt because they're sure their NLE is the more efficient, you're therefore more illegible for quicker adaptations coming from Vegas.
Secondly, I think you didn't really search long enough to find what you're looking for, its obvious. As I did for the first time with Resolve, maybe you also should RTFM for the first time too, now that you experienced solid differences with Vegas : you would spare time...
Good luck ;)
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:25 am

Brad Hurley wrote:even Fairlight, but only if you have layered audio editing turned on and you create an initial fade-in or fade-out on one clip before you push it into the other one, which will then complete the crossfade
Also possible without any requirement for initial fades on either Clip.

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:30 am

I don't have any problema with davinci as editing software. I don't feeling any limitation tight now.
My One and Only problem since the beginning Is the lack of the possibility to export aaf for pro tools that actually work. I mean with reference to the original audio files, even for syncronised clips, with metadata from the sound recorder. I can pass on the impossibility to export levels and fades. And even if you use the actual pro tools preset Is very problematic in many cases and in order to have handles you Need to male export that goes on for hours for a feature movie...and then you have to check for missing tracks and shifts.
If i Will have this feature that actually work for pro tools, i Will be a preacher for davinci, and even push fairlight, but right now the professional editors that i know are afraid of the problems at the end of a job having to go to and audio facility.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:36 am

PieroLass wrote:My One and Only problem since the beginning Is the lack of the possibility to export aaf for pro tools that actually work.
AAF export from Resolve 15 is functional with ProTools Ultimate 2018.x

Piero, you just need to have your audio folks update to a more current version of ProTools, or instead employ a facility that is able to remain current.

Not even Avid supports ProTools 10 (released 8 years ago), so why should BlackMagic support a deprecated version?
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 12:11 pm

I know that pro tools ultimate works with aaf, or if i have to send aaf to previuos pro tools i open the aaf with avid and i recreate a new aaf link. But even when you do that then when you deliver this to the sound facility i receve always complaints since they dont have any metadata, so when you have multiple microphone you dont know wich One Is It. And you dont know the name of the original file or the name you writer for the clip since when you sincronised you get the audio with the name of the video file! So for them this kind of export Is basically a big problem, specially if you are deling with long form movies.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 1:35 pm

Dan Sherman wrote:Honestly OP, Your post reads like you just haven't spent to time to learn how resolve works.

I got a few sentences in and thought, "well, you could read the manual..." :?
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 4:19 pm

Hey my experience mirrors yours pretty well. That said I'm using Resolve 95% of the time these days and it took a while for me to get up to speed on the program. Keep using it and watching the many tutorials available (paid and unpaid). I am constantly discovering new features and the Resolve workflow logic makes more sense to me now.

When it comes to keyframing I'm with you... Resolve really needs serious work in this area. I still find myself going back to Vegas when working on a project with lots of stills. I also find the zooming in and out of the timeline no where near as smooth as in Vegas. Would love it if they gave us the ability in preferences to zoom in and out of the timeline without having to hold the Alt key.

A large part of what pushed me in the direction of Resolve is the amazing team behind the program. The speed at which they release fixes, communicate and improve the program is nothing short of amazing! Unfortunately Vegas has rested on it's brilliance since being purchased by Sony and from what I can tell the code is just too old and the new Magix team too small for Vegas to catch up for my needs.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 4:47 pm

It's ok to want to switch to Resolve. That doesn't mean you have to do it.

But if you DO switch: then learn Resolve.

If a couple of thousand pages of manual seems a bit rich from the get-go, at least watch the few videos that deal with the respective pages of Resolve: media management, editing, color grading, fusion, audio and delivery.

I don't think you'll regret investing the time.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 5:41 pm

Ole Kristiansen wrote:Shift + Alt and pull the clip over the next one !


Thank you, Ole! Lots of searching on this and had not come across that shortcut before. This is great to know.
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Elizabeth Lowrey

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 5:47 pm

Marc Wielage wrote:
Dan Sherman wrote:Honestly OP, Your post reads like you just haven't spent to time to learn how resolve works.

I got a few sentences in and thought, "well, you could read the manual..." :?


I don't know why the two of you feel you need to make snide comments to a new user, but I'll extend you the courtesy you didn't extend me by apologizing if you thought I was simply lazy or was otherwise wasting your time. I don't perceive that I am the former and certainly didn't intend the latter.

The PDF manual for Resolve is currently 2,632 pages. Did I read all of them before posting? No. I did spend at least 60 hours over the last 2-3 weeks researching features, various workflows, and other issues relating to a possible switch to Davinci Resolve, including:

(1) the possibility of importing keywords and ratings metadata from Adobe Bridge for a Resolve-based library (i.e., "power bin") of all my photos, thereby preserving many, many hours of work and making this metadata available across all new projects in Resolve (still have found no real solution for this, although there are some Bridge scripts that get me part of the way; this is on the back burner for now)

(2) watched at least 3 hours of video tutorials (Edit page only) aimed at those new to Resolve, including an official Black Magic tutorial and one specifically related to users moving from Vegas

(3) searched the Internet and the PDF manual regarding the "deal breaker" problems delineated in my post and found threads on this very forum indicating that the keyframing functionality I was seeking doesn't exist, e.g.,

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=67303
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=44692
viewtopic.php?t=58758

Typical comments from those threads (some in much harsher terms than I used):

*************

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Re: Position Keyframe Bezier??? Curves???
PostWed Dec 06, 2017 7:55 am

Dynamic Zoom has little to do with proper bezier curves for position. The lack of Positioning curves in Resolve is a SEVERE shortcoming that I hope will be corrected ASAP. It's purely amateurish that it's not there already, I'm sorry to say.



Marc Salvatore

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Re: Position Keyframe Bezier??? Curves???
PostThu Dec 07, 2017 12:26 pm

Glad I'm not the only one thinking re framing and zooming of video/photos in Resolve is very cumbersome. One of the areas that Sony Vegas really does well...

I'm also new and will keep studying this but hope it gets some attention soon as it is a big part of my 4k to 1080p workflow.


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Re: Position Keyframe Bezier??? Curves???
PostMon Dec 11, 2017 3:32 pm

This feels like a bug really.

Let's say, you want to animate the Zoom and Transform settings between two keyframes in the duration of a shot. Since both settings contribute to how the animation will play out it is a crazy omission that only the Zoom controls can have their bezier handles exposed.


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Re: No Position Bezier in Da Vinci Resolve 14
PostThu May 04, 2017 9:20 am

This feels like an insane way to do things. I appreciate the on-screen beziers for spacial interpolation, but you NEED some kind of independent temporal control. The little slider dots in the middle are kind of useless when you're trying to line up the mid-point of a curve visually but every time you click the dot it snaps the playhead to the keyframe itself, thus making it a complete guess-and-check operation.

As forward looking as BMD is being about a lot of things this drives me crazy. It's the little stuff like this that keeps me from switching over entirely.


**************

My problem in locating an authoritative instruction on the crossfades issue owes partly to a non-ideal keyword search (should it be "transition" "dissolve" "crossfade" "cross dissolve" etc., as each give different results both on google and the forum.) But I also encountered the following thread, which greatly influenced my impression that you couldn't overlap clips:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=80028

As I look back over it now, I see that Steven Reid gave the same answer as Ole Kristiansen in this thread (Shift + Alt + drag) and I just completely missed it. My apologies for that oversight. I'm usually a much more careful reader. My only consolation is that, judging from that thread and even this one, there are at least some seasoned Resolve editors that also didn't know about this functionality. :D
Last edited by Elizabeth Lowrey on Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rakesh Malik

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 5:59 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:Thank you, Ole! Lots of searching on this and had not come across that shortcut before. This is great to know.


It's well worth the time to download (or purchase print versions) of the Black Magic Resolve training guides.

The new (at least, I *think* they're new) to 15 in-timeline animation curves are awesome.

They might have been there earlier, but I didn't do enough editing to even look for them. But since I got hired to edit a feature documentary I figured I might as well take advantage of the advanced editing training guide... and I'm becoming a convert to editing in Resolve even over Lightworks...

Now if only BMD would hurry up and release the Fusion guide... :)
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Elizabeth Lowrey

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:02 pm

Jim Simon wrote:
Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:In Resolve, I noticed that edge keyframes do not travel with the clip edges. .


That's expected. Keyframes are stuck to a specific frame. They'd be useless if they moved on their own.


Hi, Jim. I would agree with you to a certain extent regarding video clips since those have dynamic content where you might well want to tie a particular zoom/position keyframe to a particular frame of the clip.

That's not the case for animations of still photos, which obviously have no dynamic content. I routinely need to "choreograph" a move on a photo to some other temporal content, usually music but sometimes a voiceover. In those situations, the most important thing is the rhythm of the movement in the animation (when and how fast it changes), and, for that, retaining the keyframes within relative positions of the clip as you lengthen or shorten it to fine tune things is paramount. Even just the ability to retain beginning and ending keyframes would be fine (which is how Vegas usually does it), since you at least would not have to drag your clip beyond its revised start or end point just to be able to see and then move/edit that keyframe to fit the new clip length. You don't want, for example, the zoom to already be well underway when the clip first becomes visible.

As I've been pondering it, I think people coming from Vegas are bound to have a fundamental and perhaps unique conceptual barrier to cross in that Vegas does not really operate on the principle of "clips." It uses "timeline events" to which media (video or photos) are assigned. Yes, in many ways they are functionally equivalent, and when you pull a video clip onto the timeline, Vegas automatically creates a timeline event from that clip that starts and stops according to the trimmer dictates (or the media itself if it hasn't been trimmed.)

But the media within the event is set to automatically loop no matter where the beginning or ending of the media may eventually fall relative to the beginning and ending of the event containing it. If you drag the beginning of the event ("clip") back before the media itself starts, you won't be met with an indication that you've run out of clip. You will simply see a tiny indent indicating the point where the media start is located and the event will extend beyond it using the required number of frames from the media's end (or the first frames running backwards if you choose that option). So you never run out of "handles" or "clip" because there's really no such thing. Ergo you will never run into the problem that has, from my forum searches, apparently stumped many Vegas users who are moving to Resolve, namely how to apply a transition to a clip when there's insufficient media on one or both clips to cover the transitional area.

I personally think the Vegas way is superior in this regard as it facilitates a fool-proof way of always being able to control the macro/"forest"/timing aspects of your project, like a simple crossfade that you want to happen at a certain point in time based not primarily on the media content of the clip at that point but other factors. If you run out of media on one end, you can slip it within the containing event very easily (alt + drag over the event) or apply a velocity envelope to slightly elongate the playback duration of the media, etc. This preserves the color effects, clip timing, keyframing, and similar parameters so that it's very easy to change your mind about, for example, which photo you want to use while retaining all of the other characteristics of what's happening on the timeline.

The Resolve way of doing this is apparently to copy/paste attributes from one clip to another, which is fine for clips without transitions and for those in uncomplicated transition scenarios. But I don't see how it will solve the situation where you run out of handles on video clips.

Also, I think the idea of treating any transition as this separate "thing" that happens at a time certain (an "edit" or "transition" point) and is therefore entirely referenced to it ("start on edit", "end on edit" or "center on edit") is far less elegant than the Vegas concept of two events that either do or do not overlap each other. When they do overlap, the output will obviously represent a mixture of the two for the duration of the overlap as dictated at any moment by the particular opacity interpolations (smooth, linear, etc.) used. This allows the very important (IMO) ability to animate position and zoom all the way through each clip/event duration regardless of how long a transition is or whether there's any transition at all. Panning and zooming are completely independent of whether there's also a transition.

This is not the case in Resolve from everything I've found so far. If you set up a pan/zoom move on your photo and then try to overlap it or otherwise apply a transition to another on which you've done the same, you are immediately hit with a host of complications that require extra clicks to resolve (pardon the pun), e.g., reopening the keyframe editor on the timeline, pulling the edge keyframes back to the beginning of the now "elongated" clip, the exact requirements here depending upon whether the transition is considered starting, ending or centered on the "edit". And every time you change your transition length or its "edit" reference point, you have to redo this. That is very, very cumbersome.

Starting first with the transition and then applying the transform keyframes would probably save a few steps in most cases, but you will still have problems any time you need to fine tune the length of your transition because it is treated as a separate entity that is superimposed over two sharply abutting clips rather than as the natural outgrowth of two independent clips overlapping.

I've also experimented with putting temporally adjacent clips on separate tracks and then "overlapping" them by sliding one or the other fore or aft. This leaves the transform keyframes intact but requires the extra steps of changing composite mode on the upper most clip and animating its opacity, then having to move keyframes for that every time you slightly move the clip to fine tune your timing. Again, far from ideal.

None of this is to take away from what I can already see are the stupendous features of Resolve (and I know I'm only scratching the surface.) I wouldn't be here talking about this except that it seems much more likely that Resolve will incorporate the things that Vegas unquestionably does much better now rather than the other way around.

So to anyone who might feel inclined to "defend" their chosen NLE, this is not a derogation of it. Far from it. I'm just voicing what is tripping me up so far in hopes that I'm either set straight on a way of doing what I want to do that I've not been able to discover from searching (as with the Alt+Shift+Drag for clip overlap) and to chime in as an enthusiastic but typically idiosyncratic Resolve user who wants more/better features.

Cheers!
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Steven Reid

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:24 pm

As an empathetic refugee from Vegas, I'll only make a general comment, as I can't add to the more specific guidance you've been given here: the longer you straddle the two NLE's, the longer you'll likely stay frustrated. Once I got my head into Resolve's ecosystem through a few courses and by editing full projects, it's quite enjoyable. So, c'mon in..the water's fine. ;)
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Brad Hurley

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:26 pm

The good news is that as Resolve grows and matures as an end-to-end NLE, its developers have been "borrowing" some of the more useful conventions and features from other NLEs as well as coming up with their own innovations. There are many things that are cumbersome and convoluted now that may be much less so in 2-5 years. We can only hope, but actually we can do more: there's a thread right here in this forum for feature requests and if you add your suggestions to it they might one day be incorporated.
Last edited by Brad Hurley on Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Elizabeth Lowrey

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:27 pm

Marc Salvatore wrote:Hey my experience mirrors yours pretty well. That said I'm using Resolve 95% of the time these days and it took a while for me to get up to speed on the program. Keep using it and watching the many tutorials available (paid and unpaid). I am constantly discovering new features and the Resolve workflow logic makes more sense to me now.

When it comes to keyframing I'm with you... Resolve really needs serious work in this area. I still find myself going back to Vegas when working on a project with lots of stills. I also find the zooming in and out of the timeline no where near as smooth as in Vegas. Would love it if they gave us the ability in preferences to zoom in and out of the timeline without having to hold the Alt key.

A large part of what pushed me in the direction of Resolve is the amazing team behind the program. The speed at which they release fixes, communicate and improve the program is nothing short of amazing! Unfortunately Vegas has rested on it's brilliance since being purchased by Sony and from what I can tell the code is just too old and the new Magix team too small for Vegas to catch up for my needs.


Thanks for this, Marc. I so agree with you. The extremely rapid, responsive development of Resolve, particularly in this age of post Adobe "CC" licensing—which kept me (and I'm sure many others) from ever adopting that platform—is beyond remarkable. I loved my Vegas and hoped that MAGIX would work some "magics" in terms of updated support for RED RAW and some other, long overdue upgrades and performance enhancements. But I don't see that coming, and nothing else to me looks close to the product Blackmagic is offering.
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Elizabeth Lowrey

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 9:57 pm

Craig Marshall wrote:Elizabeth, I see there's no Decklink I/O card in your PC specs. You might need to consider this if you do port over to Resolve if only to view a full screen display on your second monitor. (plus of course, an accurately calibrated monitor)

Note too that 12G PCIe devices capable of 4K @ 60P, will require 8 dedicated CPU lanes. 6G output only cards are usually rated at 4K/30P.


Thanks, Craig.

So far, I'm not even using a separate monitor for playback, just looking at the little scaled window as I try to get more familiar with the program. I'm not a colorist (though I hope to learn more about it in the future), and all of the projects I've ever done have been for either DVD, Bluray, or Internet delivery, so I only learned enough about color spaces to serve those limited needs. (I know, very ironic that someone with no experience as a colorist is on a forum dedicated to the ultimate colorist's tool. ;))

With Vegas, I set my preview device to my Flanders Sceintific CM170 interfaced via a second output on my video card (an old AMD Radeon). Apart from factory calibration, I did the pluge setup to adjust for my room's brightness and set the proper computer RGB colorspace in Vegas for playback, and that seemed to serve me well for my modest projects.

My new RTX 2070 has, of course, multiple outputs, so I assume I could do something similar with Resolve and let it drive both the program interface display and a preview display. But I haven't really looked at that yet as I'm trying to determine whether I'm jumping full force onto the platform. I imagine there must be some performance advantages to having a dedicated output card in Resolve as opposed to saddling the video card with both interface and preview duties? Or are you recommending it strictly because of superior color monitoring? I should mention that my core 19-9900K also has onboard graphics if there might be any advantage to using it for program interface and dedicating the RTX 2070 to just video preview. That's actually something I was going to try anyway, but if you wise out there tell me not to bother, I won't. :D

Even though I've done no tuning (certainly no overclocking) on my new computer, I'm extremely pleased that I can at last playback 5K 29.97 fps RED RAW footage in real time at full debayer both in REDCINE and on the Davinci timeline. Of course I won't be monitoring on anything beyond an HD display for a while, but it's nice to know that the new machine can crank out the pixels when the time comes.
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Marc Salvatore

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:14 pm

One of the differences that will most likely not change in Resolve anytime soon is that if you want full screen preview to a secondary monitor you will need a Blackmagic output device (I use the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K to feed my 42" plasma). You can get full screen preview by pressing control + F but it will cover up your timeline. Yeah it's a bummer but it's the way it is and the secondary cards are cheap and work extremely well. There is also a dual screen mode (if you have two computer monitors) which is worth checking out when you need to work with a full screen timeline.

Overall I get better playback in Resolve than Vegas on the equivalent footage and rendering is way faster. Resolve uses the GPU really well unlike Vegas which is a total mess and always has been in this area.

Also keep in mind that the Studio version plays back certain compressed video formats better, has some additional excellent effects and great noise reduction. Plus they have not charged for an upgrade since they bought the program. They are not promising this into the future but I already jumped from Resolve 14 to 15 at no charge which covered the cost of my output card.

P.S. If you want to know about the secondary monitor debate in Resolve there are about 9000 threads on the subject :? It has been debated ad naseum and Peter (The Resolve King 8-) ) has closed the subject.
Last edited by Marc Salvatore on Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Elizabeth Lowrey

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:24 pm

Jim Simon wrote:
Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:I wish Resolve would adopt from Vegas, like a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant


Spacebar. This is common to all NLE's.


My full comment read:

a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant (useful for timing with music and such) while still retaining the ability to playback from a given position and return to it after toggling the spacebar. With Resolve, there is a single play and stop command, apparently, which can be assigned to either behavior but can't simultaneously be accessible via separate keyboard shortcuts. But this kind of thing is small potatoes next to the issues with overlapping clips and keyframe animations.


I looked over and over through the keyboard shortcuts, and I could find only one command to start/stop playback, which by default is assigned to the spacebar, which I'm very well aware is the default for all NLE's I've ever tried as well as simple media players.

I also found that you can change the behavior of the spacebar to either stop at the current position or jump back to the starting position on toggle. But I couldn't find a way to have simultaneous access to both kinds of commands via separate keys.

In Vegas, "spacebar" will automatically return you to starting position, "enter" will stop you where you hit it, and having access to both randomly from easily recognized keys without having to engage different functionality (via another shortcut or menu click) for the same key is very valuable. So if you know of a way to do that, I'd be grateful for the tip since I use both functions all the time.

ETA - I forgot to mention that I noticed whatever "mode" you choose for the spacebar automatically applies to "k" key as well, so I couldn't find a way to make the spacebar return to the start position on second click while allowing k to stop play at the present position (or vice versa).
Last edited by Elizabeth Lowrey on Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Craig Marshall

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:36 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:... With Vegas, I set my preview device to my Flanders Sceintific CM170 interfaced via a second output on my video card (an old AMD Radeon). Apart from factory calibration, I did the pluge setup to adjust for my room's brightness and set the proper computer RGB colorspace in Vegas for playback, and that seemed to serve me well for my modest projects.

My new RTX 2070 has, of course, multiple outputs, so I assume I could do something similar with Resolve and let it drive both the program interface display and a preview display. But I haven't really looked at that yet as I'm trying to determine whether I'm jumping full force onto the platform. I imagine there must be some performance advantages to having a dedicated output card in Resolve as opposed to saddling the video card with both interface and preview duties? Or are you recommending it strictly because of superior color monitoring?....


You might consider running both platforms together as we do with Lightworks/Resolve. This way, you can edit or off line in Vegas then finish in Resolve as you gain experience with Resolve. As Lightworks also supports BMD's 12G Decklink SDI 4K Pro with 32bit float, the two programmes operating together on the same PC workstation are a great asset to us. I've also Mapped both Lightworks' transport control and Resolve's transport control to the exact same buttons on our X-keys 64 Jog/Shuttle controller so this makes switching between the two programmes virtually seamless. A good option too for Vegas/Resolve?

Resolve, being first and foremost a Colour Grading solution (before it morphed into the Swiss Army Knife of video post production) was always based around a hardware control panel and a discrete I/O card. (eg: Decklink) The latter guaranteed a clean baseband, video output from your computer which was not in any way influenced by the graphics settings of your GPU. Given the Decklink directly drives your full screen display, it probably takes some load of your GPU but unless things have changed recently, the only way you will see a full screen display on your calibrated Flanders out of Resolve is to install a Decklink. At least you will be sure what you are viewing is indeed accurate and not influenced by your GPU's setup. The simple, low cost solution is BMD's 6G 4K mini monitor PCIe card with dual HDMI and SDI outputs. From memory, this will run 4K video at upto 30P.

We actually run a four monitor setup: Two GUI monitors from the main GPU, one GUI from our secondary GPU and our 4K Decklink SDI leading direct to a large 'client' 4K TV (via an SDI to HDMI converter) as well as the Decklink 4K Pro's second SDI down-converted output running to our REC.709 calibrated HD monitor (via an SDI to Dsiplay Port converter) where we see 10bit 4:4:4. Whilst this may seem a somewhat complex signal path, it has proved fast and reliable for several years of constant use.
Last edited by Craig Marshall on Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RCModelReviews

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostWed Feb 20, 2019 11:47 pm

I've been using Resolve for nearly a year and I'm still learning new stuff every day.

One thing that would certainly be a winner (IMHO) are a series of "Resolve for exiles from Vegas/Adobe/FCP/whatever" guides.

That Shift-Alt-drag tip given above is something I was totally unaware of and addresses one of my major annoyances (as a former Vegas user) and I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff that I do which could be achieved far more easily.

People with a lot of experience in other NLEs don't necessarily need a full training manual -- they just want to know the Resolve equivalent of x, y anx z from the NLE they were using previously.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 12:46 am

Welcome to the forum Elizabeth!
Sometimes this forum can be a bit harsh, but there are also very many helpful individuals here.
I cannot help with those specific requests, but I can say that I went through a similar process like you when I moved over from FCPX were a few featurs were missing and I was very concerned about them at the time. Now after a few years I find myself not missing them as much as I thought.
It also helps that Davinci evolves so fast so that many features that I missed have been fully or at least partially implemented over only the last 2 years. And I also have hope that many of those features will be implemented fairly soon because Black Magic actually listens, while with many other larger software I would not have such hopes.

Good luck with your comparison!
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Marc Wielage

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 1:26 am

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:I don't know why the two of you feel you need to make snide comments to a new user, but I'll extend you the courtesy you didn't extend me by apologizing if you thought I was simply lazy or was otherwise wasting your time. I don't perceive that I am the former and certainly didn't intend the latter.

It's always wise before you jump into any user group to spend a few hours reading some of the thousands of messages on the site and discover whether your question has been answered before (in this case, many times). Often the answer for anybody switching from Software A to Software B is "read the manual and watch the tutorials," and about 95% of the answers are there. For the other 5%, that's what what the forum is really for: bona fide malfunctions, questions on how to accomplish a task that's not covered in the manual, or opinions on different hardware or techniques.

If you go over to Adobe's Premiere forum, they get the exact kind of newbie questions there, and you'll find they're even more irritated than we are here. If you think "read the manual" is hostile, then I suggest you've been very lucky in your travels on the internet.

I would also point to Chris Roberts' and Rory Cantwell's excellent 375-page book on Advanced Editing with Resolve, which is normally about $50 but is available as a free download here:

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... 015_FA.pdf

It's a testament to Blackmagic that they're giving textbooks like this away for free, but it's up to users to actually read them. These are basically "classrooms in a book" that will get you up to speed in 2-3 days. Editing programs are often a matter of philosophy and personal preference, and I've always felt it's more about the editor than it is about the software. As long as the tool can provide the basic functions and export XMLs that are compatible with the rest of post workflow, almost anything can work. There is no one piece of software that can do everything, so a lot boils down to how you work and whether you can adapt your approach to how the specific software works. Whether Resolve is right for you boils down to a long list of pros and cons.
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Craig Marshall

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 2:11 am

Marc Wielage wrote:...I would also point to Chris Roberts' and Rory Cantwell's excellent 375-page book on Advanced Editing with Resolve, which is normally about $50 but is available as a free download here: https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... 5_FA.pdf...

Thanks for that link Marc. I'd missed that one so coupled with the downloadable Project files, it looks like a very valuable resource.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 2:47 am

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:
Jim Simon wrote:
Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:I wish Resolve would adopt from Vegas, like a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant


Spacebar. This is common to all NLE's.


My full comment read:

a dedicated command to stop playback and leave the CTI wherever it falls at that instant (useful for timing with music and such) while still retaining the ability to playback from a given position and return to it after toggling the spacebar. With Resolve, there is a single play and stop command, apparently, which can be assigned to either behavior but can't simultaneously be accessible via separate keyboard shortcuts. But this kind of thing is small potatoes next to the issues with overlapping clips and keyframe animations.


I looked over and over through the keyboard shortcuts, and I could find only one command to start/stop playback, which by default is assigned to the spacebar, which I'm very well aware is the default for all NLE's I've ever tried as well as simple media players.

I also found that you can change the behavior of the spacebar to either stop at the current position or jump back to the starting position on toggle. But I couldn't find a way to have simultaneous access to both kinds of commands via separate keys.

In Vegas, "spacebar" will automatically return you to starting position, "enter" will stop you where you hit it, and having access to both randomly from easily recognized keys without having to engage different functionality (via another shortcut or menu click) for the same key is very valuable. So if you know of a way to do that, I'd be grateful for the tip since I use both functions all the time.

ETA - I forgot to mention that I noticed whatever "mode" you choose for the spacebar automatically applies to "k" key as well, so I couldn't find a way to make the spacebar return to the start position on second click while allowing k to stop play at the present position (or vice versa).


Have a look in the Playback Menu. I't called Play Again and can be mapped to a key combination. Everything you have an issue with is available in this menu and can be assigned to keystrokes.
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Leslie Wand

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 3:05 am

as a vegas refugee i can well understand many of the op's original 'gripes', and perhaps her frustration...

as one reply read, very sensibly, those leaving other nle's with a deep and comprehensive knowledge of them are more likely (like myself originally), to simply dive in, since the knowledge gained from extensive use in any editing program is, in theory, translatable to any other. i have edited professionally on everything from media 100 through to avid, with all stops in between... each required a learning curve, but back then, that curve was a lot 'gentler' and less complex since the programs themselves were somewhat simpler ;-)

most of the manuals, video's and other raining material available for resolve seems, in general, to be directed at complete newbies to nle editing. i found even the wonderful, free, goats eye tutorials too 'simplified' and long winded for some actions for which a couple of sentences, to someone with previous editing experience, would have sufficed...

another member wrote; People with a lot of experience in other NLEs don't necessarily need a full training manual -- they just want to know the Resolve equivalent of x, y and z from the NLE they were using previously. and this is very true indeed.

the same holds true of keyboard mapping, it's given for fcp and others, but not vegas - not that i'm suggesting it should be - i can see myself getting into trouble following tutorials with the wrong keys ;-) and prefer to use default settings so things don't get weird at any point - but a cheat sheet of equivalents would have proved useful at the start. eg. i just checked back in the manual regarding shf+alt+drag for simple video cross fade (a vegas favorite), but couldn't, or missed any reference to it?

thankfully i'm now more or less out of the commercial rat-race, but i can only see things getting more complicated when people switch between what are now ever more complex and sophisticated editing systems (and that's not including the equally complex and sophisticated plug ins to), and expecting to know EVERYTHING immediately.

and yes, RTFM, is a great piece of advice, but even there the terminology varies immensely, and for someone who just needs to know 'how to...', finding the answer can be quite tedious and time-consuming.

but hey, once you've cracked it, it's all plain sailing thereafter ;-)
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 3:35 am

It's always wise before you jump into any user group to spend a few hours reading some of the thousands of messages on the site and discover whether your question has been answered before (in this case, many times). . . .

If you think "read the manual" is hostile, then I suggest you've been very lucky in your travels on the internet.


Hi Marc.

I'm well acquainted with the hostilities often encountered in public forums. I'm also well acquainted with places where that isn't the norm since the forum I've run for 13 years has an excellent reputation for both the high quality its discussions and the exceptional courtesy extended between posters.

Not to belabor the point, but I did spend what I consider a significant amount of time researching the two most problematic aspects of apparently "missing" features in Resolve. I'm sorry that I did not catch the answer regarding overlapping clips (as was the case for many others on this forum), but the other, major issue for me still exists and would have motivated the same type of post on its own (which isn't a black and white "question" post anyway, more of a "hi, I'm new to this community, this is what I'm encountering, if I'm missing something clue me in, please Blackmagic consider adding these functionalities" type post.) Considering how much of my work involves custom keyframing of stills, I thought it entirely reasonable to ask experienced users fairly early on if I'm understanding the limitations and inefficiencies correctly and if there are workarounds that would keep Resolve a viable option for me. I just don't know why that good faith effort to communicate should have provoked the kind of flip attitudes I caught from several of the posts, yours included, especially when the simple option to ignore another's trivialities always exists.

But, hey, it's probably my just due for my own intemperance in my earliest Internet days. So I'll take my medicine now and shut up. ;)

Thank you very much for your own time in reading and checking back with this thread and for the book link you provided. I agree with your last paragraph. I'm really just trying to understand what the best path forward for me is (in between these posts today I've been trying various workarounds on the keyframing thing and trying to gauge how much extra time I will spend in Resolve doing things that I'm accustomed to doing very quickly in Vegas.)

And I appreciate the input of every single person who replied with their own experiences and suggestions. I can already see that this is an incredibly responsive community, and that gives me a lot of confidence should I elect to move to Resolve full time. Of course I'll double my efforts to not ask any already answered questions. :)

Cheers!
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Rakesh Malik

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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 7:41 am

Craig Marshall wrote:
Marc Wielage wrote:...I would also point to Chris Roberts' and Rory Cantwell's excellent 375-page book on Advanced Editing with Resolve, which is normally about $50 but is available as a free download here: https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... 5_FA.pdf...


Thanks for that link Marc. I'd missed that one so coupled with the downloadable Project files, it looks like a very valuable resource.


Yes, I'm learning a lot going through this book. Next up I'll be working through the Fairlight book, and hopefully by the time I'm done with that one the Fusion book will be available :)
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 7:42 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:
I looked over and over through the keyboard shortcuts, and I could find only one command to start/stop playback, which by default is assigned to the spacebar, which I'm very well aware is the default for all NLE's I've ever tried as well as simple media players.



Hi Elizabeth,

For "pause" type behavior use the "k" key.

On Reslolve and Premiere the J/K/L keys are Play Backwards / Pause / Play Forwards. Super fast navigation. Also adjacent are the I/O keys that will set In and Out points

In resolve hold Shift to play faster with with J/L keys. (In Premiere double/triple tap)

Cheers Rick
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostThu Feb 21, 2019 9:49 pm

VioletWolf wrote:... In resolve hold Shift to play faster with with J/L keys. (In Premiere double/triple tap)...


Since I mapped Resolve's JKL keys (along with the most used edit/transport commands) to my X-Keys 68 Jog/Shuttle controller, Resolve also responds to the double/triple tap of the J/L keys plus of course, to the direction and position of the Shuttle wheel for Fast Forward/Stop/Fast Reverse. Not needing to hold shift is a nice feature.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSat Feb 23, 2019 10:55 pm

Peter Cave wrote:Have a look in the Playback Menu. I't called Play Again and can be mapped to a key combination. Everything you have an issue with is available in this menu and can be assigned to keystrokes.


Craig Marshall wrote:
VioletWolf wrote:... In resolve hold Shift to play faster with with J/L keys. (In Premiere double/triple tap)...


Since I mapped Resolve's JKL keys (along with the most used edit/transport commands) to my X-Keys 68 Jog/Shuttle controller, Resolve also responds to the double/triple tap of the J/L keys plus of course, to the direction and position of the Shuttle wheel for Fast Forward/Stop/Fast Reverse. Not needing to hold shift is a nice feature.


Thanks to you all, Peter Cave, Craig Marshall, and VioletWolf, for your time and suggestions.

The Resolve commands for playing select portions of a timeline appear to be very flexible, and I could see myself really liking and using those options once new techniques are established and muscle memory kicks in.

That said, I had fooled around with the "play again" item before posting this thread and triple checked it and other items in the playback and timeline shortcuts menus after reading the above replies, and I'm still not able to duplicate the desired Vegas functionality (which I find incredibly useful and efficient), namely having two separate commands (not just separate keys) dedicated to starting and stopping playback that are accessed by different keyboard shortcuts and function in different but complimentary fashions simultaneously: (1) a command that starts playback on the first tap and, on second tap, returns the CTI to the starting position and (2) another command that starts playback on first tap and, on second tap, stops the CTI wherever it is at that instant.

In Vegas these complimentary commands are by default accessed by the spacebar and enter keys, respectively. And you can actually mix taps with the two keys and still have each key respect its assigned command. That is, you can always start playback with either spacebar or enter since the behavior of both keys is identical in that regard. But once playback has started, the two keys always perform different functions: enter will stop the CTI right where it is at that instant while spacebar will stop playback and return the CTI to the starting position in a stopped condition.

In Resolve, I can indeed make the spacebar start playback and then stop on second tap wherever the CTI happens to be at that moment (the default behavior). I can also make it stop on second tap and return to the start by either checking "Stop and Go to Last Position" under the playback menu or invoking that same functionality with the keyboard shortcut Alt +K. But that is merely a change in functionality of a single key that has to be constantly toggled on or off via its own shortcut/menu selection and in no way is comparable to having two separate keys that at all times are randomly accessible to either stop playback in place or stop and return to start.

Also, the "K" key in Resolve always behaves in accordance with how you've set the "stop and go to last position" option, so it will simply mimic the behavior of the spacebar in that regard. The upshot is you apparently can't have the spacebar stop and return on second tap while having K stop at the immediate position (or vice versa).

So if any former Vegas users out there have figured out a way to do this, feel free to share. Otherwise, I'm going to add this to the features list request thread as it is a huge convenience and would seem to be really easy to implement, especially because the enter key is apparently not mapped to any other Resolve command by default.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSat Feb 23, 2019 11:46 pm

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote:
Peter Cave wrote:
Also, the "K" key in Resolve always behaves in accordance with how you've set the "stop and go to last position" option, so it will simply mimic the behavior of the spacebar in that regard. The upshot is you apparently can't have the spacebar stop and return on second tap while having K stop at the immediate position (or vice versa).



Oh damn! Un-linking these needs to be a feature request for sure. I had assumed they were independent of each other. (I'm new to Resolve as well).

If Devs are reading this: is there any way to unlink the K and Spacebar behaviors, or can we add it to a wish-list please. :)
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSun Feb 24, 2019 12:51 am

starting and stopping playback that are accessed by different keyboard shortcuts and function in different but complimentary fashions simultaneously: (1) a command that starts playback on the first tap and, on second tap, returns the CTI to the starting position and (2) another command that starts playback on first tap and, on second tap, stops the CTI wherever it is at that instant.


I am currently trying very hard to switch myself and the rest of my video production company from Premiere to Resolve. I must say that I have never ever worked in Sony Vegas and have almost no idea what it looks like.

However this feature you just described is absolutely amazing. Simple, clever and surely very easy to implement. It is very easy to see how this little tool could become very useful ...

Now if Resolve would add a dedicated CTI snap on/off button ....

I hope they are listening ...
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSun Feb 24, 2019 4:49 am

FYI, as I come from a Broadcast TV background where hardware panels are the norm, a number of users asked me to demonstrate using the X-keys 68 Jog/Shuttle with Resolve so I recorded this very short demo a few years ago. As we Edit in Lightworks, then Conform from an AAF and Finish in Resolve, the demo shows how you can map your most used keyboard shortcuts to any USB Jog/Shuttle device so switching between software becomes second nature:



(I might point out that X-keys have since linked my video to their site but I'm not in any was associated with them not was the clip commissioned by X-keys or Lightworks)
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSun Feb 24, 2019 6:30 am

The j and l multi-tap is standard in 15.2.x It has been there since I started using it a few months ago.
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Re: I Really WANT to Switch to Resolve . . .

PostSun Feb 24, 2019 7:13 am

Luc Laflamme wrote:
I hope they are listening ...


I found a "Big Feature Request" thread for version 16 over here:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=71757&start=800

We should mention some of these ideas over there as it may have more eyeballs on it. I'd really like to see these behaviors too!
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