Blackmagic Forum

In v17b8, BMD is doing some adjusting of things so that you can copy/paste a bit more consistently in Color. It's focus-based, which is a little tricky in light of default node selections when you click on a clip and expose its node tree: you still have to click in the node tree window for the focus to be set there or your copy/paste will be on the clip level, which is the entire grade (all nodes). It's a start...

But I think it's introduced other oddities. Here's a scenario I tried: I have a node tree on several clips that all reference the same media. So I decide I really should link them all. I have lots of choices -- shared nodes, rippling nodes, etc -- but I decide that putting all of the clips into a Group and then put the existing nodes into the Group Pre node tree.

So I go into one clip, add it to the new group, select all of the Clip nodes and Cut. Nope, doesn't cut. OK, Copy. Then switch to the Group Pre tree and paste. Nope, it pastes a single one of the nodes. The only way to get it to work, that I can find, is to use Memories.

Hmmm... it gets me thinking... I could swear I used to be able to copy multiple nodes, select another one or more nodes, and paste and replace those nodes. Now it seems to only do one node at a time. I realize that replacing multiple nodes can be a bit ill-defined, but I'm thinking that if Copy-Paste is going to be an intuitive, viable method for interacting with nodes...

Copy the clip>Reset All Grades and Nodes>Paste to Group Pre-Clip.

Jim Simon wrote:Copy the clip>Reset All Grades and Nodes>Paste to Group Pre-Clip.

Thanks, it's a little tricky but works. I still think that copying/pasting nodes only working on a single node is a but quirky.

But to clarify your directions:

1. Right-click on the clip in the Clip Timeline and choose Add Into New Group and name the group. A green chainlink should appear in the Clip thumbnail.
2. Select the clip in the Clip Timeline and Copy (CMD-C, etc).
3. Right-click in the node tree background (or I think go to the Color menu) and reset all Grades and Nodes. (I think the bottom line is this is the Clip Copy plus this is equivalent to a Node Tree Cut.) This happens in the Clip node tree.
4. Switch to the Group Pre-Clip node tree view.
5. Click on the Clip's thumbnail in the Clip Timeline and Paste. The node tree that was originally in the Clip node tree is now pasted into the Group Pre-Clip node tree.

6. You can add other nodes to the Group. If you already had Clip node trees, you'll want to apply Step 3 to them or you'll end up with your node tree applied twice: once in the Clip node tree and once in the Group Pre-Clip node tree.

Seems to work. It still feels like I should be able to select all nodes in the Clip node tree, Cut, switch to the Group Pre-Clip node tree and paste, but that's not the way to do it.

wfolta wrote:I should be able to select all nodes in the Clip node tree, Cut

Was that ever possible? (I don't recall.)

How about this method:

1 Grab still.
2 Create group
3 Go to Group in Node Tree
4 Apply Grade from gallery
5 Go to Clip grade nodes
6 Reset All grades and nodes
7 Select all other clips for this group and Add to group

I prefer this to a Cut/copy/paste as I now have my original grades preserved in a Still gallery.

Jim Simon wrote:

wfolta wrote:I should be able to select all nodes in the Clip node tree, Cut

Was that ever possible? (I don't recall.)

I'm thinking you could copy and paste multiple nodes. I could swear that's how I copied things between similar clips. Maybe I'm mis-remembering. (And I think I remember a tutorial where you opened up the nodes in a Gallery still and either copy/pasted or dragged multiple nodes out of it and into another clip. But I'm not remembering as clearly now-a-days as I used to.)

I had done things with Groups and with shared nodes -- where I could swear I copied multiple and pasted multiple, but could be wrong -- but hadn't learned about any ripple-based workflows yet. I was learning versions and remote/local and now it seems like remote/local is an old and no-longer-good idea.

Peter Cave wrote:How about this method:

1 Grab still.
2 Create group
3 Go to Group in Node Tree
4 Apply Grade from gallery
5 Go to Clip grade nodes
6 Reset All grades and nodes
7 Select all other clips for this group and Add to group

I prefer this to a Cut/copy/paste as I now have my original grades preserved in a Still gallery.

True, it does have advantages over copy/paste, though I've definitely burned myself by confusing two similarly-named/similar-appearing stills. (And things like having four stills for various versions of one clip and also confusing them.) But that's more of an issue of me not having a system to organize/harness the power.

In terms of immediate application applying grades form stills, other clips, and memories are all pretty much special versions of copy/paste. Again, stills can be archival and can be shared around projects.

wfolta wrote:I'm thinking you could copy and paste multiple nodes.

Sorry, I meant Cut. I don't recall Cut ever being possible for nodes, the way it is with clips on the Edit page.

That said:

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