Blackmagic Forum

Will anyone kindly shed some light on approaches to copying grades from clips on to either side of a dissolve? I have set up a dissolve using dynamic keyframes. When I try to copy a grade from a clip I get the color but lose the keyframe marks for the dissolve. I can manually grade either side of the dissolve, but when I apply the color from a previous scene I lose the keyframes. I am using Resolve 16. Thanks.

Why not use one of the included Transitions?

Ya, I think you are making this far too difficult. Are your two shots on different video tracks, and you are keyframing the opacity? Not sure I'm catching your workflow, but...
Add a dissolve transition.
Select the clip without the color, middle click on the clip with the color, move on.

i am bringing in an edl to cut up a fully edited clip. the clip contains a scene with a video dissolve. i programmed dynamic keyframes to allow me to adjust the color on both sides of the dissolve. on one side of the dissolve is a scene graded earlier in the timeline. if i apply the grade from the earlier clip i lose the dynamic keyframes. any better way to approach this?

Yes, get the original media.

Seriously. Trying to grade a finished program with transitions baked in? That's just a real PITA. (And might not even be possible to do properly.)

It's actually really simple. Go to the middle of the dissolve on the clip and add an edit, then add a dissolve with the same duration as the original dissolve. Now you can grade the clips without using any keyframes and the grade change will match the original transition.

I don't think that'll work Peter. It'll add the grade from the first clip to the second during the transition, won't it?

Jim Simon wrote:Seriously. Trying to grade a finished program with transitions baked in? That's just a real PITA. (And might not even be possible to do properly.)

I do it nearly every day of the week with feature film scans. The dissolves and transitions are built-in, and I wind up doing multiple layers of dissolves and sometimes cuts in order to compensate for the baked-in changes within the film dissolve. It's life in the film restoration world. You get used to it.

Well, I don't understand.

If clip A and B are on screen at the same time, I don't see how it's possible to grade only one of them.

Clip A grade is fading out while Clip B grade is fading in.
Try it and experiment to see how it can work.
I've been doing this for years with great success!

Yes, but the grade will be applied to both during the transition.

Am I missing something?

Marc Wielage wrote:

Jim Simon wrote:Seriously. Trying to grade a finished program with transitions baked in? That's just a real PITA. (And might not even be possible to do properly.)

I do it nearly every day of the week with feature film scans. The dissolves and transitions are built-in, and I wind up doing multiple layers of dissolves and sometimes cuts in order to compensate for the baked-in changes within the film dissolve. It's life in the film restoration world. You get used to it.

Marc, the dissolves in my work are baked in. I am provided a twelve minute edited sequence and use a pre conformed EDL to cut up the media file into a new timeline. I do not have access to the original media, which I agree is not really a problem. Just wondering if there is a simpler approach than using dynamic keyframes to transition grades over the course of the dissolve. Also have not figured out how to copy a grade from another clip to the scene on either side of the dissolve. When I attempt to "apply grade" I lose the node with the dynamic keyframes. I tried copy and pasting the node I want to apply without success. Any tips you're willing to share?
Thanks, Glenn

Use the edl to add edits to the whole movie. The user manual explains how.
Now add a matching dissolve to your timeline where there are original baked-in dissolves.
Grade normally unless you see something odd during a dissolve, which may require a bit more work.
Stay away from keyframes as it's not the right solution for this case.

Jim Simon wrote:Yes, but the grade will be applied to both during the transition.

Am I missing something?

Probably missing the experience of actually trying it?

The dissolve will transition between the grades in a normal manner. Occasionally during a long dissolve the colours can be a little odd (with heavy saturation etc) so I will adjust accordingly.

When you suggest adding a matching dissolve to the timeline where the baked in dissolve exists, is it possible to mark the beginning and end of the baked in dissolve with a dissolve transition? Not sure how to do this.

Just add a dissolve and drag the duration to match the original. Use markers or in/out points or any other method to determine the original dissolve duration.

If you are unsure, it sounds like you may need to do some basic edit training to understand how dissolves work.

thank you peter. i did as you suggested by adding a cut to the midpoint of the dissolve and dragged and dropped a cross dissolve on to the edit point. seems to work. am able to grade both sides of the dissolve as well as apply grades from previous scenes. appreciate your help.