Why can't we render cache to a delivery format?

If Resolve could render cache to a delivery codec, it would allow you to basically take care of the final render in the background as you edit saving a ton of time. But, you can only render cache to intermediate codecs.

Is there any good reason for this?

Why would you want this. If I pick the most common delivery format H.264. This is highly compressed and rendering this in cache and then render that again on delivery (because it has to convert. You can't just merge the files into a single file.) results in a crappy compressed file being compressed again.

It also degrades the image quality during edit where you still want to see the final picture in it's highest available quality.

You can use the cached intermediate files for final export to prevent re-calculation of any already cached clip so it'll be like a conversion from the intermediate files to the final export settings. This is with a normal computer already very fast. Definitely faster than re-rendering heavy grades or fusion comps.

Simple answer...

Render Cache is designed to improve performance while editing. Long-GOP codecs like H264/5 degrade performance.

The codecs available include delivery formats for professional use.

Resolve does not allow exporting while editing so you get a slightly quicker export while having a slower editing experience. Not something that would improve my workday.

Nucoda has done this for years

imagine in Reoslve language: setting caches to color output, useing timeline name and timecode, setting format to DPX or EXR, set folder to "color timed master", and turn "smart" cache on

within a minuite or so of gradeing your last shot the master is complete and exported

Nucoda has a very good bg render system, so often it's just a minuite or two to wait for the master to be avb to other software like Flame for finishing

there's two things in play:
- solid bg render of caches
- being able to select DPX or EXR, timeline name & timecode
together they make for a very concise workflow for show that needs DPX or EXR deliverables anyway, ie: most films and high end streaming
maybe not all that useful to folks who export h264 for low end streaming tho

in my workflow it would be golden

You can't just merge the files into a single file.

Oh, really?

How do you think scene based encoding of every Netflix title works?

How do think av1an works?

How do think ffmpeg concat works?

How do think mkvmerge append works?

Also H264 quality can be adjusted all the way to lossless all intra 10bit.

The confidence mind boggling non-sense is postulated as universal truth in this forum is amazing every day. Where do you even dig up that bs?

Why not Nucoda then?

i use Nucoda and Baselight also - depends on the project

Resolve offers great interactivity between conform -grade - finish, i often will take a DRP from an editor, grade and export a roundtrip for finishing

You can't just merge the files into a single file.

Oh, really?

Yeah, this guy's assertion was very confusing to me. I couldn't figure out if it was true or not, and I could see it going either way.

On one hand, I could see the encoder being smart enough to recognize when it can avoid extra work re-encoding footage that's already in H264 (especially when the "bypass re-encode when possible" setting is checked on the Delivery page). On the other hand, I could also see it being just a dumb algorithm that is going to do what it does regardless of what you feed it. I really don't know how it works.

Simple answer...

Render Cache is designed to improve performance while editing. Long-GOP codecs like H264/5 degrade performance.

That's a good point.

Resolve does not allow exporting while editing so you get a slightly quicker export while having a slower editing experience. Not something that would improve my workday.

"Slightly quicker" I suppose depends on how long it takes to transcode an hour-long edit render-cached to DNxHR into H264 vs simply zipping up all the individually rendered H264 clips into a single H264 master for delivery. I suppose that's the "easy" part of the render process anyway.

I have never considered an H264 file to be a Master.
We always master to a non long-gop format like ProRes or DNxHR and make delivery copies from that.
I mostly deliver to Networks so H264 are merely screening copies.

In the context of the Resolve Cache being designed exclusively for increased performance, I would suggest that using H264 could actually be VERY confusing for the user, as enabling this H264 format decreases performance!

I have never considered an H264 file to be a Master.
We always master to a non long-gop format like ProRes or DNxHR and make delivery copies from that.
I mostly deliver to Networks so H264 are merely screening copies.

In the context of the Resolve Cache being designed exclusively for increased performance, I would suggest that using H264 could actually be VERY confusing for the user, as enabling this H264 format decreases performance!

It really depends on details. H264 with low GOP size or even all intra is like butter in Resolve. It's only with multi second GOP sizes when things get downhill.

If Resolve could render cache to a delivery codec, it would allow you to basically take care of the final render in the background as you edit

Resolve doesn't actually render the Cache in the background. You have to stop working for a specified time for Cache to generate.

Additionally, most delivery formats are visually lossy, making them less suitable for use as Cache.

i deliver in EXR or DPX, someone else makes the Prores / DNx / IMF / h264 deliverables after it leaves my hands

for me the workflow in Nucoda is golden

What I do is set my render cache to DNxHR HQX. When I go to export I check "use render cache images" to transcode the render cache to my delivery codec, which seems to be way faster than re-rendering.

The confidence mind boggling non-sense is postulated as universal truth in this forum is amazing every day. Where do you even dig up that bs?

I was referring to H264 only which I didn't clearly state. If it does seem possible to merge chunks of H264 into a single file without re-encoding then that's something I wasn't aware of. And I apologize for that, but your reply feels quite harsh. I hope you'll consider formulating such corrections in a more professional way in the future.

What I do is set my render cache to DNxHR HQX. When I go to export I check "use render cache images" to transcode the render cache to my delivery codec, which seems to be way faster than re-rendering.

I was suggesting the same. This is a totally viable way and I'm doing the same in both Resolve and Premiere Pro.