Remote and Local Grades

I'm a little confused on how this works.

I started with a Local Grade using Groups. But as portions of that clip are used in multiple timelines, I thought a Remote Grade might make more sense.

I Copied the nodes in Group Pre-Clip over the Clip, and then Disabled the Group nodes. Then tried Copy Local Grade to Remote, but nothing happens.

Am I doing it wrong? Did I miss a step? The manual makes it seem pretty simple, but...it didn't work.


Additionally, I found that when switching to Remote, it did that for all clips in the timeline. Is it not possible to use Remote for some and Local for others?

Is it not possible to use Remote for some and Local for others?

I don't believe so, Jim.

That seems...problematic.

Maybe I'm mistaken - I don't use remote grades that often.

Does anyone have the Copy feature working in 18.1.1?

I thought the Local & Remote Grades applied to the entire timeline, not to just individual shots. I'm not at my system at the moment, so I can't check it.

Where I've used Remote Grades (which is rare) is if I'm on a reality show or a documentary that uses original camera footage over and over again throughout the whole show. That way, I can correct those shots and see the same look applied to all similar parts of the show. Once I get to the end, then I use "Copy Remote to Local Grades," and now I can go in and make individual changes to some shots if I need to alter them without altering anything else.

Some good thoughts on when to use each, Marc. Thanks.

But the crux of my question here is how to use the Copy Local Grades to Remote feature.

On my system, it does nothing. So either I'm doing it wrong (very possible) or there's a bug.

(By the way, Copy Remote Grades to Local does work. So I'm thinking I am doing it right, and there's a bug in 18.1.1.)

Just tried it here on 18.1.1 (OSX) and it worked as expected. I had three clips, all from the same media, each with a slightly different grade. Choosing Copy Local to Remote caused all three to switch to their remote grade, which was now the same for all three. I could immediately tell it hd worked by the change in grade and by the pink arrow underneath those three thumbnails when any one was chosen, plus the (R) underneath.



I like to use Remote grades when I have a show that has a lot of clips that are repeated throughout and the shooting is quite consistent. I can switch to remote grades when I start, do a C sort (reel + TC order instead of record order), and then zip through getting a rough grade in on everything - only having to grade one instance of each piece of media - not worrying about particular instances of clips that are too light/dark etc. compared to their media-mates. Once everything is roughed in, I'll do a Copy Remote Grades to Local, so I am then using local grades and can finesse individual instances as needed.

It took me a long time to get used to the Remote/Local workflow, but since I did it has become a great tool to have. I don't use it that often anymore, but when it's called for it can same tons of time.

BIG CAVEAT: Make sure to do lots of saves/backups because Remote to Local and vice versa don't allow for Undo. Also, Remote grades in general can really bite you if you aren't conscious that you are grading (potentially) multiple clips at a time. Also note that group membership does not copy over, so wait until you've "gone local" before you start using groups, if you plan to.

BIG CAVEAT: Make sure to do lots of saves/backups because Remote to Local and vice versa don't allow for Undo. Also, Remote grades in general can really bite you if you aren't conscious that you are grading (potentially) multiple clips at a time. Also note that group membership does not copy over, so wait until you've "gone local" before you start using groups, if you plan to.

All very good caveats. Even making a duplicate timeline can save you, if something goes wrong here.

Choosing Copy Local to Remote caused all three to switch to their remote grade, which was now the same for all three.

OK.

But was it the same grade that was on the clip you selected to Copy from?

If Clip 1 of those three had Luma and Sat nodes, were those nodes copied over to the Remote grade?

When I perform this action, there aren't any nodes copied over. I get am empty Remote grade.

I think I know what might be going on for you. When you right-click on a thumbnail and choose Copy Local to Remote, it's not necessarily going to copy that clip's grade to the Remote grade. Since all of the clips that share a remote grade have to have the same grade, Resolve copies from ONE instance to all of the others, and it looks like it takes the LAST instance. For example here I have extreme grades on the first two instances, to make it obvious, and no grade at all on the third;

ungraded3_local.png (220.13 KiB) Viewed 1355 times

When I copy to Remote, all three have their grades wiped out, because they are getting the "grade" from the 3rd:

ungraded3_remote.png (193.71 KiB) Viewed 1355 times

If instead I have a local grade on the last instance, I get that grade for the remote grade when I copy:

red3_localremote.png (290.48 KiB) Viewed 1354 times

I think I know what might be going on for you. When you right-click on a thumbnail and choose Copy Local to Remote, it's not necessarily going to copy that clip's grade to the Remote grade. Since all of the clips that share a remote grade have to have the same grade, Resolve copies from ONE instance to all of the others, and it looks like it takes the LAST instance.

Ah, I thought it was a shot-to-shot copy. What you could do to make this work would be to duplicate the timeline, leave one in Local, put the other in Local, then use ColorTrace to copy all the individual grades from Local to Remote. (That's if I understand the question.)

it looks like it takes the LAST instance.

THAT was the missing data!

Much appreciated.

Now, time for some Feature Requests methinks...

I can't really see a good use case for starting Local and then copying to Remote grades. I think the other direction is always going to make more sense...

It wasn't 'planned' that way, Robert. The need arose organically as I started using more and more segments of that clip, and in more than one timeline.