After Scene Detect dissolves look bad

I'm on Resolve Studio 18.1.2 and am grading a documentary from a finished HD ProRes HQ version with dissolves etc. First time for this method. I used Scene Detect ( new studio method) to separate my clips and then in the opening sequence I had to manually add cuts over some dissolves where Resolve didn't find them . After grading a few shots I placed dissolves where they belonged and viewed the timeline.

If I view the time line on the Edit page it looks fine and fortunately it also exports fine. However on the color page while the dissolves look smooth if I slowly scroll through them, if I hit play then the second shot abruptly appears in the middle of the dissolve and of course it looks terrible. I'm not too worried about this since it plays on the edit page and exports fine , but it is annoying and not great for showing to clients.

Should I be concerned about this? Is this typical behavior? A known glitch ? Something I can fix? Corrected in a newer version? Maybe due to my older software ( below) ?

If you dissect an existing movie, dissolves will be baked in. You don't have any handles to make new dissolves.
So, may need to do some keyframing in the Color page if the adjacent clips receive very different grades.

So far these look fine but the adjacent images are very similar looking , Grades are quite different but not the basic tone or imagery in the shots . I was advised to just make dissolves on the timeline by some very experienced colorists but I'll keep an eye out for any problems - thanks for the heads up. Frankly I have been surprised to see it work so well.

What about my basic question though that these dissolves play fine everywhere except in the color page ? Is this common?

No, not common.

[Rohit Gupta]

Make sure you are not in Unmix mode. There is an icon below the viewer. In Unmix mode, each side of the dissolve is played separately.

"Make sure you are not in Unmix mode. There is an icon below the viewer. In Unmix mode, each side of the dissolve is played separately"

Bingo , Thanks so much Robin. Totally mystifying to me . Now its fixed. What's the point of unmix mode?

Bingo , Thanks so much Robin. Totally mystifying to me . Now its fixed. What's the point of unmix mode?

For cases where you really need to take a look at overlapping pieces of the "A-side" and the "B-side" of a dissolve or transition, and/or you need to track something all the way to the very beginning of the clip (rather than when the transition happens).

You basically always have to keyframe a file with baked-in dissolves. For feature film work using film scans, we do this all the time -- it's a way of life.

Not sure what you mean by keyframe the dissolves. So far (I've only a few) I just found the center point between the shots ( which had different grades) then added a dissolve over them long enough to cover the existing transition and it seems to look fine.
Am I doing something wrong?

Not sure what you mean by keyframe the dissolves. So far (I've only a few) I just found the center point between the shots ( which had different grades) then added a dissolve over them long enough to cover the existing transition and it seems to look fine.
Am I doing something wrong?

I do that too and it works fine for most dissolves. Some long dissolves or unusual film style dissolves can look odd, so keyframing the grades on the Colour Page is necessary.

If it looks good, it is good!

Not sure what you mean by keyframe the dissolves.

If it's a single piece of media that's been scene-detected, you have to keyframe the dissolve.

If it's two pieces of media, with a dissolve inbetween them on the edit page, then no keyframes are necessary.

I would have to see your Edit timeline to know for sure. I personally would only use scene detect on a single piece of media, I'm not sure why you would need to if this were a conformed, edited project on multiple tracks. On the other hand, I have seen some very screwy edit sessions in my time, so anything is possible.

If it looks good, it is good!

That is very true. I have told students before: "if the client is happy with the shot, say 'GREAT! Moving on!' and go to the next shot."

Its a single piece of media and scene detect missed the first few dissolves. I didn't keyframe though . I simply created a cut point in the middle of a dissolve that's already there on the media, then added a dissolve transition over that center point . In this case a one second dissolve . I'll look again more closely tp see if there are any problems I didn't notice but it seems to work fine.