[Bug 19.0.3] Applying Active Layer Resets Lower Layer Cache

After being told on these forums that Resolve v19 introduced Node Stacking, I was very excited about the prospect of caching out custom clip-level input OFX nodes (such as NeatVideo) on the L1 layer of nodes. In theory this frees up the possibility of quickly hot-swapping L2 - L4 node trees from one shot to another after completing and caching out a full noise reduction pass, without worrying about blowing away the L1 layer's cache. Considering that L2 - L4, Group Post-Clip and Timeline are all downstream from L1, anything that happens to nodes on those levels should not affect the caching on anything upstream of them.

However, that's not proven to be the case for certain basic functionalities in Resolve v19.0.3.

Manually copying nodes from one clip's L2 nodes to another shot's L2 nodes seems to not affect the cache of the receiving clip's L1 nodes. Appending the L2 nodes from one clip to another similarly does not seem to affect the cache of the receiving clip's L1 nodes. But third-button mouse clicking on a clip when the L2 layer is selected, or right-clicking a clip and selecting "Apply Active Layer" when the L2 layer is selected, will reset the cache of the receiving clip's L1 nodes. (From tests I've done, it seems that the third-button mouse click in the Color page is now effectively "Apply Active Layer" as of v19.0.3, not "Apply Grade," though if I'm mistaken about this please feel free to correct me.)

Considering that Resolve's Color page nodes added downstream of a cached node never otherwise reset the cache of nodes upstream of them (and that they behave in this way with respect to the INPUT > Group Pre-Clip > Clip > Group Post-Clip > Timeline > OUTPUT pipeline), this seems to be a functionality bug within Resolve v19.0.3.

I've posted about this on the CSI Discord, and at least one other member has verified this behavior. It would be massively helpful to be able to "Apply Active Layer" to L2 without resetting the cache of L1 nodes, and I hope this gets fixed in an upcoming version!

My question perhaps more primitive, as I have not even yet attempted to delve into Node Stacking. I DO, however, seek to understand if there is a way to cache all nodes I have at the preclip level (e.g. Neat Video and Grainlab, both of which otherwise make even my maxed out M1 Max processor groan under their load with timelines longer than a minute or so)? I always have used 'Smart Caching' in past, which more or less has seemed to serve my purpose. That said, working lately in Studio 19.0.3 with lots of Gyroflow OFX and other video and audio plugins applied at the clip level, smart caching does not seem to be entirely doing the trick, even once I render audio tracks into new layers in an effort to alleviate that piece of the processing burden. I have noted while right-clicking on nodes at the pre-clip level that I am given options under 'Group Cache' either for automatic of on (or off) but selecting on does not seem to do anything - at least nothing that I can see, nor silky smooth playback. I work mainly in HD but also like to be able to switch to UHD in my project settings when I have a lovely 4K project and, obviously, all of the forgoing only becomes that much more needed for working with a project set to UHD/4K.

...Third-button mouse clicking on a clip when the L2 layer is selected, or right-clicking a clip and selecting "Apply Active Layer" when the L2 layer is selected, will reset the cache of the receiving clip's L1 nodes....

Trying to get the TLDR out of the way - this is the bug you are reporting. I will give it a try when I get a chance to see whether or not I can confirm this bug.

Add - Confirmed - replicated on my MacBook under Resolve Studio 19.0.3, Sequoia 15.1.

I put a magic mask on layer 1 - use node cache under user mode and then on layer 2 apply a layer 2 grade from another node - the node cache on layer 1 is discarded and recached (you can see the node go red and then turn blue after recaching).

This is still happening in 19.1

Thank you for confirming, Steve and Jaemie! Glad to know I'm not the only user experiencing this. I am also still experiencing this as of 19.1.

If any BMD devs can chime in and confirm that this is a bug or if this de-caching function is (somehow) working as intended, that would be spectacular.

Thank you for confirming, Steve and Jaemie! Glad to know I'm not the only user experiencing this. I am also still experiencing this as of 19.1.

If any BMD devs can chime in and confirm that this is a bug or if this de-caching function is (somehow) working as intended, that would be spectacular.

I am on three major series at the moment and this behaviour is completely breaking the usability of node stacks for me and my junior colourists at the moment.

+1 from us.

+1

Replicated on Windows 11 with DaVinci Resolve Studio v19.1.2

+1

Still an issue on v19.1.4 and on v20.0b2

I hope BMD fixes this soon.