Blackmagic Forum

This has stumped me for a while but now with Resolve 14, I was wondering if anyone knows how to force the timeline to dynamically update when a source file changes.

For example, I have an animation I've created in After Effects. It's a ProRes 4444 file with an alpha channel. Naturally, this overlays my existing edit in Resolve (and yes, for those that are wondering, I select "Premultiply" from the "Calibrate File" menu).

Now, when I go back to my animation and update the file (to fix timings or errors), I export it with the exact same file name (after deleting the old version). But, how do I force Resolve to pick up the new version. It's still displaying the old version even though it doesn't exist on my computer any longer.

The only way I've been able to do this is delete the old version out of my timeline and then reimport the new version into the project.

Is there a better way?

In FCPX and Premiere, as soon as the source file changes, it's refresh in place on the timeline. This is very convenient!

It's likely Resolve generated a cache of the old file. Probably you will find a blue line above the replaced clip.
In order to get rid of the cached version, select the target clip and go to Playback > Delete Render Cache > Selected Clip

Hi Adelson,

I'm sorry I haven't replied earlier. I didn't realise you had posted.

It's good timing I checked because I'm about to finish editing a new project and the same question popped into my head. I'll give your technique a shot and let you know!

Thank you!
Mal

Unfortunately that didn't work. The only way to get Resolve to see the updated AE file was to delete it out of the media pool and import it again.

Do you have other tricks?

There must be a cache or proxy file somewhere for you to be seeing the old version.

You didn't say whether you're seeing blue (or red) lines above timeline clips. In any case, is User or Smart caching enabled? If so, turn it off. Or what about optimized media? In that case, you'd need to re-optimize the file every time it's changed. Or deselect "use optimized media if available".

Same problem here. Had it back in July where exactly the same workflow as applied. Now I'm doing principally the same, but with audiofiles (soundtrack) which I adapt to changes in the timeline.
I found no other way than restarting Resolve. Deleting the file out of the media pool and re-importing it did not refresh it. There has to be some cache, but I got no user or smart render cache activated in this project at the moment. Nevertheless tried to delete the render cache, but didn't help. No optimized media being used, linked directly to CDNG raw files and wav-files.

Any hint greatly appreciated as I will go back and forth between picture editing and soundtrack quite a couple of times.

Mal Owens wrote:This has stumped me for a while but now with Resolve 14, I was wondering if anyone knows how to force the timeline to dynamically update when a source file changes.

For example, I have an animation I've created in After Effects. It's a ProRes 4444 file with an alpha channel. Naturally, this overlays my existing edit in Resolve (and yes, for those that are wondering, I select "Premultiply" from the "Calibrate File" menu).

Now, when I go back to my animation and update the file (to fix timings or errors), I export it with the exact same file name (after deleting the old version). But, how do I force Resolve to pick up the new version. It's still displaying the old version even though it doesn't exist on my computer any longer.

The only way I've been able to do this is delete the old version out of my timeline and then reimport the new version into the project.

Is there a better way?

In FCPX and Premiere, as soon as the source file changes, it's refresh in place on the timeline. This is very convenient!

June 2019

Same question. Still... anyone?
Everything is turned off so why is it showing a clip that is already overwritten?!?

Hi guys, just ran into the same problem. Here´s what worked for me (v 15.3.1.003):

Select clips, goto PLAYBACK - DELETE RENDER CACHE - SELECTED CLIPS.

Right click the still selected clips -> Render Cache Color Output.

Hope that helps.

Still experiencing this issue in V16... Deleting render cache isnt working for me.

Same issue here with images changed in Photoshop.
The only way I founded, is to show thumb in media pool and move the mouse on others media to move the cursor (small red line on the thumb) and make them appear in the source preview windows and then move the mouse on the changed media. This is weird but it makes the media updated.


(Update)
Another weird solution is to change the alpha mode of the media...

Here's what's been working for me (and what I used to do in fcp 7 as well.)

I start with my original file [ex. ClownJumps.mov] that is in the timeline in Resolve 14.

1. I output my updated After Effect render and append a "-2" to it. [ex. ClownJump-2]

2. Close Davinci resolve.

3. Then I rename the current working file to "-bak", just in case I want to revert. [ex. ClownJumps-bak]

4. I then I rename the new file with the original name. [ex. ex. ClownJumps.mov]

5. I open Davinci Resolve and then the file updates automatically on my timeline.

Resolve needs to be closed BEFORE your rename the new file.

It takes me about 15 seconds to do this and it seems to work almost every time.
Hope this helps somebody
-Tommy

Yeah I'd like to add my 'complaint' to this thread. I find DR garbage when it comes to updating media, at the studio I work with we are just about to make the shift to DR so I'm hoping this is something that can be resolved ( ) as it was me who was pushing the team towards it.

We are a 3d studio, so we are working with rendered exr mostly and I find that when you re-render the sequences it's incredibly slow to update - or I end up just quitting and reopening. I've also noticed that it can sometimes crash whilst outputting if a sequence has been updated but DR hasn't noticed (files aren't being updated whilst outputting, just to be clear.)

Not sure if this a great solution for this problem, but it seems to work. In the past I would have to quit out of Resolve & then start it back up to see the updated file. So...

If there is a change to a file, find the file in the project's bin & right click on it. Choose the "Relink Selected Clips...". A new panel will come up labeled "Select Source Folder". Choose the folder where the original file is located and hit "Ok". It might take a moment for the file to update (without quitting from the entire program!). I hope this helps!

Can't there just be a Refresh option?!

Hi
I have also to deal with cg renderings, so lots of versions and of course exr files.
If updates problems occur, check wether you use an optimized version of the media.
The problem is if an optimized media exists and you just overwrite your exr, DR "thinks" it's the same.

You may either uncheck playback> use optimized media or (a better solution imo) create new optimized media each time you overwrite your assets.

regards ++

Go to the Media tab/window. Go to the directory with the files you want refreshing on the far left pane (I save mine in the Favorites section below it) and right-click the directory (only in the left pane, not the main visual thumbnail pane to the right of it) and select "Refresh". This will refresh all files in that directory, hope this helps.

Hi, in the Final Cut Pro 7, it was always automatically updated. No need to click anything.
For now in Resolve I always used the Relink option, which I honestly don't like because it's just so many clicks compared to automatic refresh where you don't have to exit the timeline at all.

I am also 3D guy, and change resolution or sequence length is normal workflow during make content. It is pain in the Davinci. You have to replace footage Limitions is, that you have to have just one sequence in the folder for good replacement.

I'd like to place a vote for an improvement here as well. I also miss an easier option for (optionally automatic) refreshing a changed media file.

This is another example of how appallingly Resolve handles any form of image or graphics files. Creating a new file and reimporting it every time you tweak a graphic is ridiculous.

For basic video editing Resolve is fine and for colour grading it's the best. But for any future edits with graphics or images I am going back to Premiere Pro. I can afford to waste any mroe time attempting to work around basic issues that Blackmagic seem happy to ignore.

Hey Blackmagic,

This is still an issue, please make this better ASAP.

To all the people here, try "Relink selected clips"

It's annoying and should be unnecessary but it tells the software to refresh the file.

I got it to work by deleting the render cache for the entire project. Just deleting it for the selected clips wouldn't work for me.

I think I got the same issue now...but with sound.

I got a narration in my clip and I had to add something afterwards, making the file longer. The content of the narration is up to date but...the length is not. And I cannot extend it to the real length. So I have to remove the file from the project, and reimport it.
Unnecessarily complicated, especially when my good old Premiere Elements 12 handled this without problems and just updated the file...

+1 needs a better solution asap

It's insane how this is still an issue. I get it's a free software, but I will never, ever, EVER upgrade to the paid version because of how annoying this one cache issue is. Having to rename every ******* time I update a media clip is soooo annoying

I add my vote to immediate update of source files when they are changed.

I love Resolve. While my buddies switched to Adobe, I jumped straight to it as soon as it came out. I was too used to Final Cut 7, which I still use due to old projects. And I felt cheated when I bought FCX, as an upgrade, when in reality, it required learning to use a new software application. Same was with Logic, especially because I had just paid upgrades for both Logic and FCP7 Studio. So I stuck with Logic 9, FCP7 and played around with Resolve whenever I had time. I bought the studio version to have it all open. And I know that at some stage, even noise correction will be better that third party solutions.

Yes, right now, immediate update of source files when they are changed would be good.

But for now, no optimized media, no render cache and the obligatory unlink and relink of a source file will update it's timeline mirror.

+1 This is not a "nice to have" but crucial for DR to be used within 3D PostPro Workflows. I´ve been pulling my hair quite some times for this...

Come on Blackmagic - cant be true that for several years this has not been addressed?!
Or maybe no one from Blackmagic ever reads posts here? Dunno...

Addendum: While seeing the pop up "do you really want to delete unused cache" the viewer panel shows the updated footage. Then after hitting ok the viewer shows the old (meanwhile overwritten) picture again. Whilst playing back the new footage is shown once again. Stopping -> old footage. Other times playback shows one frame new footage one frame old footage. Funny...

What? this is still a thing??

It seems like this is still a thing even in 17.2. Even if I delete the wav file in the media pool and re-add a new updated face file, the old audio file is played. Even with no cache. The workaround is when I update a wav file, I make a copy of it as well, with a different file name, just so I can get the new wav file to work with Davinci

Here's a related scenario that's even worse where not even these lame workarounds seem to work:

Re-render one of your linked files (in AE, say) and make it LONGER than the originally referenced file.

DR seems to NEVER catch on to the fact that the clip length has been extended. Doesn't matter if you delete render cache, re-link, quit and re-start. Some of these actions will update the content within the timing bounds of the old media, but it's like the media length gets locked once and forever.

Premiere handled this pretty well as I recall. This makes DR pretty much unusable for projects with a lot of graphics where you're updating them regularly. I can't find any way to force the clip to *fully* update (content and length), despite these suggestions, without bringing it in again and manually replacing it on the timeline.

Unless.... Ideas anybody? I'm on 17.2.1

Ughhh... so restarting Resolve is still the best solution? This is a dumb omission.

This is a memory (ram) cache issue. The frames from the file are loaded into memory (assuming disk cache is not coming into play)

I solve it by deactivating/activating the clip (not always successful) if that doesn't update the file then I go to a different point in the timeline, play for a bit (this flushes the cache with new media) then go back and its update.

I appreciate this isn't ideal, but is better than restarting the app!

Paul

Right-clicking the clip in the Media Pool > Reveal in Media Storage seems to do a hard refresh on the source.

It sometimes fails for image sequences that have been updated outside Resolve, but mostly works.

Hello! I have the same problem (with video and sound clips) and doing a search led me here.
I tried every suggestion on this thread, the only think that works for me is to Replace Selected Clips one by one. Which is a big problem because I have many clips (I work with lots of CG elements which are are updated daily with timing changes). It's hell.
I reverted back to Premiere hoping this bug (it has to be a bug!) gets fixed. I'm on a Mac by the way. Could that be the issue?

Using Davinci 17 right now and I Noticed that unchecking "Use Optimized Media if Available" from the Playback menu solved the trick when I was working with a PSD file. None of the clearing cache or replacing media tricks worked. Maybe it's a combination but checking/unchecking shows me an instant before/after in my timeline preview.

Hi all, I may have a solution for you ...

- right-click on the clip in the timeline that you have updated and select Find in Media Pool
- right-click again and select Reveal in Media Storage
- in the Media Storage folder, click on another file in the same folder and then click back to your updated clip. This should show the new version.
- click on your clip in the Media Pool and it should change to the updated version.
- go back to your timeline and fingers crossed, the clip has been updated here too.

Let me know if this works for you, I've tried everything else and this seems to be the simplest method without having to delete or rename or clear cache or throw a work boot at your computer.

Dear members!

I might have found a better workaround. Although it still would be nice to have this feature (auto reload or some option to do it manually, e.g. clip->reload).

But, at least on linux this seems to work: double click on the clip a few times.
You might need to clean the cache (playback->delete render cache->selected clips) too to see the results, but I'm experimenting with this since a few days, and it seems to work with stills & video too.

This method requires the least clicks/user interaction to reload a media so far. Let me know if there is a better solution.

For me nothings works beside renaming the file or restarting resolve. Super annoying since i replace updated files regularly.

This really needs a fix!

In the meantime, I think I can offer something:

I use the project manager window to switch to another project and then back. This is faster than restarting Resolve.

Blackmagic - PLEASE ADD A REFRESH MEDIA SOLUTION.....

EDIT: I just went to do this and it didn't work, so I had to restart resolve. I swear it has worked before....

ironlion37 wrote:This really needs a fix!

Blackmagic - PLEASE ADD A REFRESH MEDIA SOLUTION.....

This has been addressed in 18. Resolve now automatically refreshes footage. It works with still images, image sequences and video files. I haven't tested with audio yet, but I can't imagine that that is excluded.

The only caveat is that cached files do not automatically refresh, so you have to manually delete the cache first.

Here's a thread about it:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=165598

eikonoklastes wrote:This has been addressed in 18. Resolve now automatically refreshes footage. It works with still images, image sequences and video files.

I tried with a still image on Resolve 18.0.2 (cache is turned off).
After some time it shows the new image during playback, when you pause it shows the old image, if you scrub the playhead it flickers between the new and the old image.
The thumbnail on the media pool always shows the old image.

I haven't seen automatic refreshing with a PNG file on Windows (latest v18). The usual workarounds like unlink/relink, changing alpha type or even replacing with a different image, then back again, only sometimes works, and mostly does nothing (with no obvious pattern).

if this really should work automatically in v18, it's broken.

as for manual workarounds - eg. changing the alpha type does show the updated version, but when you change the type then back again, it usually shows the old version again (and also uses that on the timeline).

ideally this should just be automatic (by detecting modification date or size changes to the file on disk), but at least a manual 'refresh' function that actually works is needed.

Years later and still no fix. Get this problem all the time with imported GFX even though I'm not caching anything on the timeline. How hard is it for Blackmagic to implement a reload footage menu option?

I think the problem is that they think automatic refreshing now works - except it doesn't, at least not on Windows. actually today it worked once for unknown reasons, but mostly it just doesn't.

the issue seems to be their internal caching system. sometimes you can trigger it to reload the image, but most of the time it doesn't seem to get the message.

BM, please fix.

For still images I am using the following workaround:

Select the image and press the stabilize button, press the cancel button before the stabilization ends, once you move the playhead the image will update (if you not press cancel the image will turn black and you have to press the reset stabilization icon in the inspector).

press D to disable the clip, then press D to enable it back again.
This will refresh the modified clip.

I've seen no evidence of v18 fixing any of the above-mentioned issues.

I'm currently trying to get force Resolve to see the fact that an EXR sequence that I originally pulled in at 999 frames long has had another 500 frames rendered at the end of it.

Bugs the hell out of me that they can introduce AI that detects people in scenes and can also figure out the depth in a shot yet they can't add a reload button so that we can do the very basics needed of an editing system like updating media when it has been updated.

Hi all, ill drop in with some 'feedback'.
3d artist here, so working with loads of exr strings. I must say im surprised to see this thread. I ve been using DVR from version 16 only, but had zero issues with updating any form of 3d renders ( i was on free version first, now studio)
I use c4d for 3d work and when im setting up an animation ( basic previs for instance ) i make hundreds of updates. DVR is working in the background while im doing it and the updates are happening on the fly, instantly. I jump from one softrware to another and i see every change in real time.
The only difference was when i was using mp4 for the previs stuff. DVR didnt let me override the files (becasue it was using them) so i swapped to strings and had zero issues since.
Final edit on EXR was and still is working well, no issues (apart from poor playback performance, but i just use proxies).
I comp my stuff in Fusion and updates are instant. Maybe sometimes i have to delete cache but that's it, not a major issue.
Not really helpful to anyone but maybe it worth knowing its not an issue for everyone and maybe that's why Blackmagic doesn't do anything about it. Its hard to tell what could be the reason.

The problem still persists. Don't know how it's on Mac, but on Windows, media files (still images in my case) do not refresh. It doesn't matter if you delete the cache, deactivate/activate the track etc. or use whatever work-around. The only stupid thing you can do is delete all cache, shut-down DR and re-start. That's not acceptable.

We need a "Force Refresh" button. Complaints about this range back to 2017 (see below).

It's unprofessional and bad customer care to completely ignore this malfunctioning, yet super basic feature for so many years.

scottb9239 provided the correct answer above:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=64408#p581389