Seeking advice: How to create a graphics toolkit in Resolve

I work at a large cable network. We have been evalutating Resolve replacement for our current toolset in our motion, editorial and post production workflow. I'm hoping to tap into the Resolve knowhow here to see if we can replicate our workflow in Resolve.

Our basic workflow goes something like this. We create a graphic toolkit for each series in After Effects which includes all the title cards, supers and other elements needed to make a spot. These AE files are then imported into Premiere using their Dynamic Link functionality. Editors can then use the graphic elements in these template projects in their edits, replacing footage or modifying the text that appears on each card. These toolkit projects are used in a lot of individual spots and are available our SAN. Editors either duplicate them and start work fresh or import them into an existing project. While this system mostly works, it's not the fastest. The connection between Premiere and After Effects is tenuous at best and render times can be very slow, much slower than just out of After Effects, and Premiere will often crash in heavily 3D projects. The advantage though is that the editors have access to a high-quality graphics toolkits which they can customize without going back to the graphics department. A big win when budgeting thousands of spots.

We have used Resolve for years as a color correction tool, but now that it includes in Fusion, it's become a more interesting option to replace the workflow I detailed above. Keeping all aspects of design in one app; graphics, color and editorial, is very attractive. We have been poking around with Resolve 15 since Beta2 but are having a hard time figuring out if we can make a large, shareable toolkit the same way we are creating it in Premiere/After Effects.

Our basic needs are this:

• "Template" project that contains the graphics toolkit, can be duplicated or imported into an existing project
• Available on a shared network, to all editors, designers and animators
• Should be able to import updated graphics templates into existing projects
• Needs to work in multiple frame sizes (we often make things for on-air and digital), could be separate projects
• Need the ability to share clips, timelines, grades, comps between projects

After investigation, these are the only ways we have found to accomplish this in Resolve 15.

• Create a template project with the various Fusion comps needed. Export this project as a .drp file. Import this .drp file back into the Project Manager, rename, and create your edit. Problems: Editors need to go into the Fusion page to change settings (as opposed to using it like a Fusion Title in the Edit page). Need to manage a directory of template projects, would be more convienient to handle this in Project Manager. Can't import an updated toolkit into an existing project. Difficult to make global changes, or change existing spots.
• Create macros from the Fusion page. Editors pull in the Fusion Title they need and customize it in the timeline. Problems: Each computer needs to manually copy over these .settings files to the local folder, could lead to mis-matched graphics. [Note: we tried making this a simlink on MacOS, but it didn't work.] Macros can't be organized in bins, we would be looking at possibly thousands of individual macros across all our series, which would make it a nightmare to use for the editors. The need to manually update several edit rooms makes this a no-go.

It seems like Power Bins could be the answer, but you can't put Fusion clips, timelines or other project assets in them. So they are almost useless to us except as a way to organize shared footage.

We would really like to replace our current system, as no one is happy with it, and I'm hoping to learn how we might accomplish this in Resolve. Thanks!

I'm not an expert on the subject, but your IT guys could set up PostgreSQL database. Then, you can take advantage of the collaborative workflow/ project sharing features. I'm not sure how thorough Fusion integration is with that, but it may work out some of the kinks to better suit your workflow.

Additionally, you can export and import comps as stand alone files, which may also have some advantages over jumping in and out of a template DRP. (It would be nice if BMD had a timeline only equivalent of a DRP, as xmls just don't carry enough data).

Also, using the standalone version of Fusion does expand some functionality that may be more suitable for creating macros and templates.

I'm sorry my suggestions are so general, but hopefully they lead in the right direction or spark some more good ideas.

[*]Create macros from the Fusion page. Editors pull in the Fusion Title they need and customize it in the timeline. Problems: Each computer needs to manually copy over these .settings files to the local folder, could lead to mis-matched graphics. [Note: we tried making this a simlink on MacOS, but it didn't work.] Macros can't be organized in bins, we would be looking at possibly thousands of individual macros across all our series, which would make it a nightmare to use for the editors. The need to manually update several edit rooms makes this a no-go.

You can point Fusion to a network location for Macros (and Fuses, scripts, etc) using Path Maps. Fusion > Fusion Settings > Path Map

A path map can use a semi-colon delimited list of locations, so you can add your shared assets without breaking the connection to the local macros.

In the macros folder, if you organize your macros into sub-folders, they'll show up as categories in the macros list:

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Here you can see my Path map pointed at our macros directory on S:, which is a mapped network drive. And the Add Tools dialog shows that we have macros organized into several categories (which I really need to clean up a bit).

You can do the same thing in the Scripts folders—if there is a script located in Scripts/Comp/MyShow/coolScript.lua, then you will access it with Fusion > Script > MyShow > coolScript.

I haven't looked very deeply into how Resolve handles the interface between Fusion templates and the Edit page. My hope is that there will be better options for adding Fusion assets to the timeline by the time the beta development period is over. If time permits, my plan is to look into that topic in the next couple of weeks and give some opinions.

Path Maps worked! At least in the Fusion page. This is exactly what we were looking for. Also organizing things in folder in the macros and scripts page worked as well. This could work as a stop gap for our needs, though it would require the editors to tap into the Fusion page some, but not a big deal.

Unfortunatly organizing the Fusion Titles for the edit page in folders didn't work. I think Resolve needs somehting like the Path Map for the edit page so you can define network locations for Fusion Titles, OFX, LUTs and things like that. Hopefully we see something like that in a future beta.