How do you copy color key frames?

Newbie here. I'm adding new VFX clips into the project that don't have color correction. I'm grabbing a still from the original color correction and applying the grade to the new clip but the color key frames do not copy over. How can I do that? I'm not a colorist. I'm new to Resolve and use it for finishing. Thanks! - Dan

Covered in the manual, page 2056. Right-click in the Gallery and choose "Apply Grades Using -> Keyframes Aligning Source Timecode." Now if you copy the grade, in theory the keyframes will come along with it. This can work with both the Gallery and from a different clip, I believe.

Replacement VFX shots are the one case where I think this is very useful, because then you know the shot timing has not changed. This is dangerous in that if you have a replacement shot that's a different take or a different length, the keyframes will be wrong and won't necessarily work with the new clip.

There are rare occasions when I am asked to simulate lighting effects within a clip. Of course the way to do this is with keyframes on a node appropriately situated within the process tree. When I read this thread title, I thought it might be related to copying actual corrections into individual keyframes within a node, rather than copying a completed "baked" sequence of keyframes into an overall grade.

I haven't really come up with a strategy for copying exact values of a correction into a series of keyframes... it is easy enough to mark a number of dynamics into a timeline, and then adjust the appropriate ones -- but how would I ripple that exact momentary correction into the keyframes where that setting is appropriate and consistent?

For example, last week I needed to match a "Red alert" into a scene where there was some practical lighting in *most* clips, but over the course of the sketch, the pace and intensity of the practical was all over the map, especially because the lighting grip was arbitrarily dimming a flood, and the editor cut to dialogue... which uh, let's say... varied in delivery and a bit of improv.

So not only cutting across clips where the cut point was full red (*practical*) to completely neutral, to a 12-frame cycle coming from a I dunno 24-36 frame period... but needed to achieve a uniformly varying environment.... Eventually you have to just hope the camera ratio saves you and, "it just looks different in that part of the set..." :shrug:

jPo, CSI

JPo - isn't there a plugin for that? lol

I subscribe to this thread to know the name of the plugin and its features for decision support. (auto, dynamic, proportional, timecode respected, other ...) Merci.

Thanks Marc!

That worked.

I didn't use timecode because the "VFX clip" didn't have the same timecode of the original footage that was graded. I used Apply Grade Using Keyframes Aligning Start Frames and it worked.

Thanks again for helping me out.
-Dan

There are rare occasions when I am asked to simulate lighting effects within a clip.

Doh! Been there, done that. And I always try to eliminate or reduce the global shutter problem during flash-bulb scenes.

Then there was the memorable occasion some years ago when I got to a scene in a horror film and saw a weird "flicker" going on. I spent about an hour gracefully removing the flicker so that the exposure was absolutely perfect across maybe 50 shots. When I laid it down to tape (the analogue version of "render it out"), I discovered to my shock that there was thunder going on! So I had to delete all those extra events and let the thing flicker, each light change perfectly synchronized to the thunder.

I believe BorisFX does have a "flicker" OFX plug-in, but I haven't had occasion to use it yet.

Reviving this thread to +1 the request for copying and pasting individual (or a selected range of) keyframes in the Color page Keyframes panel.

Today I was working on a long take shot where the camera kept tilting up and down on a MCU of a guy standing on a cliff, looking out towards the horizon. The DP wanted me to lower the exposure of the shot + warm up the shot whenever the camera tilted up to his head, then when it tilted back down to his feet, bring the exposure back up, and cool off the temperature. So I need to have a bunch of keyframes in the Color Corrector channel for this, but I couldn't copy and paste-append the keyframes for these two states of the grade onto the same clip.

My workaround (other than screengrabbing my Color Wheel/Bars settings and manually typing in the values for each keyframe) was to just create two versions of the grade and fade between them as stacked clips. But that's super clunky, and also doesn't give you the same results as actually keyframing the color correction channel itself.

Use a node for the grade you want, then keyframe the key opacity of that node in and out.

Use a node for the grade you want, then keyframe the key opacity of that node in and out.

Yes, that's what I do, as I mentioned in my reply.

I know about the workarounds for this, but you really shouldn't have to resort to such cumbersome hacks, when there is a perfectly good Keyframe panel with keyframable parameters that should be able to be copied and pasted into.

Use a node for the grade you want, then keyframe the key opacity of that node in and out.

Yes, that's what I do, as I mentioned in my reply.

I know about the workarounds for this, but you really shouldn't have to resort to such cumbersome hacks, when there is a perfectly good Keyframe panel with keyframable parameters that should be able to be copied and pasted into.

you can copy parameters, it is just more cumbersome than the workaround you have
....

So, after numerous versions of Resolve, we still can't work with keyframes on the color page like any other software, including fusion? *facepalm*

Let the next version of Resolve have an overhaul of the entire keyframe system, right? Like, there are so many irrelevant features being added, while keyframing is still in the same cumbersome and broken system as it's been for years.

+1

+1

+1

+1 here from me as well. I think it is a really strange omission to not be able to just copy paste or even hold ctrl and click drag the keyframes.

I also kind of find the keyframes in the color tab kind of impossible to work with in general as you can't find what parameter is in what node among the cryptically named and organized keyframe parameters. But that is a different question altogether. Just being able to copy paste things would be going a long way for me to start using the keyframing more enthusiastically.

+1

Sometimes, Resolve is a complete catastrophe for basic things. I wonder if this software is ready for public release.

Anywhere there is something, you must be able to copy and paste it. All the time, anywhere.

+1

+1

Like there is a fear at BMD that if they touch the legacy options and habits, millions of colorists will cry out in terror.

Sent from my Mi 9T using Tapatalk

+1

+1

Like there is a fear at BMD that if they touch the legacy options and habits, millions of colorists will cry out in terror.

Sent from my Mi 9T using Tapatalk

We don't, a better keyframe management has been asked before.

+1 keyframing sucks in Davinci, its way more cumbersome and unwieldy than Final Cut pro, for example. The UI does not even follow keyframe adjustments dynamically so that in-between two dynamic keyframes all control knobs and sliders sit where they were at previous keyframe, then suddenly jump to new values.

++++1!!

How can this still NOT be implemented??

+1
I need this when I'm grading my drone flights. Every time sun is in the frame GoPro lowers the exposure and I have to raise the shadows to compensate, and vice versa.

edit: On a second thought, doing this by animating a key output of a node is actually an easier way to do it in my case and probably OP's as well. And if copy pasting nodes was possible, I would be less likely to discover this faster way of doing it. That said, copy pasting nodes should still be possible because users intuitively expect it, it can otherwise be useful, it's standard thing in all other software and even other areas of Resolve, and it shouldn't even be that hard to implement in theory.

I also kind of find the keyframes in the color tab kind of impossible to work with in general as you can't find what parameter is in what node among the cryptically named and organized keyframe parameters. But that is a different question altogether. Just being able to copy paste things would be going a long way for me to start using the keyframing more enthusiastically.

I think you need to stop and consider how you're using nodes and keyframes. I know a lot of people (including myself) that basically only do one single thing in a node, and then when it's time to keyframe, they only keyframe that one particular node. It's not that hard. You just have to pay close attention to what's going on. It does help to identify every single node in the node tree so you can see at a glance, "ah, there's a power window in that node" or "oh, that's the node where I keyed the sky." Without that, you're going to forget, or you're going to keyframe or change the wrong thing.

It takes time to develop good habits with color and keeping track of everything you do. It doesn't happen overnight, but I'd guarantee you, by your 50th or 60th project, you'll be working much faster and much smarter than you did on project #1.

Fixed Node Trees are a good method for getting faster and being more productive with longform projects like features or episodic TV, and I couldn't work any other way. If I have to get 250-300 shots done a day, there's no other way to do it. I would point to Mixing Light and Lowepost as being good information sources on Fixed Node Trees.

Every single shot in the entire project has the exact same node structure, so if you need to do a global ripple for a targeted change -- say, going 10% brighter in overall gain -- you can select just those shots, choose "Color -> Ripple Node Changes to Selected Clips," and just those shots and that particular node will be changed. Most of the time, 80% of these nodes are bypassed, and I'm really leaning on only the first 4-5 nodes in the tree... so it looks more complicated than it really is. The moment I need (say) a window on the left, I can turn on that node, position the window, keyframe just that shot and that node as necessary, and boom -- the shot now looks better and took minimal effort. Speed is of the essence, but we also want the whole project to look good, and every scene to be consistent with the one that follows it.

Here's an example of a simple 8-node tree that I typically use with fast-turnaround reality shows or documentaries:



I've done as many as 700-800 shots in a day with that node tree, and it "can be done" (though my fingers are fairly bloody and bruised at the end of the day). The shows have aired to some acclaim, clients were happy, check cashed... all was well. I don't like to work that fast, but sometimes that's what the job entails.

For difficult material, here's an example of a more-complex 36-node setup I use for client features:



There are many, many more examples out there on the net (including a great discussion by Walter Volpatto over on Lowepost). And there are some extraordinarily complicated fixed node trees needed for some situations. The key is to have pre-labeled nodes, which allows for selective keyframing of only the single thing that needs to change in the scene. If multiple things need to change, do it to multiple nodes. It's not that hard, but it does require some thought and setup to make it happen, and to do it quickly so the clients don't get frustrated or bored. And it's particularly important with keyframing color.

++++1

For difficult material, here's an example of a more-complex 36-node setup I use for client features:

if you wish, you can use more than 100 nodes that are pre-configured, if you know exactly where to change what (then maybe BMD can throw ready-made sets from an extensive library of users?).

But in color grading there are different tasks, and different amounts of work. if I need to create a dynamic filter on a long track to compensate for overexposure in motion through the frame, where the entire filter sample changes absolutely arbitrarily both in color and light, then this whole nodal system is simply not effective. I could solve it by just configuring the node once and copying the keys with a filter change. And I did it quickly in Adobe premiere by copying keys.
but here at davinci, this simple solution turns out to be impossible.
since I need to change exactly by keys and only slightly adjust the setting in each key, and these changes simply cannot be replaced by newly created nodes. what you are describing is the creation of unnecessary entities on the screen.
and the screen is not infinite.

I faced the same problem. It is not possible to copy many keyframes. I have to create new keyframes manually, it's so frustrating.

I faced a problem, and can not find a solution: created a keyframe (beside the default, first frame keyframe), and by mistake i qualified and graded on that second keyframe. Now the first frame has the default settings, and could not found a way to copy the graded keyframe to the first keyframe. Tried to drag the second keyframe over the first one, but the the second keyframe bounced off of the first keyframe, and the first keyframe stayed untouched. There is no way to copy-paste the keyframes.

I can note each and every change and recreate the settings by hand, but not want to do that as a standard solution.

I faced the same problem. It is not possible to copy many keyframes. I have to create new keyframes manually, it's so frustrating.

You can create same keyframes if You change the source keyframe type to STATIC from DYNAMIC, then create a keyframe after the source keyframe (but before the next already existing keyframe of course), and that newly created keyframe will have the same settings as the source one because STATIC type do not interpolate to the next keyframe, but stay the same on all the frames until the next keyframe. After the creation You can move the new keyframe to its desired place, and can change back the type of them to DYNAMIC (if the source was DYNAMIC originally). It is not a copy-paste, and You can not copy more than one keyframes at once.. but a temporary workaround for Your needs.

This is how it must work immediately : right click on the selected keyframe(s) > copy keyframes — place playhead where you want to paste, right click on the correct keyframe line > paste keyframes
End of this ridiculous thread demanding such a basic feature.

This is how it must work immediately : right click on the selected keyframe(s) > copy keyframes — place playhead where you want to paste, right click on the correct keyframe line > paste keyframes
End of this ridiculous thread demanding such a basic feature.

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