Switching to Color tab autoselects clip on the track above

v15.2.2
I have a clip in track V1 selected in Edit page and the Playhead is in the middle of it. I am seeing this clip on the viewer. Ok. There is a unselected clip in the track above it (V2) which is an overlay image. There is no In and Out selectioon on the timeline.

What happens:
When I switch to the color page I expect that the same clip I have selected remains active for color grading. But the result is that the clip overlay on track V2 is the one active in Color page now. Which makes me go and show the clips and look for the clip I wanted every time.

Yes, I have tried unchecking the autoselect on the track above, which works for everything else but not in this case. Maybe I am missing something. Am I doing something wrong?

That is just the way Resolve works, it's going to show the upper most clip (because it's the visible clip). Instead of opening the clips timeline, you can use the up and down arrow keys to navigate from clip to clip.

And you'll also want to use the unmix button in the viewer.

Thank you Spencer

Unfortunately I cannot just tap once up or down arrow to select the clip in my case, because the clip in track above (V2) is like a long clip that covers the entire timeline so, when the color page opens it if I press down arrow... I get the first clip of the V1 track... If I was at clip number 20, then I should press 20 times the down arrow... it is easier to open the clips and search for it.

Unmix button works to display only the clip without the overlay, but it doesn't seem to affect the clip selected on switching to the page which is the problem I have.

I've seen a solution for now, if I hide the track V2, then it opens to the correct clip in V1. So the V2 track must be completely disabled, not only with the autoselect option disabled. I think it would be cool that it would work with the autoselect disabled.

Alt-click the 'V' in the Color page to keep the track enabled but also disable selection/editing of colour.

Alt-click the 'V' in the Color page to keep the track enabled but also disable selection/editing of colour.

Hi Paul.. Thank you so much.. That works

Alt-click the 'V' in the Color page to keep the track enabled but also disable selection/editing of colour.

Thank you, you saved my half bald head to loose all my hair.
I could not find this option myself ...

(PS: My usual way to grade is to fix obvious problems on each clip to roughly matching them (once upon a time I used Cineform FirstLight for that). Than I apply general look over entire timeline using adjustment clip and working there for final look I want. Than I go back and fix those few clips under that are too far from what upper look expects and make fine tune to all. Prior to Alt+click V2 (V3, ...) I was pulling my hair. Disabling track also disable entire grade.

Thank you. I work now much faster.

Alt-click the 'V' in the Color page to keep the track enabled but also disable selection/editing of colour.

I don't quite understand what to do: when I hit alt + v I get the paste attributes window...? Thanks for the help.

I don't quite understand what to do: when I hit alt + v I get the paste attributes window...? Thanks for the help.

Hold the alt key and click on the track name V1, V2 etc..
The name will turn red and all clips on this track will be ignored from auto selection

With the Timeline option enabled in the color page hold down the Alt key and click on the track you wish to remove the focus from.

I work with complex timelines that have up to ten tracks with constantly changing video/stills/text/overlays/etc. The fact that Resolve doesn't automatically grade the clip that is selected in the edit window is an absolute nightmare and an oversight by BM. It would be helpful to have an option in prefs to work this way.

The fact that Resolve doesn't automatically grade the clip that is selected in the edit window is an absolute nightmare and an oversight by BM.

It's actually an intentional design and a very good one, based on the idea that the playhead doesn't move across pages.

Clip selection must, by necessity, play no part here.

It's actually an intentional design and a very good one, based on the idea that the playhead doesn't move across pages.

I'm not sure what you're talking about, the playhead does "move across pages". Wherever you put the playhead on the edit page is where it is on the timeline view on the color page - albeit ackwardly placed and out of view. The fact that there isn't a way (afaik) to grade specific clips without having to hunt around for them everytime I switch from edit to color is not a well thought out workflow imo.

Sorry, I meant to say that the playhead doesn't move on its own as you switch pages.

The playhead stays in the same place no matter which page you're on.

I think you might find the work less frustrating if you take advantage of the pages sequence, and do the editing first, and then do all the grading in Color.

Try to color as you go will be...frustrating.

Sorry, I meant to say that the playhead doesn't move on its own as you switch pages.

The playhead stays in the same place no matter which page you're on.

Right, so what are you getting at? What's the logic behind Resolve not grading the clip that is selected if the playhead is also over that clip? That would seem logical.

The problem I have is, if I want to alter the frame I'm on in the edit page, I have to go to the color page, find the clip on the timeline view (which is trial and error, furthermore, I can't use the clips view because the clip on the top layer is nowhere near the clip I want to work on) then select the clip, at which point the playhead moves to the start of that clip and then I have to refind the frame I wanted in the first place. The whole process is unnecessarily tedious.

The obvious and simple solution would be for Resolve to work on the selected clip automatically if the playhead is also over it. I can’t think of any good reason why it shouldn’t or couldn’t work like this.

I think you might find the work less frustrating if you take advantage of the pages sequence, and do the editing first, and then do all the grading in Color.

Try to color as you go will be...frustrating.

I don’t grade as I go but I do use all the other multitude of features in the color page like keying, creating power windows for masks, adding more than one effect to a clip, etc, etc… It’s essential to have access to these features as I edit. If I was just doing a straight forward cut and grade job this wouldn’t be an issue.

What's the logic behind Resolve not grading the clip that is selected if the playhead is also over that clip?

Because the selected clip doesn't have to be under the playhead. That's why selection plays no part here.

If you selected a clip that wasn't under the playhead, the only way to work on that clip as you move to Color would be to move the playhead.

That's a bad thing.

I do use all the other multitude of features in the color page like keying, creating power windows for masks...

You could do that work in Fusion. The advantage here is that you can right click on the clip and Open in Fusion, so you get the clip you want to work on straight away.

There currently is no Open in Color option, sadly.

There's no obvious reason to me that iff the playhead intersects the selected clip that clip could be selected in the color page as well. It would be useful and would not violate the current design. The unmix button may have to be enabled on the color page to allow this to work, though.

What's the logic behind Resolve not grading the clip that is selected if the playhead is also over that clip?

Because the selected clip doesn't have to be under the playhead. That's why selection plays no part here.

If you selected a clip that wasn't under the playhead, the only way to work on that clip as you move to Color would be to move the playhead.

That's a bad thing.

As I previously stated: "The obvious and simple solution would be for Resolve to work on the selected clip automatically if the playhead is also over it."

The logic would be as follows: If clip selected AND playhead over = TRUE THEN focus on selected clip ELSE focus on top clip at playhead.

I think you might find the work less frustrating if you take advantage of the pages sequence, and do the editing first, and then do all the grading in Color.

You could do that work in Fusion. The advantage here is that you can right click on the clip and Open in Fusion, so you get the clip you want to work on straight away.

Can you please refrain from telling me how I should work, it's extremely rude and condescending. It is for good reason those features exist in the color page.

Thanks for the backup Steve!

Consider that the general post production workflow typically is editing first, then color grading, and not much jumping in between. Within the Color page there are a lot of ways to filter your clips if you need to work on specific shots. Keywords, groups, markers, flags, disabling entire video tracks, etc..

The reason Color always picks the top clip is because it is most likely that only that clip is visible in the viewer (without unmix). Selection follows playhead is always enabled and tied into this that's why it switches.

It's not a bad idea to have it work the way you want with the condition unmix enabled as Steve suggests. You could make a thread in the feature requests board for this.
Similarly switching clips when using unmix makes the playhead jump to the first frame of that clip which is also very annoying! Should just stay at current position if you ask me in the case the playhead was already covering the clip. May want to add that too as request.

The obvious and simple solution would be for Resolve to work on the selected clip automatically if the playhead is also over it.

I don't believe that's a good option.

I think a better option would be the missing Open in Color right-click.

So much "That's how Resolve works, deal with it. It's the best. Stay off the grass."

Well, no. Not every person does every thing the same every time. I am constantly battling with Resolve deciding that, no, the clip I'm coloring is not the one that will be colored but instead yeah, let's go ahead and apply this to the adjustment clip over here which is also over the 15 neighboring clips. Undo? Hahaha, yeah right.

Similarly in edit, there is a need to remember to manually deselect clips you don't want auto selected or involved in an edit. Sure there are arguments for it but from memory Premiere handles this so much better. It's a flow killer to have to go in and select tracks to include or exclude so frequently.

Still loving Resolve, just not trying to be co-dependent.

No point in telling the kids to stay off the grass when you have astro turf.

@Jim and shebbe - I’m not sure why you felt the need to comment on my post which was a response to the OP who was also frustrated by this unhelpful behavior in Resolve. I’m not here to tell you guys how to work or what post-production is or isn’t, I was simply voicing a shared frustration. This has now turned into a ridiculously lengthy back and forth.

Consider that the general post production workflow typically is editing first, then color grading, and not much jumping in between.

I’m not sure how this is relevant to what we’re talking about.

Within the Color page there are a lot of ways to filter your clips if you need to work on specific shots. Keywords, groups, markers, flags, disabling entire video tracks, etc..

Using any of these methods would be an extremely cumbersome way of achieving what I’m trying to do.

The reason Color always picks the top clip is because it is most likely that only that clip is visible in the viewer (without unmix).

Unless you are hiding multiple clips underneath the main clip for reasons only known to yourself, this is untrue. For the most part (other than working with multicam) all the clips at any one point are visible - think text or adjustment layers for example.

When I started using Resolve, Fusion was not part of the main software. My workflow makes use of OFX plugins, keying, mattes, basic tracking, etc all from within the color page as this is more efficient than using Fusion (for certain duties) and is a time saver. The point is, the color page is not just for coloring and many of us will be using it a fair bit during an edit.

At a bare minimum a short scene on my timeline would usually have multiple clips on one track, at least one adjustment layer over all the clips (e.g. to adjust the scale and position), text, a PNG overlay, etc. What I want to focus on in the color page varies from scene to scene and is usually never the clip at the top.

Are we done?

I don't know, Anton, Shebbe did concede that there is validity in your suggestion and pointed you to the feature request page to create a request. Let us know if you do and I'll certainly give it a +1.

@Jim and shebbe - I’m not sure why you felt the need to comment on my post which was a response to the OP who was also frustrated by this unhelpful behavior in Resolve. I’m not here to tell you guys how to work or what post-production is or isn’t, I was simply voicing a shared frustration. This has now turned into a ridiculously lengthy back and forth.
....

Are we done?

I don't know why you are so frustrated about my post. In the first section I simply explain the reason why it's (most likely) working as it is at the moment. After that I share my thoughts on the idea of having it behave differently in favor of your suggestions yet you come back to me as if I'm not.

Furthermore a forum is a place for discussion. Discussion can help give insight and perspective on subjects from different people to possibly better understand it. If you don't care about discussions and don't want people to reply maybe don't participate.

@shebbe I have quoted the parts of your post that I have a problem with. Please don't tell me how Resolve works or what post-production is, it's completely inappropriate. Nothing in your reply added anything to the discussion and was impart inaccurate. Furthermore, you could see that I was having an issue with Jim and you decided to jump on the bandwagon. Your post is condescending, arrogant and passive aggressive imo.

Anton, here's the part you left out of Shebbe's comments and I believe it provides the full context. He is saying that he agrees with you that there are aspects of switching between edit and color pages that could be refined. I did not detect condescension in his tone, only an effort to describe why Resolve works the way it does (more of a historical perspective - certainly not a 'it works the way it works' attitude).

It's not a bad idea to have it work the way you want with the condition unmix enabled as Steve suggests. You could make a thread in the feature requests board for this.
Similarly switching clips when using unmix makes the playhead jump to the first frame of that clip which is also very annoying! Should just stay at current position if you ask me in the case the playhead was already covering the clip. May want to add that too as request.