Fusion comp created in Media Pool duplicates in timeline

If I create a Fusion comp within the Media Pool tab, then drag it into / or create a timeline with the clip, then open the clip from the timeline, then later open the clip from the Media Pool tab…the Fusion comps reflect changes I made from either, but I can’t see the Timeline version of the clip referenced in the Media Pool tab - only the initally created version. So the one that shows in the Media Pool tab ends up being different, an earlier version if the timeline version was edited, etc.

Hope that makes sense! This is driving me insane, I don’t get this behaviour – is it a bug and anyone know a workaround? Only way I’ve found is to just strictly open the comp from the timeline each time, but I like to open it from the Media Pool tab sometimes.

macOS 12.4
DR v18.1.1

That is how they are designed to work. Each copy dragged to the timeline is a individual instance, a copy with no ties to the original.

Which is the exact opposite way all software has worked since the beginning of time. You want a new copy of something? You copy it. It should be treated like a piece of footage since, you know, it's in a bin like all the other footage. Editing theory goes that media gets created. Put in a bin. Distributed to sequences. The distribution is one way and inherently tied from media to sequence. Left to right. Top to bottom. At the very least make it a right click option in the timeline to create new Fusion or existing from bin.

As a matter of fact if you drag a piece of footage from the timeline that has Fusion, it should hold onto the Fusion since it's now treated as a new piece of footage anyways.

Which is the exact opposite way all software has worked since the beginning of time.

Agree, it's really wonky. Hence why I wondered if it was a bug, i.e, the fact the timeline version copy doesn't show in the bin. If that timeline gets deleted for whatever reason the comp goes with it and you're stuck with the OG comp. Very confusing. The timeline version should match with the bin created version and if you need a copy of the comp, the just duplicate it in the bin as you do with a timeline, etc.

Which is the exact opposite way all software has worked since the beginning of time.

I don't know what NLE's you've been using but that's how they are supposed to work. A clip sent to the timeline becomes a new sequence which references the original clip/clips but doesn't change them.

A clip sent to the timeline becomes a new sequence which references the original clip/clips but doesn't change them.

Because you can't actually change THE clip itself. If you could it would also propagate everywhere. But now replace it with another timeline, something that you can actually change. If you open up that sub-timeline one would expect that changes done there propagate to any instance of that used timeline in the project, not that it has become a new unlinked instance. And this is exactly how it works in Resolve too.

If the clip was indeed a clip in the bin that would be true. Then by that rational you should not be able to affect changes to the clip from in the timeline. A fusion comp is closer to a sequence than to a clip. It can be adjusted, lengthened, resized. That would make it a mutable thing and in editing, that would be a sequence. If you insert a sequence into another, the changes you make to the nested sequence are reflected in the original sequence, not cloned and made a compound clip.

If an embedded Fusion comp was changed then perhaps it should create a clone or copy next to the original so you can actually track where it is used.

If you insert a sequence into another, the changes you make to the nested sequence are reflected in the original sequence

I'm really only familiar with Media Composer but I would expect the basic priciples to be universal to NLE'S. if you nest let's say sequence1 into sequence2, any changes made to sequence1, while nested in sequence2, would not change the original sequence1. Furthermore all of the media of the clips used in sequence1, are available to the nested sequence1, even parts of the clips not fully used in the original sequence1. There are also sub clips and sub sequences with some tracks selected/deselected etc but all sequences are just references to the original media, unless you render the sequence and turn it into actual new clip. I would expect Resolve has it's own special cases because of how it interacts with Fusion, probably mostly to deal with similar functions that overlap between the two.

Of coarse Avid would work that way. Last I used it was MC7. No, that's not standard for Premiere, Final cut or After Effects. It's a dumb idea. If it's destructive like that it should be added as a group or compound clip. To call it a sequence is to imply it has all the properties of one. If it's no longer linked to the sequence it came from then it's just a collection of clips.

It's also why every 3d software has some sort of Reference tracker to allow propegation of changes out from multiple working instances.

There is virtually no scenario where that is a better way for sequences to work. Editing is notoriously fiddly with corrections and Edits up until the very last minute. If you have a sequence with a certain subject matter embedded into a larger subject matter you shouldn't have to track down every version of the larger subject to make a change to the embedded subject. What if you have five versions of the same sequence, all with the same car footage nested? They tell you to switch the third clip in because they don't have rights to the clip. Now you're going back and making the same edit to five different sequences even though it's only happening to one location that should propagate out to all the takes. Yes, you could make a mental note to go back to the original sequence in the bin, where ever it is, and change that edit. Then go to each sequence and overwrite it with the new one but talk about extra steps.

This is a bit of a rant but that would wrinkle my underwear and honestly, it's something I hate in Resolve about how it handles Fusion enabled clips. There should be an option for it to create a new clip in the sequences bin of the Fusion enabled clip. A lot of the time you add the footage to an edit. Make some corrections to the plate. Then you want that one clip in multiple versions of the edit so the client can review. Right now, you have to copy the clip from one sequence to another. If you make a tweak to the plate, you now have to copy and paste it all over again where ever that plate is used. It makes it hard to work as a team because now a plate correction is floating in an edit instead of being propagated to the team as an asset. Same with a nested sequence. If changes are made they should go out the the locations it's used.